ENRICHME integration of ambient intelligence and robotics for AAL

Technological advances and affordability of recent smart sensors, as well as the consolidation of common software platforms for the integration of the latter and robotic sensors, are enabling the creation of complex active and assisted living environments for improving the quality of life of the elderly and the less able people. One such example is the integrated system developed by the European project ENRICHME, the aim of which is to monitor and prolong the independent living of old people affected by mild cognitive impairments with a combination of smart-home, robotics and web technologies. This paper presents in particular the design and technological solutions adopted to integrate, process and store the information provided by a set of fixed smart sensors and mobile robot sensors in a domestic scenario, including presence and contact detectors, environmental sensors, and RFID-tagged objects, for long-term user monitoring an

Next-Best-Sense: a multi-criteria robotic exploration strategy for RFID tags discovery

Automated exploration is one of the most relevant applications of autonomous robots. In this paper, we suggest a novel online coverage algorithm called Next-Best-Sense (NBS), an extension of the Next-Best-View class of exploration algorithms that optimizes the exploration task balancing multiple criteria. This novel algorithm is applied to the problem of localizing all Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags with a mobile robotic platform that is equipped with a RFID reader. We cast this problem as a coverage planning problem by defining a basic sensing operation -- a scan with the RFID reader -- as the field of “view” of the sensor. NBS evaluates candidate locations with a global utility function which combines utility values for travel distance, information gain, sensing time, battery status and RFID information gain, generalizing the use of Multi-Criteria Decision Making. We developed an RFID reader and tag model in the Gazebo simulator for validation. Experiments performed both in simulation and with a real robot suggest that our NBS approach can successfully localize all the RFID tags while minimizing navigation metrics such sensing operations, total traveling distance and battery consumption. The code developed is publicly available on the authors' repository

Radionuclides in arctic marine macroalgae from Kongsfjorden (Svalbard)

Seaweeds are known to be useful environmental bioindicators since they bioaccumulate radioisotopes at very low environmental concentrations. Levels of natural radionuclides in six ecologically relevant brown and red seaweed species from Arctic coasts (Kongsfjorden, Spitsbergen, Svalbard Islands) were analysed in the present study, in order to characterise the levels of natural radioactivity in this ecosystem and to compare this with previously published data in coastal areas from other latitudes. Thalli were collected by SCUBA divers at different depths in Hansneset in September 2014 and transported immediately to the laboratory. Young thalli, free from macroscopic epibiota, were dried, powdered and confined in a standard geometry before gamma spectrometry measurements. Then, the radioactivity of 7Be, 40K, 208Tl, 210Pb, 212Pb, 226Ra and 228Ra was measured by high-resolution gamma spectrometry using high-purity germanium detectors for 172800 s. Detectors were calibrated using a traceable multi gamma standard source and results are on a dry weight and fresh weight basis and are decay corrected to the date of sampling. Our results revealed the influence of cosmogenic radionuclides in the intertidal zone, as shown by the unique presence of 7Be in the brown macroalga Fucus distichus, the only analysed species inhabiting the intertidal. High concentrations of 40K were observed in all species, as this is one of the essential elements in biota. Remarkably is the high content of 210Pb in the red seaweeds Phycodrys rubens and Ptilota gunneri, suggesting that these species might possess a higher capacity for heavy metals bioaccumulation than the analysed brown seaweeds

The barley a-thionin promotor is rich in negative regulatory motifs and directs tissue-specific expression of a reporter gene in tobacco.

The promoter of the barley α-thionin gene (1.6 kb) fused to the β-glucuronidase (GUS) gene directs temporally-controled, tissue-specific expression in the endosperm of transgenic tobacco. The nucleotide sequence of this promoter shows negative regulatory motifs which have been functionally analyzed in other gene

Entropy-based abnormal activity detection fusing RGB-D and domotic sensors

The automatic detection of anomalies in Active and Assisted Living (AAL) environments is important for monitoring the wellbeing and safety of the elderly at home. The integration of smart domotic sensors (e.g. presence detectors) with those ones equipping modern mobile robots (e.g. RGBD camera) provides new opportunities for addressing this challenge. In this paper, we propose a novel solution to combine local activity levels detected by a single RGBD camera with the global activity perceived by a network of domotic sensors. Our approach relies on a new method for computing such a global activity using various presence detectors, based on the concept of entropy from information theory. This entropy effectively shows how active a particular room or environment’s area is. The solution includes also a new application of Hybrid Markov Logic Networks (HMLNs) to merge different information sources for local and global anomaly detection. The system has been tested with RGBD data and a comprehensive domotic dataset containing data entries from 37 different domotic sensors (presence, temperature, light, energy consumption, door contact), which is made publicly available. The experimental results show the effectiveness of our approach and the potential for complex anomaly detection in AAL settings

Reliability and reproductibility of skin temperature of overweight subjects by an infrared thermograpy software designed for human beings

The technical improvement and new applications of Infrared Thermography (IRT) with healthy subjects should be accompanied by results about the reproducibility of IRT measurements in different popula-tion groups. In addition, there is a remarkable necessity of a larger supply on software to analyze IRT images of human beings. Therefore, the objectives of this study were: firstly, to investigate the reproducibility of skin temperature (Tsk) on overweight and obese subjects using IRT in different Regions of Interest (ROI), moments and side-to-side differences (?T); and secondly, to check the reliability of a new software called Termotracker®, specialized on the analysis of IRT images of human beings. Methods: 22 overweight and obese males (11) and females (11) (age: 41,51±7,76 years; height: 1,65±0,09 m; weight: 82,41±11,81 Kg; BMI: 30,17±2,58 kg/m²) were assessed in two consecutive thermograms (5 seconds in-between) by the same observer, using an infrared camera (FLIR T335, Sweden) to get 4 IRT images from the whole body. 11 ROI were selected using Termotracker® to analyze its reproducibility and reliability through Intra-class Correlation Coefficient (ICC) and Coefficient of Variation (CV) values. Results: The reproducibility of the side-to-side differences (?T) between two consecutive thermograms was very high in all ROIs (Mean ICC = 0,989), and excellent between two computers (Mean ICC = 0,998). The re-liability of the software was very high in all the ROIs (Mean ICC = 0,999). Intraexaminer reliability analysing the same subjects in two consecutive thermograms was also very high (Mean ICC = 0,997). CV values of the different ROIs were around 2%. Conclusions: Skin temperature on overweight subjects had an excellent reproducibility for consecutive ther-mograms. The reproducibility of thermal asymmetries (?T) was also good but it had the influence of several factors that should be further investigated. Termotracker® reached excellent reliability results and it is a relia-ble and objective software to analyse IRT images of humans beings

Walk-IT: An Open-Source Modular Low-Cost Smart Rollator

Rollators are widely used in clinical rehabilitation for gait assessment, but gait analysis usually requires a great deal of expertise and focus from medical staff. Smart rollators can capture gait parameters autonomously while avoiding complex setups. However, commercial smart rollators, as closed systems, can not be modified; plus, they are often expensive and not widely available. This work presents a low cost open-source modular rollator for monitorization of gait parameters and support. The whole system is based on commercial components and its software architecture runs over ROS2 to allow further customization and expansion. This paper describes the overall software and hardware architecture and, as an example of extended capabilities, modules for monitoring dynamic partial weight bearing and for estimation of spatiotemporal gait parameters of clinical interest. All presented tests are coherent from a clinical point of view and consistent with input dataThis work is funded by Programa Proyectos RETOS del Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Ref: RTI2018-096701-B-C21 (SAVIA: Sistema de Autonomía Variable para movIlidad Asistida) and Plan Propio de la Universidad de Málaga (E3-PROYECTOS DE PRUEBA DE CONCEPTO (E3/02/18)) at Málaga University, Spain. Partial funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málaga

ENRICHME: Perception and Interaction of an Assistive Robot for the Elderly at Home

Recent technological advances enabled modern robots to become part of our daily life. In particular, assistive robotics emerged as an exciting research topic that can provide solutions to improve the quality of life of elderly and vulnerable people. This paper introduces the robotic platform developed in the ENRICHME project, with particular focus on its innovative perception and interaction capabilities. The project’s main goal is to enrich the day-to-day experience of elderly people at home with technologies that enable health monitoring, complementary care, and social support. The paper presents several modules created to provide cognitive stimulation services for elderly users with mild cognitive impairments. The ENRICHME robot was tested in three pilot sites around Europe (Poland, Greece, and UK) and proven to be an effective assistant for the elderly at home

Nasal mask for the sleep apnea

[EN] GASMEDI, who supplies home delivered respiratory therapies, has developed in collaboration with Biomechanics Institute of Valencia a new nasal mask for the treatment of the sleep apnea disease. To this end, the person oriented innovation model has been adopted, specially focused on the elderly population. The application of such innovation model has made possible the development of a nasal mask that overcomes the usability and injury drawbacks of current masks. Besides, the nasal mask has been designed in such a way that can be easily used by the aged people.[ES] La empresa GASMEDI, proveedora asal para la apnea del sueño de terapias respiratorias a domicilio, ha desarrollado, en colaboración con el Instituto de Biomecánica (IBV), una nueva mascarilla para el tratamiento de la apnea del sueño. Para su desarrollo se ha seguido el modelo de innovación orientada por las personas, prestando especial atención a las personas de edad avanzada. La aplicación de dicho modelo de innovación perseguía superar los problemas de usabilidad y lesiones que presentan las mascarillas nasales actuales. Asimismo, la mascarilla se ha diseñado de forma que sea fácilmente utilizable por personas mayores.Proyecot desarrollado a través del II Plan de Competitividad de la Empresa Valenciana (PCEV) de IMPIVA, cofinanciado por los fondos FEDER, dentro del Programa Operativo FEDER de la Comunitat Valenciana 2007-2013.Morales Martín, I.; Atienza Vicente, CM.; Villuendas Ros, A.; Carmona Gutiérrez, C.; Vidal Calvo, L.; Nacher Fernandez, B.; Navarro Garcia, FJ.... (2013). Mascarilla nasal para la apnea del sueño. Revista de biomecánica. 59:51-53. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/38678S51535