A cultural heritage experience for visually impaired people

In recent years, we have assisted to an impressive advance of computer vision algorithms, based on image processing and artificial intelligence. Among the many applications of computer vision, in this paper we investigate on the potential impact for enhancing the cultural and physical accessibility of cultural heritage sites. By using a common smartphone as a mediation instrument with the environment, we demonstrate how convolutional networks can be trained for recognizing monuments in the surroundings of the users, thus enabling the possibility of accessing contents associated to the monument itself, or new forms of fruition for visually impaired people. Moreover, computer vision can also support autonomous mobility of people with visual disabilities, for identifying pre-defined paths in the cultural heritage sites, and reducing the distance between digital and real world

A geometric approach to structural model matching by output feedback in linear impulsive systems

AbstractThis paper provides a complete characterization of solvability of the problem of structural model matching by output feedback in linear impulsive systems with nonuniformly spaced state jumps. Namely, given a linear impulsive plant and a linear impulsive model, both subject to sequences of state jumps which are assumed to be simultaneous and measurable, the problem consists in finding a linear impulsive compensator that achieves exact matching between the respective forced responses of the linear impulsive plant and of the linear impulsive model, by means of a dynamic feedback of the plant output, for all the admissible input functions and for all the admissible sequences of jump times. The solution of the stated problem is achieved by reducing it to an equivalent problem of structural disturbance decoupling by dynamic feedforward. Indeed, this latter problem is formulated for the so-called extended linear impulsive system, which consists of a suitable connection between the given plant and a modified model. A necessary and sufficient condition for the solution of the structural disturbance decoupling problem is first shown. The proof of sufficiency is constructive, since it is based on the synthesis of the compensator that solves the problem. The proof of necessity is based on the definition and the geometric properties of the unobservable subspace of a linear impulsive system subject to unequally spaced state jumps. Finally, the equivalence between the two structural problems is formally established and proven

Wearable devices for ergonomics: A systematic literature review

Wearable devices are pervasive solutions for increasing work efficiency, improving workers’ well-being, and creating interactions between users and the environment anytime and anywhere. Although several studies on their use in various fields have been performed, there are no systematic reviews on their utilisation in ergonomics. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review to identify wearable devices proposed in the scientific literature for ergonomic purposes and analyse how they can support the improvement of ergonomic conditions. Twenty-eight papers were retrieved and analysed thanks to eleven comparison dimensions related to ergonomic factors, purposes, and criteria, populations, application and validation. The majority of the available devices are sensor systems composed of different types and numbers of sensors located in diverse body parts. These solutions also represent the technology most frequently employed for monitoring and reducing the risk of awkward postures. In addition, smartwatches, body-mounted smartphones, insole pressure systems, and vibrotactile feedback interfaces have been developed for evaluating and/or controlling physical loads or postures. The main results and the defined framework of analysis provide an overview of the state of the art of smart wearables in ergonomics, support the selection of the most suitable ones in industrial and non-industrial settings, and suggest future research directions

A Narrative Review on Wearable Inertial Sensors for Human Motion Tracking in Industrial Scenarios

Industry 4.0 has promoted the concept of automation, supporting workers with robots while maintaining their central role in the factory. To guarantee the safety of operators and improve the effectiveness of the human-robot interaction, it is important to detect the movements of the workers. Wearable inertial sensors represent a suitable technology to pursue this goal because of their portability, low cost, and minimal invasiveness. The aim of this narrative review was to analyze the state-of-the-art literature exploiting inertial sensors to track the human motion in different industrial scenarios. The Scopus database was queried, and 54 articles were selected. Some important aspects were identified: (i) number of publications per year; (ii) aim of the studies; (iii) body district involved in the motion tracking; (iv) number of adopted inertial sensors; (v) presence/absence of a technology combined to the inertial sensors; (vi) a real-time analysis; (vii) the inclusion/exclusion of the magnetometer in the sensor fusion process. Moreover, an analysis and a discussion of these aspects was also developed

Cyber-Physical Systems and Smart Cities in India: Opportunities, Issues, and Challenges

A large section of the population around the globe is migrating towards urban settlements. Nations are working toward smart city projects to provide a better wellbeing for the inhabitants. Cyber-physical systems are at the core of the smart city setups. They are used in almost every system component within a smart city ecosystem. This paper attempts to discuss the key components and issues involved in transforming conventional cities into smart cities with a special focus on cyber-physical systems in the Indian context. The paper primarily focuses on the infrastructural facilities and technical knowhow to smartly convert classical cities that were built haphazardly due to overpopulation and ill planning into smart cities. It further discusses cyber-physical systems as a core component of smart city setups, highlighting the related security issues. The opportunities for businesses, governments, inhabitants, and other stakeholders in a smart city ecosystem in the Indian context are also discussed. Finally, it highlights the issues and challenges concerning technical, financial, and other social and infrastructural bottlenecks in the way of realizing smart city concepts along with future research directions

Desarrollo de un controlador predictivo para autómatas programables basado en la normativa IEC 61131-3

En este trabajo se describe la implementación de un controlador predictivo (MPC) en un autómata programable (PLC) a través de una librería en MATLAB. La librería toma los datos del sistema y los parámetros del MPC y genera con ello el código del controlador de forma que se minimice el uso de memoria del PLC. El código generado se empaqueta en un archivo que puede ser directamente importado al software de control del PLC. El lenguaje de programación de dicho código sigue la normativa IEC 61131-3. En concreto, el controlador está programado con el lenguaje ST. El controlador incluye un observador de estado y un estimador de perturbaciones, un steady state target optimization (SSTO), un predictor en bucle abierto y posibilidad de trabajar en modo manual. Este trabajo proporciona una metodología, basada en el algoritmo FISTA, para resolver el problema de optimización requerido para la implementación del controlador MPC. En este trabajo también se muestran los resultados de pruebas realizadas sobre el uso de memoria del PLC para sistemas de distintos tamaños, así como un ejemplo de uso del controlador aplicado en el PLC Modicon m340, de la empresa Schneider Electric. El software de control del PLC que ha sido usado, y para el que está programada la librería de MATLAB, es Unity Pro XL.MINECO (España) Proyecto DPI2013-48243-C2-2-RFEDER (UE) Proyecto DPI2016-76493-C3-1-

Design, Computational Modelling and Experimental Characterization of Bistable Hybrid Soft Actuators for a Controllable-Compliance Joint of an Exoskeleton Rehabilitation Robot

This paper presents the mechatronic design of a biorobotic joint with controllable compliance, for innovative applications of “assist-as-needed” robotic rehabilitation mediated by a wearable and soft exoskeleton. The soft actuation of robotic exoskeletons can provide some relevant advantages in terms of controllable compliance, adaptivity and intrinsic safety of the control performance of the robot during the interaction with the patient. Pneumatic Artificial Muscles (PAMs), which belong to the class of soft actuators, can be arranged in antagonistic configuration in order to exploit the variability of their mechanical compliance for the optimal adaptation of the robot performance during therapy. The coupling of an antagonistic configuration of PAMs with a regulation mechanism can achieve, under a customized control strategy, the optimal tuning of the mechanical compliance of the exoskeleton joint over full ranges of actuation pressure and joint rotation. This work presents a novel mechanism, for the optimal regulation of the compliance of the biorobotic joint, which is characterized by a soft and hybrid actuation exploiting the storage/release of the elastic energy by bistable Von Mises elastic trusses. The contribution from elastic Von Mises structure can improve both the mechanical response of the soft pneumatic bellows actuating the regulation mechanism and the intrinsic safety of the whole mechanism. A comprehensive set of design steps is presented here, including the optimization of the geometry of the pneumatic bellows, the fabrication process through 3D printing of the mechanism and some experimental tests devoted to the characterization of the hybrid soft actuation. The experimental tests replicated the main operating conditions of the regulation mechanism; the advantages arising from the bistable hybrid soft actuation were evaluated in terms of static and dynamic performance, e.g., pressure and force transition thresholds of the bistable mechanism, linearity and hysteresis of the actuator response

Mean-Field-Type Games in Engineering

A mean-field-type game is a game in which the instantaneous payoffs and/or the state dynamics functions involve not only the state and the action profile but also the joint distributions of state-action pairs. This article presents some engineering applications of mean-field-type games including road traffic networks, multi-level building evacuation, millimeter wave wireless communications, distributed power networks, virus spread over networks, virtual machine resource management in cloud networks, synchronization of oscillators, energy-efficient buildings, online meeting and mobile crowdsensing.Comment: 84 pages, 24 figures, 183 references. to appear in AIMS 201