Human-Robot Interaction using VAHR: Virtual Assistant, Human, and Robots in the Loop

Robots have become ubiquitous tools in various industries and households, highlighting the importance of human-robot interaction (HRI). This has increased the need for easy and accessible communication between humans and robots. Recent research has focused on the intersection of virtual assistant technology, such as Amazon's Alexa, with robots and its effect on HRI. This paper presents the Virtual Assistant, Human, and Robots in the loop (VAHR) system, which utilizes bidirectional communication to control multiple robots through Alexa. VAHR's performance was evaluated through a human-subjects experiment, comparing objective and subjective metrics of traditional keyboard and mouse interfaces to VAHR. The results showed that VAHR required 41% less Robot Attention Demand and ensured 91% more Fan-out time compared to the standard method. Additionally, VAHR led to a 62.5% improvement in multi-tasking, highlighting the potential for efficient human-robot interaction in physically- and mentally-demanding scenarios. However, subjective metrics revealed a need for human operators to build confidence and trust with this new method of operation.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure

Dynamic Optimized Bandwidth Management for Teleoperation of Collaborative Robots

A real-time dynamic and optimized bandwidth management algorithm is proposed and used in teleoperated collaborative swarms of robots. This method is effective in complex teleoperation tasks, where several robots rather than one are utilized and where an extensive amount of exchanged information between operators and robots is inevitable. The importance of the proposed algorithm is that it accounts for Interesting Events (IEs) occurring in the system\u27s environment and for the change in the Quality of Collaboration (QoC) of the swarm of robots in order to allocate communication bandwidth in an optimized manner. A general dynamic optimized bandwidth management system for teleoperation of collaborative robots is formulated in this paper. The suggested algorithm is evaluated against two static algorithms applied to a swarm of two humanoid robots. The results demonstrate the advantages of dynamic optimization algorithm in terms of task and network performance. The developed algorithm outperforms two static bandwidth management algorithms, against which it was tested, for all performance parameters in 80% of the performed trials. Accordingly, it was demonstrated that the proposed dynamic bandwidth optimization and allocation algorithm forms the basis of a framework for algorithms applied to real-time highly complex systems

Directing and orienting ICT healthcare solutions to address the needs of the aging population

Background: With an aging population, it is essential to maintain good health and autonomy for as long as possible. Instead of hospitalisation or institutionalisation, older people with chronic conditions can be assisted in their own home with numerous “smart” devices that support them in their activities of daily living, manage their medical conditions, and prevent fall incidents. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) solutions facilitate the monitoring and management of older people’s health to improve quality of life and physical activity with a decline in caregivers’ burden. Method: The aim of this paper was to conduct a systematic literature review to analyse the state of the art of ICT solutions for older people with chronic conditions, and the impact of these solutions on their quality of life from a biomedical perspective. Results: By analysing the literature on the available ICT proposals, it is shown that different approaches have been deployed by noticing that the more cross-interventions are merged then the better the results are, but there is still no evidence of the effects of ICT solutions on older people’s health outcomes. Furthermore, there are still unresolved ethical and legal issues. Conclusion: While there has been much research and development in healthcare ICT solutions for the aging population, ICT solutions still need significant development in order to be user-oriented, affordable, and to manage chronic conditions in the aging wider population

Breast cancer. From molecular biology to personified therapy

Advances in molecular biology had changed approaches to systemic treatment of breast cancer. Clinical decisions on the choice of optimal treatment regimens are performing on the basis of immunohistochemical and molecular genetic classifications. Their increasing uses have contributed changes of paradigm for cancer treatment - from the empirical to the individualized and personalized. The basis for such approaches is knowledge of molecular epidemiology, heterogeneity of expression of molecular subtypes, prognostic and predictive biomarkers of breast cancer. Breast cancer is a widely heterogeneous disease with 20 histological types, 8, molecular-genetic, 6 genomic subtypes, which are characterized by specific molecular and biochemical properties, different clinical course and different outcomes. Molecular genetic classification, created not on the basis of clinical, anatomical and morphological heterogeneity of tumor cells, and on the basis of their molecular-genetic heterogeneity is widely used in clinical practice. This allowed to separate the patients with breast cancer to molecular 4 subtypes - luminal A, luminal B, HER / 2 positive and triple-negative. The significant role of immunohistochemical tissue tumor markers, estrogen and progesterone receptors, HER / 2-neu, Ki-67, p53 for selection the optimal treatment strategy is analyzing in this review. To increase the effectiveness of breast cancer treatment is possible, using a differentiated and personalized approach based on new molecular genetic classification of breast cancer (gene profiling) or to its analogue - expression classification of breast cancer, based on the principle of diversity of immunohistochemical tumor tissue. Personification of cancer treatment involves a therapy based on the study of individual characteristics of tissue is not only the primary tumor but also its metastases. Citation: Bondarenko IN, Elhajj Mohammad H, Prokhach AV, Zavizion VF, Chebanov KO. [Breast cancer. From molecular biology to personified therapy]. Morphologia. 2016;10(1):18-25. Russian

The impact of digital technology on health of populations affected by humanitarian crises: Recent innovations and current gaps

Digital technology is increasingly used in humanitarian action and promises to improve the health and social well-being of populations affected by both acute and protracted crises. We set out to (1) review the current landscape of digital technologies used by humanitarian actors and affected populations, (2) examine their impact on health and well-being of affected populations, and (3) consider the opportunities for and challenges faced by users of these technologies. Through a systematic search of academic databases and reports, we identified 50 digital technologies used by humanitarian actors, and/or populations affected by crises. We organized them according to the stage of the humanitarian cycle that they were used in, and the health outcomes or determinants of health they affected. Digital technologies were found to facilitate communication, coordination, and collection and analysis of data, enabling timely responses in humanitarian contexts. A lack of evaluation of these technologies, a paternalistic approach to their development, and issues of privacy and equity constituted major challenges. We highlight the need to create a space for dialogue between technology designers and populations affected by humanitarian crises

Distance learning: opportunities and challenges in quarantine.

The urgent introduction of distance education into the learning process due to the COVID-19 pandemic has become a spontaneous experiment, requiring urgent decisions, effective mechanisms to implement into the educational process and analysis of ongoing educational process. The possibilities of modern digital technologies made it possible to quickly set up the information component of education and to controle student’s knowledge. A detailed analysis of the communication between the faculty members of the department among themselves and analysis of the features of teaching and self-education of students in the field of medical radiology and oncology based on answers and comments with using Google classroom, Socrative, Messenger Telegram, etc. was made. Issues of communicative interaction between faculty members and students, psychological aspects of distance communication, language of instruction, logistics of distance education and methodological problems are described in details. It has been suggested that distance education may be equally effective for theoretical subjects in full-time study form, but when studying clinical disciplines, the priority should be given to traditional methods of teaching, involving student's bedside training. Taking into account technical possibilities and high risk of development of extreme and emergency situations, it is suggested to introduce permanent readiness for distance education, to create all – Ukrainian distance imitation service of patients’ follow-up. The importance of using the state language in training as the basis for mastering the professional Ukrainian and English language as the basis for mastering international medical experience is indicated

Virtual Testing Methods of Cyber-Physical Systems: A Framework for Testing Instrumentation and Measurement Systems

The development of some instrumentation and measurement systems poses significant challenges due to their continuous interaction with environments that are both harsh and highly dynamic. They are often described as “Untestable” because their testing is sometimes expensive, time-consuming, and infeasible. One example is oil-spill measurement systems that aim to measure the thickness of oil floating on the water surface in open water environments. In contrast to analog sensors relying on calibration functions, such integrated measurement systems use algorithms with multiple inputs to produce their measurement. Intending to facilitate the development of such systems, we shed light on virtual testing methods designed for testing Cyber-physical Systems (CPSs). CPSs are smart and autonomous systems composed of collaborating computational elements (software) that control physical entities (hardware). Effective validation and verification techniques are required to confirm their correctness. These methods were applied to test continuous controllers in the automotive domain. In this article, we review some of these testing methods and provide a framework for applying them to measurement systems that are difficult to test in real life. We provide a case study based on an oil spill measurement system that relies on multiple sensors to estimate the oil thickness in open water environments. Applying this approach creates a reduced set of test cases to be applied in real field testing reducing its cost and time

Internet based robots: Applications, impacts, challenges and future directions

The Internet has ushered in the era of an exceedingly connected digital lifestyle. It has brought about a lot of changes in the social arena and has revolutionized the way we communicate with each other. Internet based teleoperation systems utilize the ubiquitous connectivity and low cost bandwidth offered by the Internet to send commands and receive supermedia feedback for teleoperating remote systems. Teleoperation systems have many myriad applications and impact areas ranging from education and entertainment to remote exploration and medicine. Such wide ranging applications of Internet based teleoperation systems will have many social implications and a profound impact on the day-to-day human lifestyle. This paper tries to elaborate on the many application areas of Internet based teleoperation and further discusses the social implications of the same. Further the paper discusses various technical challenges and research issues related to Internet based teleoperation systems and provides a few experimental results on some teleoperation systems implemented at the Robotics and Automation Laboratory at Michigan State University and the Communication and Robotics Laboratory at Oakland University. © 2005 IEEE.Link_to_subscribed_fulltex

In situ Measurement of Oil Slick Thickness in Open Water Environments

During an oil spill response, one of the parameters impacting the choice and management of the applied cleaning technique is the thickness of the floating oil. Studies have shown that technologies to accurately measure oil thickness in real-time under open water operational conditions are not commercially available. Aiming to enhance the efficiency of the currently used cleanup processes, we present the development of a capacitive-based measurement device that can measure the thickness of various types of floating oil. The presented device measures the capacitance of the oil/water/air that it contacts and uses this data to estimate the locations of the oil-air and oil-water interfaces. Determining the interfaces location provides the data necessary to calculate the thickness of the oil layer. This sensor can operate in open water environments while being dragged through waves, and does not require any calibration against different types of oil or water. In addition, the device is equipped with specialized software- and hardware-based mechanisms to mitigate the fouling problem caused by highly-viscous oils. The sensor is designed to be vertically mounted to a skimmer, boom, or floating buoy and provide thickness readings (up to 50 cm) remotely, A second configuration allows a user to measure readings directly from a handheld unit (up to 10 cm). To assess the performance of the sensor, extensive testing of the initial prototype was performed at Ohmsett facility. The experimental results demonstrated high sensor accuracy in most of the test cases. Based on the testing results, several improvements were identified and are currently being implemented to enhance the performance of the sensor while working under harsh dynamic-liquid conditions