Conditional Task and Motion Planning through an Effort-based Approach

This paper proposes a preliminary work on a Conditional Task and Motion Planning algorithm able to find a plan that minimizes robot efforts while solving assigned tasks. Unlike most of the existing approaches that replan a path only when it becomes unfeasible (e.g., no collision-free paths exist), the proposed algorithm takes into consideration a replanning procedure whenever an effort-saving is possible. The effort is here considered as the execution time, but it is extensible to the robot energy consumption. The computed plan is both conditional and dynamically adaptable to the unexpected environmental changes. Based on the theoretical analysis of the algorithm, authors expect their proposal to be complete and scalable. In progress experiments aim to prove this investigation

Quantitative hierarchical representation and comparison of hand grasps from electromyography and kinematic data

Motivation: Modeling human grasping and hand movements is important for robotics, prosthetics and rehabilitation. Several qualitative taxonomies of hand grasps have been proposed in scientific literature. However it is not clear how well they correspond to subjects movements. Objective: In this work we quantitatively analyze the similarity between hand movements in 40 subjects using different features. Methods: Publicly available data from 40 healthy subjects were used for this study. The data include electromyography and kinematic data recorded while the subjects perform 20 hand grasps. The kinematic and myoelectric signal was windowed and several signal features were extracted. Then, for each subject, a set of hierarchical trees was computed for the hand grasps. The obtained results were compared in order to evaluate differences between features and different subjects. Results: The comparison of the signal feature taxonomies revealed a relation among the same subject. The comparison of the subject taxonomies highlighted also a similarity shared between subjects except for rare cases. Conclusions: The results suggest that quantitative hierarchical representations of hand movements can be performed with the proposed approach and the results from different subjects and features can be compared. The presented approach suggests a way to perform a systematic analysis of hand movements and to create a quantitative taxonomy of hand movements

Researching European Crime Narratives and the Role of Television: An Introduction

none3siWhat is the role of television in the building and development of local and transnational identities, through the production, distribution and circulation of European crime dramas? Some main trajectories.openBarra, Luca; Jaquelin, Alice; Pagello, FedericoBarra, Luca; Jaquelin, Alice; Pagello, Federic

A quantitative taxonomy of human hand grasps

Background: A proper modeling of human grasping and of hand movements is fundamental for robotics, prosthetics, physiology and rehabilitation. The taxonomies of hand grasps that have been proposed in scientific literature so far are based on qualitative analyses of the movements and thus they are usually not quantitatively justified. Methods: This paper presents to the best of our knowledge the first quantitative taxonomy of hand grasps based on biomedical data measurements. The taxonomy is based on electromyography and kinematic data recorded from 40 healthy subjects performing 20 unique hand grasps. For each subject, a set of hierarchical trees are computed for several signal features. Afterwards, the trees are combined, first into modality-specific (i.e. muscular and kinematic) taxonomies of hand grasps and then into a general quantitative taxonomy of hand movements. The modality-specific taxonomies provide similar results despite describing different parameters of hand movements, one being muscular and the other kinematic. Results: The general taxonomy merges the kinematic and muscular description into a comprehensive hierarchical structure. The obtained results clarify what has been proposed in the literature so far and they partially confirm the qualitative parameters used to create previous taxonomies of hand grasps. According to the results, hand movements can be divided into five movement categories defined based on the overall grasp shape, finger positioning and muscular activation. Part of the results appears qualitatively in accordance with previous results describing kinematic hand grasping synergies. Conclusions: The taxonomy of hand grasps proposed in this paper clarifies with quantitative measurements what has been proposed in the field on a qualitative basis, thus having a potential impact on several scientific fields

Automated and Flexible Coil Winding Robotic Framework

European electrical machines manufacturers need to increase the flexibility of production process, due to the high cost of equipment setup at the beginning of each new production batch. Overall, most of these European manufacturers are striving to reduce costs while preserving the quality of products, in order to face the competition by Far East companies. There is a strong need for increasing productivity, flexibility and quality. In particular, in wound coils manufacturing process, current technologies allow only to big international manufacturer to automate their production lines, due to high machinery cost and set-up time, while small and medium manufacturers are forced to direct themselves towards manual production. This work aims to reduce costs and increase flexibility with the following contributions: (1) important reduction of setup time and costs of the winding machine, thanks to the simplicity and flexibility of the proposed approach; (2) increase in the quality of the final motors, thanks to the increased amount of copper that the robot will be able to insert in each coil with respect to manual winding; (3) possibility to parallelize the winding operations, dramatically increasing production rate; (4) decreased number of defected cores, thanks to an advanced quality inspection system; (5) reduction of environmental impact of the production process, thanks to a reduction of wasted copper wire

DETECting the “noirification” of European popular narratives across film, fiction and television

The article explores the transcultural dimension of European crime narratives by looking at the specific role of cinema in this context. Building on the research conducted by DETECt scholars in different areas of contemporary popular culture—especially literature and television—it first discusses the link between the more and more widespread use of the “noir” label and the increasing cultural legitimation of the crime genre. The article then argues that this phenomenon echoes the emergence of a new “European quality crime film” in recent years. While stressing the potential contribution of the genre to the circulation of European cinema, the evident limits of its impact in this field are also examined. Finally, it looks more closely at the transnational circulation of contemporary Italian crime films to assess to what extent they have been able to find a transnational audience on a continental level. In this context, the importance to look beyond theatrical distribution and the centrality of intermedial exchanges are highlighted, indicating new directions for research