ICT and assistive robotic technology for elderly care

With the increased aging population, and declined support from the families, societies will need new tools to ensure the well-being of the elderly. Many of them prefer living at home, but they need help and assistance from someone. ICT innovations in the field of robotic systems can make a significant difference in the lives of the elderly and their caregivers. Robotic assistants can enhance the autonomy level of older people thus prolonging the nursing home admission. They have the potential to assist and support elderly in certain daily activities, such as: eating, drinking, reminding of scheduled appointment or taking medication, maintaining a shopping list, emergency notification etc. Some robotic systems can collect medical data about patients’ vital signs, that can be later meaningfully used by doctors and caregivers. However, elderly people require not only service support but also social support. Many researchers agree that social support is beneficial to a person's physical, mental and emotional health. In light of these needs of the elderly, we have designed a low-cost assistive telepresence robotic system, for facilitating the health care and for improving the quality of life of the elderly, creating conditions for more independent living at their homes. The developed robot, along with its functionalities, permit various interactions in a remote environment, like navigation, fetch and carry small objects, measuring vital parameters of an elderly person, reminder, calendar, and interpersonal communication. The potential users of the robot system are not only the elderly but, also professional caregivers. The robot can be remotely controlled by a distant person and can perform some activities as if he/she was physically present at the elderly’s residence. The developed assistive telepresence robot was tested in, both, simulation and experimental environment

Gesture Control of a Mobile Robot using Kinect Sensor

This paper describes a methodology for gesture control of a custom developed mobile robot, using body gestures and Microsoft Kinect sensor. The Microsoft Kinect sensor’s ability is to track joint positions has been used in order to develop software application gestures recognition and their mapping into control commands. The proposed methodology has been experimentally evaluated. The results of the experimental evaluation, presented in the paper, showed that the proposed methodology is accurate and reliable and it could be used for mobile robot control in practical applications

Hybrid project management as a new form of project management

Hybrid project management has gained significant popularity in recent years. Combining multiple project management methodologies, hybrid project management incorporates advantages from other, more-established methodologies. While the term hybrid refers to any new methodology created from combining two or more existing methodologies, in practice, the hybrid approach generally unites Agile methods with the more-traditional Waterfall model. Hybrid project management follows the structure from traditional project management and flexibility from agile project management. Combining both traditional and agile techniques resolve many situations during project development and can achieve success. This article explains the hybrid project management approach and its advantages over Waterfall and Agile methods

Supporting elderly’s independent living with a mobile robot platform

With the increased aging population, and declined support from the families, societies will need new tools to ensure the well-being of the elderly. Many of them would prefer living at home, but they will need help and assistance from someone. Technological innovations in the field of robotic systems can be used to enable independent living, to prolong the life of the elderly in their familiar home environments, to maintain the social connections by reducing social isolation and to improve the quality of life in general. In this paper, we present the design and validation of a low-cost mobile robot system that can assist elderly and professional caregivers in everyday activities. The robot structure and its control objectives are described in detail. The developed assistive telepresence robot was tested in simulation and experimentally. On field experiments were conducted in real environment, with potential end users, which is a major advantage of this study. The results of the evaluation were very satisfactory and have shown that participants can operate the robot safely and efficiently. The participants were very satisfied with the performance and features of the robot

Using educational games for learning natural science

The intrinsic connection between play and technology is becoming increasingly significant in early years education. This is especially true for children who belongs to the Generation Alpha. Gen Alpha generation is greatly influenced by technology, and they seek personalized and interactive education delivered through technology. Game-based learning offers a new way of learning, which conforms to the habits and interests of Gen Alpha. This paper provides an overview of a custom developed educational game and its applicability in the teaching of natural science and also investigates the outcomes obtained through game-based learning, in primary school children

Virtual Laboratory as Progressive Web Application

In contemporary education, especially in natural and technical sciences courses, it is important for students to gain practical experience through the use of laboratory exercises. Although theory classes were conducted online during the COVID-19 pandemic, educational institutions found it difficult to complete the laboratory experiments. With the increasing availability, sophistication and power of web-based tools and computer simulations, a growing number of virtual laboratories are developed and published. In this study we are proposing an architecture for a virtual laboratory designed and developed as a progressive web application (PWA). The concept of the PWA together with its advantages are also explained in this paper

Creating 3D objects using photogrammetry

Nowadays there is an increasing demand of creating accurate 3D models of various object. Visualization of these models allows the user to get the realistic impression of the object. 3D visualization has many applications in the areas of architecture, engineering, medicine, tourism, education etc. This paper presents the creation of 3D objects using photogrammetry technique. During our research, we have generated 3D model of various small objects. However, the focus was on generating 3D model of a human body, using Meshroom software. The lessons learned, during the data acquisition, as well as 3D reconstruction are presented in this study

Gait Training using Pneumatically Actuated Robot System

Powered exoskeleton device for gait rehabilitation has been designed and realized, together with proper control architecture. Its DOFs allow free leg motion, while the patient walks on a treadmill with its weight, completely or partially supported by the suspension system. The use of pneumatic actuators for actuation of this rehabilitation system is reasonable, because they offer high force output, good backdrivability, and good position and force control, at a relatively low cost. The effectiveness of the developed rehabilitation system and proposed control architecture was experimentally tested. During the experiments, the movement was natural and smooth while the limb moves along the target trajectory

Review of the Usage of Telepresence Robots in Education

The usage of telepresence robots can have a huge positive impact on education. They can provide remote access to the classrooms. This would be really helpful for students who are absent from school. It was especially noticeable during this period of the Covid-19 pandemic. This technology can complement the online teaching with displaying classroom boards, performing laboratory exercises that require better view and movement, and so on. Here, we show the usage of telepresence robots in education and cases when robots can be used for remote learning. The main goal of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of studies related to the application of telepresence robots in education in the last 4 years

Application of the MQTT protocol in telepresence robots

This paper presents the application of the MQTT protocol in the communication with telepresence robots. They are used for various purposes in education, medicine, nursing homes, etc. To ensure a good user experience, sending data from applications to telepresence robots needs to be fast and reliable. The MQTT protocol is open, fast and can be easily implemented. Its features make it ideal for data transmission in the communication with telepresence robots