scholarly journals AI-Powered Service Robotics for Independent Shopping Experiences by Elderly and Disabled People

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (19) ◽  
pp. 9007
Author(s):  
Mohammed Ghazal ◽  
Maha Yaghi ◽  
Abdalla Gad ◽  
Gasm El Bary ◽  
Marah Alhalabi ◽  
...  

Through human development and technological expansion, it has become apparent that the potential lies within each individual to have an essential part in the transcendence of society and the community. People less privileged than others may need more strength and determination to surpass their current resources to overcome normal and natural obstacles in order to simulate an environment where productivity and creativity exist. This paper aims to study an approach that will assist the elderly and people of determination in one of the most essential activities practiced by individuals: shopping. The study focuses on facilitating the acquirement of items from shelves and skipping the cashier line. The proposed system is a service robot supported by a robotic arm and a linear actuator as a lifting mechanism, controlled by a remote joystick to help the elderly or disabled people reach items on high shelves. The scanning system is based on barcode detection, using transfer learning. The network was designed using YOLOv2 layers connected to TinyYOLO as feature extraction layers. This network has proven to be the most practical, with 86.4% accuracy and real-time operation with 27 FPS in comparison to using the YOLOv2 layers with DarkNet or VGG19 as feature extraction layers. An anti-theft system is integrated into the robot to improve the reliability of the self-checkout feature. The system uses computer vision GMM and Kalman filter for item detection inside the cart, and the item is validated to be the one that has been scanned, using SURF for structural features, HSV for color, and load-sensors mounted to the base of the cart to measure the item’s weight.

Author(s):  
Andri Setyorini ◽  
Niken Setyaningrum

Background: Elderly is the final stage of the human life cycle, that is part of the inevitable life process and will be experienced by every individual. At this stage the individual undergoes many changes both physically and mentally, especially setbacks in various functions and abilities he once had. Preliminary study in Social House Tresna Wreda Yogyakarta Budhi Luhur Units there are 16 elderly who experience physical immobilization. In the social house has done various activities for the elderly are still active, but the elderly who experienced muscle weakness is not able to follow the exercise, so it needs to do ROM (Range Of Motion) exercise.   Objective: The general purpose of this research is to know the effect of Range Of Motion (ROM) Active Assitif training to increase the range of motion of joints in elderly who experience physical immobility at Social House of Tresna Werdha Yogyakarta unit Budhi Luhur.   Methode: This study was included in the type of pre-experiment, using the One Group Pretest Posttest design in which the range of motion of the joints before (pretest) and posttest (ROM) was performed  ROM. Subjects in this study were all elderly with impaired physical mobility in Social House Tresna Wreda Yogyakarta Unit Budhi Luhur a number of 14 elderly people. Data analysis in this research use paired sample t-test statistic  Result: The result of this research shows that there is influence of ROM (Range of Motion) Active training to increase of range of motion of joints in elderly who experience physical immobility at Social House Tresna Wredha Yogyakarta Unit Budhi Luhur.  Conclusion: There is influence of ROM (Range of Motion) Active training to increase of range of motion of joints in elderly who experience physical immobility at Social House Tresna Wredha Yogyakarta Unit Budhi Luhur.


2019 ◽  
pp. 5-34
Author(s):  
Anna L. Lukyanova ◽  
Rostislav I. Kapeliushnikov

The paper analyzes changes in job opportunities of older workers in Russia in the period 2005—2017. The study uses the data from the Russian Labor Force Survey conducted by Rosstat. Changes in the occupational and industrial composition of elderly workers follow the trends pursued by other age groups: employment shifts from low- to high-skilled occupations, from physical to intellectual labor, and from material production to the service sector. We find a stronger polarization among older workers as their occupational structure is biased in favor of, on the one hand, the most and, on the other hand, the least qualified types of jobs. Employment of the elderly has fallen sharply in agriculture and manufacturing with a significant increase in trade, education, and health. Although the employment structure of older workers is generally more “traditionalist”, recent decades have witnessed its transformation in “progressive” directions, similarly to other age groups. These findings suggest that the legislated increase in the state retirement age is not likely to give rise to sizeable unemployment among the elderly. Most of them will be able to work in the occupations and industries previously dominated by young and prime-age workers.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (11) ◽  
pp. 3642
Author(s):  
Mohammad Farhad Bulbul ◽  
Sadiya Tabussum ◽  
Hazrat Ali ◽  
Wenli Zheng ◽  
Mi Young Lee ◽  
...  

This paper proposes an action recognition framework for depth map sequences using the 3D Space-Time Auto-Correlation of Gradients (STACOG) algorithm. First, each depth map sequence is split into two sets of sub-sequences of two different frame lengths individually. Second, a number of Depth Motion Maps (DMMs) sequences from every set are generated and are fed into STACOG to find an auto-correlation feature vector. For two distinct sets of sub-sequences, two auto-correlation feature vectors are obtained and applied gradually to L2-regularized Collaborative Representation Classifier (L2-CRC) for computing a pair of sets of residual values. Next, the Logarithmic Opinion Pool (LOGP) rule is used to combine the two different outcomes of L2-CRC and to allocate an action label of the depth map sequence. Finally, our proposed framework is evaluated on three benchmark datasets named MSR-action 3D dataset, DHA dataset, and UTD-MHAD dataset. We compare the experimental results of our proposed framework with state-of-the-art approaches to prove the effectiveness of the proposed framework. The computational efficiency of the framework is also analyzed for all the datasets to check whether it is suitable for real-time operation or not.


Processes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 919
Author(s):  
Wanlu Jiang ◽  
Chenyang Wang ◽  
Jiayun Zou ◽  
Shuqing Zhang

The field of mechanical fault diagnosis has entered the era of “big data”. However, existing diagnostic algorithms, relying on artificial feature extraction and expert knowledge are of poor extraction ability and lack self-adaptability in the mass data. In the fault diagnosis of rotating machinery, due to the accidental occurrence of equipment faults, the proportion of fault samples is small, the samples are imbalanced, and available data are scarce, which leads to the low accuracy rate of the intelligent diagnosis model trained to identify the equipment state. To solve the above problems, an end-to-end diagnosis model is first proposed, which is an intelligent fault diagnosis method based on one-dimensional convolutional neural network (1D-CNN). That is to say, the original vibration signal is directly input into the model for identification. After that, through combining the convolutional neural network with the generative adversarial networks, a data expansion method based on the one-dimensional deep convolutional generative adversarial networks (1D-DCGAN) is constructed to generate small sample size fault samples and construct the balanced data set. Meanwhile, in order to solve the problem that the network is difficult to optimize, gradient penalty and Wasserstein distance are introduced. Through the test of bearing database and hydraulic pump, it shows that the one-dimensional convolution operation has strong feature extraction ability for vibration signals. The proposed method is very accurate for fault diagnosis of the two kinds of equipment, and high-quality expansion of the original data can be achieved.


2021 ◽  
pp. 026858092199450
Author(s):  
Nicola Maggini ◽  
Tom Montgomery ◽  
Simone Baglioni

Against the background of crisis and cuts, citizens can express solidarity with groups in various ways. Using novel survey data this article explores the attitudes and behaviours of citizens in their expressions of solidarity with disabled people and in doing so illuminates the differences and similarities across two European contexts: Italy and the UK. The findings reveal pools of solidarity with disabled people across both countries that have on the one hand similar foundations such as the social embeddedness and social trust of citizens, while on the other hand contain some differences, such as the more direct and active nature of solidarity in Italy compared to the UK and the role of religiosity as an important determinant, particularly in Italy. Across both countries the role of ‘deservingness’ was key to understanding solidarity, and the study’s conclusions raise questions about a solidarity embedded by a degree of paternalism and even religious piety.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 1429
Author(s):  
Gang Hu ◽  
Kejun Wang ◽  
Liangliang Liu

Facing the complex marine environment, it is extremely challenging to conduct underwater acoustic target feature extraction and recognition using ship-radiated noise. In this paper, firstly, taking the one-dimensional time-domain raw signal of the ship as the input of the model, a new deep neural network model for underwater target recognition is proposed. Depthwise separable convolution and time-dilated convolution are used for passive underwater acoustic target recognition for the first time. The proposed model realizes automatic feature extraction from the raw data of ship radiated noise and temporal attention in the process of underwater target recognition. Secondly, the measured data are used to evaluate the model, and cluster analysis and visualization analysis are performed based on the features extracted from the model. The results show that the features extracted from the model have good characteristics of intra-class aggregation and inter-class separation. Furthermore, the cross-folding model is used to verify that there is no overfitting in the model, which improves the generalization ability of the model. Finally, the model is compared with traditional underwater acoustic target recognition, and its accuracy is significantly improved by 6.8%.


Geriatrics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Kyeongjin Lee

Falls are the leading cause of injury and injury-related death in the elderly. This study evaluated the effect of virtual reality gait training (VRGT) with non-motorized treadmill on balance and gait ability of elderly individuals who had experienced a fall. Fifty-six elderly individuals living in local communities participated in this study. Subjects who met the selection criteria were randomly divided into a VRGT group (n = 28) and a control group (n = 28). The VRGT group received VRGT with non-motorized treadmill for 50 min a day for 4 weeks and 5 days a week. The control group received non-motorized treadmill gait training without virtual reality for the same amount of time as the VRGT group. Before and after the training, the one-leg-standing test, Berg Balance Scale, Functional Reach test, and Timed Up and Go test were used to assess balance ability, and the gait analyzer system was used to evaluate the improvement in gait spatiotemporal parameters. In the VRGT group, the balance ability variable showed a significant decrease in the one-leg-standing test and a significant improvement in the Timed Up and Go test. With respect to spatiotemporal gait parameters, velocity and step width decreased significantly in the VRGT group (p < 0.05), and stride length and step length were significantly improved in the VRGT group (p < 0.05). VRGT with non-motorized treadmill has been shown to improve balance and gait ability in the elderly. This study is expected to provide basic data on exercise programs for the elderly to prevent falls.


2003 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karsten Rodenacker ◽  
Ewert Bengtsson

Feature extraction is a crucial step in most cytometry studies. In this paper a systematic approach to feature extraction is presented. The feature sets that have been developed and used for quantitative cytology at the Laboratory for Biomedical Image Analysis of the GSF as well as at the Center for Image Analysis in Uppsala over the last 25 years are described and illustrated. The feature sets described are divided into morphometric, densitometric, textural and structural features. The latter group is used to describe the eu‐ and hetero‐chromatin in a way complementing the textural methods. The main goal of the paper is to bring attention to the need of a common and well defined description of features used in cyto‐ and histometrical studies. The application of the sets of features is shown in an overview of projects from different fields. Finally some rules of thumb for the design of studies in this field are proposed. Colour figures can be viewed onhttp://www.esacp.org/acp/2003/25‐1/rodenacker.htm.


2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 1703-1711 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosana Alves Dias ◽  
Filipe Serra Alves ◽  
Margaret Costa ◽  
Helder Fonseca ◽  
Jorge Cabral ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 ◽  
pp. 187-197
Author(s):  
Andrei Flavius Petruț

"Stories about ghosts/undeads The present text brings into discussion the supernatural beings that still haunt the collective mentality of the inhabitants of the land of Zarand. Ghosts, because it’s them we are talking about, are still part of the stories of the elderly who remember their encounters with them. Unwanted in the village world and blaming them for the various misfortunes facing the community, people have developed practices to help them identify these beings, but also to remove them. Thus, since the birth of certain children who have a malformation of the spine, it is believed that they are undead. Sometimes, during life, because of curses or pacts with the devil, people lose their souls, so that, after death, they do not find their peace and continue to come to haunt those who are alive. People told us about these meetings, presenting the practices by which undeads are removed: through witchcraft, with the help of priests or through divine intervention. People do not want these returns of dead people, even if they are their beloved ones. Once dead, man loses his human status, these returns disturbing the peace of the village, and can cause strong imbalances: disease, famine, death of people and animals. Only after these beings are defeated, the life of the villagers’ returns to normal, keeping only the memory of the events that disturbed the peace. Keywords: Undeads, supernatural beings, dead alive, witchcraft, pact with the devil "


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