Interaction with a Virtual Coach for Active and Healthy Ageing

International audienceSince life expectancy has increased significantly over the past century, society is being forced to discover innovative ways to support active aging and elderly care. The e-VITA project, which receives funding from both the European Union and Japan, is built on a cutting edge method of virtual coaching that focuses on the key areas of active and healthy aging. The requirements for the virtual coach were ascertained through a process of participatory design in workshops, focus groups, and living laboratories in Germany, France, Italy, and Japan. Several use cases were then chosen for development utilising the open-source Rasa framework. The system uses common representations such as Knowledge Bases and Knowledge Graphs to enable the integration of context, subject expertise, and multimodal data, and is available in English, German, French, Italian, and Japanese

Design of a Planting Module for an Automatic Device for Forest Regeneration

Forest regeneration by means of seedlings grown in container nurseries is usually performed manually with the use of the standard dibble bar or the tube dibble. Manual placement of a large number of seedlings in the soil requires a lot of work. Manual removal of the soil cover and digging the soil in spots with a diameter of 0.4 m requires, under average conditions, about 38 man-hours/ha, while planting with a dibble bar requires about 34 man-hours/ha. Additional work time is needed to carry seedlings over an area that is being afforested. At present, forestry does not have automatic planters that would enable the establishment of forest cultures. The aim of the paper is to present the concept of an autonomous robot and an innovative technology of performing forest regeneration and afforestation of former agricultural and reclaimed areas. The paper also presents the design solutions of the key working unit, which is a universal, openable dibble, cooperating with a three-toothed shaft to prepare a planting spot. The solution proposed enables continuous operation of the machine, i.e. without the need to stop the base vehicle

QCD and strongly coupled gauge theories : challenges and perspectives

We highlight the progress, current status, and open challenges of QCD-driven physics, in theory and in experiment. We discuss how the strong interaction is intimately connected to a broad sweep of physical problems, in settings ranging from astrophysics and cosmology to strongly coupled, complex systems in particle and condensed-matter physics, as well as to searches for physics beyond the Standard Model. We also discuss how success in describing the strong interaction impacts other fields, and, in turn, how such subjects can impact studies of the strong interaction. In the course of the work we offer a perspective on the many research streams which flow into and out of QCD, as well as a vision for future developments.Peer reviewe

Un assistant virtuel dédié à l'accompagnement de la personne, averti de son contexte de vie, grâce au smartphone

International audienceLes publications des dernières années décrivent une forte utilisation des systèmes portés (en particulier des smartphones) dans le domaine de la reconnaissance de l'activité humaine (HAR). Le smartphone peut être considéré à la fois comme un ensemble de capteurs et comme une interface pour l'utilisateur. Le projet européen Horizon 2020 e-VITA a pour but de promouvoir le vieillissement actif chez les populations séniors. A ces fins, et grâce aux Technologies de l'Information et de la Communication (TIC), les travaux actuels sont concentrés sur le développement d'un assistant virtuel permettant d'aider l'utilisateur dans ses tâches quotidiennes. L'une des TIC utilisée dans ce projet est le smartphone. En effet, les capteurs du smartphone permettent de mesurer et de reconstituer une partie du contexte de l'utilisateur, grâce à la communication avec un serveur distant. En outre, ce serveur est capable d'offrir différents services (dont la fusion des différentes modalités) afin de reconstituer le contexte. La fusion de données multimodales implique à son tour différents modules de machine learning. Enfin, afin de restituer efficacement le contexte à l'utilisateur et de dialoguer avec lui, un module de chatbot sous le modèle chatGPT développé par openAI y est intégré. La communication avec l'utilisateur sera alors établie de manière textuelle ou vocale

A virtual assistant dedicated to the accompaniment of the person informed of his life context thanks to the smartphone

International audiencePublications in recent years describe a strong use of wearable systems (especially smartphones) in the eld of Human Activity Recognition (HAR). The smartphone can be considered both as a set of sensors and as an interface for the user. The European Horizon 2020 e-VITA project aims to promote active and healthy aging in senior populations. To this end, and thanks to Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), the current work is focused on the development of a virtual assistant to help the user in his daily tasks. One of the ICT used in this project is the smartphone. Indeed, the sensors of the smartphone make it possible to measure and reconstitute a part of the user's context, thanks to the communication with a remote server. Moreover, this server is able to o er di erent services (including the fusion of di erent modalities) in order to reconstitute the context. The fusion of multimodal data implies in its turn di erent machine learning modules. Finally, in order to e ciently restore the context to the user and to dialogue with him, a chatbot module under the chatGPT model developed by openAI is integrated. The communication with the user will then be established in a textual or vocal way

Analiza kinematyczna i wytrzymałościowa wybranych podzespołów automatu do skaryfikacji żołędzi

The computer model of the scarification machine was created at the Industrial Institute of Agricultural Engineering in Poznań with the participation of employees from the AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow and the University of Agriculture in Krakow. The automaton is the result of the project, which aim was to develop, build and test an automatic device used to carry out the scarification of oak seeds for later shortening and balancing of germination period and elimination of sick and spoiled seeds. The paper presents the results of kinematic and strength analyzes of selected elements of the research model of a scarifying machine - the course of the peripheral speed, acceleration, torque and stress generated during the rotation of the arm.Komputerowy model automatu do skaryfikacji powstał w Przemysłowym Instytucie Maszyn Rolniczych w Poznaniu przy współudziale pracowników z Akademii Górniczo-Hutniczej w Krakowie oraz Uniwersytetu Rolniczego w Krakowie. Automat ten jest efektem zrealizowania projektu, którego celem było opracowanie, zbudowanie i przetestowanie automatycznego urządzenia służącego do prowadzenia skaryfikacji nasion dębu w celu późniejszego skrócenia i wyrównania okresu kiełkowania oraz eliminacji chorych i zepsutych nasion. W pracy przedstawiono wyniki przeprowadzonych analiz kinematycznych i wytrzymałościowych wybranych elementów modelu badawczego automatu skaryfikującego – przebieg wartości prędkości obwodowej, przyspieszenia, momentu obrotowego oraz naprężenia generowanych podczas obrotu ramienia

Automation of the Acorn Scarification Process as a Contribution to Sustainable Forest Management. Case Study: Common Oak

The basic principle of silviculture is the rational use of natural regeneration. The acceleration and equalisation of seed germination and an increase of the field seed germination ability are affected by seed scarification, which results in the destruction or weakening of the seed cover. Acorn scarification is performed manually, in the standing position, most often in adapted work stations, whose geometry is adjusted by the staff to their own anthropometric dimensions. An added value of acorn scarification consists in the ability to visually assess the health status of the cotyledons visible on the cross-section, making it possible to infer the potential use of a seed for sowing. However, due to the scope and duration of the activities involved, manual scarification is a process that is monotonous and physically as well as psychologically tiring for its performer. Automating of this process allows for effective replacement of human labour. The results obtained from the use of the vision system designed to determine the length and orientation of acorns may be considered satisfactory. The implementation of the seed orientation detection algorithm using the Harris detector was 90% accurate. Studies and analyses have shown that the process of acorn scarification has a positive effect on the later improvement of uniformity and acceleration of seedling emergence. In the case of seeds subjected to scarification, 83% of the acorns germinated within 4 to 6 weeks after sowing

Assessment of Selected Parameters of the Automatic Scarification Device as an Example of a Device for Sustainable Forest Management

Due to technological progress in forestry, seedlings with covered root systems—especially those grown in container nurseries—have become increasingly important in forest nursery production. One the trees that is most commonly grown this way is the common oak (Quercus robur L.). For an acorn to be sown in a container, it is necessary to remove its upper part during mechanical scarification, and evaluate its sowing suitability. At present, this is mainly done manually and by visual assessment. The low effectiveness of this method of acorn preparation has encouraged a search for unconventional solutions. One of them is the use of an automated device that consists of a computer vision-based module. For economic reasons related to the cost of growing seedlings in container nurseries, it is beneficial to minimize the contribution of unhealthy seeds. The maximum accuracy, which is understood as the number of correct seed diagnoses relative to the total number of seeds being assessed, was adopted as a criterion for choosing a separation threshold. According to the method proposed, the intensity and red components of the images of scarified acorns facilitated the best results in terms of the materials examined during the experiment. On average, a 10% inaccuracy of separation was observed. A secondary outcome of the presented research is an evaluation of the ergonomic parameters of the user interface that is attached to the unit controlling the device when it is running in its autonomous operation mode