Designing Humanoid Robots with Novel Roles and Social Abilities

The interest in humanoid robotics is constantly increasing and is motivating novel solutions for personal assistance, elderly care, child education or even for “designing robots for well-being”. In buildinghumanoid robots with novel roles in our society more social and psychologicalfactors will be of major concern in addition to the safety and acceptability issues of having robots performing close to the human and engaging them in joint tasks. The aim of the present mini-review is to outline some possible novel roles of humanoid robots accentuating on the psychological complexity that is necessary to be made inherent in the design of humanoid robotic technology.

 An especially designed study has revealed that, unlike the common view “that robots should do dangerous, dirty or dull jobs; publicopinion favors the view that robots should perform tasks requiringmemorization, keen perceptual skills and service orientation. People are preferred for occupations that require artistry, evaluation, judgment and diplomacy”.

Recent Studies on Steel Plate Shear Wall Systems

SPSWs are considered as efficient lateral force-resisting systems which have been in use since the 1970s and offer many advantages over other systems, e.g., rigid and braced frames as well as reinforced concrete shear walls, in terms of cost, performance, and ease of design. A proliferation of research work has beenundertaken on the structural behavior and seismic performance of these systems and the results of these studies have been incorporated into design codes and specifications.

The application of SPSWs has been based on two different design philosophies and detailing strategies. Stiffened and/or stocky-web SPSWs with improved bucklingstability and high seismic performance features, as mostly used in Japan, and unstiffened and slender-web SPSWs with relatively lower buckling and energy dissipation capacities, as widely used in the United States and Canada.

An Online Food Court Ordering System

Developing an Online Food Court Ordering system to promote a greater count of food lovers to splurge into the field of Restaurant was the objective of this study. This particular system provide the benefit ofthe easy ordering process online from anywhere along with ample choices for thecustomers in less time and less expenditures. This latest effort will definitely usher an edge in the existing manual platform used so far for such an important aspect along with greater flexibility and sophistication in the use of the technology. The system also aided E-ordering option for the customers with multiple other benefits.

The user should register in the system to avail the utility. Users will be able to select their preferable food items from the existing E-menu card and order their requirement online. User will receive anonscreen presence of the selected items immediately after item selection. Application of this system will reduce the additional service associated manpower used in the hospitality industry, thus may provide financial benefits to the owners of such industry.

Investigation of Concrete Segregation by Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity

Segregation is a separation of the constituents of a concrete mix or a fresh mortar, which can be caused by insufficient mixing, excessive vibration or major fluidity. In addition, water content is one of the fu ndamental parameters in the composition of concrete. Water quantity andquantity can influence the separation between mortar and gravels. Water-reducing admixtures are used to reduce the quantity of mixing water required to produce concrete of a certain slump. These admixtures (plasticizers, fluidizers, among others) are added to concrete to make high-slump flowing but are not free of excessive bleeding or segregation. 

On the other hand, in the case of highly cohesive concrete mixtures such as those containing limestone filler, even in the absence of external bleed water, static segregation can still take place and.The mixing method proposed by for SCC is based on equivalent mortars. The literature describes many tests to characterize the segregation, including the sieve segregation index test, cylinder test, column test, ball test, pale test, etc. Shindoh and Matsuoka have evaluated self-compacting concrete test methods.