Comparison of 3D Sensors for Automating Bolt-Tightening Operations in the Automotive Industry.

Machine vision systems are widely used in assembly lines for providing sensing abilities to robots to allow them to handle dynamic environments. This paper presents a comparison of 3D sensors for evaluating which one is best suited for usage in a machine vision system for robotic fastening operations within an automotive assembly line. The perception system is necessary for taking into account the position uncertainty that arises from the vehicles being transported in an aerial conveyor. Three sensors with different working principles were compared, namely laser triangulation (SICK TriSpector1030), structured light with sequential stripe patterns (Photoneo PhoXi S) and structured light with infrared speckle pattern (Asus Xtion Pro Live). The accuracy of the sensors was measured by computing the root mean square error (RMSE) of the point cloud registrations between their scans and two types of reference point clouds, namely, CAD files and 3D sensor scans. Overall, the RMSE was lower when using sensor scans, with the SICK TriSpector1030 achieving the best results (0.25 mm ± 0.03 mm), the Photoneo PhoXi S having the intermediate performance (0.49 mm ± 0.14 mm) and the Asus Xtion Pro Live obtaining the higher RMSE (1.01 mm ± 0.11 mm). Considering the use case requirements, the final machine vision system relied on the SICK TriSpector1030 sensor and was integrated with a collaborative robot, which was successfully deployed in an vehicle assembly line, achieving 94% success in 53,400 screwing operations.

Augmented Reality for Human-Robot Collaboration and Cooperation in Industrial Applications: A Systematic Literature Review.

With the continuously growing usage of collaborative robots in industry, the need for achieving a seamless human-robot interaction has also increased, considering that it is a key factor towards reaching a more flexible, effective, and efficient production line. As a prominent and prospective tool to support the human operator to understand and interact with robots, Augmented Reality (AR) has been employed in numerous human-robot collaborative and cooperative industrial applications. Therefore, this systematic literature review critically appraises 32 papers' published between 2016 and 2021 to identify the main employed AR technologies, outline the current state of the art of augmented reality for human-robot collaboration and cooperation, and point out future developments for this research field. Results suggest that this is still an expanding research field, especially with the advent of recent advancements regarding head-mounted displays (HMDs). Moreover, projector-based and HMDs developed approaches are showing promising positive influences over operator-related aspects such as performance, task awareness, and safety feeling, even though HMDs need further maturation in ergonomic aspects. Further research should focus on large-scale assessment of the proposed solutions in industrial environments, involving the solution's target audience, and on establishing standards and guidelines for developing AR assistance systems.

Programming Robots by Demonstration Using Augmented Reality.

The world is living the fourth industrial revolution, marked by the increasing intelligence and automation of manufacturing systems. Nevertheless, there are types of tasks that are too complex or too expensive to be fully automated, it would be more efficient if the machines were able to work with the human, not only by sharing the same workspace but also as useful collaborators. A possible solution to that problem is on human-robot interaction systems, understanding the applications where they can be helpful to implement and what are the challenges they face. This work proposes the development of an industrial prototype of a human-machine interaction system through Augmented Reality, in which the objective is to enable an industrial operator without any programming experience to program a robot. The system itself is divided into two different parts: the tracking system, which records the operator's hand movement, and the translator system, which writes the program to be sent to the robot that will execute the task. To demonstrate the concept, the user drew geometric figures, and the robot was able to replicate the operator's path recorded.

Using Kalman filters to reduce noise from RFID location system.

Nowadays, there are many technologies that support location systems involving intrusive and nonintrusive equipment and also varying in terms of precision, range, and cost. However, the developers some time neglect the noise introduced by these systems, which prevents these systems from reaching their full potential. Focused on this problem, in this research work a comparison study between three different filters was performed in order to reduce the noise introduced by a location system based on RFID UWB technology with an associated error of approximately 18 cm. To achieve this goal, a set of experiments was devised and executed using a miniature train moving at constant velocity in a scenario with two distinct shapes-linear and oval. Also, this train was equipped with a varying number of active tags. The obtained results proved that the Kalman Filter achieved better results when compared to the other two filters. Also, this filter increases the performance of the location system by 15% and 12% for the linear and oval paths respectively, when using one tag. For a multiple tags and oval shape similar results were obtained (11-13% of improvement).

Is cardiac tissue more susceptible than lung to oxidative effects induced by chronic nasotropic instillation of residual oil fly ash (ROFA)?

The current study aimed to determine the role of oxidants in cardiac and pulmonary toxicities induced by chronic exposure to ROFA. Eighty Wistar rats were divided into four groups: G1 (10 µL Saline), G2 (ROFA 50 µg/10 µL), G3 (ROFA 250 µg/10 µL) and G4 (ROFA 500 µg/10 µL). Rats received ROFA by nasotropic instillation for 90 days. After that, they were euthanized and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) was performed for total count of leukocytes, protein and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) determinations. Lungs and heart were removed to measure lipid peroxidation (MDA), catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity. BAL presented an increase in leukocytes count in G4 in comparison to the Saline group (p = 0.019). In lung, MDA level was not modified by ROFA, while CAT was higher in G4 when compared to all other groups (p = 0.013). In heart, G4 presented an increase in MDA (p = 0.016) and CAT (p = 0.027) levels in comparison to G1. The present study demonstrated cardiopulmonary oxidative changes after a chronic ROFA exposure. More specifically, the heart tissue seems to be more susceptible to oxidative effects of long-term exposure to ROFA than the lung.

Autonomous wheelchair for patient's transportation on healthcare institutions.

The transport of patients from the inpatient service to the operating room is a recurrent task in a hospital routine. This task is repetitive, non-ergonomic, time consuming, and requires the labor of patient transporters. In this paper is presented a system, named Connected Driverless Wheelchair, that can receive transportation requests directly from the hospital information management system, pick up patients at their beds, navigate autonomously through different floors, avoid obstacles, communicate with elevators, and drop patients off at the designated operating room. As a result, a prototype capable of transporting patients autonomously in hospital environments was obtained. Although it was impossible to test the final developed system at the hospital as planned, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the extensive tests conducted at the robotics laboratory facilities, and our previous experience in integrating mobile robots in hospitals, allowed to conclude that it is perfectly prepared for this integration to be carried out. The achieved results are relevant since this is a system that may be applied to support these types of tasks in the future, making the transport of patients more efficient (both from a cost and time perspective), without unpredictable delays and, in some cases, safer.

Effects of resistance training associated with whey protein supplementation on liver and kidney biomarkers in rats.

The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of whey protein (WP) supplementation and resistance training (RT) on liver and kidney biomarkers. The sedentary + WP group showed higher levels of plasma liver and kidney dysfunction markers compared with the other groups. In addition, WP supplementation associated with RT resulted in physiologic cardiac hypertrophy. WP supplementation without RT affected liver and kidney function.

IntellWheels: modular development platform for intelligent wheelchairs.

Intelligent wheelchairs (IWs) can become an important solution to the challenge of assisting individuals who have disabilities and are thus unable to perform their daily activities using classic powered wheelchairs. This article describes the concept and design of IntellWheels, a modular platform to facilitate the development of IWs through a multiagent system paradigm. In fact, modularity is achieved not only in the software perspective, but also through a generic hardware framework that was designed to fit, in a straightforward manner, almost any commercial powered wheelchair. Experimental results demonstrate the successful integration of all modules in the platform, providing safe motion to the IW. Furthermore, the results achieved with a prototype running in autonomous mode in simulated and mixed-reality environments also demonstrate the potential of our approach. Although some future research is still necessary to fully accomplish our objectives, preliminary tests have shown that IntellWheels will effectively reduce users' limitations, offering them a much more independent life.