Learning cloth manipulation with demonstrations

Recent advances in Deep Reinforcement learning and computational capabilities of GPUs have led to variety of research being conducted in the learning side of robotics. The main aim being that of making autonomous robots that are capable of learning how to solve a task on their own with minimal requirement for engineering on the planning, vision, or control side. Efforts have been made to learn the manipulation of rigid objects through the help of human demonstrations, specifically in the tasks such as stacking of multiple blocks on top of each other, inserting a pin into a hole, etc. These Deep RL algorithms successfully learn how to complete a task involving the manipulation of rigid objects, but autonomous manipulation of textile objects such as clothes through Deep RL algorithms is still not being studied in the community. The main objectives of this work involve, 1) implementing the state of the art Deep RL algorithms for rigid object manipulation and getting a deep understanding of the working of these various algorithms, 2) Creating an open-source simulation environment for simulating textile objects such as clothes, 3) Designing Deep RL algorithms for learning autonomous manipulation of textile objects through demonstrations.Peer ReviewedPreprin

Designing Standard Operation Procedure to Produce Environmentally Friendly Liquid Detergent

Washing clothes is an activity that is often done by people in the world. However, detergents sold in the market are harmful to human skin and aquatic ecosystems in rivers. Therefore, this research focuses on environmentally friendly detergents that can minimize the impact on the environment and humans. This study aims to develop standard operating procedures (SOP) in the production of environmentally friendly detergents. This was conducted by developing the initial SOP design, simulating the initial SOP, and identifying problems. Then, followed by improving, designing, and simulating the final SOP. The results of this study acquire SOP that generates products with better consistency and quality

Designing Standard Operation Procedure to Produce Environmentally Friendly Liquid Detergent

Washing clothes is an activity that is often done by people in the world. However, detergents sold in the market are harmful to human skin and aquatic ecosystems in rivers. Therefore, this research focuses on environmentally friendly detergents that can minimize the impact on the environment and humans. This study aims to develop standard operating procedures (SOP) in the production of environmentally friendly detergents. This was conducted by developing the initial SOP design, simulating the initial SOP, and identifying problems. Then, followed by improving, designing, and simulating the final SOP. The results of this study acquire SOP that generates products with better consistency and quality

Designing Standard Operation Procedure to Produce Environmentally Friendly Liquid Detergent

Washing clothes is an activity that is often done by people in the world. However, detergents sold in the market are harmful to human skin and aquatic ecosystems in rivers. Therefore, this research focuses on environmentally friendly detergents that can minimize the impact on the environment and humans. This study aims to develop standard operating procedures (SOP) in the production of environmentally friendly detergents. This was conducted by developing the initial SOP design, simulating the initial SOP, and identifying problems. Then, followed by improving, designing, and simulating the final SOP. The results of this study acquire SOP that generates products with better consistency and quality

Using authentic 3D product visualisation for an electrical online retailer

This study investigates the effects of authentic three dimensional (3D) product visualisation versus 3D telepresence on consumers’ virtual experience. A hypothetical electrical retailer Web site presents a variety of laptops using 3D product visualisations for the within-subjects laboratory experiments. The first experiment uses two-way repeated measures ANOVA to determine the effects of the antecedents on 3D authenticity. In a second experiment, a one-way ANOVA compares telepresence and authenticity scores. This research uses a U.K. sample to investigate the effects of control and animated colours on 3D authenticity and the effects of 3D authenticity on experiential and instrumental values. The results reveal significant differences between telepresence and authenticity constructs. Authenticity is more significant in simulating an online retailer’s products, and control and animated colours represent the main antecedents of authenticity. Moreover, experiential and instrumental values represent the main consequences of 3D authenticity

Making the user more efficient: Design for sustainable behaviour

User behaviour is a significant determinant of a product’s environmental impact; while engineering advances permit increased efficiency of product operation, the user’s decisions and habits ultimately have a major effect on the energy or other resources used by the product. There is thus a need to change users’ behaviour. A range of design techniques developed in diverse contexts suggest opportunities for engineers, designers and other stakeholders working in the field of sustainable innovation to affect users’ behaviour at the point of interaction with the product or system, in effect ‘making the user more efficient’. Approaches to changing users’ behaviour from a number of fields are reviewed and discussed, including: strategic design of affordances and behaviour-shaping constraints to control or affect energyor other resource-using interactions; the use of different kinds of feedback and persuasive technology techniques to encourage or guide users to reduce their environmental impact; and context-based systems which use feedback to adjust their behaviour to run at optimum efficiency and reduce the opportunity for user-affected inefficiency. Example implementations in the sustainable engineering and ecodesign field are suggested and discussed

Construcción de matriz espacial de cascarilla cónica plegable de una capa

Aquí se considera la visualización de una matriz volumétrica espacial de la cascarilla cónica plegable de una sola capa. Se representa la cascarilla en el estado de estrés y tensión registrado, cuando se fija la cascarilla en el borde superior y en su localización bajo del borde de anclaje en la campo de fuerzas elásticas y de gravedad del material. Sin tener en cuenta las fuerzas de gravedad, se define la cascarilla como un cono recto circular truncado. Se puede usar el módulo de programa desarrollado para diseñar y calcular estructuras de cascos con paredes delgadas expuestas a deformación no lineal así como durante su visualización. Se puede usar la visualización de la matriz espacial de la estructura de casco para simular diversos productos, por ejemplo, antenas cónicas o productos textiles, cascarillas plegables para ingeniería hidráulica, et

Construcción de matriz espacial de cascarilla cónica plegable de una capa

The paper covers the visualization of a volume-space form of the flexible inextensible one-layer shell that is represented in the stress and strain state appearing during fastening the shell on the upper edge and its free location below the fastening border in the field of gravitational and elastic forces of the material. With no account taken of the gravitational forces, the shell is a right circular flattened cone. A developed program module can be used in designing and calculating the thin-wall shell structures during their non-linear deformation and their visualization. Visualization of the space form of the shell structure can be used for simulating various products, for instance, the cone antennae or the textile products, flexible elastic shells in the hydraulic engineering, etc.Aquí se considera la visualización de una matriz volumétrica espacial de la cascarilla cónica plegable de una sola capa. Se representa la cascarilla en el estado de estrés y tensión registrado, cuando se fija la cascarilla en el borde superior y en su localización bajo del borde de anclaje en la campo de fuerzas elásticas y de gravedad del material. Sin tener en cuenta las fuerzas de gravedad, se define la cascarilla como un cono recto circular truncado. Se puede usar el módulo de programa desarrollado para diseñar y calcular estructuras de cascos con paredes delgadas expuestas a deformación no lineal así como durante su visualización. Se puede usar la visualización de la matriz espacial de la estructura de casco para simular diversos productos, por ejemplo, antenas cónicas o productos textiles, cascarillas plegables para ingeniería hidráulica, etc

Assistive robotics: research challenges and ethics education initiatives

Assistive robotics is a fast growing field aimed at helping healthcarers in hospitals, rehabilitation centers and nursery homes, as well as empowering people with reduced mobility at home, so that they can autonomously fulfill their daily living activities. The need to function in dynamic human-centered environments poses new research challenges: robotic assistants need to have friendly interfaces, be highly adaptable and customizable, very compliant and intrinsically safe to people, as well as able to handle deformable materials. Besides technical challenges, assistive robotics raises also ethical defies, which have led to the emergence of a new discipline: Roboethics. Several institutions are developing regulations and standards, and many ethics education initiatives include contents on human-robot interaction and human dignity in assistive situations. In this paper, the state of the art in assistive robotics is briefly reviewed, and educational materials from a university course on Ethics in Social Robotics and AI focusing on the assistive context are presented.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

The effects of progressive levels of 3d authenticity antecedents and consequences on consumers’ virtual experience

This study investigates the effects of authentic three dimensional (3D) product visualisation antecedents on 3D authenticity, and the effects of 3D authenticity consequences on consumers’ virtual experience. A hypothetical retailer Web site presents a variety of laptops for the within-subjects laboratory experiments. In a first experiment, a one-way ANOVA compares telepresence and authenticity scores. The second experiment uses two-way repeated measures ANOVA to determine the effects of the progressive levels of the antecedents on 3D authenticity. In a third experiment, two-way repeated measures ANOVA determine the effects of the progressive levels of 3D authenticity consequences on willingness to purchase. The results show that authenticity is more useful than telepresence in simulating consumers’ virtual experience. The high levels of control and animated colours lead to higher authenticity for the site. In addition, the high levels of 3D utilitarian and hedonic constructs enhance willingness to purchase from the online retailer