Aplicación de algoritmos bioinspirados basados en visión por computador para la detección de equilibrio de robots humanoides

Existen gran cantidad de estudios que señalan la importancia de la visión en seres humanos para el control del equilibrio. El objeto de este proyecto es sentar las bases y analizar la viabilidad de la utilización de sistemas bioinspirados basados en visión por computador como herramienta para el control del equilibrio de robots humanoides. El presente proyecto realiza una revisión del estado del arte y analiza qué algoritmos existentes y disponibles utilizados para la obtención de la posición en tiempo real mediante visión por computador resultan interesantes de cara a ser implementados para control del equilibrio. Optándose por implementar el algoritmo Fovis de odometría visual y el método iterativo de resolución del problema “Perspective-n-Point”. Se han realizado una serie de pruebas con el robot humanoide TEO de la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Los resultados obtenidos por ambos algoritmos fueron comparados entre ellos y con los obtenidos por el sensor inercial actualmente utilizado por TEO para tareas de control de equilibrio. Los resultados obtenidos por Fovis en las pruebas llevan a concluir que la odometría visual representa una opción a tener en cuenta para el control del equilibrio de robots humanoides, abriendo una vía a futuros trabajos. Este trabajo forma parte de un proyecto más amplio que busca utilizar el robot humanoide TEO para imitar el comportamiento de un camarero, para lo cual el control de la postura corporal y el equilibrio son factores de gran relevancia.There exist many studies that evidence the important role that vision plays on balance control in human beings. The aim of this project is to lay the groundwork and analyze the viability of using bioinspired systems based on computer vision in order to control balance on humanoid robots. This Project makes an state of art revission and analyzes wich of the existant and available real time pose estimation algorithms fit for being used on balance control tasks on humanoid robots. Odometry visual algorithm Fovis and iterative “Perspective-n-Point” problem solver were chosen to be implemented. Several tests were done in humanoid robot TEO of University Carlos III of Madrid. A comparission between both method’s results was done and also with current inertial sensor used by TEO for balance control tasks. The results obtained by Fovis lead to conclude that visual odometry represents a good option for balance control tasks on humanoid robots, laying the ground for further work. This work is carried out within the framework of a bigger project that looks for using humanoid robot TEO to imitate a waiter’s behavior, for that objective pose and balance control are quite relevant issues.Ingeniería Electrónica Industrial y Automátic

Dynamic Daylight Metrics for Electricity Savings in Offices: Window Size and Climate Smart Lighting Management

Daylight performance metrics provide a promising approach for the design and optimization of lighting strategies in buildings and their management. Smart controls for electric lighting can reduce power consumption and promote visual comfort using different control strategies, based on affordable technologies and low building impact. The aim of this research is to assess the energy efficiency of these smart controls by means of dynamic daylight performance metrics, to determine suitable solutions based on the geometry of the architecture and the weather conditions. The analysis considers different room dimensions, with variable window size and two mean surface reflectance values. DaySim 3.1 lighting software provides the simulations for the study, determining the necessary quantification of dynamic metrics to evaluate the usefulness of the proposed smart controls and their impact on energy efficiency. The validation of dynamic metrics is carried out by monitoring a mesh of illuminance-meters in test cells throughout one year. The results showed that, for most rooms more than 3.00 m deep, smart controls achieve worthwhile energy savings and a low payback period, regardless of weather conditions and for worst-case situations. It is also concluded that dimming systems provide a higher net present value and allow the use of smaller window size than other control solutions

Managing Waiting Times to Predict No-shows and Cancelations at a Children’s Hospital

Purpose: Since long waits in hospitals have been found to be related to high rates of no-shows and cancelations, managing waiting times should be considered as an important tool that hospitals can use to reduce missed appointments. The aim of this study is to analyze patients’ behavior in order to predict no-show and cancelation rates correlated to waiting times. Design/methodology/approach: This study is based on the data from a US children’s hospital, which includes all the appointments registered during one year of observation. We used the call-appointment interval to establish the wait time to get an appointment. Four different types of appointment-keeping behavior and two types of patients were distinguished: arrival, no-show, cancelation with no reschedule, and cancelation with reschedule; and new and established patients. Findings: Results confirmed a strong impact of long waiting times on patients’ appointment-keeping behavior, and the logarithmic regression was found as the best-fit function for the correlation between variables in all cases. The correlation analysis showed that new patients tend to miss appointments more often than established patients when the waiting time increases. It was also found that, depending on the patients’ appointment distribution, it might get more complicated for hospitals to reduce missed appointments as the waiting time is reduced. Originality/value: The methodology applied in our study, which combines the use of regression analysis and patients’ appointment distribution analysis, would help health care managers to understand the initial implications of long waiting times and to address improvement related to patient satisfaction and hospital performance.Peer Reviewe

An Extensive Validation of a SIR Epidemic Model to Study the Propagation of Jamming Attacks against IoT Wireless Networks.

This paper describes the utilization of an epidemic approach to study the propagation of jamming attacks, which can affect to different communication layers of all nodes in a variety of Internet of Things (IoT) wireless networks, regardless of the complexity and computing power of the devices. The jamming term considers both the more classical approach of interfering signals focusing on the physical level of the systems, and the cybersecurity approach that includes the attacks generated in upper layers like Medium Access Control (MAC), producing the same effect on the communication channel. In order to study the accuracy of the proposed epidemic model to estimate the propagation of jamming attacks, this paper uses the results of public simulations and experiments. It is of special interest the data obtained from experiments based on protocols such as Multi-Parent Hierarchical Protocol (MPH), Ad-hoc On-demand Distance Vector (AODV), and Dynamic Source Routing (DSR), working over the IEEE 802.15.4 standard. Then, using the formulation of the deterministic epidemiological model Susceptible–Infected–Recovered (SIR), together the abovementioned simulation, it has been seen that the proposed epidemic model could be used to estimate in that kind of IoT networks, the impact of the jamming attack in terms of attack severity and attack persistenceThis research has been partially supported by Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (MINECO), Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI), and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER, UE) under projects TIN2017-84844-C2-1-R and PGC2018-098813-B-C32

CO2 Concentration and Occupants’ Symptoms in Naturally Ventilated Schools in Mediterranean Climate

A large part of the school building stock in Andalusia lacks ventilation facilities, so that the air renewal of the classrooms is achieved through the building envelope (air infiltration) or the opening of windows. This research analyses the airtightness of the classrooms in Andalusia and the evolution of CO2 concentration during school hours through in situ monitoring. Pressurization and depressurization tests were performed in 42 classrooms and CO2 concentration was measured in two di erent periods, winter and midseason, to study the impact of the di erent levels of aperture of windows. About 917 students (11–17 years of age) were surveyed on symptoms and e ects on their health. The mean n50 values are about 7 h-1, whereas the average CO2 concentration values are about 1878 ppm, with 42% of the case studies displaying concentrations above 2000 ppm with windows closed

Control de calidad en la industria de la automoción

Peer Reviewe

Control de calidad en la industria de la automoción

Peer Reviewe

Design and implementation of an ultrasonic sensor for rapid monitoring of industrial malolactic fermentation of wines

Ultrasound is an emerging technology that can be applied to monitor food processes. However, ultrasonic techniques are usually limited to research activities within a laboratory environment and they are not extensively used in industrial processes. The aim of this paper is to describe a novel ultrasonic sensor designed to monitor physical–chemical changes that occur in wines stored in industrial tanks. Essentially, the sensor consists of an ultrasonic transducer in contact with a buffer rod, mounted inside a stainless steel tube section. This structure allows the ultrasonic sensor to be directly installed in stainless steel tanks of an industrial plant. The operating principle of this design is based on the measurement of ultrasonic velocity of propagation. To test its proper operation, the sensor has been used to measure changes of concentration in aqueous samples and to monitor the progress of a malolactic fermentation of red wines in various commercial wineries. Results show the feasibility of using this sensor for monitoring malolactic fermentations in red wines placed in industrial tanks.Postprint (author's final draft