Learning about materiality through tinkering with Micro:bits

This paper discusses two pilot projects in Art and design education at the teacher training at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences. In the second round of drafts for the new curriculum of Art and design digital knowledge is described as stretching from using simple digital resources to master and shape your own digital products. It is no longer limited to two-dimensional visual modelling as previously drafted. This is in our view a new approach in a subject where making, tinkering and designing allows for explorations in both 2D and 3D. Given that we want to encourage the use of the digital together with the use of physical materials, the pilot case studies demonstrate the importance of bringing coding and the material aspects of tinkering, making, and creating into play. The BBC Micro:bit was used to make coding and mechanical control part of projects made with traditional material. Further research and development should be undertaken to bring such practices into classrooms in primary and lower secondary schools.

A Switched Capacitor Memristor Emulator using Stochastic Computing

Due to the increased use of memristors, and its many applications, the use of emulators has grown in parallel to avoid some of the difficulties presented by real devices such as variability and reliability. In this paper, we present a memristive emulator designed using a Switched Capacitor (SC), this is, an analog component/ block and a control part or block implemented using stochastic computing (SCo) and therefore fully digital. Our design is thus a mixed signal circuit. Memristor equations are implemented using stochastic computing to generate the control signals necessary to work with the controllable resistor implemented as switched capacitor.

Prototype of IoT-Based Fruit Alcohol Level Measurement Tool

The effect of alcohol on health is very large if you consume too much, and the fact that excessive alcohol levels can interfere with digestion can cause eye function disorders, decreased brain and nerve function as well as cancer. Knowing the alcohol content in fruits that are suitable for consumption by the body from an early age is very important. Based on this problem, this study aims to create a prototype measuring instrument for the alcohol content of fruits using the Blynk application. This circuit consists of 3 circuits, namely the input part in the form of an Mq3 sensor, the control part in the form of Nodemcu, and the output port in the form of the Blynk application. From the results of testing tools for four samples including durian, grapes, papaya, and apples for 25 times the test of the fruit is peeled for the next 2 hours the average percentage of durian alcohol content is 28.57%, grapes are 12.68%, papaya is 5.79 %, and apples by 18.6%. In this study, there is also the notification facility to the third smartphone that the alcohol content exceeds the alcohol content which is not good from the value set on the device.

A 2.4 GHz 20 W 8-Channel RF Source Module with Improved Channel Output Balance

This paper presents a 2.4 GHz 20 W 8-channel radio frequency (RF) source module with improved channel output balance. The proposed RF source module is composed of an RF source generation/DC control part, a power amplification part, and a power dividing part. A 2-stage power amplifier (PA) is combined with gallium nitride high-electron-mobility transistors, including a 25 W transistor and 2-way combined 120 W transistors as the drive and main PA, respectively. In addition, a structure was applied to improve the channel output balance compared to that of the previous module, and the differences of the phase and magnitude of the output power between channels are alleviated within 0.35° and 0.18 dB, respectively. A water jacket was implemented under the drive and main PAs for liquid cooling; however, unlike in the previous work, it was designed by optimizing the size of the water jacket and reducing unnecessary materials using a brazing process. The output power at each channel was 43 dBm, and the drain efficiency was more than 50% at 2.4 GHz. The total module size was 244 mm × 247.4 mm × 30 mm, and its volume was reduced by approximately 58.4% compared to that of the previous module.

Autonomous Intubation Robot System based on Visual Servoing and Hybrid Control

During COVID-19 and other pandemics, endotracheal intubation is an effective and common method to save patients as the virus causes lung fibrosis and thus patients are unable to breathe spontaneously. Medical staff need to insert a tube close to the patient’s mouth, thereby leading to a high risk of cross-infection. To protect medical staff, we propose an autonomous intubation robot system (AIRS). With the developed visual servoing and hybrid control method, the entire system can simulate doctors for satisfying repeatability and safety of intubation operations. This system includes a self-driving/teleoperation platform, two co-robot arms, a new multi-functional laryngoscope, force sensors, and several cameras. In the visual servoing part, we realize recognition and location of the patient’s face, medical devices, and main physiological structures to provide real-time navigation. In the hybrid control part, we establish an oral model, propose an offline planning method and PID controllers by combining force, vision, and motion, and apply Virtual Fixture to insert safely. AIRS's validation is with a phantom model under a 2-min operation. Our proposed robot is original and promising in the area of emergent medical robots. We will further validate AIRS in clinical applications and extend the developed techniques in other general treatments.

Autonomous Intubation Robot System based on Visual Servoing and Hybrid Control

During COVID-19 and other pandemics, endotracheal intubation is an effective and common method to save patients as the virus causes lung fibrosis and thus patients are unable to breathe spontaneously. Medical staff need to insert a tube close to the patient’s mouth, thereby leading to a high risk of cross-infection. To protect medical staff, we propose an autonomous intubation robot system (AIRS). With the developed visual servoing and hybrid control method, the entire system can simulate doctors for satisfying repeatability and safety of intubation operations. This system includes a self-driving/teleoperation platform, two co-robot arms, a new multi-functional laryngoscope, force sensors, and several cameras. In the visual servoing part, we realize recognition and location of the patient’s face, medical devices, and main physiological structures to provide real-time navigation. In the hybrid control part, we establish an oral model, propose an offline planning method and PID controllers by combining force, vision, and motion, and apply Virtual Fixture to insert safely. AIRS's validation is with a phantom model under a 2-min operation. Our proposed robot is original and promising in the area of emergent medical robots. We will further validate AIRS in clinical applications and extend the developed techniques in other general treatments.

Improvement of Ips typographus catches in pheromone trap barriers by altering of sex assigned pheromone blends

The present study was based on the idea of a pheromone trap barrier with alternating dispensers releasing different pheromone mixtures that affect males and females differently. We tested the possibility of increasing the catch efficacy of pheromone trap barriers by altering the pheromone mixture with low levels of cis-Verbenol (cV, targeting males, BM), the mixture with high levels of cV (targeting females, BF) and the pheromone mixture with intermediate levels of cV (SL). In addition, we were interested in lowering the dispersion of attracted bark beetles, especially males, which reduces the risk of attack on trees in the surroundings. Significant highest absolute and relative catch was found in the catch of the combination BM–BF, which was 2.2-fold higher than the catch of the control barrier treated with commercial IT Ecolure baits (Fytofarm, Slovakia). At the same time, the lowest dispersal in the surroundings of the barrier with the combination BM–BF was found, which was 2.5-fold lower than in the control barrier. The performance of the BM–BF combination of mixtures was proved in a field trial experiment where the total season catch of the part of the barrier treated with BM–BF dispensers caught 1.5-fold more beetles during the season than the control part treated with IT Ecolure dispensers. Furthermore, the results confirm that the performance of the combination of low levels of cV (targeting males) and high levels of cV (targeting females) is complemented by the desired reduced dispersion around the barrier, which reduces the risk of attack on trees in the surroundings.