Conducting neuropsychological tests with a humanoid robot: design and evaluation

International audience— Socially assistive robot with interactive behavioral capability have been improving quality of life for a wide range of users by taking care of elderlies, training individuals with cognitive disabilities or physical rehabilitation, etc. While the interactive behavioral policies of most systems are scripted, we discuss here key features of a new methodology that enables professional caregivers to teach a socially assistive robot (SAR) how to perform the assistive tasks while giving proper instructions, demonstrations and feedbacks. We describe here how socio-communicative gesture controllers – which actually control the speech, the facial displays and hand gestures of our iCub robot – are driven by multimodal events captured on a professional human demonstrator performing a neuropsychological interview. Furthermore, we propose an original online evaluation method for rating the multimodal interactive behaviors of the SAR and show how such a method can help designers to identify the faulty events

Demonstrating to a humanoid robot how to conduct neuropsychological tests

National audienceSeveral socially assistive robot (SAR) systems have been proposed and designed to engage people into various interactive exercises such as physical training [1], neuropsychological rehabilitation [2] or cognitive assistance [3]. While the interactive behavioral policies of most systems are scripted, we discuss here key features of a new methodology we developed in the framework of the SOMBRERO project 1 that enables professional caregivers to demonstrate a SAR how to perform the assistive tasks while giving proper instructions, demonstrations and feedbacks

Modeling and Analysis of Five-Axis Milling Configurations and Titanium Alloy Surface Topography

Five-axis milling with a ball-end cutter is commonly used to generate a good surface finish on complex parts, such as blades or impellers made of titanium alloy. The five-axis milling cutting process is not straight forward; local cutting conditions depend a lot on the geometrical configuration relating to lead and tilt angles. Furthermore, the surface quality is greatly affected by the cutting conditions that define the milling configuration. This study presents a geometrical model of five-axis milling in order to determine the effective cutting conditions, the milling mode, and the cutter location point. Subsequently, an analysis of surface topography is proposed by using the geometrical model, local criteria, and a principle component analysis of experimental data. The results show the effects of local parameters on the surface roughness, in relation to the lead and tilt angles

Analyse des configurations d'usinage en 5 axes à la fraise hémisphérique.

Le fraisage de finition en 5 axes continus utilise souvent des fraises hémisphériques qui sont inclinées suivant deux angles par rapport à la surface usinée. Il en résulte des configurations géométriques variées et donc un choix délicat des paramètres. L'étude aborde deux points. Le premier repose sur une analyse géométrique déterminant les conditions d'engagement et de travail de l'arête de coupe. Le second, basé sur une analyse cinématique, traite du mode d'usinage. L'étude propose donc des critères permettant l'analyse de configurations d'usinage 5 axes afin de maitriser cette technique

Zanemarene gajene mahunarke Srbije - bob (Vicia faba)

Faba bean is cultivated locally in Serbia with no available official data. The collection at Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops in Novi Sad contains 141 accessions of food and feed faba bean. Forage yields in faba bean may surpass 40 t ha-1 of green forage and 8 t ha-1 of forage dry matter, while grain yields are often higher than 5 t ha-1. Faba bean may produce more than 1,500 kg ha-1 of forage crude protein and about 2,000 kg ha-1 of grain crude protein, as well as more than 250 kg ha-1 of above-ground biomass nitrogen. The first Serbian feed faba bean breeding programme, carried out at Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops in Novi Sad, resulted in registration of two cultivars in 2007, Gema and Šarac, with more than 4,500 kg ha-1 of grain and more than 45 t ha-1 of green forage.Bob se u Srbiji gaji lokalno i bez zvaničnih podataka. Zbirka Instituta za ratarstvo i povrtarstvo u Novom Sadu sadrži 141 akcesiju povrtarskog i stočnog boba. Prinosi krme boba mogu da premaše 40 t ha-1 zelene krme i 8 t ha-1 suve materije krme, dok su prinosi zrna često veći od 5 t ha-1. Bob može da proizvede više od 1.500 kg ha-1 sirovih proteina krme i oko 2.000 kg ha-1 sirovih proteina zrna, kao i više od 250 kg ha-1 azota nadzemne biomase. U okviru prvog srpskog programa oplemenjivanja boba, koji se odvija u Institutu za ratarstvo i povrtarstvo u Novom Sadu, tokom 2007. stvorene su i priznate dve sorte, Gema i Šarac, sa prinosima od više od 4.500 kg ha-1 zrna i više od 45 t ha-1 zelene krme

Differentiation of Symbiotic Cells and Endosymbionts in Medicago truncatula Nodulation Are Coupled to Two Transcriptome-Switches

The legume plant Medicago truncatula establishes a symbiosis with the nitrogen-fixing bacterium Sinorhizobium meliloti which takes place in root nodules. The formation of nodules employs a complex developmental program involving organogenesis, specific cellular differentiation of the host cells and the endosymbiotic bacteria, called bacteroids, as well as the specific activation of a large number of plant genes. By using a collection of plant and bacterial mutants inducing non-functional, Fix− nodules, we studied the differentiation processes of the symbiotic partners together with the nodule transcriptome, with the aim of unravelling links between cell differentiation and transcriptome activation. Two waves of transcriptional reprogramming involving the repression and the massive induction of hundreds of genes were observed during wild-type nodule formation. The dominant features of this “nodule-specific transcriptome” were the repression of plant defense-related genes, the transient activation of cell cycle and protein synthesis genes at the early stage of nodule development and the activation of the secretory pathway along with a large number of transmembrane and secretory proteins or peptides throughout organogenesis. The fifteen plant and bacterial mutants that were analyzed fell into four major categories. Members of the first category of mutants formed non-functional nodules although they had differentiated nodule cells and bacteroids. This group passed the two transcriptome switch-points similarly to the wild type. The second category, which formed nodules in which the plant cells were differentiated and infected but the bacteroids did not differentiate, passed the first transcriptome switch but not the second one. Nodules in the third category contained infection threads but were devoid of differentiated symbiotic cells and displayed a root-like transcriptome. Nodules in the fourth category were free of bacteria, devoid of differentiated symbiotic cells and also displayed a root-like transcriptome. A correlation thus exists between the differentiation of symbiotic nodule cells and the first wave of nodule specific gene activation and between differentiation of rhizobia to bacteroids and the second transcriptome wave in nodules. The differentiation of symbiotic cells and of bacteroids may therefore constitute signals for the execution of these transcriptome-switches

Diversité des agricultures – le cas des filières céréales, oléagineux et légumineuses à graines

L’objectif de cet article est de décrire, sans être exhaustif, la diversité des agricultures en mobilisant des exemples au niveau du système technique et des pratiques culturales, pour la France métropolitaine et pour trois filières : les céréales, les oléagineux et les légumineuses à graines. L’analyse de la diversité des agricultures montre que des voies de diversification des systèmes techniques et des pratiques culturales existent, mais que celles-ci sont fortement dépendantes de la diversité des voies de valorisation dans les filières. Au sein de ces dispositifs de valorisation, hormis quelques dispositifs spécifiques, les recommandations sur les pratiques sont suffisamment vastes pour permettre une diversité de systèmes de culture et de production, dès lors que les critères technologiques d’accès à la filière sont atteints. Il convient alors de s’interroger sur le poids de ces critères technologiques sur les choix techniques des agriculteurs. Il apparait également nécessaire de questionner la valeur donnée à la diversité par les différents acteurs des filières, de l’agriculteur au consommateur, en évaluant notamment la performance économique des systèmes agricoles les plus diversifiés ainsi que les leviers pour augmenter les performances d’une agriculture diversifiée. Il s’agit d’élargir le socle de connaissances sur lequel les acteurs pourront concevoir eux-mêmes de nouvelles formes de diversité et d’ouvrir le débat avec les acteurs des filières sur la préservation des formes de diversité des agricultures comme potentiel de résilience