Vision-based dirt distribution mapping using deep learning.

Cleaning is a fundamental routine task in human life that is now handed over to leading-edge technologies such as robotics and artificial intelligence. Various floor-cleaning robots have been developed with different cleaning functionalities, such as vacuuming and scrubbing. However, failures can occur when a robot tries to clean an incompatible dirt type. These situations will not only reduce the efficiency of the robot but also impose severe damage to the robots. Therefore, developing effective methods to classify the cleaning tasks performed in different regions and assign them to the respective cleaning agent has become a trending research domain. This article proposes a vision-based system that employs YOLOv5 and DeepSORT algorithms to detect and classify dirt to create a dirt distribution map that indicates the regions to be assigned for different cleaning requirements. This map would be useful for a collaborative cleaning framework for deploying each cleaning robot to its respective region to achieve an uninterrupted and energy-efficient operation. The proposed method can be executed with any mobile robot and on any surface and dirt, achieving high accuracy of 81.0%, for dirt indication in the dirt distribution map.

ChairX: A Robotic Exoskeleton Chair for Industrial Workers.

This paper proposes a robotic exoskeleton chair, named ChairX, for providing sitting assistance for the industrial workers who need to carry out tasks at different crouched postures repetitively. It can act as a customizable chair to support bodyweight for relieving the lower extremity and provide freedom for ambulation when moving between workstations. In comparison to the predecessors, the ChairX is designed to assist the user for assuming crouched positions with forward- as well as backward-inclined leg angles. Moreover, it is flexible to provide sitting assistance at different heights to ensure ergonomics at work The ChairX includes a knee-centered locking mechanism on the lateral side and an active linkage mechanism on the posterior of the leg to support the weight of the user at various seated positions. A mathematical model was formulated to optimize the system parameters and a prototype was built to carry out the physical tests. The results revealed that ChairX can maintain stability and reduce the musculoskeletal strains effectively, thus has the potential to improve the quality of work.