Beaming into the Rat World: Enabling Real-Time Interaction between Rat and Human Each at Their Own Scale

Immersive virtual reality (IVR) typically generates the illusion in participants that they are in the displayed virtual scene where they can experience and interact in events as if they were really happening. Teleoperator (TO) systems place people at a remote physical destination embodied as a robotic device, and where typically participants have the sensation of being at the destination, with the ability to interact with entities there. In this paper, we show how to combine IVR and TO to allow a new class of application. The participant in the IVR is represented in the destination by a physical robot (TO) and simultaneously the remote place and entities within it are represented to the participant in the IVR. Hence, the IVR participant has a normal virtual reality experience, but where his or her actions and behaviour control the remote robot and can therefore have physical consequences. Here, we show how such a system can be deployed to allow a human and a rat to operate together, but the human interacting with the rat on a human scale, and the rat interacting with the human on the rat scale. The human is represented in a rat arena by a small robot that is slaved to the human’s movements, whereas the tracked rat is represented to the human in the virtual reality by a humanoid avatar. We describe the system and also a study that was designed to test whether humans can successfully play a game with the rat. The results show that the system functioned well and that the humans were able to interact with the rat to fulfil the tasks of the game. This system opens up the possibility of new applications in the life sciences involving participant observation of and interaction with animals but at human scale

Mobile augmented reality based 3D snapshots

We describe a mobile augmented reality application that is based on 3D snapshotting using multiple photographs. Optical square markers provide the anchor for reconstructed virtual objects in the scene. A novel approach based on pixel flow highly improves tracking performance. This dual tracking approach also allows for a new single-button user interface metaphor for moving virtual objects in the scene. The development of the AR viewer was accompanied by user studies confirming the chosen approach

Perfonmance based design of concrete structures

The potential of new fully probabilistic methods and powerful computers makes assumptions for application of performance-based reliability assessment of structures.Such approach allows to design more effective structures and decrease its cost

Assessment of the bending carrying capacity of a concrete cross-section according to Eurocode and SBRA method

The paper deals with the reliability assessment of simply supported reinforced concrete beam from the viewpoint of bending, the reliability analysis is performed according to Eurocode compared with the calculation using probabilistic SBRA method. In the SBRA approach, all random variables are described using bounded histograms and its interactions are analyzed using direct Monte Carlo simulation technique

Reliability analysis of static indeterminate steel frame byprobabilistic method SBRA

The subject of the paper is a study on probabilistic reliabilityassessment of a steel frame using Simulation-Based Reliabilitymethod SBRA. The direct Monte Carlo simulation technique is usedas a tool in order to analyse the interaction of input randomvariables (including loading) expressed by non-parametric boundedhistograms

Probabilistic analysis of reliability of slender reinforced concrete column using probability SBRA method

This paper deals with the application of the probabilistic SBRA method to the reliability assessment of steel bar structures

Posudek použitelnosti železobetonových desek s aplikací metody SBRA

The goal of the paper is serviceability assessment from the view point of limit deflections of simply supported reinforced concrete one-way slab. The slab is exposed to uniformly distributed dead load and imposed load. Most of input quantities are considered as random variables, including loadings, and described by corresponding bounded histograms, the assessment is performed using the fully probabilistic SBRA method

Durability of steel structures exposed to corrosion

In the area of structural design increasing attention has being given to the development and application of new progressive methods allowing for complex reliability assessment of structures with consideration time-dependent effects. One of these powerful methods allowing this complex reliability analysis is SBRA method. The potential of this method is briefly outlined on example of a steel component exposed to time-dependent corrosion effects

Probabilistic analysis of the reliability of a concrete cross-section using a method of limit deformation

Proposed application of the SBRA (Simulation-Based Reliability Assessment method documented in [1] to [4]) demonstrates a safety analysis of a reinforced concrete beam exposed to bending. The equilibrium offers in the considered cross-section (see Obr. 1) is calculated using limit deformation method based on iterative procedure. The reliability in bending is expressed by probability of failure, which is directly calculated from corresponding safety function

Assessment of limits of the deformation of a concrete plate using SBRA method

The paper deals with the serviceability assessment of simply supported reinforced concrete slab exposed to uniformly distributed dead load and imposed load, the serviceability kriteria correspond to maximum allowed vertical deflections of the slab. The calculation is performed according to the probabilistic SBRA method