How to be Helpful? Implementing Supportive Behaviors for Human-Robot Collaboration

The field of Human-Robot Collaboration (HRC) has seen a considerable amount of progress in the recent years. Although genuinely collaborative platforms are far from being deployed in real-world scenarios, advances in control and perception algorithms have progressively popularized robots in manufacturing settings, where they work side by side with human peers to achieve shared tasks. Unfortunately, little progress has been made toward the development of systems that are proactive in their collaboration, and autonomously take care of some of the chores that compose most of the collaboration tasks. In this work, we present a collaborative system capable of assisting the human partner with a variety of supportive behaviors in spite of its limited perceptual and manipulation capabilities and incomplete model of the task. Our framework leverages information from a high-level, hierarchical model of the task. The model, that is shared between the human and robot, enables transparent synchronization between the peers and understanding of each other's plan. More precisely, we derive a partially observable Markov model from the high-level task representation. We then use an online solver to compute a robot policy, that is robust to unexpected observations such as inaccuracies of perception, failures in object manipulations, as well as discovers hidden user preferences. We demonstrate that the system is capable of robustly providing support to the human in a furniture construction task

Gaze Stabilization for Humanoid Robots: a Comprehensive Framework

6 pages, appears in 2014 IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid RobotsGaze stabilization is an important requisite for humanoid robots. Previous work on this topic has focused on the integration of inertial and visual information. Little attention has been given to a third component, which is the knowledge that the robot has about its own movement. In this work we propose a comprehensive framework for gaze stabilization in a humanoid robot. We focus on the problem of compensating for disturbances induced in the cameras due to self-generated movements of the robot. In this work we employ two separate signals for stabilization: (1) an anticipatory term obtained from the velocity commands sent to the joints while the robot moves autonomously; (2) a feedback term from the on board gyroscope, which compensates unpredicted external disturbances. We first provide the mathematical formulation to derive the forward and the differential kinematics of the fixation point of the stereo system. We finally test our method on the iCub robot. We show that the stabilization consistently reduces the residual optical flow during the movement of the robot and in presence of external disturbances. We also demonstrate that proper integration of the neck DoF is crucial to achieve correct stabilization

Miopatía del complejo muscular Gracilis-Semitendinoso

Tras efectuar una revisión bibliográfica sobre el tema, el presente artículo describe 4 casos de miopatía fibrótica en los que ésta afecta al músculo graci/is en perros de raza Pastor alemán. El diagnóstico se basa en identificar la cojera característica y en descartar otros procesos. El tratamiento quirúrgico da buenos resultados a corto plazo, pero luego aparecen recidivas.After a bibliographic update, this article describes 4 cases of fíbrotíc miopathy of the gracilis muscle in German Shepherd dogs. Diagnosis relies on identifying typical gait and differentiating from other diseases. Surgical.treatment leads to short term satisfactory results but later, relapses occur

Financial Innovation and Health Emergencies the Role of Crowdfunding Platforms in Italy

Crowdfunding is a collective financing tool for projects of various kinds that in recent months has shown incredible ability to support the financial needs of the Italian health sector following the crisis triggered by the COVID-19 health emergency. The work analyses the contribution of crowdfunding platforms to overcoming the financial needs of the various health facilities operating in Italy and concludes with the conviction that this tool can be considered fully among the various sources of financing to which the health system, especially the national one, can permanently refer

The Virtues of Laziness: Multi-Query Kinodynamic Motion Planning with Lazy Methods

In this work, we introduce LazyBoE, a multi-query method for kinodynamic motion planning with forward propagation. This algorithm allows for the simultaneous exploration of a robot's state and control spaces, thereby enabling a wider suite of dynamic tasks in real-world applications. Our contributions are three-fold: i) a method for discretizing the state and control spaces to amortize planning times across multiple queries; ii) lazy approaches to collision checking and propagation of control sequences that decrease the cost of physics-based simulation; and iii) LazyBoE, a robust kinodynamic planner that leverages these two contributions to produce dynamically-feasible trajectories. The proposed framework not only reduces planning time but also increases success rate in comparison to previous approaches.Comment: Accepted to ICRA 2022 (International Conference on Robotics and Automation

SFDR Regulation (Level 2): What Impact on the Performance of Sustainable ETFs?

The paper analyses the effect of Sustainable Financial Disclosure Regulation (level 2) on sustainable ETFs. First, we compare the financial performance of two samples of ETFs classified according to article 8 and those that have been downgraded from art. 9 to art. 8 of the SFDR regulation. Second, we analyze the performance of downgraded ETFs following the entry into force of SFDR level 2. Our results highlight that the funds classified as art.9 showed significant differences in performance compared to those under art. 8 and the downgrade process significantly affected the performance of the ETFs analyzed

Essential fatty acids for dry eye:a review

Purpose Dry eye is a common complaint often encountered in optometric practice. However, it is a difficult condition to treat as clinical signs do not always correlate with patient symptoms. Essential fatty acids (EFA), particularly omega-3 EFA, may be effective in dealing with the underlying causes. Methods A literature review was carried out on the PubMed, ScienceDirect and Ovid databases. Searches included keywords such as ‘dry eye’, ‘essential fatty acids’ and ‘nutrition’ to find articles relating to the treatment of dry eye syndrome (DES) with omega-3 EFAs. Results Omega-3 and -6 EFAs need to be consumed together within a reasonable ratio to be effective. Currently, typical diets in developed countries lack omega-3 EFA and this results in an overexposure to omega-6. Omega-3 supplementation has an anti-inflammatory effect, inhibiting creation of omega-6 prostaglandin precursors. Omega-3 EFAs also demonstrate anti-inflammatory action in the lacrimal gland preventing apoptosis of the secretory epithelial cells. Supplementation clears meibomitis, allowing a thinner, more elastic lipid layer to protect the tear film and cornea. Conclusion Dietary supplementation of omega-3 EFA has already proven to be effective in coronary heart disease and arthritis. Safety is not a concern as it works synergistically with omega-6 in the body. Evidence suggests that supplementation with omega-3 EFA may be beneficial in the treatment and prevention of DES

Unveiling Diversity in amino acid stable isotope profiles for classifying rice Varieties, refining types and cultivation systems

Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS) is a promising tool in organic authentication cases. Premium-priced Italian rice varieties (Carnaroli, Arborio, Baldo) are used in cuisines worldwide for their unique qualitative properties. Organic authentication of rice by morphological assessment is unfeasible, while its market availability at different refining stages (brown, white) further increases the data variability. In this study, bulk and compound-specific (CS) − IRMS analysis of nine rice amino acids (AAs), by elemental analyser (EA) – IRMS and gas chromatography (GC) − combustion (C) − IRMS, respectively, were applied in order to explore their organic authentication potential in cases involving different rice varieties and refining types. The individual and interactive effects of the different variables were assessed on the δ13CAAs, δ15NAAs, δ13Cbulk and δ15Nbulk, and the sample classification was attempted by linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and decision tree analysis (DTA). Organic authentication of brown rice was achieved by CS-IRMS. Generic rice was differentiated from all Italian organic and conventional varieties (δ15Nleucine < 2.5 ‰). The δ13C values of glutamic acid, glycine, phenylalanine and proline, significantly contributed to the complete LDA separation of conventional Arborio, conventional Carnaroli and organic Carnaroli samples. This study showcases the interplay between refining type, variety and cultivation, which should be considered in cases of organic authentication by IRMS method

Conjunctival chemosis: A case series of systemic causes

Conjunctival chemosis is a common ophthalmic finding that presents with a wide range of severity, symptoms, signs, and underlying etiologies. Although most cases of conjunctival chemosis are ocular in nature (allergy, infection, irritation), atypical presentations such as dusky conjunctival hue, corkscrew conjunctival veins, and periorbital edema, should prompt further investigation for a systemic cause.  In atypical cases, reviewing the patient’s medical history and medications, physically examining and auscultating the patient’s heart and lungs, and obtaining vitals (i.e. blood pressure, pulse, weight), are crucial parts of the investigation for a potential systemic source. This article reviews systemic causes for conjunctival chemosis and provides case examples to demonstrate evaluative and management techniques for optometrists to make a distinction between ocular and systemic conjunctival chemosis.  &nbsp