Object Detection and Tracking in Cooperative Multi-Robot Transportation

Contemporary manufacturing systems imply the utilization of autonomous robotic systems, mainly for the execution of manipulation and transportation tasks. With a goal to reduce transportation and manipulation time, improve efficiency, and achieve flexibility of intelligent manufacturing systems, two or more intelligent mobile robots can be exploited. Such multi-robot systems require coordination and some level of communication between heterogeneous or homogeneous robotic systems. In this paper, we propose the utilization of two heterogeneous robotic systems, original intelligent mobile robots RAICO (Robot with Artificial Intelligence based COgnition) and DOMINO (Deep learning-based Omnidirectional Mobile robot with Intelligent cOntrol), for transportation tasks within a laboratory model of a manufacturing environment. In order to reach an adequate cooperation level and avoid collision while moving along predefined paths, our own developed intelligent mobile robots RAICO and DOMINO will communicate their current poses, and object detection and tracking system is developed. A stereo vision system equipped with two parallelly placed industrial-grade cameras is used for image acquisition, while convolutional neural networks are utilized for object detection, classification, and tracking. The proposed object detection and tracking system enables real-time tracking of another mobile robot within the same manufacturing environment. Furthermore, continuous information about mobile robot poses and the size of the bounding box generated by the convolutional neural network in the process of detection of another mobile robot is used for estimation of object movement and collision avoidance. Mobile robot localization through time is performed based on kinematic models of two intelligent mobile robots, and conducted experiments within a laboratory model of manufacturing environment confirm the applicability of the proposed framework for object detection and collision avoidance

Special oils for halal and safe cosmetics

Three types of non conventional oils were extracted, analyzed and tested for toxicity. Date palm kernel oil (DPKO), mango kernel oil (MKO) and Ramputan seed oil (RSO). Oil content for tow cultivars of dates Deglect Noor and Moshkan was 9.67% and 7.30%, respectively. The three varieties of mango were found to contain about 10% oil in average. The red yellow types of Ramputan were found to have 11 and 14% oil, respectively. The phenolic compounds in DPKO, MKO and RSO were 0.98, 0.88 and 0.78 mg/ml Gallic acid equivalent, respectively. Oils were analyzed for their fatty acid composition and they are rich in oleic acid C18:1 and showed the presence of (dodecanoic acid) lauric acid C12:0, which reported to appear some antimicrobial activities. All extracted oils, DPKO, MKO and RSO showed no toxic effect using prime shrimp bioassay. Since these oils are stable, melt at skin temperature, have good lubricity and are great source of essential fatty acids; they could be used as highly moisturizing, cleansing and nourishing oils because of high oleic acid content. They are ideal for use in such halal cosmetics such as Science, Engineering and Technology 75 skin care and massage, hair-care, soap and shampoo products

Calophyllum canum : antibacterial and anticancer plant

Human have used plants as a source of medicine throughout the world since time immemorial. Today there are at least 120 distinct chemical substances derived from plants that are considered as important drugs currently in use in one or more countries in the world. In particular, 60% drugs currently in clinical use for treatment of cancer were found to be of natural origin. Calophyllum canum is a large tree which grows in South East Asia and which is popular for its timber. This plant belongs to the family Guttiferae; a family that boasts species which are rich in bioactive phytochemicals. Some species are believed to having medicinal values and are used against several diseases including anti-inflammatory, anti infectious, astringent and antipyretic. We have successfully isolated two compounds from the methanol extract of Calophyllum canum stembarks that active inhibit the growth of Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 29213 and ATCC 25923). The cytotoxic study on the extracts revealed that the n-hexane extract had the strongest antiproliferation activity, followed by the methanol extract. n-hexane strongly inhibited the growth of TE1 and MCF7 cell lines. IC50 for n-hexane and methanol extract activity on the A549 cell line was found to be 27.96 μg/mL and 78.9 μg/mL respectively.The compounds (CE0 - CE5) isolated from ethyl acetate extract of C. canum are active to inhibit cell proliferation of human cervix adenocarcinoma cells