Robotic chair for remote cardiovascular risk assessment

The objective of this project was to develop an intelligent robotic chair for cardiovascular risk assessment. The first prototype of the chair is currently in the technical testing phase. This robotic chair can engage users (patients) using human-robot interaction strategies and help them improve their cardiovascular risk. It measures several clinical parameters within a short period of time, by providing appropriate instructions to the user. Collectively these measurements can be used to provide a comprehensive assessment of the severity of heart failure symptoms, and this information may then be used to guide management and avoid hospital admission

An Alternative Approach for Developing Socially Assistive Robots

This paper presents the design of the socially assistive companion robotic wheelchair named RoboChair. Unlike in most current companion robotics projects, the approach of RoboChair is not to build a completely new robotic device. Instead, the focus of the RoboChair project is to convert an already useful device (i.e. wheelchair) to a socially assistive companion robot. The authors argue that there are number of advantages in this approach. The proposed robotic chair is a mobile robot that can carry a person. It is equipped with several measuring devices for measuring vital signs. The robot chair is capable of engaging users with interactive dialogs through a touch screen and by using human-robot interaction techniques. It has a scalable modular software architecture so that adding new hardware and software modules is straightforward. The software frame- work is based on Robot Operating System (ROS) open source robotic middleware

Teaching a Tele-robot using Natural Language Commands

For Internet-based tele operation systems, user-friendly natural interfaces are advantageous because those systems are intended to be used by non-experts. In developing user friendly interfaces, natural language communication is mandatory. This paper presents a system in which a sub-set of natural language is used to command a tele-robot manipulator doing an object sorting task. The paper discusses about referring to objects with natural language commands such as "pick the small red cube". This is achieved by learning individual lexical symbols that refer to colors, shapes, and sizes independently, and then inferring the meaning of a combination of them

Designing a socially assistive companion robotic wheel chair: RoboChair

Developing socially assistive robots is an emerging interdisciplinary research area, which requires collaboration between a wide range of disciplines. Among recent research projects, there have been attempts to develop assistive robotic solutions to solve various health and social issues. In most current research attempts to design socially assistive robots, the focus is on designing new robotic agents that can interact with people by various means. Since people do not have much experience with robots, usually extensive field trials are conducted in order to assess the usability of these robots. However, determining the usability of these robotic agents is a difficult task, since the results of field trials are not always conclusive. In this paper, an attempt to overcome the difficulty of evaluating usability of assistive robots is presented. This paper presents the design of the first version of a companion robot called RoboChair. RoboChair is in the form of a wheel chair. But, functionally it is a socially assistive companion robot. The proposed robotic chair is a mobile robot that can carry a person. It is equipped with several measuring devices for taking clinical measurements mentioned above. In addition to that, it is equipped with several sensors for obstacle avoidance, map building, localization, detecting humans etc. It is also equipped with motor controllers and other actuators for motion control. The robot chair is capable of engaging users with interactive dialogs through a touch screen and by using human-robot interaction techniques. It has a scalable modular architecture so that adding new hardware and software modules is straightforward. The software framework is based on Robot Operating System (ROS) open source robotic middleware. RoboChair is controlled by a distributed controller that spans multiple hardware devices and multiple operating systems

Models applied in stock market prediction : a literature survey

Stock market prices are intrinsically dynamic, volatile, highly sensitive, nonparametric, nonlinear and chaotic in nature, as they are influenced by a myriad of interrelated factors. As such, stock market time series prediction is complex and challenging. Many researchers have been attempting to predict stock market price movements using various techniques and different methodological approaches. Recent literature confirms that hybrid models, integrating linear and non-linear functions or statistical and learning models, are better suited for training, prediction and generalisation performance of stock market prices. The purpose of this review is to investigate different techniques applied in stock market price prediction with special emphasis on hybrid models

Floating Wetland Treatment of Acid Mine Drainage using Eichhornia crassipes (Water Hyacinth)

Background. Acid mine drainage (AMD) is a major environmental impact associated with the mining industry. Elevated acidic conditions resulting from the discharge of AMD into the surrounding environment can cause heavy metals to dissolve and transport through water streams and accumulate in the aquatic environment, posing a risk to the health of living organisms. There have been several novel approaches in the remediation of AMD involving passive treatment techniques. The constructed treatment wetland approach is a passive remediation option that has proven to be a cost effective and long-lasting solution in abating toxic pollutant concentrations. Objectives. The present study investigates the applicability of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), a tropical aquatic plant with reported heavy metal hyper-accumulation in microcosm floating wetland treatment systems designed to remediate AMD with copper (Cu) and cadmium (Cd) concentrations exceeding threshold limits. Methods. Twelve water hyacinth samples were prepared with varying concentrations of Cu (1 mg/L, 2 mg/L, 4 mg/L) and Cd (0.005 mg/L, 0.01 mg/L, 0.02 mg/L). Water samples of 5 ml each were collected from each sample at 24-hour intervals for analysis with an atomic absorption spectrometer. Results. Plant growth varied according to Cu and Cd concentrations and no plants survived for more than 14 days. There was a significant discrepancy in the rate at which the Cd concentrations abated. The rate of reduction was rapid for higher concentrations and after 24 hours a substantial reduction was achieved. There was a reduction in Cu concentration after the first 24-hour period, and after the next 24-hour period the concentrations were again elevated in the samples at initial concentrations of 2 mg/L and A4 mg/L. 4 mg/L Cu concentration was shown to be toxic to the plants, as they had low accumulations and rapid dying was evident. Conclusions. Water hyacinth has the capability to reduce both Cu and Cd concentrations, except at an initial concentration of 4 mg/L of Cu, which was toxic to the plants. Competing Interests. The authors declare no competing financial interests

Human-Robot Interaction Research to Improve Quality of Life in Elder Care - An Approach and Issues

This paper describes a program of research that aims to develop and test healthcare robots for elder care. We describe the aims of the project, the robots developed, and studies we have performed in HRI in elder care. We highlight research design issues that have become apparent in the retirement home setting when testing robots. These issues are relevant to robotics researchers wishing to evaluate the effects of robotic care on older people’s quality of life

Perception of synthetic speech with emotion modelling delivered through a robot platform: an initial investigation with older listeners

In this paper we give results of an initial investigation into the perception of synthetic speech delivered through a robotic platform. The robotic speech was judged by 19 residents and 10 staff of a New Zealand retirement village. We have investigated intelligibility and quality measures on two English language diphone voices, with US and New Zealand accents. We have also looked at the effects intonation modelling has on these measures. Our results indicate that the New Zealand voice is preferred and scores higher in the quality measure, additionally we see evidence that the dialogues delivered through both voices are intelligible. We also observe a difference in opinion to the intonation modelling. Comparing the results between staff and residents, we see that residents give lower scores to intelligibility and quality measures