Design and Control of an Anthropomorphic Robotic Finger with Multi-point Tactile Sensation

The goal of this research is to develop the prototype of a tactile sensing platform for anthropomorphic manipulation research. We investigate this problem through the fabrication and simple control of a planar 2-DOF robotic finger inspired by anatomic consistency, self-containment, and adaptability. The robot is equipped with a tactile sensor array based on optical transducer technology whereby localized changes in light intensity within an illuminated foam substrate correspond to the distribution and magnitude of forces applied to the sensor surface plane. The integration of tactile perception is a key component in realizing robotic systems which organically interact with the world. Such natural behavior is characterized by compliant performance that can initiate internal, and respond to external, force application in a dynamic environment. However, most of the current manipulators that support some form of haptic feedback either solely derive proprioceptive sensation or only limit tactile sensors to the mechanical fingertips. These constraints are due to the technological challenges involved in high resolution, multi-point tactile perception. In this work, however, we take the opposite approach, emphasizing the role of full-finger tactile feedback in the refinement of manual capabilities. To this end, we propose and implement a control framework for sensorimotor coordination analogous to infant-level grasping and fixturing reflexes. This thesis details the mechanisms used to achieve these sensory, actuation, and control objectives, along with the design philosophies and biological influences behind them. The results of behavioral experiments with a simple tactilely-modulated control scheme are also described. The hope is to integrate the modular finger into an %engineered analog of the human hand with a complete haptic system.

Combining Human and Machine Brains - Practical systems in information & control

In this paper a look is taken at how the use of implant technology can be used to either increase the range of the abilities of a human and/or diminish the effects of a neural illness, such as Parkinson's Disease. The key element is the need for a clear interface linking the human brain directly with a computer. The area of interest here is the use of implant technology, particularly where a connection is made between technology and the human brain and/or nervous system. Pilot tests and experimentation are invariably carried out apriori to investigate the eventual possibilities before human subjects are themselves involved. Some of the more pertinent animal studies are discussed here. The paper goes on to describe human experimentation, in particular that carried out by the author himself, which led to him receiving a neural implant which linked his nervous system bi-directionally with the internet. With this in place neural signals were transmitted to various technological devices to directly control them. In particular, feedback to the brain was obtained from the fingertips of a robot hand and ultrasonic (extra) sensory input. A view is taken as to the prospects for the future, both in the near term as a therapeutic device and in the long term as a form of enhancement.

Linking human and machine brains

A look is taken here at how the use of implant technology is rapidly diminishing the effects of certain neural illnesses and distinctly increasing the range of abilities of those affected. An indication is given of a number of problem areas in which such technology has already had a profound effect, a key element being the need for a clear interface linking the human brain directly with a computer. In order to assess the possible opportunities, both human and animal studies are reported on. The main thrust of the paper is however a discussion of neural implant experimentation linking the human nervous system bi-directionally with the internet. With this in place neural signals were transmitted to various technological devices to directly control them, in some cases via the internet, and feedback to the brain was obtained from such as the fingertips of a robot hand, ultrasonic (extra) sensory input and neural signals directly from another human's nervous system. Consideration is given to the prospects for neural implant technology in the future, both in the short term as a therapeutic device and in the long term as a form of enhancement, including the realistic potential for thought communication potentially opening up commercial opportunities. Clearly though, an individual whose brain is part human - part machine can have abilities that far surpass those with a human brain alone. Will such an individual exhibit different moral and ethical values to those of a human.? If so, what effects might this have on society?

On linking human and machine brains

A look is taken here at how the use of implant technology is rapidly diminishing the effects of certain neural illnesses and distinctly increasing the range of abilities of those affected. An indication is given of a number of problem areas in which such technology has already had a profound effect, a key element being the need for a clear interface linking the human brain directly with a computer. In order to assess the possible opportunities, both human and animal studies are reported on. The main thrust of the paper is, however, a discussion of neural implant experimentation linking the human nervous system bi-directionally with the internet. With this in place, neural signals were transmitted to various technological devices to directly control them, in some cases via the internet, and feedback to the brain was obtained from, for example, the fingertips of a robot hand, and ultrasonic (extra) sensory input and neural signals directly from another human's nervous system. Consideration is given to the prospects for neural implant technology in the future, both in the short term as a therapeutic device and in the long term as a form of enhancement, including the realistic potential for thought communication-potentially opening up commercial opportunities. Clearly though, an individual whose brain is part human-part machine can have abilities that far surpass those with a human brain alone. Will such an individual exhibit different moral and ethical values from those of a human? If so, what effects might this have on society? (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The brain’s fingers and hands

The brain keeps track of the changing positions of body parts in space using a spatial body schema. When subjects localise a tactile stimulus on the skin, they might either use a somatotopic body map, or use a body schema to identify the location of the stimulation in external space. Healthy subjects were touched on the fingertips, with the hands in one of two postures: either the right hand was vertically above the left, or the fingers of both hands were interwoven. Subjects made speeded verbal responses to identify either the finger or the hand that was touched. Interweaving the fingers significantly impaired hand identification across several experiments, but had no effect on finger identification. Our results suggest that identification of fingers occurs in a somatotopic representation or finger schema. Identification of hands uses a general body schema, and is influenced by external spatial location. This dissociation implies that touches on the finger can only be identified with a particular hand after a process of assigning fingers to hands. This assignment is based on external spatial location. Our results suggest a role of the body schema in the identification of structural body parts from touch.

Upgrading humans via implants - why not?

In his forum paper, Prof. Kevin Warwick considers four different examples of how the use of implant technology is opening up the possibility of upgrading human abilities, particularly in terms of mental cognition. The main thrust is an overview of Prof. Warwick's own research, which led to him receiving a neural implant linking his nervous system bi-directionally with the internet. With this implant in place, neural signals were transmitted to various technological devices to directly control them, in some cases via the internet, and feedback to the brain was obtained from such stimuli as the fingertips of a robot hand, ultrasonic (extra-) sensory input and neural signals directly from another human's nervous system. A view is taken as to the prospects for the future, both in the short-term as a therapeutic device and in the long-term as a form of enhancement, including the realistic potential, in the near future, for thought communication – thereby opening up tremendous commercial potential. The therapy/enhancement dichotomy is considered here, as well as military and medical issues. Clearly though, an individual whose brain is part human/part machine can have abilities that far surpass those who remain with a human brain alone. Will such an individual exhibit different moral and ethical values to those of a human? If so, what effects might this have on society?

A importância do sistema de controle interno para a eficiência e eficácia da gestão pública municipal, no âmbito do agreste meridional de Pernambuco

O presente trabalho objetiva discutir a importância da implantação do Sistema de Controle Interno – SCI na administração pública municipal, expondo a necessidade de sua adoção no âmbito da região do Agreste Meridional de Pernambuco, com o intuito de obter eficiência e eficácia na gestão dos recursos públicos. Ressalta-se, ainda, que para obtenção do sucesso do Sistema de Controle Interno - SCI é indispensável o cumprimento dos procedimentos legais. Pode-se afirmar que, a implantação do SCI é uma ferramenta que possibilita, ao ente público, suporte, apoio e assessoria, uma vez que oferece condições de governar de maneira eficiente, eficaz e efetiva, através da disponibilização de informações confiáveis em tempo hábil, respeitando os programas governamentais e resultando numa excelente conduta de gestão. Consequentemente, o gestor terá uma condição mais privilegiada, no sentido de que poderá auferir entendimentos conclusivos sobre questões específicas relacionadas à sua administração, propiciando, assim, efeitos qualitativos para a sociedade. O estudo revela também os procedimentos que foram adotados pelas administrações municipais a partir da Resolução TC nº 001/2009, instituída pelo Tribunal de Contas do Estado de Pernambuco, que disciplina sobre a criação, a implantação, a manutenção e a coordenação de Sistemas de Controle Interno nos Poderes Municipais, fazendo valer o prescrito nos artigos 31 e 74 da Carta Magna.

[Dye laser treatment of periungual pyogenic granuloma]

Treatment of pyogenic granuloma may be difficult in locations such as the face and fingertips. We successfully treated a 1 cm periungual fingertip pyogenic granuloma with a dye laser.

Crystal structure of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase of hepatitis C virus

We report the crystal structure of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase of hepatitis C virus, a major human pathogen, to 2.8-Å resolution. This enzyme is a key target for developing specific antiviral therapy. The structure of the catalytic domain contains 531 residues folded in the characteristic fingers, palm, and thumb subdomains. The fingers subdomain contains a region, the “fingertips,” that shares the same fold with reverse transcriptases. Superposition to the available structures of the latter shows that residues from the palm and fingertips are structurally equivalent. In addition, it shows that the hepatitis C virus polymerase was crystallized in a closed fingers conformation, similar to HIV-1 reverse transcriptase in ternary complex with DNA and dTTP [Huang H., Chopra, R., Verdine, G. L. & Harrison, S. C. (1998) Science 282, 1669–1675]. This superposition reveals the majority of the amino acid residues of the hepatitis C virus enzyme that are likely to be implicated in binding to the replicating RNA molecule and to the incoming NTP. It also suggests a rearrangement of the thumb domain as well as a possible concerted movement of thumb and fingertips during translocation of the RNA template-primer in successive polymerization rounds.

Control framework for dexterous manipulation using dynamic visual servoing and tactile sensors’ feedback

Tactile sensors play an important role in robotics manipulation to perform dexterous and complex tasks. This paper presents a novel control framework to perform dexterous manipulation with multi-fingered robotic hands using feedback data from tactile and visual sensors. This control framework permits the definition of new visual controllers which allow the path tracking of the object motion taking into account both the dynamics model of the robot hand and the grasping force of the fingertips under a hybrid control scheme. In addition, the proposed general method employs optimal control to obtain the desired behaviour in the joint space of the fingers based on an indicated cost function which determines how the control effort is distributed over the joints of the robotic hand. Finally, authors show experimental verifications on a real robotic manipulation system for some of the controllers derived from the control framework.

3D Visual Data-Driven Spatiotemporal Deformations for Non-Rigid Object Grasping Using Robot Hands

Sensing techniques are important for solving problems of uncertainty inherent to intelligent grasping tasks. The main goal here is to present a visual sensing system based on range imaging technology for robot manipulation of non-rigid objects. Our proposal provides a suitable visual perception system of complex grasping tasks to support a robot controller when other sensor systems, such as tactile and force, are not able to obtain useful data relevant to the grasping manipulation task. In particular, a new visual approach based on RGBD data was implemented to help a robot controller carry out intelligent manipulation tasks with flexible objects. The proposed method supervises the interaction between the grasped object and the robot hand in order to avoid poor contact between the fingertips and an object when there is neither force nor pressure data. This new approach is also used to measure changes to the shape of an object’s surfaces and so allows us to find deformations caused by inappropriate pressure being applied by the hand’s fingers. Test was carried out for grasping tasks involving several flexible household objects with a multi-fingered robot hand working in real time. Our approach generates pulses from the deformation detection method and sends an event message to the robot controller when surface deformation is detected. In comparison with other methods, the obtained results reveal that our visual pipeline does not use deformations models of objects and materials, as well as the approach works well both planar and 3D household objects in real time. In addition, our method does not depend on the pose of the robot hand because the location of the reference system is computed from a recognition process of a pattern located place at the robot forearm. The presented experiments demonstrate that the proposed method accomplishes a good monitoring of grasping task with several objects and different grasping configurations in indoor environments.

Reliability and validity of arm volume measurements for assessment of lymphedema

Background and Purpose. Arm lymphedema following breast cancer In this study, we assessed the surgery is a continuing problem. reliability and validity of circumferential measurements and water displacement for measuring upper-limb volume. Subjects. Participants included subjects who had had breast cancer surgery, including axillary dissection-19 with and 22 without a diagnosis of arm lymphedema-and 25 control subjects. Methods. Two raters measured each subject by using circumferential tape measurements at specified distances from the fingertips and in relation to anatornic landmarks and by using water displacement. Interrater reliability was calculated by analysis of variance and multilevel modeling. Volumes from circumferential measurements were compared with those from water displacement by use of means and correlation coefficients, respectively. The standard error of measurement, minimum detectable change (MDC), and limits of agreement (LOA) for volumes also were calculated. Results. Arm volumes obtained with these methods had high reliability. Compared with volumes from water displacement, volumes from circumferential measurements had high validity, although these volumes were slightly larger. Expected differences between subjects with and without clinical lymphedema following breast cancer were found. The MDC of volumes or the error associated with a single measure for data based oil anatomic landmarks was lower than that based oil distance from fingertips. The mean LOA with water displacement were lower for data based on anatomic landmarks than for data based on distance from fingertips. Discussion and Conclusion. Volumes calculated from anatomic landmarks are reliable, valid, and more accurate than those obtained from circumferential measurements based on distance from fingertips.

Designing and Developing Digital and Blended Learning Solutions

The continuous advancement in computing, together with the decline in its cost, has resulted in technology becoming ubiquitous (Arbaugh, 2008, Gros, 2007). Technology is growing and is part of our lives in almost every respect, including the way we learn. Technology helps to collapse time and space in learning. For example, technology allows learners to engage with their instructors synchronously, in real time and also asynchronously, by enabling sessions to be recorded. Space and distance is no longer an issue provided there is adequate bandwidth, which determines the most appropriate format such text, audio or video. Technology has revolutionised the way learners learn; courses are designed; and ‘lessons’ are delivered, and continues to do so. The learning process can be made vastly more efficient as learners have knowledge at their fingertips, and unfamiliar concepts can be easily searched and an explanation found in seconds. Technology has also enabled learning to be more flexible, as learners can learn anywhere; at any time; and using different formats, e.g. text or audio. From the perspective of the instructors and L&D providers, technology offers these same advantages, plus easy scalability. Administratively, preparatory work can be undertaken more quickly even whilst student numbers grow. Learners from far and new locations can be easily accommodated. In addition, many technologies can be easily scaled to accommodate new functionality and/ or other new technologies. ‘Designing and Developing Digital and Blended Learning Solutions’ (5DBS), has been developed to recognise the growing importance of technology in L&D. This unit contains four learning outcomes and two assessment criteria, which is the same for all other units, besides Learning Outcome 3 which has three assessment criteria. The four learning outcomes in this unit are: • Learning Outcome 1: Understand current digital technologies and their contribution to learning and development solutions; • Learning Outcome 2: Be able to design blended learning solutions that make appropriate use of new technologies alongside more traditional approaches; • Learning Outcome 3: Know about the processes involved in designing and developing digital learning content efficiently and what makes for engaging and effective digital learning content; • Learning Outcome 4: Understand the issues involved in the successful implementation of digital and blended learning solutions. Each learning outcome is an individual chapter and each assessment unit is allocated its own sections within the respective chapters. This first chapter addresses the first learning outcome, which has two assessment criteria: summarise the range of currently available learning technologies; critically assess a learning requirement to determine the contribution that could be made through the use of learning technologies. The introduction to chapter one is in Section 1.0. Chapter 2 discusses the design of blended learning solutions in consideration of how digital learning technologies may support face-to-face and online delivery. Three learning theory sets: behaviourism; cognitivism; constructivism, are introduced, and the implication of each set of theory on instructional design for blended learning discussed. Chapter 3 centres on how relevant digital learning content may be created. This chapter includes a review of the key roles, tools and processes that are involved in developing digital learning content. Finally, Chapter 4 concerns delivery and implementation of digital and blended learning solutions. This chapter surveys the key formats and models used to inform the configuration of virtual learning environment software platforms. In addition, various software technologies which may be important in creating a VLE ecosystem that helps to enhance the learning experience, are outlined. We introduce the notion of personal learning environment (PLE), which has emerged from the democratisation of learning. We also review the roles, tools, standards and processes that L&D practitioners need to consider within a delivery and implementation of digital and blended learning solution.