Learning to Navigate Cloth using Haptics

We present a controller that allows an arm-like manipulator to navigate deformable cloth garments in simulation through the use of haptic information. The main challenge of such a controller is to avoid getting tangled in, tearing or punching through the deforming cloth. Our controller aggregates force information from a number of haptic-sensing spheres all along the manipulator for guidance. Based on haptic forces, each individual sphere updates its target location, and the conflicts that arise between this set of desired positions is resolved by solving an inverse kinematic problem with constraints. Reinforcement learning is used to train the controller for a single haptic-sensing sphere, where a training run is terminated (and thus penalized) when large forces are detected due to contact between the sphere and a simplified model of the cloth. In simulation, we demonstrate successful navigation of a robotic arm through a variety of garments, including an isolated sleeve, a jacket, a shirt, and shorts. Our controller out-performs two baseline controllers: one without haptics and another that was trained based on large forces between the sphere and cloth, but without early termination.Comment: Supplementary video available at https://youtu.be/iHqwZPKVd4A. Related publications http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~karenliu/Robotic_dressing.htm

An Archaeological Perspective on the Andean Concept of \u3cem\u3eCamaquen\u3c/em\u3e: Thinking Through Late Pre-Columbian \u3cem\u3eOfrendas\u3c/em\u3e and \u3cem\u3eHuacas\u3c/em\u3e

Ethnohistoric sources suggest that the indigenous inhabitants of Andean South America saw both people and things as animated or enlivened by a common vital force (camaquen). In approaching the subject of camaquen archaeologically, I attempt to place objects and their materiality at the analytical center, rather than the normally privileged ethnohistoric or ethnographic data, in order to see what new insights into the nature of precolumbian ontologies might be gained from ‘thinking through things.’ In this, I follow recent theories premised on the idea that the traditional segregation of concepts and things may hinder understanding of alternative worlds. The study focuses specifically on the arrangements, relationality, and referentiality between and among objects found in sacred and offering contexts dating to the Inca period

Textiles as Material Gestalt: Cloth as a Catalyst in the Co-designing Process

Textiles is the common language within Emotional Fit, a collaborative research project investigating a person-centred, sustainable approach to fashion for an ageing female demographic (55+). Through the co-designing of a collection of research tools, textiles have acted as a material gestalt for exploring our research participants' identities by tracing their embodied knowledge of fashionable dress. The methodology merges Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, co-design and a simultaneous approach to textile and garment design. Based on an enhanced understanding of our participants textile preferences, particular fabric qualities have catalysed silhouettes, through live draping and geometric pattern cutting to accommodate multiple body shapes and customisation. Printedtextiles have also been digitally crafted in response to the contours of the garment and body and personal narratives of wear. Sensorial and tactile interactions have informed the engineering and scaling of patterns within zero-waste volumes. The article considers the functional and aesthetic role of textiles

What I could make of mothering: matricentric puppetry and the mothers of the bestiary

Published versio

First aid when and where you need it, development of first aid self-care, patient education for web and mobile devices

Health care is undergoing a revolution as patients have access to more and more information via Internet by the use of computers and mobile devices. In recognition of the rapidly growing need for patient first aid education, a collection of first aid self-care animations was created to improve treatment decisions and outcome safety. These animations are available for people via VisualDxHealth, a consumer focused website developed by Logical Images, Inc. The objective of the project was to produce simple and easy to understand first aid animations for a specific target audience. The production pipeline started with meeting with the client, drawing storyboards, deciding the art direction, animating, testing and ended with the final output. Working through this pipeline was beneficial to the workflow of the thesis. It allowed to manage my time more effectively to the production of the project and had more successful results. A combination of three-dimensional models and two-dimensional computer graphics were used in creating the animations. The project included an evaluation to determine how well learners accessing this site understood the instructions. The test group included a specific target audience determined by Logical Images, Inc. which was women between the ages of 30-50 years, who have a college degree and may be looking online for health information for themselves or family members. The results were recorded, analyzed and used during the revision stages for the animations. The project concluded with the final production of self-care animations for Blister, Foreign Objects in Eyes, Skin , Mouth and Nose, Wound, Nosebleed, Splinter and Tick Bite

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN WOUND MANAGEMENT PRODUCTS: A BRIEF REVIEW

Wound can be defined as any process which leads to the disruption of the normal architecture of a tissue. They may be closed or open, for example, abrasions, lacerations, avulsions, ballistic and excised, or surgical wounds. Successful wound care includes advancing patient local and systemic conditions in conjunction with a perfect injury healing condition. Numerous wide assortments of dressing materials are accessible both for extreme and persistent non-healing wounds. A wide range of wound healing products have been produced to impact this injury condition to give a non-pathogen, ensured, and clammy region for healing to happen. A perfect injury dressing ought to limit loss of protein, electrolytes, and liquids from twisted and to diminish pain and contamination alongside wound healing. More current products are as of now being utilized to supplant or enlarge different substrates in the injury healing period. There is a sharp complexity to prior routine of wound administration, where the injury is permitted to dry, yet the present advancement was to move forward to the idea of wet injury recovering. This review of the present wounding periphery in wound recovery occurs at the most recent utilizations of silver and the employments of negative pressure wound gadgets, propelled dressings and skin substitutes, and biologic injury items including development of hydrogels and hyperbaric oxygen as an aid in wound mending. With the advancement of accessible dressings, the objective is to locate the most proper methodology or blend of modalities to optimize wound healing

Animating Virtual Human for Virtual Batik Modeling

This research paper describes a development of animating virtual human for virtual batik modeling project. The objectives of this project are to animate the virtual human, to map the cloth with the virtual human body, to present the batik cloth, and to evaluate the application in terms of realism of virtual human look, realism of virtual human movement, realism of 3D scene, application suitability, application usability, fashion suitability and user acceptance. The final goal is to accomplish an animated virtual human for virtual batik modeling. There are 3 essential phases which research and analysis (data collection of modeling and animating technique), development (model and animate virtual human, map cloth to body and add a music) and evaluation (evaluation of realism of virtual human look, realism of virtual human movement, realism of props, application suitability, application usability, fashion suitability and user acceptance). The result for application usability is the highest percentage which 90%. Result show that this application is useful to the people. In conclusion, this project has met the objective, which the realism is achieved by used a suitable technique for modeling and animating