Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Motion assistance'

For several years, there has been a remarkable increase in efforts to develop an autonomous car. Autonomous car systems combine various techniques of recognizing the environment with the help of the sensors and could drastically bring down the number of accidents on road by removing human conduct errors related to driver inattention and poor driving choices. In this research thesis, an algorithm for jointly ego-vehicle motion and road geometry estimation for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) is developed. The measurements are obtained from the inertial sensors, wheel speed sensors, steering wheel angle sensors, and camera. An Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF) is used for estimating the states of the non-linear system because UKF estimates the state in a simplified way without using complex computations. The proposed algorithm has been tested on a winding and straight road. The robustness and functioning of our algorithm have been demonstrated by conducting experiments involving the addition of noise to the measurements, reducing the process noise covariance matrix, and increasing the measurement noise covariance matrix and through these tests, we gained more trust in the working of our tracker. For evaluation, each estimated parameter has been compared with the reference signal which shows that the estimated signal matches the reference signal very well in both scenarios. We also compared our joint algorithm with individual ego-vehicle and road geometry algorithms. The results clearly show that better estimates are obtained from our algorithm when estimated jointly instead of estimating separately.

PONTIFÍCIA UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DO RIO DE JANEIRO
COORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DO PESSOAL DE ENSINO SUPERIOR
PROGRAMA DE EXCELENCIA ACADEMICA
A robótica já é parte importante da vida cotidiana, em especial na grande ajuda que pode promover para melhorar a qualidade de vida, mostrando-se como uma ótima opção, por exemplo, para a reabilitação física no corpo humano. O presente trabalho apresenta um projeto e um estudo de controle de movimento de uma plataforma robótica - uma bengala - controlada por meio de sensores de força nela localizados, fazendo com que o registro dos movimentos do usuário seja feito de forma não-invasiva. O protótipo se desloca por meio de três rodas omnidirecionais, acionadas por motores elétricos de corrente continua. Estes últimos têm facilidade no controle e são de baixo custo. A bengala é fabricada em alumínio para facilitar o seu transporte devido à baixa densidade desse material, além de apresentar uma boa usinabilidade, facilitando a sua fabricação. O sistema eletrônico consiste de três etapas: (i) circuito de aquisição de ponte de Wheatstone para os extensômetros; (ii) amplificação e filtragem feitas com amplificadores de instrumentação e filtros passa baixa Butterworth; e (iii) processamento e controle, implementado em dois microcontroladores PIC. O controle da bengala é baseado em admitância em paralelo com um controle PI linear, o qual pretende promover ao usuário uma sensação de naturalidade ao caminhar, sem esforços adicionais significativos e com rápida resposta. Em particular, o sistema pretende detectar situações de queda iminente do usuário, cenário não incomum no uso por idosos.
Robotics already is an important part of modern daily routine, with a quite unlimited potential for the improvement of life quality. For instance, robotics can be a very attractive technology for physical rehabilitation of the human body. The present work presents a design proposal and study of the stability control of an omnidirectional robotic walking cane for assistance of motor disabilities. Non-invasive force sensors are used to register the user s motions and to control the robotic cane. Three omnidirectional wheels, each of them driven by a continuous electrical current motor, move the prototype in all planar directions without the need for turning. The chosen electrical motors are characterized by their easy control and low cost. The stick is fabricated in aluminum, a low-density material with good machinability, in order to both facilitate the user in transporting the cane and to ease the manufacturing process. The electronic system is comprised of three stages: (i) a Wheatstone bridge circuit for the acquisition of strain-gage signals for force and torque sensing; (ii) amplification and filtering with instrumentation amplifiers and Butterworth-type low pass filters; and (iii) processing and control, implemented on two PIC microcontrollers. The control of the robotics support is performed both by an admittance-based approach in parallel with a linear PI control. The quick response of this integrated control does not demand extra efforts from the user, thus providing a more natural sensation while walking. In particular, the system intends to detect whether the user is in the imminence of falling over, a likely scenario in eldercare.

Thesis (M.S.) -- University of Maryland, College Park, 2007.
Thesis research directed by: Dept. of Aerospace Engineering. Title from t.p. of PDF. Includes bibliographical references. Published by UMI Dissertation Services, Ann Arbor, Mich. Also available in paper.

La thèse porte sur la détection d’objets à partir d’une caméra embarquée sur un véhicule mobile en exploitant l’approche monoculaire « c-vélocité ». Cette méthode s’inspire de la méthode appelée « v-disparité » utilisée en stéréovision : toutes deux ont pour objectif la détection d’objets en les approximant par des plans d’orientations différentes, ce qui permet d’éviter, en monoculaire, d’estimer la profondeur. Ces deux approches, monoculaires et binoculaires, permettent de transformer le problème complexe de la détection d’objets en un problème plus simple de détection de formes paramétriques simples (droites, paraboles) dans un nouvel espace de représentation où la détection peut être réalisée à l’aide d’une transformée de Hough. La « c-vélocité », pour être efficace, requiert un calcul assez précis du flot optique et une bonne estimation de la position du Foyer d’expansion (FOE). Dans cette thèse, nous avons étudié les approches existantes de calcul de flot optique et sommes arrivés à la conclusion qu’aucune n’est vraiment performante notamment sur les régions homogènes telle que la route dans les scènes qui correspondent à l’application que nous visons à savoir : les véhicules intelligents. Par ailleurs, les méthodes d’estimation du flot optique peinent également à fournir une bonne estimation dans le cas de déplacement importants dans les régions proches de la caméra. Nous proposons dans cette thèse d’exploiter à la fois un modèle 3D de la scène et une estimation approximative de la vitesse du véhicule à partir d’autres capteurs intégrés. L’utilisation de connaissances a priori permet de compenser le flot dominant pour faciliter l’estimation de la partie résiduelle par une approche classique. Par ailleurs, trois approches différentes sont proposées pour détecter le foyer d’expansion. Parmi elles, nous proposons une méthode novatrice permettant d’estimer le FOE en exploitant la norme du flot et la structure de la scène à partir d’un processus « c-vélocité » inversé. En plus d’améliorer ces étapes préliminaires, nous proposons aussi l’optimisation et l’accélération de l’algorithme « c-vélocité » par une implémentation multithread. Enfin, nous proposons une modification de l’approche c-vélocité d’origine afin d’anticiper une éventuelle coopération mouvement/stéréo, proposée en perspective, à travers un jumelage avec la v-disparité
This thesis is based on the detection of objects from an onboard moving camera by exploiting the monocular approach "c-velocity". This method is inspired by the method called "v-disparity" used in stereovision: both methods aim at detecting objects by approximating objects into plans with different orientations. Such approximation can avoid to estimate the depth in monocularvision. These two approaches, monocular and binocular, allow to transform the complex objet détection problem into a more simple parametric forms (eg. lines) detection in a new space, where these formes can be easily extracted using Hough Transform.The “c-velocity”, to make it effective, requires an accurate computation of optical flow and a good estimation of the focus of expansion (FOE) location. Therefore, we have studied the existing approaches of optical flow estimation and arrived at the conclusion that none of them is really powerful especially on the homogeneous regions such as road surface. In addition, the optical flow estimation methods also struggle to provide a good estimate in the case of huge displacement in the areas close to the camera. We propose in this thesis to exploit both a 3D model of the scene and a rough estimate about the vehicle speed from other integrated sensors. Using a priori knowledge allows to compensate the dominant optical flow and to facilitate the estimation of the rest part by a classical approach. In addition, three different approaches are proposed to detect the focus of expansion. Among them, we propose a novel method for estimating FOE by leveraging the flow norm and the scene structure from an inverse “c-velocity“ process. In addition to improve these preliminary steps, we also propose an acceleration and optimization of the “c-velocity“ algorithm by a multi-thread implementation. Finally, we propose a modification to the original “c-velocity“ approach in order to anticipate a possible cooperation motion/stereo, proposed in perspective, with the “v-disparity“ approach

Un simulateur de conduite dynamique est un outil permettant, entre autres, d’étudier les processus d’intégration multi-sensorielle pour la perception du mouvement et la production du comportement de conduite. Néanmoins, les limitations mécaniques des simulateurs, qui imposent des stratégies dynamiques pour simuler le réel, peuvent avoir un impact défavorable sur la perception et le comportement du conducteur. Cette problématique est particulièrement vraie pour la prise de virages qui demeure une situation difficile à reproduire de façon réaliste notamment à cause des variations importantes d’accélérations latérales. Dans ce contexte, cette thèse présente des travaux de recherches permettant de mieux comprendre les processus d’intégration multi-sensorielle (rôle des informations inertielles et visuelles) pour la perception du mouvement en virages et de caractériser l’évolution d’un percept en fonction des conditions de simulation.En conclusion, il a été démontré que la perception des accélérations latérales est basée sur des processus non-linéaires. Le rôle des informations visuelles et inertielles semble donc dépendre des individus et du contexte (notamment du niveau des accélérations latérales) dans lequel ces stimulations sont produites. Sur la base de l’ensemble de ces résultats, des nouvelles pistes d’amélioration du simulateur dynamique SHERPA² de PSA sont proposées. Il est préconisé notamment d’employer un gain du mouvement latéral dégressif avec l’augmentation du niveau d’accélération latérale
A dynamic driving simulator is a tool, among others, allowing the study of multisensory integration for motion perception and production of driving behavior. Nevertheless, the mechanical limitations of the simulators which impose dynamic strategies to simulate the real can have an adverse negative impact on the driver perception and its behavior. This issue is particularly true for cornering which remains a difficult situation to reproduce in a realistic way, because of massive lateral accelerations variations. In this context, this thesis presents research works allowing to understand the processes of multisensory integration (role of inertial and visual information) for the motion perception in cornering and to characterize the evolution of a percept as a function of simulation conditions.In conclusion, it has been demonstrated that the perception of lateral accelerations is based on non-linear processes. The roles of visual and inertial information seem to depend on the individuals and on the context (notably the level of lateral accelerations) in which these stimulations are produced. Base on of the overall results, new ways for improvement of the dynamic driving simulator SHERPA2 are proposed. It is notably preconized to employ a lateral motion gain digressive with the increase of lateral acceleration

Aquesta memòria presenta la investigació realitzada amb l'objectiu de millorar la implementació d'un Assistent Personal Robòtic (APR) basat en un robot mòbil per aplicacions en entorns domèstics. Aquesta implementació de noves tecnologies robòtiques ha permès el desenvolupament de noves aplicacions d'assistència personal contribuin a millorar la qualitat de vida de les persones. La primera part de la memòria es centra en el desenvolupament mecànic, consistent en un sistema de mobilitat holonómic basat en l'ús de tres rodes omnidireccionals desfasades 120º. Per l´objectiu de la millora sobre la ubicació del robot mòbil en el pla XY s'ha realitzat l'estudi i caracterització d'un sensor de baix cost basat en l'aplicació de l'efecte Doppler. Tambe s'han explorat les possibilitats d'utilitzar una Tablet amb Google Android com a dispositiu de telecontrol, reunin en un únic dispositiu diversos sensors i elements d'interacció. L'últim apartat de la memòria es centra en l'estudi d'una solució que permeti al robot desplaçarse per les habitacions d’una casa u oficina incorporan un accessori mecànic que li permeti obrir portes convencionals.
Esta memoria presenta la investigación realizada con el objetivo de mejorar la implementación de un Asistente Personal Robótico (APR) basado en un robot móvil para aplicaciones en entornos domésticos. Esta implementación de tecnologías robóticas permite el desarrollo de nuevas aplicaciones de asistencia personal, contribuyendo a mejorar la calidad de vida de las personas. La primera parte de la investigación se centra en el desarrollo mecánico, presentando un sistema de movilidad holonómico basado en el uso de tres ruedas omnidireccionales desfasadas 120º. La mejorara de la ubicación del robot móvil en el plano XY se ha realizado a través del estudio y caracterización de un sensor de bajo coste, basado en la aplicación del efecto Doppler. También se han explorado las posibilidades de utilizar una Tablet con Google Android como sistema de control, reuniendo en un único dispositivo varios sensores y elementos de interacción. El último apartado de la memoria estudia el problema de la movilidad del robot por distintas habitaciones, incorporado al diseño básico un accesorio mecánico que le permite abrir puertas convencionales.
This memory presents the research carried out with the objective of improving the implementation of an Assistant Personal Robot (APR) based on a mobile robot for applications in domestic environments. This implementation allows the development of new assistance devices, which can be applied to significantly improve the quality of life of people. The first part of the research focuses on the mechanical development, which describes the holonomic mobility system based on the use of three omnidirectional wheels, shifted 120°. To the improvement of the location of the mobile robot in the XY plane, this research has been performed by means of the study and characterization of a low cost optical sensor based on the application of the Doppler Effect. One of the most characteristic elements of a care robot is its control unit. The research performed has explored the possibilities of a Tablet with Google Android as a control system, bringing together in a single body several sensors and interaction elements. The last section of the memory has been focused on the study of the problem of moving the mobile robot through closed rooms of the house, to this end, a mechanical accessory has been incorporated in order to mechanically open a conventional door.

The thesis deals with the development assistance of the Czech Republic. The first part focuses on explanation of the definition of the development assistance, its historical development and incorporation into the international context. Through a historical excursus occurs to the individual motives for its provision. The second part is devoted to development assistance of the Czech Republic, its territorial and sector orientation and motives of the Czech Republic for its provision. The third part focuses on Mongolia as a partner in development assistance of the Czech Republic.

The purpose of this quantitative survey study was to examine if there were any associations between subjective self-rated health, workload and scheduling in relation to habits involving diet and physical activity among personal assistants. This study was carried out as an online based survey where all the participants was selected nonrandomly through one single private company in the middle regions of Sweden. Associations were tested through cross table analysis, also known as Chi2-tests. No associations was established in regards to the thesis main purpose. However, some associations could be drawn between the participants’ willingness to change their current dietary- and exercise habits and their current habits. The main conclusion from this study was that further research is needed amongst personal assistants to determine how their professional life relates to their dietary and exercise habits.
Många människor arbetar i dag som personliga assistenter och den yrkeskategori som detta arbete ingår i är idag den tredje största i Sverige och är idag den yrkeskategori som sysselsätter flest kvinnor i landet. Trots detta så är mängden forskning som bedrivits inom detta yrkes arbetsförutsättningar ytterst begränsad. Syftet med denna undersökning var att kartlägga vilka vardagliga rutiner kring kost och fysisk aktivitet som fanns bland de anställda som arbetar som personliga assistenter på ett privat företag. Studien ämnade undersöka huruvida några associationer kunde dras mellan de anställdas allmänna hälsotillstånd, nivån av sysselsättning, arbetsschema och deras vanor kring kost och fysisk aktivitet. Studien var av kvantitativ design där informationen hämtades från studiepopulationen via en online-baserad enkät. Urvalet var icke-randomiserat där hela den möjliga studiepopulationen erbjöds att delta. Deltagarna kontaktades via SMS och av 420 möjliga deltagare så låg svarsresponsen på 22 %. Utifrån insamlad data så kunde inga associationer dras mellan allmänt hälsotillstånd, nivå av sysselsättning, arbetsschema och deltagarnas kost- och motionsvanor. Däremot så kunde associationer göras mellan deltagarnas önskan om att ändra sina kost- och motionsvanor och hur deras vanor för tillfället såg ut. Övergripande så kunde deltagarnas kostvanor beskrivas som regelbundna och de ägnade sig huvudsakligen åt måttliga mängder fysisk aktivitet. Det låga deltagarantalet innebar dock att resultatets generaliserbarhet inte kunde bedömas som särskilt hög. Den huvudsakliga slutsatsen från denna undersökning var att ytterligare forskning behövs för att tydliggöra hur personliga assistenters arbetsförhållanden påverkar deras vanor kring kost och motion och vise versa.

Orientador: Maria Lúcia Marçal Mazza Sundefeld
Banca: Marcelo de Castro Meneghim
Banca: Suzely Adas Saliba Moimaz
Banca: Maria Lúcia Marçal Mazza Sundefeld
Resumo: Os desejos e expectativas dos pacientes devem ser mais explorados pelos dentistas na consulta odontológica, visando tratamentos mais precisos e eficazes. Assim, o estado de saúde integral será beneficiado, pois depende da saúde bucal. Entretanto, as oportunidades de tratamento não são iguais para todos, o que aumenta a procura por atendimento odontológico gratuito. O objetivo desta pesquisa foi identificar os motivos, os anseios, as expectativas e dificuldades, dos pacientes atendidos na Faculdade de Odontologia de Araçatuba, que freqüentaram as salas de espera da Clínica Integrada, no período de março a junho de 2005. Uma pesquisa de pré-abordagem, pois procurou focar os sentimentos do paciente e não a avaliação dele em relação aos procedimentos clínicos, em fases pós ou trans- operatórias. A metodologia utilizada nesta pesquisa de representação social foi quali - quantitativa: Discurso do Sujeito Coletivo, técnica criada para fazer uma coletividade falar, como se fosse um só indivíduo. Todos os pacientes atendidos no 1o. semestre de 2005, na Clínica Integrada da Faculdade de Odontologia de Araçatuba, FOA - UNESP, totalizando 105 pacientes, foram entrevistados, com os seguintes questionamentos: - Como você soube do atendimento aqui na FOA? - Você costuma ir ao dentista? De quanto em quanto tempo? Por Que? - Você está com algum problema nos seus dentes, por isso veio buscar tratamento aqui? Que problema é esse? -Você acha que a FOA oferece uma proposta diferente de outros locais de atendimento? Por que? -Tem gente que tem dificuldade para tratar os dentes; tem gente que não tem dificuldades. Para você, como é isso?A análise quantitativa foi realizada através de tabelas e gráficos das idéias centrais extraídas dos discursos. Inicialmente foi traçado o perfil dos pacientes: dos105 entrevistados, 46 pertenciam ao gênero masculino e 59 ao feminino ...(Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo)
Abstract: For more specific and successful treatments, patients' longings and expectations should be more explored by the dentists during the deontological assistance. So the general health condition would profit, once it depends on the oral health. However the opportunities of getting a treatment are not the same for everybody, which increases the search for free deontological assistance. The objective of this research was to identify the reasons, the longings, the expectations and the patients' difficulties assisted at School of Dentistry of Araçatuba, who visited the waiting rooms of the Integrated Clinic from March to June 2005. It was a pre research, once it tried to focus the patients' feelings and not their evaluation towards the clinical procedures, in the post or trans chirurgical phases. The methodology used at this social representative research was quali-quantitative: Speeches of the Collective Subject, which is a technique developed to make the collectivity speak as a unique individual. All patients assisted on the first semester of 2005 at the Integrated Clinic of the School of Dentistry of Araçatuba - FOA - UNESP, totalizing 105 patients, were interviewed with the questions: How have you known about the assistance at FOA? Are you used to go to the dentist? How often? Why? Do you have any problems on your teeth? That's why you came here for treatment? Which is this problem? Do you think that FOA offers a different proposal from other assistance places? Why? Some people have problems in treating their teeth, some don't. How is it for you? The quantitative analysis was made through charts and graphics of the central ideas taken from the speeches. Initially a profile of the patients was made: of the 105 interviewed, 46 were male, 59 were female. The ages varied from 30 and 49 years. Employed patients were 63.81%, from those 48.57% ...(Complete abstract, click electronic address below)
Mestre

Dans cette thèse nous intéressons à la conception d'un robot mobile capable d’analyser le comportement et le mouvement d’une personne en environnement intérieur et encombré, par exemple le domicile d’une personne âgée. Plus précisément, notre objectif est de doter le robot des capacités de perception visuelle de la posture humaine de façon à mieux maîtriser certaines situations qui nécessitent de comprendre l’intention des personnes avec lesquelles le robot interagit, ou encore de détecter des situations à risques comme les chutes ou encore d’analyser les capacités motrices des personnes dont il a la garde. Le suivi de la posture dans un environnement dynamique et encombré relève plusieurs défis notamment l'apprentissage en continue du fond de la scène et l'extraction la silhouette qui peut être partiellement observable lorsque la personne est dans des endroits occultés. Ces difficultés rendent le suivi de la posture une tâche difficile. La majorité des méthodes existantes, supposent que la scène est statique et la personne est toujours visible en entier. Ces approches ne sont pas adaptées pour fonctionner dans des conditions réelles. Nous proposons, dans cette thèse, un nouveau système de suivi capable de suivre la posture de la personne dans ces conditions réelles. Notre approche utilise une grille d'occupation avec un modèle de Markov caché pour apprendre en continu l'évolution de la scène et d'extraire la silhouette, ensuite un algorithme de filtrage particulaire hiérarchique est utilisé pour reconstruire la posture. Nous proposons aussi un nouvel algorithme de gestion d'occlusion capable d'identifier et d'exclure les parties du corps cachées du processus de l'estimation de la pose. Finalement, nous avons proposé une base de données contenant des images RGB-D avec la vérité-terrain dans le but d'établir une nouvelle référence pour l'évaluation des systèmes de capture de mouvement dans un environnement réel avec occlusions. La vérité-terrain est obtenue à partir d'un système de capture de mouvement à base de marqueur de haute précision avec huit caméras infrarouges. L'ensemble des données est disponible en ligne. La deuxième contribution de cette thèse, est le développement d'une méthode de localisation visuelle à partir d'une caméra du type RGB-D montée sur un robot qui se déplace dans un environnement dynamique. En effet, le système de capture de mouvement que nous avons développé doit équiper un robot se déplaçant dans une scène. Ainsi, l'estimation de mouvement du robot est importante pour garantir une extraction de silhouette correcte pour le suivi. La difficulté majeure de la localisation d'une caméra dans un environnement dynamique, est que les objets mobiles de la scène induisent un mouvement supplémentaire qui génère des pixels aberrants. Ces pixels doivent être exclus du processus de l'estimation du mouvement de la caméra. Nous proposons ainsi une extension de la méthode de localisation dense basée sur le flux optique pour isoler les pixels aberrants en utilisant l'algorithme de RANSAC
In this thesis we are interested in designing a mobile robot able to analyze the behavior and movement of a a person in indoor and cluttered environment. Our goal is to equip the robot by visual perception capabilities of the human posture to better analyze situations that require understanding of person with which the robot interacts, or detect risk situations such as falls or analyze motor skills of the person. Motion capture in a dynamic and crowded environment raises multiple challenges such as learning the background of the environment and extracting the silhouette that can be partially observable when the person is in hidden places. These difficulties make motion capture difficult. Most of existing methods assume that the scene is static and the person is always fully visible by the camera. These approaches are not able to work in such realistic conditions. In this thesis, We propose a new motion capture system capable of tracking a person in realistic world conditions. Our approach uses a 3D occupancy grid with a hidden Markov model to continuously learn the changing background of the scene and to extract silhouette of the person, then a hierarchical particle filtering algorithm is used to reconstruct the posture. We propose a novel occlusion management algorithm able to identify and discards hidden body parts of the person from process of the pose estimation. We also proposed a new database containing RGBD images with ground truth data in order to establish a new benchmark for the assessment of motion capture systems in a real environment with occlusions. The ground truth is obtained from a motion capture system based on high-precision marker with eight infrared cameras. All data is available online. The second contribution of this thesis is the development of a new visual odometry method to localize an RGB-D camera mounted on a robot moving in a dynamic environment. The major difficulty of the localization in a dynamic environment, is that mobile objects in the scene induce additional movement that generates outliers pixels. These pixels should be excluded from the camera motion estimation process in order to produce accurate and precise localization. We thus propose an extension of the dense localization method based on the optical flow method to remove outliers pixels using the RANSAC algorithm

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Os desejos e expectativas dos pacientes devem ser mais explorados pelos dentistas na consulta odontológica, visando tratamentos mais precisos e eficazes. Assim, o estado de saúde integral será beneficiado, pois depende da saúde bucal. Entretanto, as oportunidades de tratamento não são iguais para todos, o que aumenta a procura por atendimento odontológico gratuito. O objetivo desta pesquisa foi identificar os motivos, os anseios, as expectativas e dificuldades, dos pacientes atendidos na Faculdade de Odontologia de Araçatuba, que freqüentaram as salas de espera da Clínica Integrada, no período de março a junho de 2005. Uma pesquisa de pré-abordagem, pois procurou focar os sentimentos do paciente e não a avaliação dele em relação aos procedimentos clínicos, em fases pós ou trans- operatórias. A metodologia utilizada nesta pesquisa de representação social foi quali - quantitativa: Discurso do Sujeito Coletivo, técnica criada para fazer uma coletividade falar, como se fosse um só indivíduo. Todos os pacientes atendidos no 1o. semestre de 2005, na Clínica Integrada da Faculdade de Odontologia de Araçatuba, FOA - UNESP, totalizando 105 pacientes, foram entrevistados, com os seguintes questionamentos: - Como você soube do atendimento aqui na FOA? - Você costuma ir ao dentista? De quanto em quanto tempo? Por Que? - Você está com algum problema nos seus dentes, por isso veio buscar tratamento aqui? Que problema é esse? -Você acha que a FOA oferece uma proposta diferente de outros locais de atendimento? Por que? -Tem gente que tem dificuldade para tratar os dentes; tem gente que não tem dificuldades. Para você, como é isso?A análise quantitativa foi realizada através de tabelas e gráficos das idéias centrais extraídas dos discursos. Inicialmente foi traçado o perfil dos pacientes: dos105 entrevistados, 46 pertenciam ao gênero masculino e 59 ao feminino...
For more specific and successful treatments, patients' longings and expectations should be more explored by the dentists during the deontological assistance. So the general health condition would profit, once it depends on the oral health. However the opportunities of getting a treatment are not the same for everybody, which increases the search for free deontological assistance. The objective of this research was to identify the reasons, the longings, the expectations and the patients' difficulties assisted at School of Dentistry of Araçatuba, who visited the waiting rooms of the Integrated Clinic from March to June 2005. It was a pre research, once it tried to focus the patients' feelings and not their evaluation towards the clinical procedures, in the post or trans chirurgical phases. The methodology used at this social representative research was quali-quantitative: Speeches of the Collective Subject, which is a technique developed to make the collectivity speak as a unique individual. All patients assisted on the first semester of 2005 at the Integrated Clinic of the School of Dentistry of Araçatuba - FOA - UNESP, totalizing 105 patients, were interviewed with the questions: How have you known about the assistance at FOA? Are you used to go to the dentist? How often? Why? Do you have any problems on your teeth? That's why you came here for treatment? Which is this problem? Do you think that FOA offers a different proposal from other assistance places? Why? Some people have problems in treating their teeth, some don't. How is it for you? The quantitative analysis was made through charts and graphics of the central ideas taken from the speeches. Initially a profile of the patients was made: of the 105 interviewed, 46 were male, 59 were female. The ages varied from 30 and 49 years. Employed patients were 63.81%, from those 48.57% ...(Complete abstract, click electronic address below)

Titel Personalomsättning som affärsmodell - En kvalitativ studie med fokus på före detta revisorsassistenter  Författare Lina Larsson och Matilda Lind   Handledare Pernilla Broberg  Bakgrund Många nyexaminerade ekonomer lockas av revisorsprofessionen men cirka 50% väljer att sluta sin anställning inom tre år. Forskare menar att en anledning till den höga personalomsättningen inom revisionsbranschen kan vara att revisorsassistenter väljer att lämna yrket. Även faktorer som hög arbetsbelastning, missvisande förväntningar och uppfattningen av revisorsprofessionen används för att förklara personalomsättningen. Däremot finns det få studier som fokuserar på revisorsassistenten samt skillnader mellan små och stora revisionsbyråer.  Syfte Det huvudsakliga syftet med denna studie är att förstå före detta revisorsassistenters förväntningar och uppfattningar av revisorsprofessionen samt deras motiv till att lämna yrket som revisorsassistent. Studien syftar även till att förstå vilka eventuella skillnader som finns i uppfattningarna hos före detta revisorsassistenter från små respektive stora revisionsbyråer.  Metod Denna studie tillämpar en kvalitativ forskningsstrategi med huvudsaklig deduktiv process och induktiva inslag. För datainsamling har totalt 15 semistrukturerade intervjuer genomförts med före detta revisorsassistenter på små respektive stora revisionsbyråer.  Slutsats Denna studie indikerar att revisorsassistenter förväntar sig hög arbetsbelastning, omfattande lärdomar och goda karriärmöjligheter när de tar anställning inom revisorsprofessionen. Uppfattningar som hög arbetsbelastning och låg lön visar sig inverka på revisorsassistentens arbetstillfredsställelse samt utgör motiv att lämna yrket. Studien indikerar även att det råder skillnader mellan små och stora revisionsbyråer, bland annat sett till arbetsuppgifter.  Kunskapsbidrag Denna studie bidrar bland annat till att skapa förståelse för fenomenet personalomsättning ur revisorsassistentens perspektiv samt utökar kunskapen om faktisk personalomsättning inom revisorsprofessionen.
Title Employee turnover as a business model - A qualitative study focusing on former auditing assistants  Authors Lina Larsson and Matilda Lind  Supervisor Pernilla Broberg  Introduction Many newly graduated economists are attracted by the audit profession, but about 50% choose to terminate their employment within three years. Researchers believe that one reason for the high employee turnover in the auditing industry may be that audit associates choose to leave the profession. Factors such as high workload, misleading expectations and the perception of the audit profession are also used to explain employee turnover. However, few studies focus on the audit associate as well as differences between small and large audit firms.  Purpose The main purpose of this study is to understand former audit associates’ expectations and perceptions of the audit profession as well as their motives for leaving the occupation as an audit associate. The study also aims to understand the possible differences in the perceptions of former audit associates from small and large audit firms.  Method This study applies a qualitative research strategy with a primarily deductive process with inductive elements. For data collection, a total of 15 semi-structured interviews were conducted with former audit associates at small and large audit firms.  Conclusion This study indicates that audit associates expect a high workload, extensive learning experiences and useful career opportunities when they enter the audit profession. Perceptions such as high workload and low salary prove to affect the audit associates' job satisfaction and constitute motives for leaving the profession. In addition, this study indicates differences between small and large audit firms, for instance in terms of work assignments.  Contribution This study contributes to create an understanding of the phenomenon of employee turnover from the perspective of the audit associate and to expand the knowledge of actual employee turnover within the audit profession.

La mise en oeuvre de systèmes avancés d’aide à la conduite (ADAS) basée vision, est une tâche complexe et difficile surtout d’un point de vue robustesse en conditions d’utilisation réelles. Une des fonctionnalités des ADAS vise à percevoir et à comprendre l’environnement de l’ego-véhicule et à fournir l’assistance nécessaire au conducteur pour réagir à des situations d’urgence. Dans cette thèse, nous nous concentrons sur la détection et la reconnaissance des objets mobiles car leur dynamique les rend plus imprévisibles et donc plus dangereux. La détection de ces objets, l’estimation de leurs positions et la reconnaissance de leurs catégories sont importants pour les ADAS et la navigation autonome. Par conséquent, nous proposons de construire un système complet pour la détection des objets en mouvement et la reconnaissance basées uniquement sur les capteurs de vision. L’approche proposée permet de détecter tout type d’objets en mouvement en fonction de deux méthodes complémentaires. L’idée de base est de détecter les objets mobiles par stéréovision en utilisant l’image résiduelle du mouvement apparent (RIMF). La RIMF est définie comme l’image du mouvement apparent causé par le déplacement des objets mobiles lorsque le mouvement de la caméra a été compensé. Afin de détecter tous les mouvements de manière robuste et de supprimer les faux positifs, les incertitudes liées à l’estimation de l’ego-mouvement et au calcul de la disparité doivent être considérées. Les étapes principales de l’algorithme sont les suivantes : premièrement, la pose relative de la caméra est estimée en minimisant la somme des erreurs de reprojection des points d’intérêt appariées et la matrice de covariance est alors calculée en utilisant une stratégie de propagation d’erreurs de premier ordre. Ensuite, une vraisemblance de mouvement est calculée pour chaque pixel en propageant les incertitudes sur l’ego-mouvement et la disparité par rapport à la RIMF. Enfin, la probabilité de mouvement et le gradient de profondeur sont utilisés pour minimiser une fonctionnelle d’énergie de manière à obtenir la segmentation des objets en mouvement. Dans le même temps, les boîtes englobantes des objets mobiles sont générées en utilisant la carte des U-disparités. Après avoir obtenu la boîte englobante de l’objet en mouvement, nous cherchons à reconnaître si l’objet en mouvement est un piéton ou pas. Par rapport aux algorithmes de classification supervisée (comme le boosting et les SVM) qui nécessitent un grand nombre d’exemples d’apprentissage étiquetés, notre algorithme de boosting semi-supervisé est entraîné avec seulement quelques exemples étiquetés et de nombreuses instances non étiquetées. Les exemples étiquetés sont d’abord utilisés pour estimer les probabilités d’appartenance aux classes des exemples non étiquetés, et ce à l’aide de modèles de mélange de gaussiennes après une étape de réduction de dimension réalisée par une analyse en composantes principales. Ensuite, nous appliquons une stratégie de boosting sur des arbres de décision entraînés à l’aide des instances étiquetées de manière probabiliste. Les performances de la méthode proposée sont évaluées sur plusieurs jeux de données de classification de référence, ainsi que sur la détection et la reconnaissance des piétons. Enfin, l’algorithme de détection et de reconnaissances des objets en mouvement est testé sur les images du jeu de données KITTI et les résultats expérimentaux montrent que les méthodes proposées obtiennent de bonnes performances dans différents scénarios de conduite en milieu urbain
Vision-based Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) is a complex and challenging task in real world traffic scenarios. The ADAS aims at perceiving andunderstanding the surrounding environment of the ego-vehicle and providing necessary assistance for the drivers if facing some emergencies. In this thesis, we will only focus on detecting and recognizing moving objects because they are more dangerous than static ones. Detecting these objects, estimating their positions and recognizing their categories are significantly important for ADAS and autonomous navigation. Consequently, we propose to build a complete system for moving objects detection and recognition based on vision sensors. The proposed approach can detect any kinds of moving objects based on two adjacent frames only. The core idea is to detect the moving pixels by using the Residual Image Motion Flow (RIMF). The RIMF is defined as the residual image changes caused by moving objects with compensated camera motion. In order to robustly detect all kinds of motion and remove false positive detections, uncertainties in the ego-motion estimation and disparity computation should also be considered. The main steps of our general algorithm are the following : first, the relative camera pose is estimated by minimizing the sum of the reprojection errors of matched features and its covariance matrix is also calculated by using a first-order errors propagation strategy. Next, a motion likelihood for each pixel is obtained by propagating the uncertainties of the ego-motion and disparity to the RIMF. Finally, the motion likelihood and the depth gradient are used in a graph-cut-based approach to obtain the moving objects segmentation. At the same time, the bounding boxes of moving object are generated based on the U-disparity map. After obtaining the bounding boxes of the moving object, we want to classify the moving objects as a pedestrian or not. Compared to supervised classification algorithms (such as boosting and SVM) which require a large amount of labeled training instances, our proposed semi-supervised boosting algorithm is trained with only a few labeled instances and many unlabeled instances. Firstly labeled instances are used to estimate the probabilistic class labels of the unlabeled instances using Gaussian Mixture Models after a dimension reduction step performed via Principal Component Analysis. Then, we apply a boosting strategy on decision stumps trained using the calculated soft labeled instances. The performances of the proposed method are evaluated on several state-of-the-art classification datasets, as well as on a pedestrian detection and recognition problem.Finally, both our moving objects detection and recognition algorithms are tested on the public images dataset KITTI and the experimental results show that the proposed methods can achieve good performances in different urban scenarios

Cette thèse se situe dans la planification et le suivi de mouvement d’un humanoïde mobile à deux bras. Premièrement, MDH est utilisé pour la modélisation cinématique. Afin de surmonter les insuffisances de la méthode d’Euler-Lagrange qui nécessitent des calculs d’énergie et ses dérivées partielles, la méthode de Kane est utilisée. En plus, la stabilité physique est analysée et un contrôleur est conçu. Deuxièmement, un algorithme avancée MaxiMin NSGA-II est proposée pour concevoir l’orientation et la position optimales de la plate-forme mobile (PB) et la configuration optimale du manipulateur supérieur (MS) étant donnée uniquement la pose initiale et les positions et orientations souhaitées des EEs. Un algorithme à connexion directe combinant BiRRT et la gradient-descente est conçu pour réaliser la transition de la pose initiale à la pose optimale, et une méthode d'optimisation géométrique est conçue pour optimiser et cohérer le chemin. En outre, les motions en avant sont obtenues en attribuant des orientations pour MB indiquant ainsi l'intention du robot. Afin de résoudre le problème d'échec de l’algorithme hors ligne, un algorithme en ligne est proposé en estimant les motions des obstacles dynamiques. De plus, afin d'optimiser les via-poses, un algorithme basé sur les via-points des EEs et MOGA est proposé en optimisant quatre fonctions objectives. Enfin, le problème de suivi de motion est étudié étant donné les motions des EEs dans l'espace de tâche. Au lieu de contrôler la motion absolue, deux motions relatives sont introduites pour réaliser la coordination et la coopération entre MB et MS. De plus, une technique mWLN est proposée pour éviter les limites des joints
This thesis focuses on the motion planning and tracking of a dual-arm mobile humanoid. First, MDH is used for kinematic modeling. The co-simulation via Simulink-Adams on prototype is realized to validate the effectiveness of RBFNN controller. In order to overcome the shortcomings of Euler-Lagrange’s formulations that require calculating energy and energy derivatives, Kane’s method is used. In addition, physical stability is analyzed based on Kane’s method and a controller is designed using back-stepping technique. Secondly, an improved MaxiMin NSGA-II is proposed to design the mobile base’s (MB) optimal position-orientation and the upper manipulator’s (UM) optimal configuration given only the initial pose and end-effectors’ (EEs) desired positions-orientations. A direct connect algorithm combining BiRRT and gradient-descent is designed to plan the transition from initial pose to optimal pose, and a geometric optimization method is designed to optimize and cohere the path. In addition, forward motions are obtained by assigning orientations for MB thus indicating robot’s intention. In order to solve the failure problem of offline algorithm, an online algorithm is proposed while estimating dynamic obstacles’ motions. In addition, in order to optimize via-poses, an algorithm based on EEs’ via-points and MOGA is proposed by optimizing four via-pose-based objective functions. Finally, the motion tracking problem is studied given EEs’ motions in the task space. Instead of controlling the absolute motion, two relative motions are introduced to realize the coordination and cooperation between MB and UM. In addition, an modulated WLN technique is proposed to avoid joints’ limits

Today, the main research field for the automotive industry is to find solutions for active safety. In order to perceive the surrounding environment, tracking nearby traffic objects plays an important role. Validation of the tracking performance is often done in staged traffic scenarios, where additional sensors, mounted on the vehicles, are used to obtain their true positions and velocities. The difficulty of evaluating the tracking performance complicates its development. An alternative approach studied in this thesis, is to record sequences and use non-causal algorithms, such as smoothing, instead of filtering to estimate the true target states. With this method, validation data for online, causal, target tracking algorithms can be obtained for all traffic scenarios without the need of extra sensors. We investigate how non-causal algorithms affects the target tracking performance using multiple sensors and dynamic models of different complexity. This is done to evaluate real-time methods against estimates obtained from non-causal filtering. Two different measurement units, a monocular camera and a LIDAR sensor, and two dynamic models are evaluated and compared using both causal and non-causal methods. The system is tested in two single object scenarios where ground truth is available and in three multi object scenarios without ground truth. Results from the two single object scenarios shows that tracking using only a monocular camera performs poorly since it is unable to measure the distance to objects. Here, a complementary LIDAR sensor improves the tracking performance significantly. The dynamic models are shown to have a small impact on the tracking performance, while the non-causal application gives a distinct improvement when tracking objects at large distances. Since the sequence can be reversed, the non-causal estimates are propagated from more certain states when the target is closer to the ego vehicle. For multiple object tracking, we find that correct associations between measurements and tracks are crucial for improving the tracking performance with non-causal algorithms.

碩士
國立交通大學
電機與控制工程系所
94
In this thesis, an image-based motion detection system has been designed and realized for lateral driving assistance of a vehicle. We proposed a feature-based detection system, which combines with a mixed optical flow estimation algorithm for motion detection. The developed system can segment moving objects from a moving background. The objects contain cars and motorcycles. We have realized the system in a stand-alone image processing system, which can operate independently on the vehicle using a CMOS image sensor and Nios embedded processor. Experimental results show that the proposed methods are effective to segment features of moving objects from a moving background for lateral safety assistance.

碩士
國立交通大學
電控工程研究所
101
In this Thesis, a control structure for improving bandwidth of velocity loop is proposed by applying both the feedforward controller in lead compensation and the notch filter. The bandwidth of the Shihlin AC servo motor in this study can be thus enhanced from 425 Hz to 592 Hz with a limited resonance peak in 2 dB. Furthermore, a control structure for enhancing the contouring error is also proposed. Experimental results on the DYNA CNC 1007 machine tool indicate that disturbance and friction in the machine can be well compensated by applying the disturbance observer (DOB) and the nonlinear compensator (NFC), respectively. When experiments were operated with a feed in 750 mm/min, roundness could be reduced from 66.7 to 4.04 with a well-tuned PI control parameters. Morevoer, by increasing the bandwidth of the motor system, the roundness can be further reduced from 4.04 to 2.07 by including DOB and NFC. When experiments were operated with a higher federate as 1500 mm/min , roundness could still be maintained in 3 . Finally, a man machine interface (HMI) is proposed to provide a more effective way to assist engineers to complete the proposed CNC motion control design to render satisfactory precision.

Due to the continuous ageing of our society, both the care and the health sector will encounter challenges in maintaining the quality of human care and health standards. While the number of people with diseases such as dementia and physical illness will be rising, we are simultaneously recording a lack of medical personnel such as caregivers and therapists. One possible approach that tackles the described problem is the employment of technical assistance systems that support both medical personnel and elderly living alone at home. This thesis presents approaches to provide assistance for these target groups. In this work, algorithms that are integrated in prototypical assistance systems for vision-based human daily activity, mobility and motion analysis have been developed. The developed algorithms process 3-D point clouds as well as skeleton joint positions to generate meta information concerning activities and the mobility of elderly persons living alone at home. Such type of information was not accessible so far and is now available for monitoring. By generating this meta information, a basis for the detection of long-term and short-term health changes has been created. Besides monitoring meta information, mobilisation for maintaining physical capabilities, either ambulatory or at home, is a further focus of this thesis. Algorithms for the qualitative assessment of physical exercises were therefore investigated. Thereby, motion sequences in the form of skeleton joint trajectories as well as the heat development in active muscles were considered. These algorithms enable an autonomous physical training under the supervision of a virtual therapist even at home.
Aufgrund der voranschreitenden Überalterung unserer Gesellschaft werden sowohl der Pflege- als auch der Gesundheitssektor vor enorme Herausforderungen gestellt. Während die Zahl an vorrangig altersbedingten Erkrankungen, wie Demenz oder physische Erkrankungen des Bewegungsapparates, weiterhin zunehmen wird, stagniert die Zahl an medizinischem Fachpersonal, wie Therapeuten und Pflegekräften. An dieser Stelle besteht das Ziel, die Qualität medizinischer Leistungen auf hohem Niveau zu halten und dabei die Einhaltung von Pflege- und Gesundheitsstandards sicherzustellen. Ein möglicher Ansatz hierfür ist der Einsatz technischer Assistenzsysteme, welche sowohl das medizinische Personal und Angehörige entlasten als auch ältere, insbesondere allein lebende Menschen zu Hause unterstützen können. Die vorliegende Arbeit stellt Ansätze zur Unterstützung der genannten Zielgruppen vor, die prototypisch in Assistenzsystemen zur visuellen, kamerabasierten Analyse von täglichen Aktivitäten, von Mobilität und von Bewegungen bei Trainingsübungen integriert sind. Die entwickelten Algorithmen verarbeiten dreidimensionale Punktwolken und Gelenkpositionen des menschlichen Skeletts, um sogenannte Meta-Daten über tägliche Aktivitäten und die Mobilität einer allein lebenden Person zu erhalten. Diese Informationen waren bis jetzt nicht verfügbar, können allerdings für den Patienten selbst, für medizinisches Personal und Angehörige aufschlussreich sein, denn diese Meta-Daten liefern die Grundlage für die Detektion kurz- und langfristiger Veränderungen im Verhalten oder in der Mobilität, die ansonsten wahrscheinlich unbemerkt geblieben wären. Neben der Erfassung solcher Meta-Informationen liegt ein weiterer Fokus der Arbeit in der Mobilisierung von Patienten durch angeleitetes Training, um ihre Mobilität und körperliche Verfassung zu stärken. Dabei wurden Algorithmen zur qualitativen Bewertung und Vermittlung von Korrekturhinweisen bei physischen Trainingsübungen entwickelt, die auf Trajektorien von Gelenkpositionen und der Wärmeentwicklung in Muskeln beruhen. Diese Algorithmen ermöglichen aufgrund der Nachahmung eines durch den Therapeuten gegebenen Feedbacks ein autonomes Training.

碩士
國立屏東科技大學
車輛工程系所
98
The purpose of this research is to develop a road way position and obstacle motion detection module for a driver assistance system developed previously at IV Lab of NPUST. This module has a CCD camera located at the shield window to acquire the front view (Image of the vehicle). Once the image is obtained, it is processed by a DSP to acquire the relative motion between the obstacle and the vehicle and also the roadway position. The processing algorithm is developed using SIMULINK and Embedded MATLAB software. Once the validation is accomplished, the algorithm is transformed into C code using Real-Time Workshop, and then transformed into DM6437 codes using Target support package. Finally, the DM6437 codes are installed into TI DM643 DSP. The developed algorithm has two stages. The first stage detects the roadway position and judge if the vehicle is about to deviated from the roadway. If this is the case, a warning is triggered to warn the driver. If the vehicle moves in the roadway direction, the second stage is initiated. In this stage, obstacles are identified using the predefine template. Once obstacles are verified, the relative position between the obstacle and the vehicle are calculated using the inverse perspective transformation. Finally, the relative motion is calculated using the difference of the obstacle position between two consecutive frames and the possibility of collision is justified using the collision justification algorithm. Through field testing, the module is shown to be successful.

Le développement des véhicules autonomes a reçu une attention croissant ces dernières années, notamment les secteurs de la défense et de l'industrie automobile. L'intérêt pour l'industrie automobile est motivé par la conception de véhicules sûrs et confortables. Une raison commune derrière la plupart des accidents de la circulation est due au manque de vigilance du conducteur sur la route. Cette thèse se trouve dans le problématique de l'estimation des risques de collision pour un véhicule dans les secondes qui suivent en condition de circulation urbaines. Les systèmes actuellement disponibles dans le commerce sont pour la plupart conçus pour prévenir les collisions avant, arrières, ou latérales. Ces systèmes sont généralement équipés d'un capteur de type radar, à l'arrière, à l'avant ou sur les côtés pour mesurer la vitesse et la distance aux obstacles. Les algorithmes pour déterminer le risque de collision sont fondés sur des variantes du TTC (time-to-collision en anglais). Cependant, un véhicule peut se trouver dans des situations où les routes ne sont pas droites et l'hypothèse que le mouvement est linéaire ne tient pas pour le calcul du TTC. Dans ces situations, le risque est souvent sous-estimé. De plus, les instances où les routes ne sont pas tout droit se trouve assez souvent dans les environnement urbain ; par exemple, les rond point ou les intersections. Un argument de cette thèse est que, savoir simplement qu'il y ait un objet à une certaine position et à une instance spécifique dans le temps ne suffit pas à évaluer sa sécurité dans le futur. Un système capable de comprendre les comportements de déplacement du véhicule est indispensable. En plus, les contraintes environnementales doivent être prises en considération. Le cas le plus simple du mouvement « libre » est d'abord traité. Dans cette situation il n'ya pas de contraintes environnementales ou de comportement explicite. Ensuite, les contraintes environnementales des routes sur trafic urbain et le comportement des conducteurs des véhicules sont introduits et pris en compte explicitement. Cette thèse propose un modèle probabiliste pour les trajectoires des véhicules fondé sur le processus gaussien (GP). Son avantage est le pouvoir d'exprimer le mouvement dans le futur indépendamment de la discrétisation d'espace et d'état. Les comportements des conducteurs sont modélisés avec une variante du modèle de Markov caché. La combinaison de ces deux modèles donne un modèle probabiliste de l'évolution complète du véhicule dans le temps. En plus, une méthode générale pour l'évaluation probabiliste des risques de collision est présentée, où différentes valeurs de risque, chacun avec sa propre sémantique.

碩士
國立體育大學
運動科學研究所
98
With the advancement of technology, mobile devices had become one of the most popular devices in our daily life. The designs of mobile device are getting smaller and more functions. In this research, a mobile learning system was developed. Combining with mobile devices and Flash Lite, this system can play multi-angled videos of sports stretch. All contents were made by 3D Max and transformed into two dimensional videos. The designed content can be accessed anytime and anywhere on mobile devices. This system had been improved after interviewing with domain experts, physiotherapists, office workers, elementary school teachers and students. The developed prototype was designed as pilot system for computer aided motor learning systems.

博士
國立交通大學
電控工程研究所
105
This study develops a motion planning and control system for walking-assistant robots. Omnidirectional mobile platforms have been developed for the walking-assistant robots. A trajectory planning and tracking control system have been designed based on differential flatness to provide smooth robot navigation in an indoor environment. The differential flatness approach has the advantage of an integrated trajectory planning and control of the mobile robot. The input-output linearization problem of the omnidirectional mobile platform is resolved using differential flatness design that allows for full state controllability. The kinematics model of the steer-and-drive holonomic system is derived for flatness properties. The robot trajectory planning and control is then developed based on the derived kinematic model. A smooth trajectory is generated and tracked to provide stable motion of the mobile platform. In this work, both straight-line motion and circular trajectories are generated and tracked to cope with the problem of narrow working space in an indoor environment. A shared-control scheme have been designed for a walking-assistant robot in a complex indoor environment such that it can assist a walking-impaired person to walk and avoid unexpected obstacles. In this design, the robot motion is a resultant of autonomous navigation and compliant motion control. The compliance motion controller allows the robot to possess passive behavior following the motion intent of the user; while the autonomous guidance gives safe navigation of the robot without colliding with any obstacles. A shared-control approach is suggested to combine the passive compliant behaviour and safe guidance of the robot. When a user exerts force to the robot, the mobile platform responds to adjust the speed in compliance with the user movement. On the other hand, the autonomous navigation controller is designed to provide collision-free guidance. This thesis investigates the performance of KinectFusion algorithm for 3D reconstruction using a Kinect sensor. A sensor model is applied to generate depth image to evaluate accuracy of the algorithm. To obtain ground truth of depth image as well as camera pose, we generate depth data based on a CAD model in a simulation program. In the error analysis, deferent types of noise, including depth image noises are added to examine the errors of 3D reconstruction and camera localization. It is found that the KinectFusion algorithm is more robust to depth image noise.

Tese de Doutoramento (Programa Doutoral em Engenharia Biomédica)
O acidente vascular cerebral (AVC) é a terceira principal causa de incapacidade motora adulta. A reabilitação da marcha com um treino repetitivo e orientado ao doente, possível com ortóteses ativas (OAs), potencia a recuperação da mobilidade. Contudo, é necessário ajustar a reabilitação da marcha às atuais necessidades do sujeito, bem como integrar sensores vestíveis nas OAs para avaliar objetivamente a marcha. Esta tese visa o desenvolvimento do SmartOs, um sistema ortótico ativo, modular, e vestível, com o intuito de providenciar um treino de marcha repetitivo e orientado às necessidades de doentes com AVC, e de avaliar a locomoção do doente por meio de dados cinemáticos e musculares. Esta tese inclui cinco fases de investigação. Primeiro, foi desenvolvida uma estrutura modular para integrar, de forma inovadora e eficaz, sistemas sensoriais, ferramentas de análise da marcha, e estratégias de controlo nas OAs. Segundo, foi desenvolvido um laboratório portátil de análise de marcha com quatro sistemas sensoriais, passíveis de serem utilizados em stand-alone ou combinados com sistemas externos. O benchmarking com sistemas comerciais demonstrou a potencialidade destes sistemas sensoriais para a avaliação objetiva da locomoção. Terceiro, foi desenvolvida uma máquina de estados com limites adaptativos para a deteção de eventos da marcha, a qual demonstrou ser adequada como benchmarking para avaliação de eventos humanos da marcha. Quarto, foi criada uma ferramenta de machine learning para o reconhecimento e previsão de modos de locomoção e transições. Esta ferramenta destaca-se pela classificação precisa de direções e terrenos com uso exclusivo de dados cinemáticos. Por último, foi desenvolvida uma arquitetura de controlo hierárquica com quatro estratégias de controlo. As estratégias de trajetória orientada ao sujeito e impedância adaptativa fornecem um treino de marcha repetitivo e assist- as-needed, respetivamente. As estratégias baseadas na eletromiografia e na interação homem- OA contribuem para o fortalecimento muscular. Em suma, os resultados indicam que o SmartOs está funcional para futura aplicação em ambiente clínico quer como uma solução de assistência personalizada, quer como uma ferramenta de avaliação da marcha de doentes com AVC.
Stroke is the third leading cause of adult long-term motor disability. Gait rehabilitation approaching user-oriented and repetitive gait training has the potential for long-term mobility recovery. Active orthoses (AO) can tackle these rehabilitation abilities. More research is needed to foster gait rehabilitation oriented to the current user’s needs and to integrate wearable sensors into AOs for objective gait assessment. This thesis aims the development of SmartOs, a smart, modular, wearable active lower limb orthotic system, to foster user-oriented and repetitive gait training in impaired gait due to stroke and to evaluate human motor condition using kinematic and muscular gait measures. This work includes five research stages. First, a modular framework was implemented to integrate into an innovative and effective manner, wearable sensor systems, gait analysis tools, and control strategies into AOs. Second, a wearable motion lab including four wearable sensor systems, with an open-architecture for both stand-alone or third-party systems use, was successfully developed. The benchmarking analysis with commercial systems outlined that the sensor systems are purposeful for objective evaluation of the user’s motor condition. Third, a gait event detection tool through a finite state machine with an adaptive threshold-based structure was developed for detecting gait events in daily locomotion. Results show that the tool is suitable as a benchmark for detecting human gait events. Fourth, a machine learning-based recognition and prediction tool was achieved to classify locomotion modes and transitions. This tool advances the state-of-the-art by demonstrating that the exclusive use of kinematic data successfully classifies different walking directions and terrains. The last research stage made the SmartOs a multi-functional system through a hierarchical control architecture with four assistive control strategies. The user-oriented trajectory and adaptive impedance controls foster repetitive and assist-as-needed gait training, respectively. Both the EMG-based and user-orthosis interaction based control contribute to muscle strengthening. Findings indicate that SmartOs is functionally operative for a future clinical application as a personalized assistive and gait assessment solution of stroke survivors.

碩士
慈濟大學
醫學資訊學系碩士班
103
Since 1993, people over 65 years old in Taiwan have already broken 7%, which means Taiwan now is facing a problem of ageing populations. The proportion of the elderly is estimated 14% in 2019. Therefore, many issues related to healthcare for the elderly are proposed. Many studies show that regular and moderate exercise every day can help elders maintain physical fitness and improve overall health. Although taking exercises has many advantages for elders, some of them may have low willingness to do due to limitation of physical conditions, or being lack of experts to assist them in their home or community. To solve this problem, this study develops an exercise assistant system by using motion recognition technology. The system can include the following two parts. The first one is called motion detection based support system, which uses Microsoft's Kinect camera to track users’ body and to extract their skeletal information. The system can monitor users’ movement effectively and identify whether their postures are correct. The second part, medical management platform, can assist medical staffs by providing management functions, including publishing health education information, and monitoring cases. We have cooperated with the department of Community Medicine, Hualien Tzu Chi hospital, applying this system on community healthcare courses and activities. We expect this system can encourage the elderly to cultivate to the habit of regular exercises. The outcome is evaluated by questionnaires in order to understand the degree of how a computer system can increase their motivation and interest. Keywords: Aging populations, motion capture, physical activity, healthcare.

碩士
國立交通大學
電控工程研究所
103
This thesis presents a new method to provide compliant motion of a walk assistant robot based on user status and motion intent. A laser scanner is used to detect the user's gait information and a force/torque sensor detects desired motion direction. The compliance controls will provide the walking assistance. The robot velocity is regulated by user gait information and the robot motion direction is adjusted by force/torque sensor information. These two compliant controllers allow the walking assist robot to generate passive behavior and provide walking assistance effectively. This thesis develops a method to combine autonomous obstacle avoidance and compliant motion by using shared-control approach. With this method, a user can walk in a complex environment and prevent from collision with obstacles. Experimental verification of the proposed design show that a user can walk with the robot to reach the destination. Experimental results show that a combination of laser scanner and force/torque sensor can make the robot to comply with abnormal gait such as festinating gait, lame and other gait. Furthermore, autonomous obstacle avoidance allows a user to move around safely even without noticing obstacles.

My thesis looks into development into why European Union provides development assistance. My hypothesis is that it is becoming more pragmatic throughout the period 2014 to 2019. I begin my work with introduction into the topic, literature overview and presentation of the hypothesis. In the second part, I present theoretical framework of constructivism and methodology of motive analysis. Motive analysis is a method developed for studying motives via discourse. I have defined 7 motives in a coding book, which will be analysed in the speeches of EU representatives, concretely European Commission's Presidents and High Representatives / Vice-Presidents responsible for European External Action Service. In the third pat, I provide brief overview and context of EU's aid policies. In the last, analytical part, I analysed the speeches and identified each motives one by one, I have looked into development of motives throughout time and came to conclusion that most of time, all motives are prevalent behind development aid, only their occurrence and importance slightly changes, depending on internal and external factors. It can be seen thant while in 2014 the aid was slightly more tilted towards idealism, in 2019 the aid motives slightly shifted towards pragmatism.

This thesis focuses on student motivation for studies at secondary medical schools, as well as on drivers of motivation of secondary medical school students for Bachelor studies. We wanted to know how motivation of present-day students differs from that of general nurses attending medical schools prior to 2004 and what is the impact of practical training teachers of secondary medical schools on professional motivation of students. Theoretical part describes development of nursing care education since 1945 until now, changes in concept of nursing care as they result from Act no. 96/ 2004 Coll. on ?acquiring and recognition of qualifications for execution of non-doctoral medical professions and activities relating to provision of health care and on amending some related legislation?. Further, we focused on job selection and its factors, and last but not least, on motivation and some motivational drivers. The first objective was to find out what motivates students of secondary medical schools in their first and fourth years. The second objective was to look at motivation of students for General Nurse Bachelor studies. The third objective was to describe motivation of general nurses for studies at secondary medical schools prior to 2004. Finally, the last objective was to find out how practical training teachers of secondary medical schools motivate students for their future profession. In the thesis empirical part, we used methods of qualitative and quantitative research. As far as quantitative research is concerned, anonymous questionnaires were used to collect data. The first population of 102 (100%) respondents included first-year students of three secondary medical schools. The second research population of 100 (100%) respondents included fourth-year students of three secondary medical schools. The third population of 107 (100%) respondents included general nurses of two medium-size hospitals. As far as qualitative research is concerned, questioning method and, in particular, semi-structured interview technique were used. A population of six practical training teachers of two secondary medical schools was involved. These practical training teachers were asked two questions: 1. Is there enough time scheduled for practical training to motivate students? 2. In your opinion, are motivational drivers used in practical training sufficient to get medical assistants involved in the practical training nursing process? Quantitative research has the following results: the first assumption that first-year students were influenced more by external motivational drivers than by internal ones, was not borne out. The second assumption that fourth-year students perceived acquired experience as a more significant motivational driver than external motivation, was not borne out either. The third assumption that motivation of students of secondary medical schools for university studies was depending on experience acquired in practical training was not borne out either. Similarly, the last assumption that motivation of students of secondary medical schools prior to 2004 was depending on the then existing value system, was not borne out either. On the other hand, it is clear from qualitative research that practical training teachers do not have enough time to motivate students and that motivational elements used not always achieve their defined goals. This often results from excessive number of students per group. The above research results will be provided to medical schools for thein self- examination. They may also be used for professional public at specialist seminars or congresses as well as for publication in specialized journals.