Yusuke Tamura, Masao Sugi, Jun Ota, Tamio Arai
HANDING-OVER BETWEEN HUMAN AND SELF-MOVING TRAY

We aim for realizing a robotic system that hands over necessary objects to a user as soon as he/she attempts to reach out for it. In this study, we adopt self-moving trays as robots. In order to hand the objects to the user, the system has to predict the user’s hand movements and adapt to them. In this paper, we propose a method to predict durations and final positions of reaching movements of the user's hand. We apply the minimum jerk model to the prediction and estimate parameters of the model by using Levenberg- Marquardt method. A description of the experimental results demonstrates the usefulness of the method proposed here.

Jukka Lekkala, Timo Salpavaara, Satu Kärki
EMFI - VERSATILE MATERIAL FOR MONITORING OF HUMAN FUNCTIONS

ElectroMechanical Film (EMFi1) is a thin, plastic material that can be utilized as a sensor and actuator. We have tested the material in three different applications. A prototype of a chair equipped with EMFi sensors was constructed in order to monitor pulse, breathing and other activities of a person sitting on the chair. Measured information can be used to study human behavior during computer use. Pulse and breathing were noticed to be easily found from measurement signals of a person sitting restfully on chair. Ultrasonic radar that is based on EMFi has been built and studied. EMFi is quite new material in the field of ultrasonics and has favorable properties like good matching to air in comparison to present transducer materials. The device detects, if there is an object in front of the transducer. Measurements of directivity pattern of the built transducer, transmitter output and receiver sensitivity are presented. Some experiments were carried out to determine device’s ability to detect different objects. A flexible and thin headset prototype including microphone and earphone was realized by using EMFi material. According to the preliminary tests the sensitivity of the microphone is adequate.

Maura Casadio, Alessandro Noriaki Ide, Pietro G. Morasso, Vittorio Sanguineti
COMPUTER HAPTICS FOR NEUROMOTOR REHABILITATION

The paper proposes an approach for linking the analysis of the neural control of movement and motor learning with robot therapy in neuromotor rehabilitation. A new haptic workstation is described and a pilot study of robot therapy with hemiplegic patients is presented.

Teresa Goodman, Alistair Forbes, Helen Walkey
A PRACTICAL MODEL FOR MESOPIC PHOTOMETRY

This article reports the results of a multinational research project investigating visual performance in halflight (mesopic) conditions. From the experimental investigations using reaction time, detection threshold and recognition contrast threshold techniques, the results were used to develop a system for practical mesopic photometry, which provides an acceptably good fit to the experimental data and is also suitable for practical implementation by the lighting industry. A major feature of the model is that it can be implemented in terms of photopic and scotopic luminance measurements, measurements that can easily be made in practice.

Milan Kvasnica
PROPERTIES OF SIX DOF MEASUREMENTS FOR ROBOTICS AND CONTROL

he paper is focused on the analyze of the accuracy and linearity of the six degrees-of-freedom (DoF) measurement system for the sampling of structural dynamic properties in robotics, engineering constructions and for control operation in space. The subject of this measurement device is the sampling and information processing used in the conversion of the 2-D CCD array images into three axial and three angular displacement values. Every 2- CCD array image consists of one, alternatively four light spot produced by light rays from four laser sources. These light beams form the edges of a pyramidal shape with one, alternatively four 2-D arrays forming its base and the intersection of laser light rays is forming its apex. The analyze of the accuracy and the linearity is based on algorithms for direct and inverse transformation for the computation of three axial shiftings and three angular displacements values in order to determine the relative location and orientation of a floating 2-D coordinate system against fixed 3-D coordinate system of laser rays.