Abstract

Stroke is the leading cause of severe chronic disability and the second cause of death worldwide with 15 million new cases and 50 million stroke survivors. The post stroke chronic disability may be ameliorated with early neuro rehabilitation where non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) techniques can be used as an adjuvant treatment to hasten the effects. However, the heterogeneity in the lesioned brain will require individualized NIBS intervention where innovative neuroimaging technologies of portable electroencephalography (EEG) and functional-near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) can be leveraged for Brain State Dependent Electrotherapy (BSDE). In this hypothesis and theory article, we propose a computational approach based on excitation-inhibition (E-I) balance hypothesis to objectively quantify the post stroke individual brain state using online fNIRS-EEG joint imaging. One of the key events that occurs following Stroke is the imbalance in local excitation-inhibition (that is the ratio of Glutamate/GABA) which may be targeted with NIBS using a computational pipeline that includes individual “forward models” to predict current flow patterns through the lesioned brain or brain target region. The current flow will polarize the neurons which can be captured with excitation-inhibition based brain models. Furthermore, E-I balance hypothesis can be used to find the consequences of cellular polarization on neuronal information processing which can then be implicated in changes in function. We first review evidence that shows how this local imbalance between excitation-inhibition leading to functional

Abstract

An ElectroCardiogram (ECG) inter-patient heartbeat time series classification method by a hierarchical system of based on support vector machine and Decision rule, using full heart-beat time series by alignment of R-peaks of all beats, is proposed. PQRST Time series of heart-beats having converted into equal length series by alignment of R-peaks of all heart-beats based on R-peak of largest length PQRST series in the data and by padding zeroes to the smaller length series on either side, was used in this experimentation. The main objective of this paper is to identify the abnormalities in ECG heart beats based on AAMI Categorization. Experiments were conducted on ECG data of 44 patients obtained from MIT-BIH Arrhythmia database. Results were compared with existing methods such as weighted support vector machine (SVM), hierarchical SVM and weighted linear discriminant analysis (LDA). Comparative …

Abstract

Early detection of cardiovascular diseases can prevent the premature deaths caused by abnormal heartbeat problems. Application of unsupervised classification by Extreme learning machine is addressed for ElectroCardiogram (ECG) heart-beat time series clustering by a hybrid of Extreme learning machine and Decision rule using full heart-beat time series by alignment of R-peaks of all beats is proposed in this work. PQRST Time series of heart-beats having converted into equal length series by alignment of R-peaks of all heart-beats based on R-peak of largest length PQRST series in the data and by padding zeroes to the smaller length series on either side, was used in this experimentation. The main objective of this paper is to identify the abnormalities in ECG heart beats based on AAMI Categorization. Because of the large patient specific characteristics in ECG heartbeat morphology across individuals, the …

Abstract

This paper focuses on evaluating the gains obtained through cooperative spectrum sensing in the real world while using cyclostationary-based mobile sensors. In cooperative sensing(CS), different secondary users (SUs) in a geographical neighbor-hood cooperate to detect the presence of a primary user (PU).Compared with single-user sensing, cooperation provides diversity gains in the face of multi path fading and shadowing. The effectiveness of CS is demonstrated by analyzing data acquired in two extensive field measurement campaigns. The first measurement campaign (MC-I) focuses on measurements at fixed locations,whereas the second measurement campaign (MC-II) focuses on a scenario where measurements are taken inside a moving car.These measurements are carried out for DVB-T channels in the Capital Region of Finland, which consists of urban and suburban environments. Hard decision rules such as OR,AND,and MAJOR-ITYand a soft decision rule such as sum of cyclostationary test statistics (SUM) are employed, and their detection performances are compared with a cyclostationary-based single-user detector. A performance parameter of relative increase in probability of detection (RIPD) is used to efficiently demonstrate the cooperation gain obtained relative to local sensing. It is shown that cooperation can significantly improve the performance of a sensor severely affected by fading and shadowing effects. Furthermore, it is shown that increasing the number of collaborating users beyond few users(five to eight) does not, in practice, bring significant improvement in terms of the expected RIPD. The performances of CS schemes evaluated from MC-I are also compared with the corresponding simulated CS results using empirical channel models and terrain data for the same experimental parameters. It is shown that the use of empirical or theoretical models may result in detection errors in practical conditions, and measurements should be used to improve the accuracy in such scenarios.

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present the modelof a Humanoid robot inspired by Poppy, modified for heavier load capacity and the balancing of humanoid in multiple work environments. The design has been modified in order to useMX-64 servos with more torque capacity than MX-28 servos which were used in original design. We have also redesigned the ankle joint and feet to make it a more accurate human like model. We are using an integrated approach using zero moment point (ZMP) with force sensing resistor (FSR) and center of mass (CoM) to find balance margins of the robot. Balancing and forward bending experiments on robot are conducted by providing some basic motion to the robot and ensuring that the robot is balanced and moving within safe margins using this approach.

Abstract

Reasoning about objects in images and videos using 3D representations is re-emerging as a popular paradigm in computer vision. Specifically, in the context of scene understanding for roads, 3D vehicle detection and tracking from monocular videos still needs a lot of attention to enable practical applications. Current approaches leverage two kinds of information to deal with the vehicle detection and tracking problem: (1) 3D representations (eg. wireframe models or voxel based or CAD models) for diverse vehicle skeletal structures learnt from data, and (2) classifiers trained to detect vehicles or vehicle parts in single images built on top of a basic feature extraction step. In this paper, we propose to extend current approaches in two ways. First, we extend detection to a multiple view setting. We show that leveraging information given by feature or part detectors in multiple images can lead to more accurate detection results than single image detection. Secondly, we show that given multiple images of a vehicle, we can also leverage 3D information from the scene generated using a unique structure from motion algorithm. This helps us localize the vehicle in 3D, and constrain the parameters of optimization for fitting the 3D model to image data. We show results on the KITTI dataset, and demonstrate superior results compared with recent state-of-the-art methods, with upto 14.64 % improvement in localization error.

Abstract

Monocular SLAM refers to using a single camera to estimate robot ego motion while building a map of the environment. While Monocular SLAM is a well studied problem, automating Monocular SLAM by integrating it with trajectory planning frameworks is particularly challenging. This paper presents a novel formulation based on Reinforcement Learning (RL) that generates fail safe trajectories wherein the SLAM generated outputs do not deviate largely from their true values. Quintessentially, the RL framework successfully learns the otherwise complex relation between perceptual inputs and motor actions and uses this knowledge to generate trajectories that do not cause failure of SLAM. We show systematically in simulations how the quality of the SLAM dramatically improves when trajectories are computed using RL. Our method scales effectively across Monocular SLAM frameworks in both simulation and in real world experiments with a mobile robot.

Abstract

SPACE robots can be used to perform several onorbit tasks such as capturing space debris, servicing of satellites, and refueling. The proliferation of satellites as well as the growing interest in debris capture make it necessary to have robots that can perform these tasks autonomously [1]. The dynamics of robots in space differ from that of a grounded robot. The coupling of the arms and the base of a space robot creates reaction forces and moments on the base whenever the arms execute a maneuver, causing the base to rotate and translate in accordance with the laws of conservation of linear and angular momenta. However, it is generally desirable to keep the attitude of the base fixed relative to the sun and the Earth (or other bodies) for navigation and communication purposes, or to maintain the target in the field of view of the sensors. A change in celestial orientation may also result in loss of communication with the data relay satellite or the ground station. While attitude control using thrusters may be used, such operations consume fuel which is mainly reserved for orbital maneuvers. It has also been shown that manipulation without the use of attitude controllers is more robust [2]. The translation of the base however, does not pose signicant side eects [3]. Hence, researchers have focused on robotic manipulation with zero or minimal change in attitude, which is termed reactionless manipulation

Abstract

Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) exceed the computing power of software based implementations by breaking the paradigm of sequential execution and accomplishing more per clock cycle by enabling hardware level parallelization at an architectural level. Introducing parallel architectures for a computationally intensive algorithm like Rapidly Exploring Random Trees (RRT) will result in an exploration that is fast, dense and uniform. Through a cost function delineated in later sections, FPGA based combinatorial architecture delivers superlative speed-up but consumes very high power while hierarchical architecture delivers relatively lower speed-up with acceptable power consumption levels. To combine the qualities of both, a hybrid architecture, that encompasses both combinatorial and hierarchical architecture, is designed. To determine the number of RRT nodes to be allotted to the combinatorial and hierarchical blocks of the hybrid architecture, a cost function, comprised of fundamentally inversely related speed-up and power parameters, is formulated. This maximization of cost function, with its associated constraints, is then mathematically solved using a modified branch and bound, that leads to optimal allocation of RRT modules to both blocks. It is observed that this hybrid architecture delivers the highest performance-per-watt out of the three architectures for differential, quad-copter and fixed wing kinematics.

Abstract

In this paper, we present a framework for generating smooth and stable trajectories for wheeled mobile robots moving on uneven terrains. Instead of relying on static stability measures, the paper incorporates velocity and acceleration based constraints like no-slip and permanent wheel ground contact conditions in the planning framework. The paper solves this complicated problem in a computationally efficient manner with full 3D dynamics of the robot. The two major aspects of the proposed work are: Firstly, closed form functional relationships are derived which describes the 6 dof evolution of the robot’s state on an arbitrary 2.5D uneven terrain. This enables us to have a fast evaluation of robot’s dynamics along any candidate trajectory. Secondly, a novel concept of non-linear time scaling is introduced through which simple algebraic relations defining the bounds on velocities and accelerations are obtained. Moreover, non-linear time scaling also provides a new approach for manipulating velocities and accelerations along given geometric paths. It is thus exploited to obtain stable velocity and acceleration profiles. Extensive simulation results are presented to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed methodology.