Rapidly Learning Generalizable and Robot-Agnostic Tool-Use Skills for a Wide Range of Tasks

Many real-world applications require robots to use tools. However, robots lack the skills necessary to learn and perform many essential tool-use tasks. To this end, we present the TRansferrIng Skilled Tool Use Acquired Rapidly (TRI-STAR) framework for task-general robot tool use. TRI-STAR has three primary components: 1) the ability to learn and apply tool-use skills to a wide variety of tasks from a minimal number of training demonstrations, 2) the ability to generalize learned skills to other tools and manipulated objects, and 3) the ability to transfer learned skills to other robots. These capabilities are enabled by TRI-STAR’s task-oriented approach, which identifies and leverages structural task knowledge through the use of our goal-based task taxonomy. We demonstrate this framework with seven tasks that impose distinct requirements on the usages of the tools, six of which were each performed on three physical robots with varying kinematic configurations. Our results demonstrate that TRI-STAR can learn effective tool-use skills from only 20 training demonstrations. In addition, our framework generalizes tool-use skills to morphologically distinct objects and transfers them to new platforms, with minor performance degradation.

Sobre la relación entre investigación e intervención en Trabajo Social

Los procesos de creciente producción de desigualdades a escala global nos permiten reafirmar que Trabajo Social puede contribuir con la transformación de las mismas, en tanto produzca intervenciones profesionales que no escindan la dimensión teórica de la práctica, ni el saber del hacer. En este marco, proponemos una revisión bibliográfica actualizada sobre el histórico y conflictivo vínculo entre intervención social e investigación científica en Trabajo Social. Tomando las propuestas de un conjunto de diversxs autorxs, presentamos un Estado de la Cuestión donde toda la producción recabada sobre el tema, es presentada de manera agrupada en función de tres ejes: el primero de ellos refiere a las producciones que se centran principalmente en la elaboración diagnóstica sobre la relación histórica entre investigación e intervención disciplinar; el segundo, retoma aquellas producciones que proponen definiciones sobre las relaciones actuales entre ambas dimensiones; el tercer eje aborda producciones que ponen su acento en la investigación, poniendo de relieve la singularidad de la investigación científica desde Trabajo Social, elaborando propuestas alternativas para su consolidación. Finalmente, el presente artículo concluye recuperando los aspectos principales que emergieron durante el estudio de la literatura mencionada, y se propone una serie de reflexiones que nos permitan imaginar un quehacer-saber disciplinar otro. The processes of increasing production of inequalities on a global scale allow us to reaffirm that Social Work can contribute to their transformation, as long as it produces professional interventions that do not separate the theoretical dimension from practice, nor knowledge from doing. Within this framework, we propose an updated bibliographical review of the historical and conflictive link between social intervention and scientific research in Social Work. Taking the proposals of a set of diverse authors, we present a State of the Question where all the production collected on the subject is presented grouped according to three axes: the first refers to the productions that focus mainly on the diagnostic elaboration on the historical relationship between research and disciplinary intervention; the second, takes up those productions that propose definitions on the current relationship between both dimensions; the third axis addresses productions that emphasize research, highlighting the uniqueness of scientific research from Social Work, elaborating alternative proposals for its consolidation. Finally, this article concludes by recovering the main aspects that emerged during the study of the aforementioned literature, and proposes a series of reflections that allow us to imagine a different disciplinary task-knowledge.

Changes in production work when using smart wearables—results of a Delphi-based study

In industrial production, smart wearables (e.g. data glasses) are becoming more relevant to support employees. While economic aspects have so far been the focus of the introduction, changes for work design have been neglected. The aim of the Delphi study was to describe changes through the use of smart wearables and to derive implications for work design. Six description dimensions (application, implications for work design, data use, personalization, flexibility, introductory purpose) were identified and 18 scenarios were developed. The assessment of the scenarios in terms of desirability and degree of dissemination showed that scenarios for work-related and ergonomic support are particularly desirable and scenarios for changes in cooperation are considered particularly likely. Data usage is a relevant factor for the assumed degree of dissemination but not for the assessment of desirability. In operational practice, work design and economic aspects are important for assessing the scenarios.Practical Relevance: The results show possible development scenarios for production work when using smart wearables and highlight possible implications for work design. Positive and negative effects on task, knowledge, social and contextual characteristics are identified, which offer suggestions for a conscious selection and design of the use of technology in practice.

The use of games as a method in teaching the basics of chemical toxicology as part of the ecological education of schoolchildren

In today’s modern technogenic world, forming an ecological consciousness, perception and thinking among schoolchildren is a vital task. Knowledge of chemical toxicology is essential for students of all ages to help protect and maintain a healthy environment. Given that toxicology is characterized by an increased level of complexity, the purpose of this work was to develop and apply gaming methods in teaching the basics of chemical toxicology as part of environmental education of schoolchildren. We developed and implemented a training lesson for schoolchildren called “Fascinating phytotoxicology” for secondary school students, which consists of several stages. At the first stage, when using explanatory and illustrative methods in teaching, students received theoretical knowledge of phytotoxicology; at the second stage, students enhanced their knowledge in a playful way by solving situational problems composed by us, guessing riddles and answering intriguing questions; at the third stage, a survey was conducted among schoolchildren to identify the students’ level of interest in the topic and how much of the material was assimilated. The survey showed that the implementation of this gaming teaching method allowed students to learn complex material better, increased the activity and interest of students, and also contributed to the formation of an ecological awareness and environmental responsibility.

Persistence of Left Superior Vena Cava in Nonagenarian Undergoing Pacemaker Implant: Case Report

Introduction: The persistence of the left superior vena cava (PLSVC) is a congenital malformation of the veins that drain blood from the upper body, causing the flow to the right atrium to be processed through the coronary sinus. Case report: We describe the case of a nonagenarian woman, previously asymptomatic until she developed total atrioventricular block when she was referred for implantation of a double chamber pacemaker. Persistence of the left superior vena cava was detected during the procedure and confirmed by venography. The implantation of the electrodes was performed safely and without complications. Conclusion: Despite not usually causing symptoms, the presence of PLSVC can make invasive procedures a challenging task. Knowledge of anatomy and the use of simple techniques can facilitate interventions in this scenario.

A Digital Twin-driven Human-robot Collaborative Assembly-commissioning Method for Complex Products

In the process of complex products assembly-commissioning, manual operation is the main reason for low efficiency. The human-robot cooperation (HRC) technology combines the advantages of human and robot, and makes it complete the task in the shared space. It is an effective way to solve the problem by introducing the HRC technology into the complex products of assembly-commissioning. However, the current HRC technology has insufficient perception and cognitive ability of tasks. Therefore, this paper presents a digital twin-driven HRC assembly-commissioning framework. In this framework, a virtual-real mapping environment for HRC is constructed. In order to improve the cognitive ability of robot units to tasks, this paper proposes a method of intention recognition that integrates the features of parts into human joint sequences. In order to improve the adaptability of robot unit to task, the assembly-commissioning task knowledge graph is constructed to quickly extract the implement sequence of robot unit. At the same time, the deep deterministic policy gradient (DDPG) is used to adaptively adjust the robot unit implement action in the process of assembly-commissioning. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by taking a particular type of automobile generator as a case study product.

Orchestration and Situation Awareness in an Assistance System for Assembly Tasks

We report on the design, specification and implementation of a situation awareness module used for assistive systems in manufacturing, in the context of Industry 4.0. A recent survey of research done in Germany and Europe, concerning assistive technology in industry shows a very high potential for “intelligent assistance” by combining smart sensors, networking and AI. While the state of the art concerning actual technology in industrial use points more towards user-friendly, speech-based interaction with personal assistants for information retrieval (typically of in-house documentation), the research presented here addresses an enterprise-level assistance system that is supported by a number of specialized Assistance Units that can be customized to the end users’ specifications and that range from tutoring systems to tele-robotics. Key to the approach is situation awareness, which is achieved through a combination of a-priori, task knowledge modelling and dynamic situation assessment on the basis of observation streams coming from sensors, cameras and microphones. The paper describes a working fragment of the industrial task description language and its extensions to cover also the triggering of assistive interventions when the observation modules have sent data that warrants such interventions.