Tech Briefs Magazine - February 2022 - MD-11

Camera
Raspberry Pi
IMU
(a)
View from Glasses
(c)
View from Lower Limb
(d)
downstairs
Battery
Camera
cement
tile
(b)
upstairs
brick
(e)
(f)
Imaging devices and environmental context. (a) On-glasses camera configuration using a Tobii Pro Glasses
2 eye tracker. (b) Lower limb data acquisition device with a camera and an IMU chip. (c) and (d) Example
frames from the cameras for the two data acquisition configurations. (e) and (f) Example images of the data
collection environment and terrains considered in the experiments. (Photo: North Carolina State University)
grass
upstairs
thetics, the work could be applied to any
type of deep-learning system.
To train the AI system, researchers
connected the cameras to able-bodied
individuals, who then walked through
a variety of indoor and outdoor environments.
The researchers then did a
proof-of-concept evaluation by having a
person with lower-limb amputation wear
the cameras while traversing the same environments.
They found that the model
can be appropriately transferred so the
system can operate with subjects from different
populations - the AI works well
even though it was trained by one group
of people and used by somebody else.
For more information, contact Edgar
Lobaton, Associate Professor of electrical and
computer engineering, at edgar.lobaton@
ncsu.edu.
Soft, Mechanical Metamaterials
These " living machines " hold potential for applications from medical treatments to improving
the environment.
The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
R
esearchers produced a soft,
mechanical metamaterial
that can " think " about how
forces are applied to it and
respond via programmed reactions.
The metamaterials
feature
flexible,
conductive
polymer networks that can
compute all digital logic computations.
The process creates
decision-making functionality
in engineered materials in a
way that could support future
soft, autonomous engineered
systems that are invested with
the basic elements of lifeforms
yet are programmed to perform
helpful services. These
include helping maintain sustainable
and robust infrastructure, monitoring
of airborne and waterborne contaminants
and pathogens, and assisting
with patient wound healing.
Human thought processes are based
on logic that is similar to Boolean logic
from mathematics. This approach uses
binary inputs to process binary control
outputs - using only " on " and " off "
sequences to represent all thought and
cognition. The new soft materials " think "
Motion Design, February 2022
MD Tech Briefs 0222_1.indd 11
using combinations of bistable
switches - switches with two
stable states - to represent
the 0s and 1s of a binary number
sequence. The team found
that when they used pure mechanical
logic, they ended up
getting stuck because certain
logical operations cannot be
constructed.
New soft, mechanical metamaterials can " think " about how forces are applied
to it and respond via preprogrammed reactions. (Photo: Elizabeth Flores-Gomez
Murray/Penn State)
using the reconfiguration of the conductive
polymer networks. Mechanical
force, applied to the materials, connects
and reconnects the network. Using a
low-voltage input into the materials, the
team created a way for the soft material to
decide how to react according to the output
voltage signal from the reconfigured
conductive polymer network.
The type of logic used goes beyond
pure mechanical logic, which is a way of
The key to realizing all the
logic gates was in the combination
of the electrical polymer
network with the soft,
deformable material. The researchers
created the logic
operations by simultaneously
reconfiguring the soft material
and the electrically conductive
network. This also ensures that
the binary output is in the form of electricity,
which is needed to drive an actuation
mechanism that makes the material
respond to the applied mechanical
force. The combination of electrical and
mechanical signals allows the machine
to move to get out of the way or to push
back in a certain direction.
For more information, contact Jamie
Oberdick at jco11@psu.edu; 814-867-6225.
11
Cov
ToC
1/18/22 12:03 PM

http://info.hotims.com/82318-800

Tech Briefs Magazine - February 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Tech Briefs Magazine - February 2022