Concordance between the Clinical Definition of Polypathological Patient versus Automated Detection by Means of Combined Identification through ICD-9-CM Codes

It is unknown whether the digital application of automated ICD-9-CM codes recorded in the medical history are useful for a first screening in the detection of polypathological patients. In this study, the objective was to identify the degree of intra- and inter-observer concordance in the identification of in-patient polypathological patients between the standard clinical identification method and a new automatic method, using the basic minimum data set of ICD-9-CM codes in the digital medical history. For this, a cross-sectional multicenter study with 1518 administratively discharged patients from Andalusian hospitals during the period of 2013–2014 has been carried out. For the concordance between the clinical definition of a polypathological patient and the polypathological patient classification according to ICD-9-CM coding, a 0.661 kappa was obtained (95% confidence interval (CI); 0.622–0.701) with p < 0.0001. The intraclass correlation coefficient between both methods for the number of polypathological patient categories was 0.745 (95% CI; 0.721–0.768; p < 0.0001). The values of sensitivity, specificity, positive-, and negative predictive values of the automated detection using ICD-9-CM coding were 78%, 88%, 78%, and 88%, respectively. As conclusion, the automatic identification of polypathological patients by detecting ICD-9-CM codes is useful as a screening method for in-hospital patients.Instituto de Salud Carlos III PI 14/025

Motion planning with dynamics awareness for long reach manipulation in aerial robotic systems with two arms

Human activities in maintenance of industrial plants pose elevated risks as well as significant costs due to the required shutdowns of the facility. An aerial robotic system with two arms for long reach manipulation in cluttered environments is presented to alleviate these constraints. The system consists of a multirotor with a long bar extension that incorporates a lightweight dual arm in the tip. This configuration allows aerial manipulation tasks even in hard-to-reach places. The objective of this work is the development of planning strategies to move the aerial robotic system with two arms for long reach manipulation in a safe and efficient way for both navigation and manipulation tasks. The motion planning problem is addressed considering jointly the aerial platform and the dual arm in order to achieve wider operating conditions. Since there exists a strong dynamical coupling between the multirotor and the dual arm, safety in obstacle avoidance will be assured by introducing dynamics awareness in the operation of the planner. On the other hand, the limited maneuverability of the system emphasizes the importance of energy and time efficiency in the generated trajectories. Accordingly, an adapted version of the optimal Rapidly-exploring Random Tree algorithm has been employed to guarantee their optimality. The resulting motion planning strategy has been evaluated through simulation in two realistic industrial scenarios, a riveting application and a chimney repairing task. To this end, the dynamics of the aerial robotic system with two arms for long reach manipulation has been properly modeled, and a distributed control scheme has been derived to complete the test bed. The satisfactory results of the simulations are presented as a first validation of the proposed approach.Unión Europea H2020-644271Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades DPI2014-59383-C2-1-

Cartesian Aerial Manipulator with Compliant Arm

Nº ArtÍculo: 1001This paper presents an aerial manipulation robot consisting of a hexa-rotor equipped with a 2-DOF (degree of freedom) Cartesian base (XY–axes) that supports a 1-DOF compliant joint arm that integrates a gripper and an elastic linear force sensor. The proposed kinematic configuration improves the positioning accuracy of the end effector with respect to robotic arms with revolute joints, where each coordinate of the Cartesian position depends on all the joint angles. The Cartesian base reduces the inertia of the manipulator and the energy consumption since it does not need to lift its own weight. Consequently, the required torque is lower and, thus, the weight of the actuators. The linear and angular deflection sensors of the arm allow the estimation, monitoring and control of the interaction wrenches exerted in two axes (XZ) at the end effector. The kinematic and dynamic models are derived and compared with respect to a revolute-joint arm, proposing a force-position control scheme for the aerial robot. A battery counterweight mechanism is also incorporated in the X–axis linear guide to partially compensate for the motion of the manipulator. Experimental results indoors and outdoors show the performance of the robot, including object grasping and retrieval, contact force control, and force monitoring in grabbing situations.Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad Proyecto ARTIC RTI2018-102224- B-I00Comisión Europea Proyecto AERIAL-CORE H2020-2019-871479Comisión Europea Proyecto HYFLIERS H2020- ICT-25-2017-77941

Modelado y control en vuelo estacionario de helicópteros autónomos con cable de fijación a tierra

Los helicópteros son conocidos por sus capacidades de vuelo estacionario (maniobra conocida como hovering), despegue y aterrizaje vertical. Sin embargo, la ejecución de la maniobra de hovering puede verse afectada seriamente por perturbaciones como ráfagas de viento. Lo anterior es más significativo en el caso de helicópteros a escala, que son comúnmente adoptados como plataformas para el desarrollo de vehículos aéreos no tripulados. Para solventar las dificultades anteriores y conseguir maniobras de hovering más estables es posible emplear una configuración consistente en un helicóptero autónomo, un cable de fijación a tierra y un sistema de control que ajusta la tensión en el cable. En este artículo, además de incluir los pasos necesarios para obtener un modelo detallado del sistema, se presenta un análisis de los beneficios inherentes a la configuración con cable, así como el esquema general para el diseño de estrategias de control. A manera de ilustración, se incluyen simulaciones comparativas con perturbaciones de viento generadas artificialmenteJunta de Andalucía (España) RURBAN P09-TIC-5121Secretaría de Estado de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación del gobierno de España Plan Nacional de I+D+i CLEAR DPI2011-28937-C02-01Comisión Europea EC-SAFEMOBIL FP7-ICT-2011-

Autonomous UAV System for Cleaning Insulators in Power Line Inspection and Maintenance

The inspection and maintenance tasks of electrical installations are very demanding. Nowadays, insulator cleaning is carried out manually by operators using scaffolds, ropes, or even helicopters. However, these operations involve potential risks for humans and the electrical structure. The use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) to reduce the risk of these tasks is rising. This paper presents an UAV to autonomously clean insulators on power lines. First, an insulator detection and tracking algorithm has been implemented to control the UAV in operation. Second, a cleaning tool has been designed consisting of a pump, a tank, and an arm to direct the flow of cleaning liquid. Third, a vision system has been developed that is capable of detecting soiled areas using a semantic segmentation neuronal network, calculating the trajectory for cleaning in the image plane, and generating arm trajectories to efficiently clean the insulator. Fourth, an autonomous system has been developed to land on a charging pad to charge the batteries and potentially fill the tank with cleaning liquid. Finally, the autonomous system has been validated in a controlled outdoor environment.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (CDTI) AERIAL-CORE H2020 ICT-10-2019-2020FEDER INTERCONECT

Release of Sterile Mosquitoes with Drones in Urban and Rural Environments under the European Drone Regulation

In recent years, several countries have developed the use of sterile insect techniques (SIT) to fight against mosquitoes that transmit diseases. From a technical and economic point of view, the use of drones in the aerial release of sterile mosquitoes leads to important improvements in aerial coverage and savings in operational costs due to the requirement of fewer release sites and field staff. However, these operations are under the European drone regulation, one of the most advanced in the world. The main contribution and novelty of this paper with respect to previous work is the analysis of the SIT application with drones under the European risk-based regulation in two scenarios: urban and rural areas. The specific operations risk assessment (SORA) methodology has been applied to assess the risk of drone operations in these scenarios. The paper presents the operational requirements for aerial release of mosquitoes with drones along with the regulatory considerations that must be applied. Finally, an overview of the conditions in operation that could relax risks and mitigation measures is also discussed.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación iMOV3D (CER-20191007)

High-Level Modular Autopilot Solution for Fast Prototyping of Unmanned Aerial Systems

Article number 9291382A redundant fast prototyping autopilot solution for unmanned aerial systems has been developed and successfully tested outdoors. While its low-level backbone is executed in a Raspberry Pi R 3 + NAVIO2 R with a backup autopilot, the computational power of an Intel R NUC mini-computer is employed to implement complex functionalities directly in Simulink R , thus including in-flight debugging, tuning and monitoring. Altogether, the presented tool provides a flexible and user-friendly high-level environment with enhanced computational capabilities, which drastically reduces the prototyping timespans of complex algorithms –between 50% and 75%, according to our long and proven experience in aerial robotics–, while preventing incidents thanks to its redundant design with a human-in-the-loop pilot on the reliable PX4. Three typical outdoor cases are carried out for validation in real-life scenarios, all mounted in a DJI c F550 platform. Full integration results and telemetry for more than 50 hours of outdoor flight tests are provided.Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad DPI2017-89790-RPrograma Horizonte 2020. Unión Europea 779411Programa Horizonte 2020. Unión Europea 87147

Sobrecarga sentida por la figura del cuidador principal en una cohorte de pacientes pluripatológicos

ObjetivoConocer el perfil del cuidador principal (CP) y los factores relacionados con la sobrecarga sentida, en una cohorte multicéntrica de pacientes pluripatológicos (PP).DiseñoEstudio transversal, multicéntrico.EmplazamientoCuatro zonas básicas de salud del área sanitaria de los Hospitales Universitarios Virgen del Rocío, Sevilla.ParticipantesLa cohorte de PP se generó prospectivamente mediante el censado de todos los pacientes que cumplían los criterios de PP de la Consejería de Salud (2002): aquellos que tienen enfermedades crónicas de dos o más de las 7 categorías clínicas definidas.Mediciones principalesEl perfil del cuidador se determinó a todos los PP. El cansancio del CP se determinó mediante el índice de esfuerzo del cuidador (IEC). Los factores predictores se analizaron mediante los tests de la t de Student, ANOVA y Pearson.Posteriormente se realizó una regresión lineal multivariable paso a paso hacia delante.ResultadosAccedieron a la entrevista 461 (69% de los 662 elegibles) PP; 293 (63,6%) pacientes tenían CP, que en el 88% eran familiares de primer grado (146 [49,7%] de ellos, el cónyuge), de 62±15 años de edad, y el 80%, mujeres. El IEC fue > 7 puntos en el 41,5% y en general fue 5,35±3,5, mayor en los que cuidaban de PP con enfermedades neurológicas (7±3,2 frente a 4,5±3,3; p<0,0001). El IEC se correlacionó directamente con la vulnerabilidad clínica del PP (R=0,37; p<0,001), con el deterioro cognitivo por escala de Pfeiffer (R=0,4; p<0,0001), e inversamente con la situación funcional por índice de Barthel (R=−0,67; p<0,0001). La edad del paciente (p=0,03), su vulnerabilidad clínica (p=0,016) y el deterioro funcional (p<0,0001) y cognitivo (p=0,019) predijeron de forma independiente el IEC.ConclusionesEl perfil del CP de los PP se correspondió con mujeres familiares en primer grado de unos 60 años. Más de la tercera parte estaban sobrecargadas; los factores predictores fueron la edad, la vulnerabilidad clínica y el deterioro funcional y cognitivo del PP.ObjectiveTo determine the profile of the main caregiver (MC) and the factors associated with her/his care burden, in a multi-centre cohort of patients with multiple pathologies (PMP).DesignMulti-centre cross-sectional study.SettingFour health districts in the Virgen del Rocío University Hospitals Health Area, Seville, Spain.ParticipantsThe PMP cohort was created by checking all the patients who satisfied the health department criteria for PMP (2002): patients suffering from chronic diseases in 2 or more of the 7 clinical categories defined.Main measurementsThe profile of PMP caregiver was determined for all patients. The caregiver strain index (CSI) was determined by the index of care stress (ICS). Predictive factors were analysed by the Student t, ANOVA, and Pearson's tests. Multivariate analysis was performed by a forward stepwise linear regression model.ResultsThe interview was attended by 461 (69%) out of 662 eligible PMP. Of these, 293 (63.6%) had an MC whose mean age was 62 (15) years; 80% of them were women. First-degree relatives made up 88% of caregivers, with spouses 49.7% of them (n=146). In 41.5%, the CSI was >7points (mean CSI was 5.35 [3.5]). This was higher in those caring for PMP with neurological illnesses (7 [3.2 vs 4.5 [3.3]; P=.0001).The CSI was compared directly with the medical vulnerability of the PMP (R=0.37; P=.001), cognitive deterioration on the Pfeiffer scale (PS) (R=0.4; P=.0001), and inversely with functional status on Barthel's scale (BS) (R=-0.67; P=.0001). Patient's age (P=.03), his/her medical vulnerability (P=.016) and functional (P<.0001) and cognitive (P=.019) deterioration were independently associated with the CSI.ConclusionsThe profile of the MC of the PMP cohort corresponded mainly to first-degree female relatives around sixty years old. The burden of care was high in more than a third of them. Predictive factors were age, medical vulnerability, and the functional and cognitive deterioration of the PMP

Experimental Evaluation of a Team of Multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Cooperative Construction

Nº Artículo 9314142This article presents a team of multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to perform cooperative missions for autonomous construction. In particular, the UAVs have to build a wall made of bricks that need to be picked and transported from different locations. First, we propose a novel architecture for multi-robot systems operating in outdoor and unstructured environments, where robustness and reliability play a key role. Then, we describe the design of our aerial platforms and grasping mechanisms to pick, transport and place bricks. The system was particularly developed for the Mohamed Bin Zayed International Robotics Challenge (MBZIRC), where Challenge 2 consisted of building a wall cooperatively with multiple UAVs. However, our approach is more general and extensible to other multi-UAV applications involving physical interaction, like package delivery. We present not only our results in the final stage of MBZIRC, but also our simulations and field experiments throughout the previous months to the competition, where we tuned our system and assessed its performance

Director Tools for Autonomous Media Production with a Team of Drones

Featured Application: This work can be applied for media production with aerial cameras. The system supports media crew to film outdoor events with an autonomous fleet of drones.This paper proposes a set of director tools for autonomous media production with a team of drones. There is a clear trend toward using drones for media production, and the director is the person in charge of the whole system from a production perspective. Many applications, mainly outdoors, can benefit from the use of multiple drones to achieve multi-view or concurrent shots. However, there is a burden associated with managing all aspects in the system, such as ensuring safety, accounting for drone battery levels, navigating drones, etc. Even though there exist methods for autonomous mission planning with teams of drones, a media director is not necessarily familiar with them and their language. We contribute to close this gap between media crew and autonomous multi-drone systems, allowing the director to focus on the artistic part. In particular, we propose a novel language for cinematography mission description and a procedure to translate those missions into plans that can be executed by autonomous drones. We also present our director’s Dashboard, a graphical tool allowing the director to describe missions for media production easily. Our tools have been integrated into a real team of drones for media production and we show results of example missions.Unión Europea Sub.No 73166