Desenvolvimento de uma cadeira de rodas manual adaptável

Mestrado em Engenharia MecânicaActualmente é dado um enfoque especial à mobilidade, uma vez que para as pessoas com incapacidades, a nível físico e/ou mental, a cadeira de rodas pode ser o único meio de mobilidade. Por esse motivo, torna-se fundamental a existência de cadeiras de rodas que permitam uma melhor qualidade de vida. Existem muitas cadeiras de rodas disponíveis no mercado, mas nenhuma com a capacidade de acompanhar o utilizador da fase de criança até a fase adulta. O trabalho realizado teve como objectivo a criação de um produto inovador no que diz respeito ao público-alvo com a introdução de alterações funcionais e estéticas na proposta. A proposta conceptual desenvolvida no âmbito deste trabalho contemplou a incorporação de um conjunto de elementos diferenciadores em relação às actuais cadeiras de rodas, como o sistema facilitador de subidas, um novo conceito de fecho e acomodação do quadro, mesmo com banco rígido e facilidade de adaptação às necessidades do utilizador. O projecto foi desenvolvido totalmente suportado por ferramentas CAD/CAE e recorreu a uma metodologia projectual estruturada, mais concretamente a utilização do QFD que permitiu, diminuir o tempo de desenvolvido da concepção de uma nova proposta de cadeira de rodas, uma vez que permite combinar quais as características que o consumidor mais valoriza, com os elementos que necessitam de mais atenção. Igualmente a utilização do FMEA permitiu antecipar eventuais problemas da proposta apresentada, tal como, os danos no utilizador ou ainda no produto. Todo o projecto foi desenvolvido a pensar na segurança e autonomia do utilizador, assim foi possível criar um produto diferente dos demais uma vez que tem a capacidade de acompanhar o ocupante durante a fase de crescimento e aumentar a capacidade de mobilidade e autonomia do utilizador através de um facilitador de mobilidade.Today it is given a special focus on mobility, for people with disabilities, physical and/or mental health, the wheelchair may be the only means of mobility. For this reason, it is essential to have wheelchairs improve the quality of life. There are many wheelchairs on the market, but none with the ability to follow the user from child until adulthood. The work aimed at creating an innovative product with respect to the target audience with the introduction of functional and aesthetic changes in the proposal. The concept proposal developed in this work included the incorporation of a set of differentiating elements in compared to existing wheelchairs, as facilitator of the system increases, a new concept of accommodation and closing the frame, even with a bank and adaptability to user needs. The project was developed fully supported by CAD / CAE and used a structured project methodology, specifically the use of QFD which allowed reduce the development time of the conception of a new proposal for a wheelchair, since it allows to combine the characteristics that consumers value most, with the elements that need more attention. It also allowed the use of FMEA anticipate any problems with the proposal presented, as the user or damage the product. The entire project was developed to think about security and autonomy of the user, that way is possible to create a product different from others since it has the ability to track the occupant during the growth phase and increase the capacity of mobility and autonomy of the user through a facilitator of mobility

João Baptista Felgueiras - um ilustre vimaranense

Revista de Guimarães, n.º 126-127, 2016-2017 (volume duplo

Water consumption monitoring system for public bathing facilities

The European Commission has been developing efforts resulting in directives and programs to stimulate water saving. The lack of information about water usage in public bathing facilities is an obstacle to achieve an adequate management. This work proposes a monitoring system able to observe individual water consumption in public bathing facilities. Gathered information will be used to characterize user behaviour, or even to drive changes in their attitudes.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Gamification, social networks and sustainable environments

Intelligent environments and ambient intelligence enabled systems provide means to gather rich information from both environments and its users. With the help of such systems, it is possible to foster communities of ambient intelligence systems with community driven knowledge, which is created by individual actions and setups in each of the environments. Such arrangements provides the potential to build systems that promote better practices and more efficient and sustainable environments by promoting the community best examples and engaging users to adopt and develop proactive behaviors to improve their standings in the community. This work aims to use knowledge from communities of intelligent environments to their own benefit. The approach presented in this work uses information from different environments, ranking them according to their sustainability assessment. Recommendations are then computed using similarity and clustering functions ranking users and environments, updating their previous records and launching new recommendations in the process. Gamification concepts are used in order to keep users motivation and engage them actively to produce better results in terms of sustainability

Gamification, Social Networks and Sustainable Environments

Intelligent environments and ambient intelligence enabled systems provide means to gather rich information from both environments and its users. With the help of such systems, it is possible to foster communities of ambient intelligence systems with community driven knowledge, which is created by individual actions and setups in each of the environments. Such arrangements provides the potential to build systems that promote better practices and more efficient and sustainable environments by promoting the community best examples and engaging users to adopt and develop proactive behaviors to improve their standings in the community. This work aims to use knowledge from communities of intelligent environments to their own benefit. The approach presented in this work uses information from different environments, ranking them according to their sustainability assessment. Recommendations are then computed using similarity and clustering functions ranking users and environments, updating their previous records and launching new recommendations in the process. Gamification concepts are used in order to keep users motivation and engage them actively to produce better results in terms of sustainabilit

Ambient sensorization for the furtherance of sustainability

Energy efficiency is regarded as an important objective in a world of limited resources. The sustainable use of energy is necessary for the continuity of life styles that do not jeopardize the future. Nevertheless, due to poor information about the impact of human actions on the environment, it is hard to promote and warn for sustainability. This work focuses on the use of ambient intelligence as a mean to constantly revise sustainability indicators in a way they may be used for user awareness and recommendation systems within communities. The approach in this research makes use of sustainable indicators monitored through ambient sensors which enable user accountability concerning their actions inside each environment. Also, it is possible to compare the effect of user actions in the environment, enabling decision making based on such comparison factors.(undefined

Social networks gamification for sustainability recommendation systems

10th International Symposium on Distributed Computing and Artificial Intelligence (DCAI), Spain, Salamanca, 22 - 24 May 2013Intelligent environments and ambient intelligence provide means to monitor physical environments and to learn from users, generating data that can be used to promote sustainability. With communities of intelligent environments, it is possible to obtain information about environment and user behaviors which can be computed and ranked. Such rankings are bound to be dynamic as users and environments exchange interactions on a daily basis. This work aims to use knowledge from communities of intelligent environments to their own benefit. The approach presented in this work uses information from each environment, ranking them according to their sustainability assessment. Recommendations are then computed using similarity and clustering functions ranking users and environments, updating their previous records and launching new recommendations in the process

A remote lab to support e-learning on FPAA

Teaching analog and digital electronic subjects is not a trivial task because is necessary to use opposite methodologies. The electronic design in the digital field is centered in the use of microprocessor and FPGA based circuits using high level programing/configuring languages. The counterpart analog design is traditionally based in the use of elementary components associated with macroblocks such operational amplifiers in order to built-up the wanted mission circuit. Some few components, as the FPAA, are analogically configurable in a similar manner already used with the FPGA. However the use of this kind of components is not straightforward once is necessary to acquire some concepts not taught in the traditionally analog electronic classes.N/

A remote lab to support e-leaning on Programmable System-on-Chip (PSoC)

The design flow in analog and digital electronics are quite opposite as result of each area maturation state. So, are also the teaching methodologies, being challenging for both teachers and students. The electronic design in the digital field is centered in the use of microprocessor and FPGA based circuits using high level programing/configuring languages. In a different way, the analog design is traditionally based on the use of elementary components associated with macroblocks, such operational amplifiers in order to built-up the wanted mission circuit. Some analog programmable components, as the PSoC, are analogically configurable in a manner similar to those already used in the digital domain. The use of this type of components is not straightforward, being necessary to get some concepts traditionally not taught in the analog electronic classes. The training using PSoC is then indispensable to verify if the programmed circuit corresponds to the intended one.N/