Teaching Autonomous Systems at 1/10th-scale

Teaching autonomous systems is challenging because it is a rapidly advancing cross-disciplinary field that requires theory to be continually validated on physical platforms. For an autonomous vehicle (AV) to operate correctly, it needs to satisfy safety and performance properties that depend on the operational context and interaction with environmental agents, which can be difficult to anticipate and capture. This paper describes a senior undergraduate level course on the design, programming and racing of 1/10th-scale autonomous race cars. We explore AV safety and performance concepts at the limits of perception, planning, and control, in a highly interactive and competitive environment. The course includes an ethics-centered design philosophy, which seeks to engage the students in an analysis of ethical and socio-economic implications of autonomous systems. Our hypothesis is that 1/10th-scale autonomous vehicles sufficiently capture the scaled dynamics, sensing modalities, decision making and risks of real autonomous vehicles, but are a safe and accessible platform to teach the foundations of autonomous systems. We describe the design, deployment and feedback from two offerings of this class for college seniors and graduate students, open-source community development across 36 universities, international racing competitions, student skill enhancement and employability, and recommendations for tailoring it to various settings

xJus: A Hexapedal Robot with a Passively Flexible Spine

Hexapedal running robots have been a central platform for research in biologically-inspired locomotion over the last decade. These machines aim to capture the remarkable levels of stability and energy e ciency achieved by natural hexapods like cockroaches, while maintaining simplicity through one degree-of-freedom per leg actuation and high-level open-loop trajectory generation. However, animals such as mammals and reptiles also heavily employ the flexibility of their bodies for locomotion, an e ect not replicable with the rigid chassis of previous designs. In this paper we present preliminary experimental data from xJus - the first segmented hexapod with an adjustable-stiffness passively compliant spine, designed to store body energy and reduce waste by minimizing conflicting internal forces. Results show a reduction in required motor torques when spinal compliance is introduced on at terrains, as well as improved capability to overcome large obstacles. Discussed are our mechanical, electronic, and software design approaches in building a modular and low-cost machine, as well as experimental methods and initial findings

Unravelling cell type-specific responses to Parkinson's Disease at single cell resolution.

Acknowledgements: The authors thank the tissue donors and their families, Oregon Brain Bank and the funders that made this research possible. We would like to thank Sarah Field for proof-reading and assessing the structure of the manuscript draft. Figure 1A was created using BioRender.Funder: VIB Tech WatchParkinson's Disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder. The pathological hallmark of PD is loss of dopaminergic neurons and the presence of aggregated α-synuclein, primarily in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) of the midbrain. However, the molecular mechanisms that underlie the pathology in different cell types is not currently understood. Here, we present a single nucleus transcriptome analysis of human post-mortem SNpc obtained from 15 sporadic Parkinson's Disease (PD) cases and 14 Controls. Our dataset comprises ∼84K nuclei, representing all major cell types of the brain, allowing us to obtain a transcriptome-level characterization of these cell types. Importantly, we identify multiple subpopulations for each cell type and describe specific gene sets that provide insights into the differing roles of these subpopulations. Our findings reveal a significant decrease in neuronal cells in PD samples, accompanied by an increase in glial cells and T cells. Subpopulation analyses demonstrate a significant depletion of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) enriched astrocyte, microglia and oligodendrocyte populations in PD samples, as well as TH enriched neurons, which are also depleted. Moreover, marker gene analysis of the depleted subpopulations identified 28 overlapping genes, including those associated with dopamine metabolism (e.g., ALDH1A1, SLC6A3 & SLC18A2). Overall, our study provides a valuable resource for understanding the molecular mechanisms involved in dopaminergic neuron degeneration and glial responses in PD, highlighting the existence of novel subpopulations and cell type-specific gene sets