1,319 research outputs found
A mosaic of eyes
Autonomous navigation is a traditional research topic in intelligent robotics and vehicles, which requires a robot to perceive its environment through onboard sensors such as cameras or laser scanners, to enable it to drive to its goal. Most research to date has focused on the development of a large and smart brain to gain autonomous capability for robots. There are three fundamental questions to be answered by an autonomous mobile robot: 1) Where am I going? 2) Where am I? and 3) How do I get there? To answer these basic questions, a robot requires a massive spatial memory and considerable computational resources to accomplish perception, localization, path planning, and control. It is not yet possible to deliver the centralized intelligence required for our real-life applications, such as autonomous ground vehicles and wheelchairs in care centers. In fact, most autonomous robots try to mimic how humans navigate, interpreting images taken by cameras and then taking decisions accordingly. They may encounter the following difficulties
On the Design of Ambient Intelligent Systems in the Context of Assistive Technologies
The design of Ambient Intelligent Systems (AISs) is discussed in the
context of assistive technologies. The main issues include ubiquitous communications,
context awareness, natural interactions and heterogeneity, which are
analyzed using some examples. A layered architecture is proposed for heterogeneous
sub-systems integration with three levels of interactions that may be
used as a framework to design assistive AISs.Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología TIC2001-1868-C0
A short curriculum of the robotics and technology of computer lab
Our research Lab is directed by Prof. Anton Civit. It is an interdisciplinary group of 23
researchers that carry out their teaching and researching labor at the Escuela
Politécnica Superior (Higher Polytechnic School) and the Escuela de Ingeniería
Informática (Computer Engineering School). The main research fields are: a)
Industrial and mobile Robotics, b) Neuro-inspired processing using electronic spikes,
c) Embedded and real-time systems, d) Parallel and massive processing computer
architecture, d) Information Technologies for rehabilitation, handicapped and elder
people, e) Web accessibility and usability
In this paper, the Lab history is presented and its main publications and research
projects over the last few years are summarized.Nuestro grupo de investigación está liderado por el profesor Civit. Somos un grupo
multidisciplinar de 23 investigadores que realizan su labor docente e investigadora
en la Escuela Politécnica Superior y en Escuela de Ingeniería Informática. Las
principales líneas de investigaciones son: a) Robótica industrial y móvil. b)
Procesamiento neuro-inspirado basado en pulsos electrónicos. c) Sistemas
empotrados y de tiempo real. d) Arquitecturas paralelas y de procesamiento masivo.
e) Tecnología de la información aplicada a la discapacidad, rehabilitación y a las
personas mayores. f) Usabilidad y accesibilidad Web.
En este artículo se reseña la historia del grupo y se resumen las principales
publicaciones y proyectos que ha conseguido en los últimos años
Cognitive assisted living ambient system: a survey
The demographic change towards an aging population is creating a significant impact and introducing drastic challenges to our society. We therefore need to find ways to assist older people to stay independently and prevent social isolation of these population. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) provide various solutions to help older adults to improve their quality of life, stay healthier, and live independently for a time. Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) is a field to investigate innovative technologies to provide assistance as well as healthcare and rehabilitation to impaired seniors. The paper provides a review of research background and technologies of AAL
A Smart Electric Wheelchair Using UPnP
People with disabilities in general, and wheelchair users in particular,
are one of the groups of people that may benefit more from Ambient Intelligent
(AmI) Systems, enhancing their autonomy and quality of life. However, current
wheelchairs are usually not equipped with devices capable of accessing services
in AmI environments. In this paper, we describe how an electric wheelchair is
equipped with an UPnP based module that allows the integration in AmI systems.Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología TIC2001-1868-C03-0
ROS Based Multi-sensor Navigation of Intelligent Wheelchair
Our society is moving towards an ageing society and the number of population with physical impairments and disabilities will increase dramatically. It is necessary to provide mobility support to these people so that they can live independently at home and integrated into the society. This paper presents a ROS (Robot Operating System) based multi-sensor navigation for an intelligent wheelchair that can help the elderly and disabled people. ROS provides an easy to use framework for rapid system development at a reduced cost. Some experimental results are given in the paper to demonstrate the feasibility and performance of the developed system
Embedded hardware for closing the gap between research and industry in the assistive powered wheelchair market
Literature is abound with smart wheelchair platforms of various developments, yet to date there has been little technology find its way to the market place. Many trials and much research has taken place over the last few decades however the end user has benefited precious little. There exists two fundamental difficulties when developing a smart powered wheelchair assistive system, the first is need for the system to be fully compatible with all of the manufacturers, and the second is to produce a technology and business model which is marketable and therefore desirable to the manufacturers. However this requires the researchers to have access to hardware which can be used to develop practical systems which integrate and communicate seamlessly with current manufacturer’s wheelchair systems. We present our powered wheelchair system which integrates with 95% of the powered wheelchair controller market; our system allows researchers to access the low level embedded system with more powerful computational devices running sophisticated software enabling rapid development of algorithms and techniques. When they have been evaluated they can be easily ported to the embedded processor for real-time evaluation and clinical trial
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