An assistive robotics control system based on speech semantic recognition

Since 90’s era, many researchers and organizations are working on assistive technologies to ease the disabilities people to move around freely, independence, comfort and have the capabilities to enjoy life to the fullest. Nowadays, most of assistive technologies such as manual wheelchairs are propelled by patients sitting on the chair and physically turning the large rear wheels with hand or need helpers to push the chair by handles from behind of the wheelchair. Meanwhile, most of voice command wheelchair unable to deal with an unknown word and cannot take spontaneous speech data from the native speakers. Thus, this project proposes a method of control system for an assistive robotic based on speech semantic recognition through hardware implementation. Consequently, the purpose of this project is to develop a system based on speech semantic or meaning or the interpretation of a word, sentence, or others language form that can be used for an assistive robot. The mobile robot is represented as a wheelchair and a home prototype floor plan is represented as a house with four rooms (living room, toilet, kitchen and bedroom). The mobile robot moves according to the semantic of user commands and the commands are given on Android application Arduino Bluetooth Controller. This Android application is used to catch the command using Google Voice and send the command through Bluetooth HC-05 that connected to the Arduino. Moreover, the obstacle avoidance sensor used for this project is SHARP IR Distance Measurement sensor that standby when their obstacles in front of this mobile robot and the navigation system of this mobile robot are using Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM). The effectiveness of this mobile robot has been tested using qualitative method by gathered 12 respondents to test this mobile robot on the floor plan. The total effectiveness of this mobile robot is 83%. This mobile robot is still effective but there are some parts that are still missing and need to be improved. Finally, the main contribution of this project is to help physically handicapped people such as patients who cannot move their feet by controlling using speech meanings through helpful robotics applications

The North-South Digital Divide in Information and Communication Technologies Development: the Case for Spanish Regions

The "New Economy" is a concept that is associated with the growth of the US economy in the second half of the nineties, which were characterised by high growth in GDP. In attempt to find an explanation for these events, research to date cites the main determinant to be the marked rise in labour productivity that came about as a result of the impact of Information and Communication Technologies, particularly the Internet. The purpose of the present study is to examine the phenomenon that has arisen around this "new or digital economy" and the development of the Internet from the macro and microeconomic viewpoint and then show how the Spanish regions lag behind the rest of Europe in this respect. Firstly, we present international evidences of the positive impact of ICT in terms of labour and multifactorial productivity in national economies, industrial sectors and firms. These evidences are contrasted with some spanish studies. Secondly, we measure the importance of ICT in Europe. We base our method on a set of indicators, classified into three areas: infrastructure and size of sector, use of Internet and electronic commerce, and social and economic effects. We then examine the Spanish situation electronic commerce, and social and economic effects. We then examine the Spanish situation within the context of the rest of Europe, and discover a major north-south digital divide affecting certain areas, along with major interregional disparities. As far as Internet development is concerned, there are major regional differences. The paper points out the fact that Spain registers the highest standard deviation, in other words, the greatest regional differences, which, reflected in terms of different synthetic/composite indicators. This lag in progress contrasts with Spain's public policies aimed at promoting the Internet. Nevertheless, Internet development can provide the opportunity to close this gap within the EU. It may, however, increase discrepancies between the regions, by giving regions with higher per capita income an advantage in terms of productivity and competitiveness, unless a determined effort is made to implement actions aimed at developing the information society.

Thought for Food: the impact of ICT on agribusiness

This report outlines the impact of ICT on the food economy. On the basis of a literature review from four disciplines - knowledge management, management information systems, operations research and logistics, and economics - the demand for new ICT applications, the supply of new applications and the match between demand and supply are identified. Subsequently the impact of new ICT applications on the food economy is discussed. The report relates the development of new technologies to innovation and adoption processes and economic growth, and to concepts of open innovations and living lab

MANAGING IT INFRASTRUCTURE FOR INFORMATION SOCIETY DEVELOPMENT. THE ALBANIAN CASE

Information has become an important element without which society cannot achieve its objectives. The term “information society” is increasingly used nowadays, instead of the terms “production” or “consumption society”, because of the importance and necessity of information in today's dynamic environment. Since IT became commercial in the early 1990s, it has diffused rapidly in developed countries but generally slowly in developing ones. The ICT development requires preparation, largely in the form of investment in network infrastructure, skills and regulatory frameworks. So the physical infrastructure of information systems is one of the important components of the information society. The aim of this paper is to identify ICT infrastructure indicator and to find what factors Albania need to take in consideration for managing ICT infrastructure to compare with other countries for building an information society. Many technological changes have brought new developments in IT infrastructure, such as data and digitalization, packet switching and broadband networks, as well as increased role of wireless and Internet. Albania, as a developing country have tried do benefit in maximum from these developments, focusing in the IT infrastructure management as one of the elements for building information society.ICT, physical infrastructure, e-readiness, IT services

The Strategy of the Commons: Modelling the Annual Cost of Successful ICT Services for European Research

The provision of ICT services for research is increasingly using Cloud services to complement the traditional federation of computing centres. Due to the complex funding structure and differences in the basic business model, comparing the cost-effectiveness of these options requires a new approach to cost assessment. This paper presents a cost assessment method addressing the limitations of the standard methods and some of the initial results of the study. This acts as an illustration of the kind of cost assessment issues high-utilisation rate ICT services should consider when choosing between different infrastructure options. The research is co-funded by the European Commission Seventh Framework Programme through the e-FISCAL project (contract number RI-283449)

Technoligical Life Cycles Regional Clusters Facing Disruption

The phenomenon of technological life cycles is argued to be of great importance in the development of regional clusters. New 'disruptive' technologies may initiate the emergence of new regional industrial clusters and/or create new opportunities for further development of existing ones. However, they may also result in stagnation and decline of the latter. The term disruptive refers to such significant changes in the basic technologies that may change the industrial landscape, even in the shorter run. The paper examines the key features of a regional cluster, where the economic development patterns are quite closely related to the emergence of new key technologies.Technological life cycles, regional clusters, communication technology

A firm-level analysis of ICT adoption in an emerging economy: evidence from the colombian manufacturing industries

This study examines ICT adoption among 3,759 Colombian manufacturing firms, and attemptsto identify the factors that are conducive to the adoption and usage of ICT at the firm level. Ourmajor findings are (i) that the adoption of a given information and communication technology isbetter facilitated when a firm is relatively large, has large human capital, engages in moreinnovative activities, and when a firm´s organizational structure is better aligned with the giventechnology; (ii) that positive associations between the key determinants and ICT adoptions aremore pronounced for small and medium-sized firms than for large ones, and (iii) that informationspillovers within industries is also a determinant of ICT adoptions by the firms.ICT adoption, Internet, Innovation, Organizational change

The legal and contractual aspects of networked cooperation for the building and construction industry

The construction industry is a project-based business bringing together many different organisations to complete a desired goal. The strategic use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has enabled the goal to be completed more effectively. Two issues require addressing, the technology itself and the implementation factors of the technology. Such implementation factors should consider, among other factors, the legal and contractual issues associated with the use of ICT, training requirements and its effects on the organisational culture. To date the legal and contractual issues have not been extensively covered, and it is recognised that the technologies have not been properly covered by any recognised legal and contractual practices. This in turn is threatening to inhibit the growth and prosperity of the use of the technology on construction projects. This paper discusses these legal and contractual issues and describes methods and tools that can be used to enable the growth of technology to be used in a legal and contractually valid environment