Semi-autonomous Robotic Disassembly Enhanced by Mixed Reality

In this study, we introduce "SARDiM," a modular semi-autonomous platform enhanced with mixed reality for industrial disassembly tasks. Through a case study focused on EV battery disassembly, SARDiM integrates Mixed Reality, object segmentation, teleoperation, force feedback, and variable autonomy. Utilising the ROS, Unity, and MATLAB platforms, alongside a joint impedance controller, SARDiM facilitates teleoperated disassembly. The approach combines FastSAM for real-time object segmentation, generating data which is subsequently processed through a cluster analysis algorithm to determine the centroid and orientation of the components, categorizing them by size and disassembly priority. This data guides the MoveIt platform in trajectory planning for the Franka Robot arm. SARDiM provides the capability to switch between two teleoperation modes: manual and semi-autonomous with variable autonomy. Each was evaluated using four different Interface Methods (IM): direct view, monitor feed, mixed reality with monitor feed, and point cloud mixed reality. Evaluations across the eight IMs demonstrated a 40.61% decrease in joint limit violations using Mode 2. Moreover, Mode 2-IM4 outperformed Mode 1-IM1 by achieving a 2.33%-time reduction while considerably increasing safety, making it optimal for operating in hazardous environments at a safe distance, with the same ease of use as teleoperation with a direct view of the environment

Multi-Robot Task Planning for Efficient Battery Disassembly in Electric Vehicles

With the surging interest in electric vehicles (EVs), there is a need for advancements in the development and dismantling of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), which are highly important for the circular economy. This paper introduces an intelligent hybrid task planner designed for multi-robot disassembly and demonstrates its application to an EV lithium-ion battery pack. The objective is to enable multiple robots to operate collaboratively in a single workspace to execute battery disassembly tasks efficiently and without collisions. This approach can be generalized to almost any disassembly task. The planner uses logical and hierarchical strategies to identify object locations from data captured by cameras mounted on each robot’s end-effector, orchestrating coordinated pick-and-place operations. The efficacy of this task planner was assessed through simulations with three trajectory-planning algorithms: RRT, RRTConnect, and RRTStar. Performance evaluations focused on completion times for battery disassembly tasks. The results showed that completion times were similar across the planners, with 543.06 s for RRT, 541.89 s for RRTConnect, and 547.27 s for RRTStar, illustrating that the effectiveness of the task planner is independent of the specific joint-trajectory-planning algorithm used. This demonstrates the planner’s capability to effectively manage multi-robot disassembly operations

Wampole's 1957-1959 annotated checklist of birds of Coos Bay, Oregon

John H. Wampole's list of the birds of the Coos Bay area from 1958-59 is one of few such compilations from that region, and the only reasonably accessible one from its era except for Giesler (1952), which covered only the Cape Arago region. Wampole's list has been circulating informally as a poorly reproduced typescript for many years, but has never to my knowledge been published. I was unsuccessful in attempts to locate the compiler or the others whose notes are used in this list. I hope that they would approve of its publication thirty-seven years later

Supervisor Cultural Responsiveness and Unresponsiveness in Cross-Cultural Supervision

Thirteen supervisees’ of color and 13 European American supervisees’ experiences of culturally responsive and unresponsive cross-cultural supervision were studied using consensual qualitative research. In culturally responsive supervision, all supervisees felt supported for exploring cultural issues, which positively affected the supervisee, the supervision relationship, and client outcomes. In culturally unresponsive supervision, cultural issues were ignored, actively discounted, or dismissed by supervisors, which negatively affected the supervisee, the relationship, and/or client outcomes. European American supervisees’ and supervisees’ of color experiences diverged significantly, with supervisees of color experiencing unresponsiveness more frequently and with more negative effects than European American supervisees. Implications for research and supervision practice are discussed

Electric Vehicle Battery Disassembly Using Interfacing Toolbox for Robotic Arms

This paper showcases the integration of the Interfacing Toolbox for Robotic Arms (ITRA) with our newly developed hybrid Visual Servoing (VS) methods to automate the disassembly of electric vehicle batteries, thereby advancing sustainability and fostering a circular economy. ITRA enhances collaboration between industrial robotic arms, server computers, sensors, and actuators, meeting the intricate demands of robotic disassembly, including the essential real-time tracking of components and robotic arms. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our hybrid VS approach, combined with ITRA, in the context of Electric Vehicle (EV) battery disassembly across two robotic testbeds. The first employs a KUKA KR10 robot for precision tasks, while the second utilizes a KUKA KR500 for operations needing higher payload capacity. Conducted in T1 (Manual Reduced Velocity) mode, our experiments underscore a swift communication protocol that links low-level and high-level control systems, thus enabling rapid object detection and tracking. This allows for the efficient completion of disassembly tasks, such as removing the EV battery’s top case in 27 s and disassembling a stack of modules in 32 s. The demonstrated success of our framework highlights its extensive applicability in robotic manufacturing sectors that demand precision and adaptability, including medical robotics, extreme environments, aerospace, and construction

Vivienda social y segregación socioespacial en una ciudad pequeña: el caso de Angol, Chile

Este trabajo busca reconocer el impacto que la vivienda social ha tenido sobre los procesos de segregación socioespacial en la ciudad de Angol, una ciudad menor. La metodología empleada fue mixta, utilizando el índice de similitud de Duncan, registros de permisos de edificación municipales y entrevistas semiestructuradas a habitantes de conjuntos de vivienda social y agentes con injerencia en el desarrollo urbano local. Los resultados indican que la vivienda social en Angol ha contribuido a aumentar la segregación espacial, sin embargo, su manifestación ha adquirido una escala espacial reducida, que ha permitido que grupos socioeconómicos disímiles habiten en condiciones de proximidad espacial, limitando así el aumento de la segregación y exclusión social tanto funcional como simbólica. Se concluye que el estudio de la manifestación de la segregación socioespacial en las ciudades menores puede contribuir en la generación de políticas públicas que suavicen los efectos evidenciados en las grandes ciudades.This work seeks to recognize the impact that social housing has had on the processes of socio-spatial segregation in the city of Angol, a minor city. A mixed methodology was occupied, utilyzing the similarity index of Duncan, municipal building logs and semistructured interviews of residents of social housing and agents with interference in local urban development. The results indicate that social housing in Angol has contributed to increased spatial segregation, however, its expression has acquired a small spatial scale, which has allowed groups inhabit dissimilar socioeconomic conditions of spatial proximity, limiting the increase in segregation and both functional and symbolic social exclusion. We conclude that the study of the manifestation of socio-spatial segregation in the smaller cities can contribute to the generation of public policies that may temper the effects evident in large cities.Este trabalho procura reconhecer o impacto que a vivenda social tem tido sobre os processos de segregação socioespacial na cidade de Angol, uma cidade menor. A metodologia empregada foi mista, utilizando o índice de similitude de Duncan, registros de licenças de edificação municipais e entrevistas semiestruturadas para habitantes de conjuntos de vivenda social e agentes com ingerência no desenvolvimento urbano local. Os resultados indicam que a vivenda social em Angol tem contribuído para aumentar a segregação espacial, porém, sua manifestação tem adquirido uma escala espacial reduzida, que há permitido que grupos socioeconómicos diferentes habitassem em condiciones de proximidade espacial, limitando assim o aumento da segregação e exclusão social tanto funcional como simbólica. Conclui-se que o estudo da manifestação da segregação socioespacial nas cidades menores pode contribuir na geração de políticas públicas que suavizem os efeitos evidenciados nas grandes cidades

Regeneration of blood vessels within diabetic wounds after treatment with mesenchymal stem cells

Diabetes is a chronic disease that affects more than 30 million Americans. This disorder leads to a variety of acute and chronic complications, including diabetic ulcers (chronic wounds). Chronic wounds often persist due to poor regeneration of the blood supply which is essential to bring nutrients for healing. Particularly, diabetic individuals are prone to damage in their peripheral tissues which leads to a high prevalence of ulcers in their extremities, often leading to limb amputations. The aim of this study is to improve healing outcomes for diabetics through the use of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to stimulate healing, in which vasculogenesis is an important aspect. Catecholamines such as epinephrine (adrenaline) are prevalent in diabetic foot ulcer tissue and have been shown to inhibit wound healing. In this study, healing rates of type II diabetic mice wounds were evaluated when human MSCs were delivered within a collagen scaffold (IntegraTM) and treated with Timolol, a beta blocker that inhibits the effects of epinephrine. We examined wounded mice after 7 days that had received either no MSCs (control), MSCs, or MSCs treated with timolol for blood vessel development using immunohistochemical staining and confocal fluorescence microscopy. Blood vessel biomarkers GSL-I Isolectin B4 and CD31 were used to stain the wound tissue and fluorescent imaging data was quantified using software. Our results indicate that wound tissue treated with MSCs and timolol had the highest blood vessel regeneration and it was statistically significant when compared to control levels. Additionally, a Fluorescent in situ Hybridization (FISH) protocol to identify human chromosomes was successfully implemented using positive and negative control slides so that human MSCs can be identified when delivered to mouse wound tissue. Future experiments will examine how long the MSCs persist and whether they migrate outside the wound tissue bed

Perilipin A is essential for the translocation of hormone-sensitive lipase during lipolytic activation

Akey step in lipolytic activation of adipocytes is the translocation of hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL) from the cytosol to the surface of the lipid storage droplet. Adipocytes from perilipin-null animals have an elevated basal rate of lipolysis compared with adipocytes from wild-type mice, but fail to respond maximally to lipolytic stimuli. This defect is downstream of the β-adrenergic receptor–adenylyl cyclase complex. Now, we show that HSL is basally associated with lipid droplet surfaces at a low level in perilipin nulls, but that stimulated translocation from the cytosol to lipid droplets is absent in adipocytes derived from embryonic fibroblasts of perilipin-null mice. We have also reconstructed the HSL translocation reaction in the nonadipocyte Chinese hamster ovary cell line by introduction of GFP-tagged HSL with and without perilipin A. On activation of protein kinase A, HSL-GFP translocates to lipid droplets only in cells that express fully phosphorylatable perilipin A, confirming that perilipin is required to elicit the HSL translocation reaction. Moreover, in Chinese hamster ovary cells that express both HSL and perilipin A, these two proteins cooperate to produce a more rapidly accelerated lipolysis than do cells that express either of these proteins alone, indicating that lipolysis is a concerted reaction mediated by both protein kinase A–phosphorylated HSL and perilipin A

Impaired Fast-Spiking, Suppressed Cortical Inhibition, and Increased Susceptibility to Seizures in Mice Lacking Kv3.2 K+ Channel Proteins

Voltage-gated K(+) channels of the Kv3 subfamily have unusual electrophysiological properties, including activation at very depolarized voltages (positive to -10 mV) and very fast deactivation rates, suggesting special roles in neuronal excitability. In the brain, Kv3 channels are prominently expressed in select neuronal populations, which include fast-spiking (FS) GABAergic interneurons of the neocortex, hippocampus, and caudate, as well as other high-frequency firing neurons. Although evidence points to a key role in high-frequency firing, a definitive understanding of the function of these channels has been hampered by a lack of selective pharmacological tools. We therefore generated mouse lines in which one of the Kv3 genes, Kv3.2, was disrupted by gene-targeting methods. Whole-cell electrophysiological recording showed that the ability to fire spikes at high frequencies was impaired in immunocytochemically identified FS interneurons of deep cortical layers (5-6) in which Kv3.2 proteins are normally prominent. No such impairment was found for FS neurons of superficial layers (2-4) in which Kv3.2 proteins are normally only weakly expressed. These data directly support the hypothesis that Kv3 channels are necessary for high-frequency firing. Moreover, we found that Kv3.2 -/- mice showed specific alterations in their cortical EEG patterns and an increased susceptibility to epileptic seizures consistent with an impairment of cortical inhibitory mechanisms. This implies that, rather than producing hyperexcitability of the inhibitory interneurons, Kv3.2 channel elimination suppresses their activity. These data suggest that normal cortical operations depend on the ability of inhibitory interneurons to generate high-frequency firing