Lighty: A Painting Interface for Room Illumination by Robotic Light Array

ABSTRACT We propose an AR-based painting interface that enables users to design an illumination distribution for a real room using an array of computer-controlled lights. Users specify an illumination distribution of the room by painting on the image obtained by a camera mounted in the room. The painting result is overlaid on the camera image as contour lines of the target illumination intensity. The system runs an optimization interactively to calculate light parameters to deliver the requested illumination condition. In this implementation, we used actuated lights that can change the lighting direction to generate the requested illumination condition more accurately and efciently than static lights. We built a miniature-scale experimental environment and ran a user study to compare our method with a standard direct manipulation method using widgets. The results showed that the users preferred our method for informal light control. We propose an augmented reality (AR) user interface called Lighty that enables users to easily design an illumination distribution for a real room using an array of computer-controlled lights. Users specify which area of the room is to be well-lit and which is to be dark by painting an illumination distribution on a tablet device displaying an image obtained by a camera mounted in the room. The system runs an optimization to calculate the light parameters and then illuminates the room. Our method is inspired by the goal-based lighting optimization approach in computer graphics SYSTEM OVERVIEW Our overall system is shown in USER INTERFACE The user interface is shown i

A Dipole Field for Object Delivery by Pushing on a Flat Surface

Abstract—This paper introduces a simple algorithm for non-prehensile object transportation by a pushing robot on a flat surface. We assume that the global position and orientation of the robot and objects are known. The system computes a dipole field around the object and moves the robot along the field. This simple algorithm resolves many subtle issues in implementing reliable pushing behaviors, such as collision avoidance, error recovery, and multi-robot coordination. We verify the effectiveness of the algorithm via several experiments with varying robot and object form factors. Although object delivery by pushing and motion control by a vector field are not new, the proposed algorithm offers easier implementation with fewer parameter adjustments because of its mode-less definition and scale-invariant formulation. O I

National trends in the outcomes of subarachnoid haemorrhage and the prognostic influence of stroke centre capability in Japan: retrospective cohort study

Objectives To examine the national, 6-year trends in in-hospital clinical outcomes of patients with subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) who underwent clipping or coiling and the prognostic influence of temporal trends in the Comprehensive Stroke Center (CSC) capabilities on patient outcomes in Japan.Design Retrospective study.Setting Six hundred and thirty-one primary care institutions in Japan.Participants Forty-five thousand and eleven patients with SAH who were urgently hospitalised, identified using the J-ASPECT Diagnosis Procedure Combination database.Primary and secondary outcome measures Annual number of patients with SAH who remained untreated, or who received clipping or coiling, in-hospital mortality and poor functional outcomes (modified Rankin Scale: 3–6) at discharge. Each CSC was assessed using a validated scoring system (CSC score: 1–25 points).Results In the overall cohort, in-hospital mortality decreased (year for trend, OR (95% CI): 0.97 (0.96 to 0.99)), while the proportion of poor functional outcomes remained unchanged (1.00 (0.98 to 1.02)). The proportion of patients who underwent clipping gradually decreased from 46.6% to 38.5%, while that of those who received coiling and those left untreated gradually increased from 16.9% to 22.6% and 35.4% to 38%, respectively. In-hospital mortality of coiled (0.94 (0.89 to 0.98)) and untreated (0.93 (0.90 to 0.96)) patients decreased, whereas that of clipped patients remained stable. CSC score improvement was associated with increased use of coiling (per 1-point increase, 1.14 (1.08 to 1.20)) but not with short-term patient outcomes regardless of treatment modality.Conclusions The 6-year trends indicated lower in-hospital mortality for patients with SAH (attributable to better outcomes), increased use of coiling and multidisciplinary care for untreated patients. Further increasing CSC capabilities may improve overall outcomes, mainly by increasing the use of coiling. Additional studies are necessary to determine the effect of confounders such as aneurysm complexity on outcomes of clipped patients in the modern endovascular era