Monday, April 17, 2023

City, University of London to open UK’s largest AR/VR design learning center in partnership with ARuVR

The partnership will provide the UK’s largest bespoke Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) and Metaverse design training center.

Business Announcement

CITY UNIVERSITY LONDON

ARuVR demonstration at City, University of London — IMAGE: ARUVR DEMONSTRATION AT CITY, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON view more
CREDIT: JOHN STEVENSON, CITY, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON

City, University of London has entered into a three-year partnership with ARuVR, a multi-award winning end-to-end, enterprise-grade Extended Reality (XR) training platform to provide its award-winning technology and expertise to engineering, computer science and applied mathematics undergraduate and postgraduate students within the School of Science and Technology, at what will be the UK’s largest bespoke Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) and Metaverse design training centre.

Officially opening in September 2023, with funding from the Office for Students (OFS), this new state-of-the-art facility will train up to 50 students simultaneously to become the next generation of ethical tech pioneers in the field of augmented and virtual reality and its applications in engineering, computer science and applied mathematics. The development of skills in VR and AR as well as the Metaverse is seen as a key skill shortage by industry and the new facility is as a direct result of demand from the City, University of London’s industry and business partners who are seeking talent with advanced skills in this sector.

The STEM skills gap costs £1.5bn per year in the UK (IMechE, 2018). Without access to modern, cutting-edge facilities and the means of flexible learning in an ever-demanding world it is unlikely the skills gap can be addressed in the higher education sector. The Interactive Ethical Learning Design Studio will provide a practical space to innovate and practice new industrial processes to deliver social and economic value. It will transform and grow the City, University of London’s specialist teaching and research capability in engineering, computer science and mathematics. The facility will also be used by students and researchers from the School of Health and Psychological Sciences and the School of Communication and Creativity.

Professor Rajkumar Roy, Executive Dean, School of Science & Technology (SST) City, University of London, said:

Our partnership with ARuVR enables us to provide students with a scalable, cloud-based industry-leading AR and VR rapid application building platform which will help them to develop the skills required to meet the demands of business across multiple sectors. This partnership goes beyond just providing the technology, ARuVR will provide on-going expertise and guidance as well as real-world industry experience and practice which is invaluable as our students progress in their studies and their career.

As well as providing its AR and VR training platform, which allows students to easily create compelling content and uniquely allow trainers to simultaneously interact with multiple students all while in a virtual world, ARuVR will also provide the AR/VR hardware as a complete solution, jointly fund a place for a PhD student, provide consultancy to ‘train the trainers’ and provide practical work placements for students.

Frank Furnari, CEO & Founder, ARuVR, said:

“AR, VR and Mixed Reality is a powerful learning and development tool which is being embraced by enterprises world-wide. We are delighted to support the foresight of the City, University of London in creating not just the UK’s largest AR and VR ethical learning design centre, but also the most technically advanced. Additionally, ARuVR will provide support and insight for students as they research and design projects as well as providing industry work placements to give them real-world experience.”

Visit Jefferson Lab on a self-guided virtual adventure

Jefferson Lab invites viewers to choose their own adventure with its new self-paced, virtual tour tool

Business Announcement

DOE/THOMAS JEFFERSON NATIONAL ACCELERATOR FACILITY

Jefferson Lab Virtual Tour Map — IMAGE: TAKE A SELF-GUIDED VIRTUAL TOUR OF JEFFERSON LAB! view more
CREDIT: DOE'S JEFFERSON LAB

NEWPORT NEWS, VA – If you’ve ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes at a world-renowned research center for nuclear physics, now’s your chance to find out! With an interactive map, viewers can now virtually visit the U.S. Department of Energy’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility.

Using the interactive map tool, trek through the lab’s different research areas at your own pace. Each map location features an accompanying video. These videos are part of a virtual series that takes viewers on a journey through Jefferson Lab’s world-leading subatomic particle research. The tool allows visitors to learn how more than 1,850 nuclear physicists worldwide explore the nature of matter.

The map offers a custom-tailored tour through the world-class Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF). CEBAF is a DOE Office of Science user facility and underground “racetrack” that blasts beams of electrons at nearly the speed of light at carefully chosen targets inside its experimental halls. Here, you can learn about the lab’s groundbreaking research inside the nucleus of the atom and view the incredible equipment that makes it all work. For instance, you can take a peek inside each of CEBAF’s four experimental halls. Inside these halls, the accelerator's electrons impact targets for nuclear physics experiments.

Additionally, viewers can virtually tour Jefferson Lab’s internationally acclaimed superconducting radiofrequency (SRF) technology in the SRF Institute. The SRF Institute is the first facility to successfully implement a large-scale application of SRF accelerating technology and capabilities. Here, you can discover how researchers use SRF technology to improve beam quality and lower energy consumption in subatomic particle experimentation.

The virtual experience also offers a glimpse into the lab’s cryogenics department. It features two of the world’s largest superfluid helium refrigerators housed in the rarely accessible Central Helium Liquefier. Learn why cryogenic refrigeration is critical to many of the technologies that enable research at Jefferson Lab. Find out how these unique systems work to create temperatures colder than the vast reaches of outer space.

Rounding out the tour is a preview of the advanced computing systems that support the lab’s exploration of matter at every stage. Virtually visit the data center, the hub of the lab’s advanced computing programs.

This is a unique opportunity for you to explore the lab’s incredible, internationally acclaimed facilities from the comfort of your own home, at your own pace!

Further Reading
Explore the Interactive Map and take a self-guided tour of the lab’s facilities
Take a Family Field Trip with Jefferson Lab’s 2021 Virtual Tour Video

By Skyler Tolzien-Orr

-end-

Jefferson Science Associates, LLC, operates the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, or Jefferson Lab, for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.

DOE’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://energy.gov/science.

The invention of Lithuanian scientists: a virtual post-stroke assistant for rehabilitation

The innovation created by the team of Lithuanian scientists is a VR-based rehabilitation system, a VR technology without the VR world and glasses

Peer-Reviewed Publication

KAUNAS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

The innovation created by the team of Lithuanian scientists is a VR-based rehabilitation system — IMAGE: THE INNOVATION CREATED BY THE TEAM OF LITHUANIAN SCIENTISTS IS A VR-BASED REHABILITATION SYSTEM view more
CREDIT: KTU

Some years ago, virtual reality (VR) systems were associated only with games and leisure in three-dimensional virtual space. Today, VR is used in various fields. The innovation created by the team of Lithuanian scientists is a VR-based rehabilitation system, a VR technology without the VR world and glasses.

According to statistics, in the European Union, stroke is the second most common cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability.

Recently, a team of researchers at the Kaunas University of Technology, Faculty of Informatics, led by Rytis Maskeliūnas, presented iTrain, an interactive game designed to care for people after a stroke. While the iTrain game allows the patient to experience patient care in a virtual environment and teaches other essential aspects, BiomacVR, an innovation of Lithuanian scientists, focuses on patient rehabilitation and the goal of getting the person back on their feet as quickly as possible.

“It is a rehabilitation system with a very simple operation: the person performing the exercises puts the VR sensors on their hands and tries to perform the movements as accurately as possible. With the help of these sensors, the method detects very precisely what the patient is doing in three-dimensional space and reproduces their posture and movements, forming a virtual replica of the person performing the exercises. The doctor can observe and view the exercise from all sides on his monitor and assess it as if the patient was exercising right next to them,” says Maskeliūnas about the system.

According to Maskeliūnas, the integration of virtual reality into physical therapy is an innovation that will allow patients to focus on the task at hand and perform it correctly. The software enables the patient to study and adjust the exercises, which ensures an effective healing and rehabilitation process.

Rehabilitation after stroke

According to Aušra Adomavičienė, a researcher at Vilnius University, Faculty of Medicine (VU MF), one of the most common complications in people who have suffered a stroke is an impaired motor function, which is characterised by weakness of the upper and lower limb muscles, spasms, and impaired balance and coordination.

“To match a virtual person with a real patient, we use the person’s height and the length of their arms and legs, which we input into the system. Using this information, the system assesses the centre of each joint being monitored,” says Maskeliūnas about the rehabilitation process.

The system can show deviation and indicate if exercises are not being performed correctly. KTU researcher Maskeliūnas highlights that usually, the incorrect execution of the exercises is a result of an injury or stroke.

Adomavičienė agrees, saying that after a stroke when the muscles of both the upper and lower limbs are weakened, the patient’s independence in every day and work activities – mobility, self-service, social activity – is impaired. As a result, without sufficient upper limb muscle strength, patients have difficulty eating, dressing or writing, while lower limb motor impairment affects the patient’s gait and slows down their walking speed, not only reducing physical activity but also increasing the risk of falls.

The researchers note that the time and potential for recovery varies greatly from patient to patient, and requires a lot of effort, work and expertise. Nevertheless, patients who use the VR system are more engaged in the tasks and strive to complete them as accurately as possible; also, they enjoy seeing the limits of their achievements, feel in control of the situation, and can adjust their movements during the exercise – speed, accuracy and exertion.

So far, the study is limited to stroke patients, but the researchers say that the system could later be adapted for the rehabilitation of patients with other conditions.

Motivates the patient

The recently published study of Lithuanian scientists presents findings from eight commonly used physical education situations from the stroke rehabilitation methodology.

The team emphasises that the introduction and use of new technologies during rehabilitation enables the patient to be involved in the rehabilitation process, develops their imagination and allows them to actively pursue better outcomes.

“By monitoring the results of the virtual feedback, the rehabilitation specialist can discuss with the patient the difficulties experienced during the session, adjust the programme and correct mistakes. The study revealed that by working together and discussing the progress and difficulties of the exercises, the specialist and the patient formulate common goals and discuss the limits of achievement. Also, the patient is more actively involved in the rehabilitation process and becomes a motivated and active participant in the process,” says Adomavičienė.

According to the team, this involvement of patients in the rehabilitation process and their ability to take control of the situation and feel able to influence their health outcomes is a very important factor in achieving higher outcomes. Especially, when rehabilitation takes place in the patient’s comfort zone – at home.

“The main advantage of this system is that a person can do everything at home, not just in the health care facility, and their progress can be monitored by the doctor remotely, by viewing the recording or by studying the indications of the system,” says Maskeliūnas.

The KTU scientist hopes that in the future, the system could be subsidised as rehabilitation equipment, thus increasing the accessibility and convenience of medical resources.

JOURNAL

Electronics

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

BiomacVR: A Virtual Reality-Based System for Precise Human Posture and Motion Analysis in Rehabilitation Exercises Using Depth Sensors

University of Miami College of Engineering launches consortium to make flying cars a reality for commuters

Business Announcement

UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI

To transform the way we commute and live, the University of Miami College of Engineering launched the Miami Engineering Autonomous Mobility Initiative (MEAMI), a consortium of world-class academic, industry, and government partners.

MEAMI researchers are developing next-generation electric vertical takeoff/landing (eVTOL) air vehicles–flying cars, essentially building on research funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the National Science Foundation, NASA, and other major government agencies.

Participating in MEAMI are industry leaders Eve Air Mobility, Aeroauto, and Ryder System, along with nonprofit leaders such as The Beacon Council. The consortium enjoys support from prominent public sector partners as well such as the Departments of Energy, Education, and Transportation.

MEAMI aims to advance autonomous mobility technology and anticipate challenges to implementation in today’s cities, making this staple of science fiction a part of our daily lives. Applications are plentiful—from air taxis, to assisting in quick transport of patients to hospitals, to rapid transit from busy downtown areas to the airport. Additionally, autonomous mobility will also be applied for surface transport aspects—addressing shipping of goods and people.

The consortium will investigate the many aspects of autonomous mobility, including advanced propulsion, sensing, integration of satellite signals with local sensing, artificial intelligence, clean energy and energy storage, and advanced materials, with prominent faculty members leading the way. In addition, issues of safety, air traffic control, regulatory aspects related to noise, cybersecurity, and other relevant matters will also be addressed by the Consortium.

This initiative will work on five verticals focused on the next two years: Advanced Technological Development, Operations, Regulations and Safety, Public Relations, Development, and Advancement.

PDF version

About the University of Miami

The University of Miami is a private research university and academic health system with a distinct geographic capacity to connect institutions, individuals, and ideas across the hemisphere and around the world. The University’s vibrant and diverse academic community comprises 12 schools and colleges serving more than 17,000 undergraduate and graduate students in more than 180 majors and programs. Located within one of the most dynamic and multicultural cities in the world, the University is building new bridges across geographic, cultural, and intellectual borders, bringing a passion for scholarly excellence, a spirit of innovation, a respect for including and elevating diverse voices, and a commitment to tackling the challenges facing our world.

About the College of Engineering

Founded in 1947, The College of Engineering at the University of Miami is home to the next generation of innovators working together to solve real-world problems. Our faculty is also leading the way, cultivating tomorrow’s leaders with technical, scientific skills and resources to be innovative in the academic, nonprofit, private, and public sectors. We are dedicated to make a positive impact in the world by addressing multiple challenges in these six strategic initiatives: Advanced Materials, Health Engineering, Data Sciences, Space Science and Engineering, Sustainability and Resilience as well as Energy and Environment.

Carnegie Mellon University team designs four-legged robotic system that can walk a balance beam

Spacecraft-inspired system enhances quadruped agility and balance

Reports and Proceedings

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY

Balance Beam Bot video — VIDEO: A CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY TEAM DESIGNED A FOUR-LEGGED ROBOTIC SYSTEM THAT CAN WALK A BALANCE BEAM, A LIKELY FIRST. view more
CREDIT: CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY

Researchers in Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute (RI) have designed a system that makes an off-the-shelf quadruped robot nimble enough to walk a narrow balance beam — a feat that is likely the first of its kind.

"This experiment was huge," said Zachary Manchester, an assistant professor in the RI and head of the Robotic Exploration Lab. "I don't think anyone has ever successfully done balance beam walking with a robot before."

By leveraging hardware often used to control satellites in space, Manchester and his team offset existing constraints in the quadruped's design to improve its balancing capabilities.

The standard elements of most modern quadruped robots include a torso and four legs that each end in a rounded foot, allowing the robot to traverse basic, flat surfaces and even climb stairs. Their design resembles a four-legged animal, but unlike cheetahs who can use their tails to control sharp turns or falling cats that adjust their orientation in mid-air with the help of their flexible spines, quadruped robots do not have such instinctive agility. As long as three of the robot's feet remain in contact with the ground, it can avoid tipping over. But if only one or two feet are on the ground, the robot can't easily correct for disturbances and has a much higher risk of falling. This lack of balance makes walking over rough terrain particularly difficult.

"With current control methods, a quadruped robot's body and legs are decoupled and don't speak to one another to coordinate their movements," Manchester said. "So how can we improve their balance?"

The team's solution employs a reaction wheel actuator (RWA) system that mounts to the back of a quadruped robot. With the help of a novel control technique, the RWA allows the robot to balance independent of the positions of its feet.

RWAs are widely used in the aerospace industry to perform attitude control on satellites by manipulating the angular momentum of the spacecraft.

"You basically have a big flywheel with a motor attached," said Manchester, who worked on the project with RI graduate student Chi-Yen Lee and mechanical engineering graduate students Shuo Yang and Benjamin Boksor. "If you spin the heavy flywheel one way, it makes the satellite spin the other way. Now take that and put it on the body of a quadruped robot."

The team prototyped their approach by mounting two RWAs on a commercial Unitree A1 robot — one on the pitch axis and one on the roll axis — to provide control over the robot's angular momentum. With the RWA, it doesn't matter if the robot's legs are in contact with the ground or not because the RWAs provide independent control of the body's orientation.

Manchester said it was easy to modify an existing control framework to account for the RWAs because the hardware doesn't change the robot's mass distribution, nor does it have the joint limitations of a tail or spine. Without needing to account for such constraints, the hardware can be modeled like a gyrostat (an idealized model of a spacecraft) and integrated into a standard model-predictive control algorithm.

The team tested their system with a series of successful experiments that demonstrated the robot's enhanced ability to recover from sudden impacts. In simulation, they mimicked the classic falling-cat problem by dropping the robot upside down from nearly half a meter, with the RWAs enabling the robot to reorient itself mid-air and land on its feet. On hardware, they showed the robot's ability to recover from disturbances — as well as the system's balancing capability — with an experiment where the robot walked along a 6-centimeter-wide balance beam.

Manchester predicts that quadruped robots will soon transition from being primarily research platforms in labs to widely available commercial-use products, similar to where drones were about 10 years ago. And with continued work to enhance a quadruped robot's stabilizing capabilities to match the instinctual four-legged animals that inspired their design, they could be used in high-stakes scenarios like search-and-rescue in the future.

"Quadrupeds are the next big thing in robots," Manchester said. "I think you're going to see a lot more of them in the wild in the next few years."

To the team's knowledge, this is the first instance of a quadruped successfully walking on a narrow balance beam. Their paper, "Enhanced Balance for Legged Robots Using Reaction Wheels," was accepted to the 2023 International Conference on Robotics and Automation. The annual conference will be held May 29–June 2, in London.

A Carnegie Mellon University team designed a four-legged robotic system that can walk a balance beam, a likely first.

A Carnegie Mellon University team designed a four-legged robotic system that can walk a balance beam, a likely first.

CREDIT

Carnegie Mellon University

Are high power electric vehicle chargers safe for patients with cardiac devices?

Peer-Reviewed Publication

EUROPEAN SOCIETY OF CARDIOLOGY

Barcelona, Spain – 17 April 2023: High power electric vehicle chargers are safe for patients with pacemakers and defibrillators, according to a study published today in EP Europace,1 a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and presented at EHRA 2023,2 a scientific congress of the ESC.

“The new high power charging stations for electric cars have the potential to create strong electromagnetic fields and cause electromagnetic interference in pacemakers and defibrillators, leading them to malfunction,” said study author Dr. Carsten Lennerz of the German Heart Centre Munich. “We previously investigated the risk of electromagnetic interference with cardiac devices while driving electric cars and found that the largest electromagnetic field was located along the charging cable.3 This was the first study to examine the risk of electromagnetic interference in patients with cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) while using high power chargers.”

Pacemakers and defibrillators are used to treat patients with heart rhythm disorders or heart failure. It is estimated that 1 to 1.4 million pacemakers will be implanted globally in 2023.4,5 Given that the average life expectancy with a pacemaker is 8.5 years, the number of people with a pacemaker worldwide is likely to be in the region of 8 to 12 million.6 In addition, approximately 150,000 to 200,000 patients across the world receive an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) each year.7

High power chargers delivering up to 350 kW were developed to shorten charging time. The new chargers use DC (direct current) which allows for higher power delivery, while older or home chargers use AC (alternating current). With a greater charging current there may be a stronger magnetic field and a higher risk of electromagnetic interference which could cause a pacemaker to stop pacing or a defibrillator to deliver painful shock therapy inappropriately (due to falsely detecting a rapid arrhythmia). There are no official recommendations on the use of high power chargers for patients with CIEDs.

The study included 130 patients with a pacemaker or defibrillator. The average age was 59 years and 21% were women. Four publicly available, fully electric cars capable of high power charging were used during the study.8 However, these cars cannot take the maximal charge of 350 kW. Since it is highly likely that future electric cars will take the highest charge, the researchers also used a test vehicle which could draw 350 kW from the high power chargers.9

Participants had their cardiac devices programmed to optimise detection of electromagnetic interference. They were then asked to plug in and charge each car with the charging cable placed directly over their cardiac device to maximise the likelihood of electromagnetic interference. Patients were monitored for any malfunction of their cardiac device such as a failure to deliver pacing therapy or inappropriately sensing abnormally fast heart rhythms. The cardiac devices were also checked for any change in their programming or damage after charging the cars.

In total, 561 charges were performed during which the researchers did not observe any adverse events caused by electromagnetic interference. Specifically, there was no inhibition of pacing in pacemakers nor inappropriate detection of rapid arrhythmias that might lead to painful shock therapy for patients with defibrillators.

Dr. Lennerz said: “This study was designed as a worst-case scenario to maximise the chance of electromagnetic interference. Despite this, we found no clinically relevant electromagnetic interference and no device malfunction during the use of high power chargers, suggesting that no restrictions should be placed on their use for patients with cardiac devices.”

He noted that the study focused on high power charging technology rather than home chargers. “Home chargers use a smaller current but AC generates a different magnetic field than DC,” he said. “Home charging is likely safe with sensible precautions, such as not staying next to the charging cable for extended periods of time.”

Dr. Lennerz concluded: “Patients with cardiac devices can be reassured that charging electric cars with high power chargers is safe. The risk of malfunction of pacemakers and defibrillators is extremely low in this situation. Sitting inside the car or standing next to the charging cable or charger is also safe. However, we would recommend not placing the charging cable directly over the cardiac device to maintain distance from the charging elements.”

ENDS