Development of a Humanoid Robot Arm for Use in Urban Environments

The Bucknell Humanoid Robot Arm project was developed in order toprovide a lightweight robotic arm for the IHMC / Bucknell University bipedal robot that will provide a means of manipulation and facilitate operations in urban environments. The resulting fabricated arm described in this thesis weighs only 13 pounds, and is capable of holding 11 pounds fully outstretched, lifting objects such as tools, and it can open doors. It is also capable of being easily integrated with the IHMC / Bucknell University biped. This thesis provides an introduction to robots themselves, discusses the goals of the Bucknell Humanoid Robot Arm project, provides a background on some of the existing robots, and shows how the Bucknell Humanoid Robot Arm fits in with the studies that have been completed. After reading these studies, important items such as design trees and operational scenarios were completed. The completion of these items led to measurable specifications and later the design requirements and specifications. A significant contribution of this thesis to the robotics discipline involves the design of the actuator itself. The arm uses of individual, lightweight, compactly designed actuators to achieve desired capabilities and performance requirements. Many iterations were completed to get to the final design of each actuator. After completing the actuators, the design of the intermediate links and brackets was finalized. Completion of the design led to the development of a complex controls system which used a combination of Clanguage and Java

3D oceanographic data compression using 3D-ODETLAP

This paper describes a 3D environmental data compression technique for oceanographic datasets. With proper point selection, our method approximates uncompressed marine data using an over-determined system of linear equations based on, but essentially different from, the Laplacian partial differential equation. Then this approximation is refined via an error metric. These two steps work alternatively until a predefined satisfying approximation is found. Using several different datasets and metrics, we demonstrate that our method has an excellent compression ratio. To further evaluate our method, we compare it with 3D-SPIHT. 3D-ODETLAP averages 20% better compression than 3D-SPIHT on our eight test datasets, from World Ocean Atlas 2005. Our method provides up to approximately six times better compression on datasets with relatively small variance. Meanwhile, with the same approximate mean error, we demonstrate a significantly smaller maximum error compared to 3D-SPIHT and provide a feature to keep the maximum error under a user-defined limit

Light microscopy--a prototype for a remote image diagnosis system

Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1997.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 67-69).by Alexander B. Zakharov.M.Eng

MedLAN: Compact mobile computing system for wireless information access in emergency hospital wards

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.As the need for faster, safer and more efficient healthcare delivery increases, medical consultants seek new ways of implementing a high quality telemedical system, using innovative technology. Until today, teleconsultation (the most common application of Telemedicine) was performed by transferring the patient from the Accidents and Emergency ward, to a specially equipped room, or by moving large and heavy machinery to the place where the patient resided. Both these solutions were unpractical, uneconomical and potentially dangerous. At the same time wireless networks became increasingly useful in point-of-care areas such as hospitals, because of their ease of use, low cost of installation and increased flexibility. This thesis presents an integrated system called MedLAN dedicated for use inside the A&E hospital wards. Its purpose is to wirelessly support high-quality live video, audio, high-resolution still images and networks support from anywhere there is WLAN coverage. It is capable of transmitting all of the above to a consultant residing either inside or outside the hospital, or even to an external place, thorough the use of the Internet. To implement that, it makes use of the existing IEEE 802.11b wireless technology. Initially, this thesis demonstrates that for specific scenarios (such as when using WLANs), DICOM specifications should be adjusted to accommodate for the reduced WLAN bandwidth. Near lossless compression has been used to send still images through the WLANs and the results have been evaluated by a number of consultants to decide whether they retain their diagnostic value. The thesis further suggests improvements on the existing 802.11b protocol. In particular, as the typical hospital environment suffers from heavy RF reflections, it suggests that an alternative method of modulation (OFDM) can be embedded in the 802.11b hardware to reduce the multipath effect, increase the throughput and thus the video quality sent by the MedLAN system. Finally, realising that the trust between a patient and a doctor is fundamental this thesis proposes a series of simple actions aiming at securing the MedLAN system. Additionally, a concrete security system is suggested, that encapsulates the existing WEP security protocol, over IPSec

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory: Instrumentation and Online Systems

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory is a cubic-kilometer-scale high-energy neutrino detector built into the ice at the South Pole. Construction of IceCube, the largest neutrino detector built to date, was completed in 2011 and enabled the discovery of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos. We describe here the design, production, and calibration of the IceCube digital optical module (DOM), the cable systems, computing hardware, and our methodology for drilling and deployment. We also describe the online triggering and data filtering systems that select candidate neutrino and cosmic ray events for analysis. Due to a rigorous pre-deployment protocol, 98.4% of the DOMs in the deep ice are operating and collecting data. IceCube routinely achieves a detector uptime of 99% by emphasizing software stability and monitoring. Detector operations have been stable since construction was completed, and the detector is expected to operate at least until the end of the next decade.Comment: 83 pages, 50 figures; updated with minor changes from journal review and proofin

MOBILE SIGN TO VOICE (MS2V)

This documentation is a feature of design system for a special people where they have problem with hearing or speech problems and thus need to use sign language for communication. It is the best way to whom that want to learn in the short period because as we all realized, nowadays everybody have it own mobile phone with the Bluetooth capability and this will make the process become easier in distributing the product and introduce the product to the community. The product a Mobile Sign-to- Voice (MS2V) designed to help normal people to communicate with deaf or mute people in the short duration and more effectively. Within this report, it should able to answer some ofthe questions the might in the mind about this system:- • Is this system able to help people learn the sign language effectively? • Is this system able to special people easier to socialize with other people? • Is this system able to reduce the cost to learn sign language for everyone? In this report and within this system shall answer the questions with the affirmation and the stated of the objective of this system for example help the normal people to communicate with special people using mobile and it also could be cost saving fir those who wants to learn sign-language. The scope of this project is giving away the ideas in utilizing the mobility product and enhancement to help special people that need the technology to help them to socialize with other peoples and suggest the enhancement for the nature use