Tag Archives: HCI

MCU-Based Prosthetic Arm with Kinect

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James Kim—a biomedical student at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada—recently submitted an update on the status of an interesting prosthetic arm design project. The design features a Freescale 9S12 microcontroller and a Microsoft Kinect, which tracks arm movements that are then reproduced on the prosthetic arm.

He also submitted a block diagram.

Overview of the prosthetic arm system (Source: J. Kim)

Kim explains:

The 9S12 microcontroller board we use is Arduino form-factor compatible and was coded in C using Codewarrior.  The Kinect was coded in C# using Visual Studio using the latest version of Microsoft Kinect SDK 1.5.  In the article, I plan to discuss how the microcontroller was set up to do deterministic control of the motors (including the timer setup and the PID code used), how the control was implemented to compensate for gravitational effects on the arm, and how we interfaced the microcontroller to the PC.  This last part will involve a discussion of data logging as well as interfacing with the Kinect.

The Kinect tracks a user’s movement and the prosthetic arm replicates it. (Source: J. Kim, YouTube)

The system includes:

Circuit Cellar intends to publish an article about the project in an upcoming issue.

User Interface Innovation: Collaborative Navigation in Virtual Search and Rescue

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An engineering team from Virginia Tech’s Center of HCI and Department of Computer Science recently won first place in the IEEE’s 2012 3DUI Contest the for their Collaborative Navigation in Virtual Search and Rescue Escort (CARNAGE) project. The project was designed to enable emergency responders to collaborate and safely navigate a dangerous environment such as a disaster area.

The contest was open to researchers, students, and professionals working on 3-D user interface technologies. Entrants were challenged to design an application to enable two users—situated in different locations with his or her own UI—to navigate a 3-D environment without speaking to each other.

Collaborative Augmented Rescue Navigation and Guidance Escort UI (Source: Virginia Tech News, YouTube)

The Virginia Tech team—comprising Felipe Bacim, Eric Ragan, Siroberto, and Cheryl Stinson—described their design in a concise system description, which is currently available on the 3DUI 2012 contest website:

Our task specifically looks at communication between a scene commander and a disaster relief responder during a search and rescue operation. The responders inside the environment have great difficulty navigating because of hazards, reduced visibility, disorientation, and lack of survey knowledge of the environment. Observing the operation from outside of the disaster area, scene commanders work to help coordinate the response effort  [1, 2]. With the responder’s notifications about the environment, scene commanders can provide new instructions, alert the responders to risks, and issue evacuation orders. Since neither the commander nor the responder has complete information about the environment, effective communication is essential.

As technology advances, the incorporation of new tools into search and rescue protocols shows promise for improving  operation efficiency and safety. In this research, we explore the  use of 3D user interfaces to assist collaborative search-and-rescue. Ideally, users should be able to focus on their primary tasks in the VE, rather than struggle with travel and way finding. Using virtual reality (VR) as a prototyping testbed, we implemented a proof-of-concept collaborative guidance system. Preliminary evaluation has demonstrated promising results for efficient rescue operations.

The team also created an explanatory 6:16-minute project video:

Click here for more information about the IEEE Symposium on 3D User Interfaces in Costa Mesa, CA.

Source: Virginia Tech News

 

Zero-Power Sensor (ZPS) Network

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Recently, we featured two notable projects featuring Echelon’s Pyxos Pyxos technology: one about solid-state lighting solutions and one about a radiant floor heating zone controller. Here we present another innovative project: a zero-power sensor (ZPS) network on polymer.

The Zero Power Switch (Source: Wolfgang Richter, Faranak M.Zadeh)

The ZPS system—which was developed by Wolfgang Richter and Faranak M. Zadeh of Ident Technology AG— doesn’t require battery or RF energy for operation. The sensors, developed on polymer foils, are fed by an electrical alternating field with a 200-kHz frequency. A Pyxos network enables you to transmit of wireless sensor data to various devices.

In their documentation, Wolfgang Richter and Faranak M. Zadeh write:

“The developed wireless Zero power sensors (ZPS) do not need power, battery or radio frequency energy (RF) in order to operate. The system is realized on polymer foils in a printing process and/or additional silicon and is very eco-friendly in production and use. The sensors are fed by an electrical alternating field with the frequency of 200 KHz and up to 5m distance. The ZPS sensors can be mounted anywhere that they are needed, e.g. on the body, in a room, a machine or a car. One ZPS server can work for a number of ZPS-sensor clients and can be connected to any net to communicate with network intelligence and other servers. By modulating the electric field the ZPS-sensors can transmit a type of “sensor=o.k. signal” command. Also ZPS sensors can be carried by humans (or animals) for the vital signs monitoring. So they are ideal for wireless monitoring systems (e.g. “aging at home”). The ZPS system is wireless, powerless and cordless system and works simultaneously, so it is a self organized system …

The wireless Skinplex zero power sensor network is a very simply structured but surely functioning multiple sensor system that combines classical physics as taught by Kirchhoff with the latest advances in (smart) sensor technology. It works with a virtually unlimited number of sensor nodes in inertial space, without a protocol, and without batteries, cables and connectors. A chip not bigger than a particle of dust will be fabricated this year with the assistance of Cottbus University and Prof. Wegner. The system is ideal to communicate via PYXOS/Echelon to other instances and servers.

Pyxos networks helps to bring wireless ZPS sensor data over distances to external instances, nets and servers. With the advanced ECHELON technology even AC Power Line (PL) can be used.

As most of a ZPS server is realized in software it can be easily programmed into a Pyxos networks device, a very cost saving effect! Applications start from machine controls, smart office solutions, smart home up to Homes of elderly and medical facilities as everywhere else where Power line (PL) exists.”

Inside the ZPS project (Source: Wolfgang Richter, Faranak M.Zadeh)

For more information about Pyxos technology, visit www.echelon.com.

This project, as well as others, was promoted by Circuit Cellar based on a 2007 agreement with Echelon.