Possibilities of man-machine interaction through the perception of human gestures

A mesura que les màquines s'utilitzen interaccionant cada cop més amb les persones, la necessitat d'interfícies més amigables esdevé una necessitat creixent. La comunicació oral persona-màquina com una forma d'interacció utilitzant el llenguatge natural és cada vegada més usual. La interpretació dels gestos humans pot, en certes aplicacions, complementar aquesta comunicació oral. Aquest article descriu un sistema d'interpretació dels gestos basat en la visió per computador. El procés d'interpretació realitza la detecció i seguiment d'un operador humà, i a partir dels seus moviments interpreta un conjunt específic d'ordres gestuals, en temps real.As man-machine interaction grows there is an increasing need for friendly interfaces. Human-machine oral communication as a means of natural language interaction is becoming quite common. Interpretation of human gestures can, in some applications, complement such communication. This article describes an interpretation of gestures procedure. The system is based on a computer vision system for the detection and tracking of a human operator and the interpretation of a specific set of human gestures in real time

Els sistemes encastats: impacte i reptes de futur

S’analitza l’impacte que tenen els moderns sistemes electrònics encastats en diferents àmbits, com són la societat, l’àmbit industrial i l’educació. Es presenta una breu definició del que és un sistema encastat i es donen alguns exemples de les aplicacions que pot tenir. Es fa un repàs de les tendències actuals dels sistemes encastats i una projecció a mitjà i llarg termini de l’impacte que poden arribar a tenir. Es conclou amb unes recomanacions d’actuació amb l’objectiu de preparar la societat i la indústria catalana vers l’imminent futur dels objectes cibernètics interconnectats.The impact of modern embedded electronic systems in different scenarios – such as society, industry and education – is analyzed. A brief definition is given of what an embedded system is, providing some examples of possible applications. A review of current trends in embedded systems is made, presenting a medium- and long-term impact projection. This introductory article concludes with some recommendations for action in order to prepare Catalonia’s industry and society in general for the imminent future of the cyber interconnected objects.Postprint (published version

Exploring improvements on the complexity-performance ratio and usability of surgical robots

Surgical robots are endowed with valuable features that allow surgeons mproving their work in terms of accuracy, quality, efficiency and liability. Tremor reduction, scaled movements, virtual fixtures, pre and intraoperative imaging are some examples of enhancing aids for the surgeon. Moreover, being robotics surgery still at an early phase of development, current research efforts are focused to develop robotic systems able to solve more complex tasks, though the associated costs of robotics makes the convenience of its use in some kind of interventions questionable. After analyzing the main performances and limitations of current surgical robots, this paper foresees dvances towards ideal robotic systems that satisfy the requirements of future robots.Postprint (published version

Stereoscopic system for human body tracking in natural scenes

IEEE International Workshop on Modelling People (PEOPLE), 1999, Kerkyra (Grecia)Human body detection and tracking in a scene constitutes a very active working field clue to their applicability to many areas, specially as a man-machine interface (MMI) means. The system presented aims to improve the reliability and efficiency of teleoperation. The system is of application to teleoperated manipulation in civil applications such as big robots in shipyards, mines, public works or even cranes. Image segmentation is performed from movement detection. The recognition of moving bodies is verified by means of a simplified articulated cylindrical model, thus allowing to operate with a low computational cost.Peer Reviewe

Bitrack: a friendly four arms robot for laparoscopic surgery

This paper presents the Bitrack system, which is a new laparoscopic surgical robot, designed at UPC, and currently undergoing the process of certification by a spin-off created for its exploitation, RSS. This new robot aims to obtain the same benefits and accuracy as the current benchmark but overcoming some dependencies that current robotic surgery poses. Many reports on studies that evaluate the contribution of robotics do not doubt on the improvements achieved with the use of robots in what refers to surgical quality and that more complex surgeries can be addressed than those performed by laparoscopy. The Bitrack system apart from these clear contributions of robotics also provides the concept of hybrid surgery. This concept implies the capability of performing an intervention alternating standard laparoscopy with other robot assisted phases according to the needs in each stage of the procedure.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Exploring improvements on the complexity-performance ratio and usability of surgical robots

Surgical robots are endowed with valuable features that allow surgeons mproving their work in terms of accuracy, quality, efficiency and liability. Tremor reduction, scaled movements, virtual fixtures, pre and intraoperative imaging are some examples of enhancing aids for the surgeon. Moreover, being robotics surgery still at an early phase of development, current research efforts are focused to develop robotic systems able to solve more complex tasks, though the associated costs of robotics makes the convenience of its use in some kind of interventions questionable. After analyzing the main performances and limitations of current surgical robots, this paper foresees dvances towards ideal robotic systems that satisfy the requirements of future robots

Exploring improvements on the complexity-performance ratio and usability of surgical robots

Surgical robots are endowed with valuable features that allow surgeons mproving their work in terms of accuracy, quality, efficiency and liability. Tremor reduction, scaled movements, virtual fixtures, pre and intraoperative imaging are some examples of enhancing aids for the surgeon. Moreover, being robotics surgery still at an early phase of development, current research efforts are focused to develop robotic systems able to solve more complex tasks, though the associated costs of robotics makes the convenience of its use in some kind of interventions questionable. After analyzing the main performances and limitations of current surgical robots, this paper foresees dvances towards ideal robotic systems that satisfy the requirements of future robots

Non-wood fibres for industry

Proceedings of a conference held Silsoe (Great Britain), 23 Mar 1994Available from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:6502.5548(PIRA-TK/SW--02/0394) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo

Motor-model-based dynamic scaling in human-computer interfaces

This paper presents a study on how the application of scaling techniques to an interface affects its performance. A progressive scaling factor based on the position and velocity of the cursor and the targets improves the efficiency of an interface, thereby reducing the user’s workload. The study uses several human-motor models to interpret human intention and thus contribute to defining and adapting the scaling parameters to the execution of the task. Two techniques addressed to vary the control-display ratio are compared, and a new method for aiding in the task of steering is proposed.Peer Reviewe

Sistema integrado de posicionado, visualización y acotamiento de áreas de trabajo en cirugía ortopédica

La percepción que el cirujano tiene de la intervención que está realizando es esencial para garantizar una operación segura y eficiente. En cirugía robotizada los sistemas de percepción disponibles son muy limitados, lo que puede paliarse generando información visual a proyectar sobre el paciente. El trabajo describe el modo de generar y proyectar la imagen 3D obtenida por TAC, así como trayectorias previamente planificadas, que serán de ayuda al guiado. Esta información es también utilizada para el guiado del robot que trabaja en cooperación con el cirujano, en modo comanipulación, evitando situaciones de riesgo y ayudando al cirujano en el guiado de los instrumentos quirúrgicos