Run-time reconfiguration for efficient tracking of implanted magnets with a myokinetic control interface applied to robotic hands

Tese (doutorado)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Tecnologia, Departamento de Engenharia Mecânica, 2021.Este trabalho introduz a aplicação de soluções de aprendizagem de máquinas visado ao problema do rastreamento de posição do antebraço baseado em sensores magnéticos. Especi ficamente, emprega-se uma estratégia baseada em dados para criar modelos matemáticos que possam traduzir as informações magnéticas medidas em entradas utilizáveis para dispositivos protéticos. Estes modelos são implementados em FPGAs usando operadores customizados de ponto flutuante para otimizar o consumo de hardware e energia, que são importantes em dispositivos embarcados. A arquitetura de hardware é proposta para ser implementada como um sistema com reconfiguração dinâmica parcial, reduzindo potencialmente a utilização de recursos e o consumo de energia da FPGA. A estratégia de dados proposta e sua implemen tação de hardware pode alcançar uma latência na ordem de microssegundos e baixo consumo de energia, o que encoraja mais pesquisas para melhorar os métodos aqui desenvolvidos para outras aplicações.Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES).This work introduces the application of embedded machine learning solutions for the problem of magnetic sensors-based limb tracking. Namely, we employ a data-driven strat egy to create mathematical models that can translate the magnetic information measured to usable inputs for prosthetic devices. These models are implemented in FPGAs using cus tomized floating-point operations to optimize hardware and energy consumption, which are important in wearable devices. The hardware architecture is proposed to be implemented as a dynamically partial reconfigured system, potentially reducing resource utilization and power consumption of the FPGA. The proposed data-driven strategy and its hardware implementa tion can achieve a latency in the order of microseconds and low energy consumption, which encourages further research on improving the methods herein devised for other application

Sistema embarcado baseado em arquiteturas reconfiguráveis do controle dinâmico de uma mão robótica sintonizado com algoritmos bioinspirados

Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Tecnologia, Departamento de Engenharia Mecânica, 2017.Nos últimos anos grandes avanços tecnológicos formam feitos no campo da computação e áreas correlatas, o que permitiu o desenvolvimento de sistemas robóticos sofisticados como robôs biomiméticos. Esses robôs imitam sistemas biológicos que decorrem robustez e e ciência maiores se comparados com robôs convencionais quando usados em ambientes não estruturados. Por exemplo, uma mão robótica biomimética tem uma destreza e agilidade maior para executar tarefas de manipulação e agarres do que pinças convencionais. Desde os anos oitenta, o desenvolvimento de mãos robóticas biomiméticas é o foco de pesquisa de várias equipes de investigação no mundo. Na atualidade há um número vasto de trabalhos encaminhados à construção e controle dos mesmos, os quais tem o intuito de melhorar a destreza e o desempenho das mãos e incluem tópicos como projeto da mão, mecanismos de movimento para as juntas, plataformas embarcadas e estratégias de controle. Existem várias abordagens a nível computacional que ainda não têm sido exploradas neste tipo de robôs, por exemplo o uso de um chip FPGA para o aumento de desempenho das estratégias de controle dinâmico usadas nos mesmos. O presente trabalho descreve o desenvolvimento de uma arquitetura em hardware baseada em FPGA do controlador dinâmico de uma mão robótica, o qual é sintonizado usando algoritmos de otimização bioinspirada visando para atingir estabilidade de agarre. O projeto da mão robótica realizado neste trabalho inclui o uso de mecanismos para emular os movimentos de exão-extensão dos dedos. Os mecanismos foram otimizados visando minimizar o erro de trajetória usando a mão humana como referência. Os algoritmos bioinspirados PSO, DE e GA foram implementados para otimizar o mecanismo. 32 experimentos foram realizados para cada algoritmo a m de realizar uma análise estatística para determinar o mecanismo com o melhor resultado, o qual é implementado no projeto nal do mecanismo do dedo incluído no CAD da mão completa, o qual é descrito junto com o projeto eletrônico da plataforma. O projeto nal da mão é avaliado com análise cinemática e adaptações do teste de Kapandji. Em seguida o protótipo é fabricado e montado usando diversos processos de fabricação e prototipagem, tais como corte a jato de água, torneamento e impressão 3D. Logo após, foi projetado na plataforma Matlab/Simulink em alto nível o esquema de controle de impedância dos dedos o qual foi validado usando um simulador numérico do dedo para estudar o efeito do controlador no sistema sem colocar em risco a plataforma física. A sintonização do controlador é realizada usando o algoritmo de otimização bioinspirado PSO visando reduzir o tempo de estabilidade, o sobreimpulso e o tempo de subida. Seguidamente, esses resultados foram implementados em plataformas embarcadas nas linguagens de programação C e na linguagem de descrição de hardware HDL. Após ser avaliado, o esquema de controle foi implementado em C na plataforma Arduino e mapeado em FPGA na placa de desenvolvimento ZedBoard. Uma comparação numérica e analítica foi realizada em termos do desempenho e precisão das duas abordagens. O resultado da otimização do mecanismo de exão-extensão produziu um erro de 0.2660% e o uso deste mecanismo permitiu fabricar um protótipo com dimensões e peso similar a uma mão humana real. Além disso, o protótipo atingiu os dez níveis da adaptação do teste de Kapandji. Adicionalmente, a sintonização da estratégia de controle resultou no comportamento desejado, o qual é subamortecido e com um tempo de estabilização 355ms. Similarmente, os resultados da implementação em FPGA foram satisfatórios no sentido do desempenho do tempo de execução da estratégia de controle, o qual melhorou os resultados da implementação em Arduino e outros trabalhos correlatos no estado da arte.In recent years, huge technological advances have been made in the eld of computing sciences and related areas, which has allowed the development of sophisticated robotic systems such as biomimetic robots. These robots mimic biological systems that result in greater robustness and e ciency compared to conventional robots when used in unstructured environments. For instance, a biomimetic robotic hand has greater dexterity and agility to perform manipulation tasks and grasp than conventional grippers. Since the 1980s, the development of biomimetic robotic hands has been the focus of many research teams all over the world. Nowadays several contributions regarding the construction and control of said systems, which aim to improve the dexterity and performance of the hands and include topics such as hand design, joint mechanisms, embedded platforms and control strategies. However, even with the great available knowledge, there are still no perfect robotic hands, therefore, there is still knowledge to be contributed in the scienti c community. There are several approaches at the computational level that have not yet been explored in this type of robots, for example, the use of a single FPGA chip to increase the performance of the dynamic control schemes used. This work describes the development of an FPGA-based hardware architecture of the dynamic controller in a robotic hand, which is tuned using bioinspired optimization algorithms applied to achieve stability of grasps. The robotic hand design performed in this work includes the use of mechanisms to emulate the exionextension movements of the ngers. The mechanisms were optimized to minimize the trajectory error using the human hand as reference. The bioinspired algorithms PSO, DE and GA were implemented to optimize the mechanism. 32 experiments are performed for each algorithm to perform a statistical analysis to determine 2 the best result. This optimized mechanism was implemented in the nal design of the nger mechanism included in the CAD of the complete hand, which is described together with the electronic design of the platform. The nal hand design is evaluated with kinematic analysis and Kapandji clinical test adaptations. The prototype was manufactured and assembled using various manufacturing and prototyping processes, such as water-jet cutting, turning and 3D printing. Afterwards, the nger impedance control scheme was designed on a high level platform using Matlab/Simulink, in addition to a numerical simulator of the nger for the study of the controller e ect on the system avoiding physical damage to the system. The controller was tuned using the PSO optimization algorithm aiming to reduce the stability time, the overshoot and the rise time. These results are then implemented on embedded platforms in both C and VHDL languages. After being evaluated, the control scheme is implemented in C on the Arduino platform and was manually mapped to FPGA on the ZedBoard development board. A numerical comparison between the two approaches was done in terms of performance and accuracy. The result of the optimization of the exion-extension mechanism produced an error of 0.2660% and the use of this mechanism allowed for manufacturing the prototype with dimensions and weight similar to a real human hand. The prototype reached the ten levels of the Kapandji test tting. In addition, the tuning of the control strategy resulted in the desired behavior, which is underdamped and with a stabilization time of 355ms. Similarly, the FPGA implementation results were satisfactory in the sense of the execution-time performance of the control strategy, which improved the implementation results in Arduino and other related work in the state of the art

Development of a robotic hand using bioinspired optimization for mechanical and control design : UnB-hand

For the last four decades, the development of robotic hands has been the focus of several works. However, a small part of those approaches consider the exploitation of parallelism of FPGA-based (Field Programmable Gate Arrays) systems or discuss how using bioinspired optimization algorithms could improve the mechanical and controller components. This work considers developing a bioinspired robotic hand that achieves motion and force control with a logic hardware architecture implemented in FPGA intended to be replicated and executed with suitable parallelism, fitting a single device. The developed robotic hand prototype has five fingers and seven DoF (Degrees of Freedom). Using bioinspired optimization, such as PSO (Particle Swarm Optimization), both the rigid finger mechanism and the impedance controller were optimized and incorporated the results in several practical grasping experiments. The validation of this work is done with the Cutkosky grasping taxonomy and some grasping experiments with interference. The tests proved the proficiency of this works for a wide range of power and some precision grasp. The reader can see the experiments in the attached videos

Hacia la dignidad arquitectónica del espacio carcelario

The problems of prison overcrowding in Latin America and some parts of the world affect the intramural population collectively and individually, generating inhumane conditions inside the prison, it is generally known the situation experienced by inmates who are affected by the conditions in which they are They find, but what contribution is being made through architecture to reverse this situation? It should be noted that at the urban level the immediate environment where the prison is located is affected, generating problems of social insecurity and devaluing the sector where it is located, evidencing in a certain way the deterioration of the urban landscape, even altering the uses of the soil and generating illegal trade in its immediate environment, Therefore, in this research we must question the dignity within prison spaces, considering the prison space as a fundamental principle based on resocialization, taking into account multiple case studies that are presented in the development of this document, making a comparison of what good or bad that is evidenced in some penitentiary institutions allowing us to question how much dignity measures in the prison space? How to facilitate second chances from the design of the prison space? Allowing noticeable improvements for the fulfillment of a sentence avoiding criminal recidivism.Las problemáticas de hacinamiento carcelario en Latinoamérica y algunas partes del mundo afecta de manera colectiva e individual la población intramural, generando condiciones inhumanas dentro de la cárcel, es de conocimiento general la situación que viven losinternos que se ven afectados por las condiciones en que se encuentran pero ¿Qué aporte se está haciendo atreves de la arquitectura para revertir esta situación? cabe destacar que a nivel urbano se ve afectado el entorno inmediato donde se encuentra el establecimiento penitenciario generando problemáticas de inseguridad social y desvalorizando a sí mismo el sector donde se encuentra este, evidenciando de una o cierta manera deterioro del paisaje urbano alterando incluso los usos del suelo y generando el comercio ilegal en su entorno inmediato. Por ende hemos de cuestionar en la presente investigación la dignidad dentro de los espacio carcelarios, contemplando como principio fundamental el espacio carcelario en función de la resocialización teniendo en cuenta múltiples casos de estudio que se presentan en el desarrollo del presente documento haciendo un comparativo de lo bueno o lo malo que se evidencias en algunas instituciones penitenciarias permitiéndonos cuestionar ¿Cuánto mide la dignidad en el espacio carcelario?¿cómo facilitar segundas oportunidades desde el diseño del espacio carcelario? Permitiendo mejoras notorias para el cumplimiento de una pena evitando la reincidencia delictiva

Functional cooperation between CREM and GCNF directs gene expression in haploid male germ cells

Cellular differentiation and development of germ cells critically depend on a coordinated activation and repression of specific genes. The underlying regulation mechanisms, however, still lack a lot of understanding. Here, we describe that both the testis-specific transcriptional activator CREMτ (cAMP response element modulator tau) and the repressor GCNF (germ cell nuclear factor) have an overlapping binding site which alone is sufficient to direct cell type-specific expression in vivo in a heterologous promoter context. Expression of the transgene driven by the CREM/GCNF site is detectable in spermatids, but not in any somatic tissue or at any other stages during germ cell differentiation. CREMτ acts as an activator of gene transcription whereas GCNF suppresses this activity. Both factors compete for binding to the same DNA response element. Effective binding of CREM and GCNF highly depends on composition and epigenetic modification of the binding site. We also discovered that CREM and GCNF bind to each other via their DNA binding domains, indicating a complex interaction between the two factors. There are several testis-specific target genes that are regulated by CREM and GCNF in a reciprocal manner, showing a similar activation pattern as during spermatogenesis. Our data indicate that a single common binding site for CREM and GCNF is sufficient to specifically direct gene transcription in a tissue-, cell type- and differentiation-specific manner

The Variant rs1867277 in FOXE1 Gene Confers Thyroid Cancer Susceptibility through the Recruitment of USF1/USF2 Transcription Factors

In order to identify genetic factors related to thyroid cancer susceptibility, we adopted a candidate gene approach. We studied tag- and putative functional SNPs in genes involved in thyroid cell differentiation and proliferation, and in genes found to be differentially expressed in thyroid carcinoma. A total of 768 SNPs in 97 genes were genotyped in a Spanish series of 615 cases and 525 controls, the former comprising the largest collection of patients with this pathology from a single population studied to date. SNPs in an LD block spanning the entire FOXE1 gene showed the strongest evidence of association with papillary thyroid carcinoma susceptibility. This association was validated in a second stage of the study that included an independent Italian series of 482 patients and 532 controls. The strongest association results were observed for rs1867277 (OR[per-allele] = 1.49; 95%CI = 1.30–1.70; P = 5.9×10−9). Functional assays of rs1867277 (NM_004473.3:c.−283G>A) within the FOXE1 5′ UTR suggested that this variant affects FOXE1 transcription. DNA-binding assays demonstrated that, exclusively, the sequence containing the A allele recruited the USF1/USF2 transcription factors, while both alleles formed a complex in which DREAM/CREB/αCREM participated. Transfection studies showed an allele-dependent transcriptional regulation of FOXE1. We propose a FOXE1 regulation model dependent on the rs1867277 genotype, indicating that this SNP is a causal variant in thyroid cancer susceptibility. Our results constitute the first functional explanation for an association identified by a GWAS and thereby elucidate a mechanism of thyroid cancer susceptibility. They also attest to the efficacy of candidate gene approaches in the GWAS era

A922 Sequential measurement of 1 hour creatinine clearance (1-CRCL) in critically ill patients at risk of acute kidney injury (AKI)

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