Movement theory inspired robot motion strategies and design of a bipedal walker

This work explores top down embodied movement analysis with reference to movement literature like Laban/Bartenieff Movement Studies (LBMS) and movement sequencing as in choreography. First, high-level movement behaviors are investigated for robot systems by modeling them as sequentially evolving state machines, motivated by choreographed human movements, where states define poses at particular instants. Here, tools from formal theory help in producing high-level movement behaviors by conditioning transitions between these states. Secondly, high-level movements are investigated by designing a bipedal robot closely mapping key movements from human walking as identified in Bartenieff's Basic Six. This design is further simplified for mathematical modeling in a plane and a controller is designed for generating a stable walking gait. This line of work is important because it gives an embodied aspect of robot movement planning which can inspire more intuitive robot control methods and robot designs

Choreographic and Somatic Approaches for the Development of Expressive Robotic Systems

As robotic systems are moved out of factory work cells into human-facing environments questions of choreography become central to their design, placement, and application. With a human viewer or counterpart present, a system will automatically be interpreted within context, style of movement, and form factor by human beings as animate elements of their environment. The interpretation by this human counterpart is critical to the success of the system's integration: knobs on the system need to make sense to a human counterpart; an artificial agent should have a way of notifying a human counterpart of a change in system state, possibly through motion profiles; and the motion of a human counterpart may have important contextual clues for task completion. Thus, professional choreographers, dance practitioners, and movement analysts are critical to research in robotics. They have design methods for movement that align with human audience perception, can identify simplified features of movement for human-robot interaction goals, and have detailed knowledge of the capacity of human movement. This article provides approaches employed by one research lab, specific impacts on technical and artistic projects within, and principles that may guide future such work. The background section reports on choreography, somatic perspectives, improvisation, the Laban/Bartenieff Movement System, and robotics. From this context methods including embodied exercises, writing prompts, and community building activities have been developed to facilitate interdisciplinary research. The results of this work is presented as an overview of a smattering of projects in areas like high-level motion planning, software development for rapid prototyping of movement, artistic output, and user studies that help understand how people interpret movement. Finally, guiding principles for other groups to adopt are posited.Comment: Under review at MDPI Arts Special Issue "The Machine as Artist (for the 21st Century)" http://www.mdpi.com/journal/arts/special_issues/Machine_Artis

Nutritional probing and storage stability of papaya jam supplemented with date pit powder

Jam Quality is a factor robustly influenced by storage conditions. The current research aimed to develop papaya jam with improved nutritional attributes, rheological profile, and shelf-life utilizing date pit powder as a functional ingredient. The effect of date pit powder on the formulated product's physicochemical, microbial, and organoleptic properties was analyzed. Results revealed that overall mineral profile (0.35–1.11%), crude fiber (0.56–2.01%), pH (3.51–3.70%), and antioxidant properties (22.97–30.67%) were significantly increased while water activity reduced (0.77–0.73). Moreover, date pit powder improved the color scores like a*(10.10–10.67), b* (8.13–8.78), L* (25.56–28.09), and textural attributes (Cohesiveness: 0.83–0.90; Firmness: 6.82–6.93) of functional papaya jam. Microbial count reduced from 3.60 × 105-3.06 × 105 cfu/ml by adding date pit powder and staying within the acceptable limit (4.13 × 105-3.60 × 105 cfu/ml) during 2-month storage at refrigeration. Organoleptic evaluation depicted that samples treated with date pit powder scored better than the control, and a sample with 75% pectin replacement was considered best