Valorisation of phenolic compounds from grape pomace

Every year millions of tonnes of waste are generated by the food industry. Producing wine is major cultural and economical activity but is also responsible for a large amount of waste in a short period of time. Grape pomace is the main by-product, a cheap material known for being rich in phenolic and other valuable compounds. This work aimed at optimizing the conditions (duration, temperature, solid:liquid ratio and concentration of the enzyme) for sequential extractions (water and acetone-based) process from red and white grape pomace (Vitis vinifera cultivars Merlot and Garganega, respectively) with the addition of five enzymes (Pectinex Ultra-SPL, Pentopan Mono BG, Celluclast, Driselase and Viscozyme). Several classes of extracted compounds (total phenolic content, protein, reducing sugars, tannins, flavonoids, anthocyanins and flavanols) were then quantified by spectrophotometric assays and specific phenols identified and quantified through a chromatographic technique. The optimum determined conditions for the extraction apllied to the assays were 2 hours, 50 ºC, 1:10 solid:liquid ratio and 2% enzyme concentration. Results obtained reveal that doing sequential extractions allowed for the recovery of more content for the extracts. It also showed some differences between both grape pomaces. Also, using enzymes was beneficial for achieving higher extracted phenolic content. The findings show that grape pomace is a good source for phenolic compounds that can be exploited as ingredients for application on the food, pharmaceutical or cosmetic industries

Multi AGV coordination tolerant to communication failures

Most path planning algorithms used presently in multi-robot systems are based on offline planning. The Timed Enhanced A* (TEA*) algorithm gives the possibility of planning in real time, rather than planning in advance, by using a temporal estimation of the robot’s positions at any given time. In this article, the implementation of a control system for multi-robot applications that operate in environments where communication faults can occur and where entire sections of the environment may not have any connection to the communication network will be presented. This system uses the TEA* to plan multiple robot paths and a supervision system to control communications. The supervision system supervises the communication with the robots and checks whether the robot’s movements are synchronized. The implemented system allowed the creation and execution of paths for the robots that were both safe and kept the temporal efficiency of the TEA* algorithm. Using the Simtwo2020 simulation software, capable of simulating movement dynamics and the Lazarus development environment, it was possible to simulate the execution of several different missions by the implemented system and analyze their results.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Real-time tracking of an omnidirectional robot: an extended Kalman filter approach

This paper describes a robust localization system, similar to the used by the teams participating in the Robocup Small size league (SSL). The system, developed in Object Pascal, allows real time localization and control of an autonomous omnidirectional mobile robot. The localization algorithm is done resorting to odometry and global vision data fusion, applying an extended Kalman filter, being this method a standard approach for reducing the error in a least squares sense, using measurements from different sources

Ultra-wideband time of flight based localization system and odometry fusion for a scanning 3 DoF magnetic field autonomous robot

Solving the robot localization problem is one of the most necessary requirements for autonomous robots. Several methodologies can be used to determine its location as accurately as possible. What makes this difficult is the existence of uncertainty in the sensing of the robot. The uncertain information needs to be combined in an optimal way. This paper stresses a Kalman filter to combine information from the odometry and Ultra Wide Band Time of Flight distance modules, which lacks the orientation. The proposed system validated in a real developed platform performs the fusion task which outputs position and orientation of the robot. It is used to localize the robot and make a 3 DoF scanning of magnetic field in a room. Other examples can be pointed out with the same localization techniques in service and industrial autonomous robots.Project “TEC4Growth - Pervasive Intelligence, Enhancers and Proofs of Concept with Industrial Impact/NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000020” is financed by the North Portugal Regional Operational. Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, and through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). This work is also financed by the ERDF European Regional Development Fund through the Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation - COMPETE 2020 Programme, and by National Funds through the FCT Funda¸cao para a Ciˆencia e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) within project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006961.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A modular approach to real-time cork classification using image processing

This paper’s main purpose is to present an automatic vision assortment system for cork classification. Cork is a natural material that is used to seal wine bottles for its reliability and for its chemical and mechanic properties. A modular approach isolates the hard real-time sub problems. It includes some custom developed hardware and software. The developed and implemented system acquires images by a linear CCD camera, transmits that image over an Ethernet based network and processes that image to extract quantitative elements. This system can analyse and distinguish defects that one can find on the surface of a cork stopper and it is also possible to adapt the system to other kinds of problems. The size, form and position of the defects are analysed and the stability of repeated measures is observed. This result allows us to validate the presented methodology

Real time cork classification method: a colour image processing approach

This paper presents an automatic vision assortment method for cork classification. Cork is a natural material that is used to seal wine bottles due to its reliability and its chemical and mechanical properties. A colour image acquisition system is able to differentiate some cork defects. The developed and implemented system acquires images using a colour linear CCD camera, transmits that image through a fast acquisition card and processes that image to extract quantitative elements. This system can analyse and distinguish defects present on the surface of a cork stopper: the size, form and position of the defects are analysed

Ball detection for robotic soccer: a real-time RGB-D approach

The robotic football competition has encouraged the participants to develop new ways of solving different problems in order to succeed in the competition. This article shows a different approach to the ball detection and recognition by the robot using a Kinect System. It has enhanced the capabilities of the depth camera in detecting and recognizing the ball during the football match. This is important because it is possible to avoid the noise that the RGB cameras are subject to for example lighting issues.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The K-framed quadtrees approach for path planning through a known environment

One of the most important tasks for a mobile robot is to navigate in an environment. The path planning is required to design the trajectory that generates useful motions from the original to the desired position. There are several methodologies to perform the path planning. In this paper, a new method of approximate cells decomposition, called K-Framed Quadtrees is present, to which the algorithm A ⋆ is applied to determine trajectories between two points. To validate the new approach, we made a comparative analysis between the present method, the grid decomposition, quadtree decomposition and framed quadtree decomposition. Results and implementation specifications of the four methods are presented.Project ”TEC4Growth - Pervasive Intelligence, Enhancers and Proofs of Concept with Industrial Impact/NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000020” is financed by the North Portugal Regional Operational. Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, and through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). This work is also financed by the ERDF – European Regional Development Fund through the Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation - COMPETE 2020 Programme within project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006961, and by National Funds through the FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) as part of project UID/EEA/50014/2013.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

User recognition in AAL environments

Springer - Series Advances in Intelligent and Soft Computing, vol. 72Healthcare projects that intend to decrease the economical and social costs of the real ageing population phenomenon, through the de-localisation of healthcare services delivery and management to the home, have been arising in the scientific community. The VirtualECare project is one of those, so called, Ambient Assisted Living environments, which we have taken a step forward with the introduction of proactive techniques for better adapting to its users, namely elderly or chronic patients, once it is able to learn with their interaction based in contexts. This learning, however, causes the system need to know with whom it is interacting. Basic detection techniques based in possible devices that users carries along with them (e.g. RFID tags, mobile phones, ...) are not good enough, since they can lose/forgot/switch them. To obtain the expected results the technology used has to be more advanced and available in several platforms. One possible and already fairly developed technique is Facial Recognition, and it appears to be the most appropriate one to handle the problem.This document exposes the initial approach of the VirtualECare project to the Facial Recognition area