861 research outputs found
Using visual attention in a Nao humanoid to face the RoboCup any-ball challenge
Visual attention is a natural tool which allows
animals to locate relevant objects or areas in a given scene,
discarding the rest of elements present and thus reducing the
amount of information to deal with. In this paper we present the
design an implementation of a visual attention mechanism based
on a saliency map and its implementation in the Nao humanoid.
This control mechanism is applied to solve one of the challenges
proposed in the RoboCup competition named ”any-ball”. The
results obtained are analysed and future works derived from
that analysis are presente
The online sale of antibiotics for veterinary use
[EN] Antibiotics are essential medicines against infectious diseases in both humans and animals. An inappropriate use of antibiotics can impair animal health and enhance the risk of bacterial resistance, as well as its transfer from animals to humans. The objective of this study was to assess the possibility of purchasing antibiotics for veterinary use on the internet, to evaluate if a prescription is required, and to determine the availability of drugs classified as the highest priority critically important antimicrobials (HP-CIA). The Google and Bing search engines and both simple and complex search strings in Spanish and in English were used. The simple search string was “buy veterinary antibiotics”. Complex searches used wildcards and specific syntax. The searches carried out in Spanish revealed that 50% of websites operated in South America, and 65% of websites did not require a valid prescription. Fluoroquinolones were offered in 84% of these websites (45% without prescription), macrolides were offered in 63% of these websites (43% without prescription), and 3rd– and 4th–generation cephalosporins in 54% of these websites (38% without prescription). For the searches in English, 57% of these websites operated in the United States of America (USA), and 55% of them did not require a prescription. Fluoroquinolones were offered in 79% of these websites (49% without prescription), macrolides were offered in 72% of these websites (45% without prescription), and 3rd– and 4th–generation cephalosporins were offered in 49% of these websites (27% without prescription). Therefore, it is easy to illegally access antibiotics via the internet.SIThis research received no external funding
Downsizing robotics: Autonomy vs. intelligence
Research on Mobile robotics is in our opinion more focused on generating autonomous
behaviors than on the development of basic technologies (locomotion, localization,
navigation, etc.). However, this issue is really a complex problem where many
technologies converge: artificial perception, electronics, even philosophy and there are
no general theories generally accepted in the research community. Historically,
Cybernetics was the first subjacent theory, then artificial intelligence techniques were
the dominant paradigm used to try the solve the problem, in the 90s the focus turned to
biology based systems, nowadays ethology has emerged again as the most promising
theories to generate autonomous behavior. In this paper we want to present the most
relevant concepts borrowed from ethology that have been successfully used in mobile
robotics, such as the use of ethograms in robotic pets or the ideas of schemes, or the
use of fixed actions patterns to implement reactivit
Design an evaluation of RoboCup humanoid goalie
P. 19-26In this article we describe the ethological inspired
architecture we have developed and how it has been used to
implement a humanoid goalkeeper according to the regulations of
the two-legged Standard Platform League of the RoboCup Federation. We present relevant concepts borrowed from ethology that
we have successfully used for generating autonomous behaviours
in mobile robotics, such as the use of ethograms in robotic pets
or the ideas of schemata, or the use of fixed actions patterns
to implement reactivity. Then we discuss the implementation of
this architecture on the Nao biped robot. Finally, we propose a
method for its evaluation and validation and analyse the results
obtained during RoboCup real competition, which allowed us to
test first hand how it worked in a real environmentS
Augmented reality to improve teleoperation of mobile robots
In this article we want to discuss the skills required
for human teleoperators of mobile robots. We show the classical
problems related with teleoperation but focus our discussion in
not specialized operators. We want to show how a proposal based
on augmented reality interfaces can improve the performance of
operators controlling the robot. We present the validation of
our solution in two experiments: one in a controlled circuit and
another one in a real environment. To carry out our experiments
we use a low cost robotic surveillance platfor
Saliency map based attention control for the RoboCup SPL
Attention mechanism can be used both for reducing the amount of perceptual information to be processed and for restricting all available actions to only those useful for a given scenario. Information reduction improves performance and action restriction allows for a more precise interaction with our environment. In this paper we present the design of an attention control mechanism based on a saliency map and its implementation in the SPL's Nao robot. The results obtained are analysed and future works derived from that analysis are presente
Availability of antibiotics for veterinary use on the internet: a cross-sectional study
[EN] The misuse or overuse of antibiotics can favor the emergence of antimicrobial resistance, with a direct impact on human and animal health as well as on ecosystems. In this work, we have analyzed the web pages in which antibiotics for veterinary use can be purchased online. By using a specifically developed software, we carried out a detailed search to know if each individual antibiotic and the families included in the OIE list of antimicrobial agents of veterinary importance (in English and in Spanish) were sold, reviewing the offers according to the administration route and the species for which the antibiotics were intended. The greatest offer of antibiotics was for those compounds considered critically important by OIE. In the search in English, penicillins were available on 55.8% of the sites, tetracyclines on 55.0%, and fluoroquinolones on 52.7%. In Spanish, the families with the greatest presence were fluoroquinolones (67.9% of the sites), tetracyclines (67.9% of the sites), and penicillins (65.4% of the sites). Regarding individual antibiotics, the most offered in both searches were amoxicillin (49.6% of the sites in English and 57.7% in Spanish) and doxycycline (46.5% of the sites in English and 53.8% in Spanish). Most offers were for oral and parenteral administration and intended for cats and dogs and for bovines.S
Robotics and augmented reality for elderly assistance
This article presents a tele-assistance system based on augmented reality for elderly people that is integrated in a mobile platform. We propose the use of augmented reality for simplifying interaction with its users. The first prototype has been designed to help in medication control for ederly people. In this paper, both hardware and software architectures are described.The robotic platform is a slightly modified version of the Turtlebot platform. The software is based on ROS for the platform control, and in ArUco for the augmented reality interface. It also integrates other related systems in teleassistance such as VoIP, friendly user interface, etc
Realidad aumentada para la teleasistencia en ancianos
[ES] En las últimas décadas las mejoras en campos como la alimentación
o la medicina ha permitido mejorar el día a día de los mayores y
alargar su esperanza de vida lo que ha significado un aumento de la
población mayor.
Ahora bien, ante estas nuevas circunstancias debemos abordar las
necesidades específicas sobre este grupo de población. Creemos que,
aprovechando las ventajas que las nuevas tecnologías pueden ofrecernos,
podemos desarrollar nuevos sistemas tecnológicos adaptados a los ancianos
que les permitirán aprovechar las nueva etapas que tienen ante ellos
Herbs as an Active Ingredient in Sport: Availability and Information on the Internet
[EN] The use of supplements containing herbal active ingredients in sport has increased in recent years. Their consumption is explained by the benefits they may provide and because their natural origin do not involve health complications, from the point of view of the consumers. The aim of this study is to analyze the availability of four supplements (caffeine, turmeric, ginseng, cannabidiol) on the internet and understand the nature of these websites. A descriptive, observational, and cross-sectional study design was used. A detailed search was carried out with specifically developed software. The searches and data evaluation took 10 days. The websites consulted correspond to those that sell supplements, or some sport websites in the case of the Spanish ones, whereas those in English belong to pharmacies, parapharmacies, or herbalists. It is concluded that the websites do not provide adequate information to ensure proper consumption and lack advice on the choices of supplements and their administration guidelinesS
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