Automatic Generation of Urban Road 3D Models for Pedestrian Studies From LiDAR Data

[Abstract] The point clouds acquired with a mobile LiDAR scanner (MLS) have high density and accuracy, which allows one to identify different elements of the road in them, as can be found in many scientific references, especially in the last decade. This study presents a methodology to characterize the urban space available for walking, by segmenting point clouds from data acquired with MLS and automatically generating impedance surfaces to be used in pedestrian accessibility studies. Common problems in the automatic segmentation of the LiDAR point cloud were corrected, achieving a very accurate segmentation of the points belonging to the ground. In addition, problems caused by occlusions caused mainly by parked vehicles and that prevent the availability of LiDAR points in spaces normally intended for pedestrian circulation, such as sidewalks, were solved in the proposed methodology. The innovation of this method lies, therefore, in the high definition of the generated 3D model of the pedestrian space to model pedestrian mobility, which allowed us to apply it in the search for shorter and safer pedestrian paths between the homes and schools of students in urban areas within the Big-Geomove project. Both the developed algorithms and the LiDAR data used are freely licensed for their use in further research.This research study was funded by the Directorate-General for Traffic of Spain, grant number SPIP2017-0234

Mobile Robots Navigation

Mobile robots navigation includes different interrelated activities: (i) perception, as obtaining and interpreting sensory information; (ii) exploration, as the strategy that guides the robot to select the next direction to go; (iii) mapping, involving the construction of a spatial representation by using the sensory information perceived; (iv) localization, as the strategy to estimate the robot position within the spatial map; (v) path planning, as the strategy to find a path towards a goal location being optimal or not; and (vi) path execution, where motor actions are determined and adapted to environmental changes. The book addresses those activities by integrating results from the research work of several authors all over the world. Research cases are documented in 32 chapters organized within 7 categories next described

Rehabilitation Engineering

Population ageing has major consequences and implications in all areas of our daily life as well as other important aspects, such as economic growth, savings, investment and consumption, labour markets, pensions, property and care from one generation to another. Additionally, health and related care, family composition and life-style, housing and migration are also affected. Given the rapid increase in the aging of the population and the further increase that is expected in the coming years, an important problem that has to be faced is the corresponding increase in chronic illness, disabilities, and loss of functional independence endemic to the elderly (WHO 2008). For this reason, novel methods of rehabilitation and care management are urgently needed. This book covers many rehabilitation support systems and robots developed for upper limbs, lower limbs as well as visually impaired condition. Other than upper limbs, the lower limb research works are also discussed like motorized foot rest for electric powered wheelchair and standing assistance device

YouTransfer, YouDesign: A participatory approach to design assistive technology for wheelchair transfers

Transferring independently to and from their wheelchair is an essential routine task for many wheelchair users but it can be physically demanding and can lead to falls and upper limb injuries that reduce the person’s independence. New assistive technologies (ATs) that facilitate the performance of wheelchair transfers have the potential to allow wheelchair users to gain further independence. To ensure that users’ needs are addressed by ATs, the active involvement of wheelchair users in the process of design and development is critical. However, participation can be burdensome for many wheelchair users as design processes where users are directly involved often require prolonged engagement. This thesis makes two contributions to facilitate wheelchair users’ engagement in the participatory design process for ATs, while being mindful of the burden of participation. The first contribution is a framework that provides a modular structure guiding the participatory design process from initial problem identification and analysis to facilitating collaborations between wheelchair users and designers. The framework identifies four factors determining the need and adoption process for ATs: (i) People focuses on the target population, (ii) Person includes personal characteristics, (iii) Activity refers to the challenges associated with the task, and (iv) Context encompasses the effect of the environment in which the activity takes place. The second contribution constitutes a rich picture of personal and external elements influencing real world wheelchair transfers that emerged from four studies carried out to investigate the effect of the framework factors on the design process for ATs. A related outcome based on these contributions is a framing document to share knowledge between wheelchair users and designers to provide focus and promote an equal collaboration among participants

Effectiveness of the VA System at Providing Wheeled Mobility Devices

A plethora of data has been collected documenting the need for assistive technology. There is little information however about the efficacy, distribution, and impact of assistive technology. Three related studies investigating demographic, cost, and health related quality of life (HRQoL) factors of the provision of wheelchairs and scooters were completed. The first investigated demographic and clinical differences. The second investigated differences in wheelchair costs among Veteran Integrated Service Networks (VISNS) and vendors. The third investigated the relationship between wheelchairs provided by the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and HRQoL. Using a cross-sectional, retrospective study design, three years of data from VHA National Prosthetic Patient and National Patient Care yielding 191,324 observations. Databases, and one year of data from the SF-36V of the Veterans Health Study were merged. Descriptive statistics, t-test, chi-square, ANCOVA, ANOVA, and logistic regression were used to analyze the data. The first study found more evidence for differences between Hispanics and Caucasians than between African Americans and Caucasians. When comparing manual wheelchairs, Hispanics (Odds Ratio=1.7), African Americans (Odds Ratio =1.1), and American Indians & Asians (Odds Ratio =1.6) were more likely than Caucasians to receive depot wheelchairs, and Hispanics were more likely than Caucasians to receive ultralight chairs (Odds Ratio=1.8). When comparing power wheelchairs Hispanics (Odds Ratio=1.6) were more likely than Caucasians to receive custom power chairs. Older veterans were more likely to receive standard depot wheelchairs (p=<.0001) and younger veterans ultralight wheelchairs (p=<.0001). The most frequently prescribed wheelchairs for all diagnoses were the standard manual wheelchair (51%), the lightweight manual wheelchair (15%), and the scooter (14%). The second study found variation in cost by VISN and by vendor. During FY00 and FY01, of the $109 million spent by the VHA to provide over 131,000 wheelchairs and scooters, 7$7,747,405 was considered excessive cost. The third study found veterans who received adjustable, ultralight manual wheelchairs had significantly lower physical function scores, as measured by the SF-36V, and significantly higher mental function, general health, and mental component summary scores than veterans who received nonadjustable, standard manual chairs, when adjusting for clinical and demographic factors

An exploration of comfort and discomfort amongst children and young people with severe physical, learning and communication difficulties who depend on postural management equipment

The natural response to the intrusive bodily sensation of discomfort is positional change. The purpose of this study was to explore how children and young people with profound physical, learning and communication difficulties, largely dependent on others to gauge their need for positional change, have their comfort needs met when using postural management equipment. Thirteen qualitative case studies were undertaken. Nine of the participants attended a special needs education primary or secondary school, two were in transition to school and two attended day services. All participants had a neurodevelopmental disability, with each being the focus of one case study. Parents, teachers, therapists and key support staff were interviewed, and the school or day centre routines of the children and young people were observed, with selective video recording. Single case and cross case analyses were undertaken. The findings showed threats to comfort include the restrictive nature of various accessories, hastiness of care tasks producing positioning errors and the procedural stretching of tissues prior to application. Opportunities for lessening discomfort included scheduled daily routines and time out of postural management equipment. Equipment use for the children and young people in this study was intrinsically coupled with care giving. Attentive caregivers read the behavioural expressions of the children and young people and reassuringly responded, safeguarding them from discomforting experiences. This maximised each individual‘s adaptive functioning, without compromising the benefits of postural support. This study highlights that the same item of equipment can be both comfortable and uncomfortable. Given the social and interactional world in which the children and young people live and learn, and the complex nature of their difficulties, it is others who must accept responsibility for ensuring their optimal level of comfort

Robotics 2010

Without a doubt, robotics has made an incredible progress over the last decades. The vision of developing, designing and creating technical systems that help humans to achieve hard and complex tasks, has intelligently led to an incredible variety of solutions. There are barely technical fields that could exhibit more interdisciplinary interconnections like robotics. This fact is generated by highly complex challenges imposed by robotic systems, especially the requirement on intelligent and autonomous operation. This book tries to give an insight into the evolutionary process that takes place in robotics. It provides articles covering a wide range of this exciting area. The progress of technical challenges and concepts may illuminate the relationship between developments that seem to be completely different at first sight. The robotics remains an exciting scientific and engineering field. The community looks optimistically ahead and also looks forward for the future challenges and new development

Higher education access and participation for persons with disability in Ghanaian public universities

Globally, there is a growing interest in widening access and supporting participation for persons with disability in higher education. This situation is stimulated in part by major international treaties and protocols. Ghana has demonstrated its commitment to this global trend to formulate and implement national legislation on inclusive education across the country’s educational system. However, in Ghana, access to and participation in the higher education system by persons with disability remains poor despite national legislation and policies to address this issue. It appears that national policies have not fully translated into institutional policies and provisions dedicated to supporting persons with disability. This study investigated how the Inclusive Education (IE) Policy (2015) in Ghana has been reflected in institutional policies and provisions that focus on students with disability in Ghanaian public universities. The aim of the study was to explore the extent to which institutional policies, arrangements, and practices in Ghanaian public universities aligned with the IE policy and addressed disability issues to increase access and participation for persons with disability. A qualitative approach and interpretivist paradigm were adopted using a multi-case study design. In-depth interviews were conducted with a total of 36 participants: seven policy architects from the National Steering Committee on Inclusive Education; three pro-vice chancellors; three deans of students; seven deans of school and heads of department; two heads and two staff from disability support units; as well as 12 students with disability. These participants represented architects of the IE policy and members of the three public universities in Ghana that were studied. Other data were collected from document analysis and observations and, together with data from the interviews, were used to establish how and to what extent institutional policies and provisions support access and full participation of persons with disability in Ghanaian public universities. Data from the interviews, observations, and documents were analysed thematically and presented in a narrative form. It was evident from the findings that awareness of the IE policy and the knowledge of its contents were limited in the case study universities. Although participants’ understanding of the objectives of the IE policy was consistent with the intentions of the policy, this knowledge was based on the participants’ experience rather than their knowledge of the policy content. Findings showed that the context of each case university reflected the extent of resourcing for policy implementation. This study also revealed that although the case study universities have provisions and a range of support services available for students with disability, these did not meet the students’ expectations. Further, it became evident from the data that attitudes towards students with disability were mainly negative, impacting university experiences of persons with disability. In addition, although the public universities in this research did admit some categories of students with disability, the universities tended to provide adjustments rather than inclusion due, in part, to financial constraints. This study has highlighted that knowledge of national legislation and policy on the inclusion of people with disability, resourcing, and attitudes at all levels of the university community have implications for widening access and supporting the participation of students with disability in public universities in Ghana. Finally, this study provides recommendations that may improve access and participation for persons with disability in Ghanaian public universities

Advanced Location-Based Technologies and Services

Since the publication of the first edition in 2004, advances in mobile devices, positioning sensors, WiFi fingerprinting, and wireless communications, among others, have paved the way for developing new and advanced location-based services (LBSs). This second edition provides up-to-date information on LBSs, including WiFi fingerprinting, mobile computing, geospatial clouds, geospatial data mining, location privacy, and location-based social networking. It also includes new chapters on application areas such as LBSs for public health, indoor navigation, and advertising. In addition, the chapter on remote sensing has been revised to address advancements

Towards a Legal end Ethical Framework for Personal Care Robots. Analysis of Person Carrier, Physical Assistant and Mobile Servant Robots.

Technology is rapidly developing, and regulators and robot creators inevitably have to come to terms with new and unexpected scenarios. A thorough analysis of this new and continuosuly evolving reality could be useful to better understand the current situation and pave the way to the future creation of a legal and ethical framework. This is clearly a wide and complex goal, considering the variety of new technologies available today and those under development. Therefore, this thesis focuses on the evaluation of the impacts of personal care robots. In particular, it analyzes how roboticists adjust their creations to the existing regulatory framework for legal compliance purposes. By carrying out an impact assessment analysis, existing regulatory gaps and lack of regulatory clarity can be highlighted. These gaps should of course be considered further on by lawmakers for a future legal framework for personal care robot. This assessment should be made first against regulations. If the creators of the robot do not encounter any limitations, they can then proceed with its development. On the contrary, if there are some limitations, robot creators will either (1) adjust the robot to comply with the existing regulatory framework; (2) start a negotiation with the regulators to change the law; or (3) carry out the original plan and risk to be non-compliant. The regulator can discuss existing (or lacking) regulations with robot developers and give a legal response accordingly. In an ideal world, robots are clear of impacts and therefore threats can be responded in terms of prevention and opportunities in form of facilitation. In reality, the impacts of robots are often uncertain and less clear, especially when they are inserted in care applications. Therefore, regulators will have to address uncertain risks, ambiguous impacts and yet unkown effects