Pub Date : 2018-05-01DOI: 10.1109/MERCON.2018.8421912
B. Balasuriya, H.W.P. Bhanuka, Hkt Sampath, A. Kulasekera, N. Jayaweera
Manufacturing industry faces several challenges when manufacturing complex shaped components. One such challenge is holding complex shaped components. For such instances, various dedicated fixturing methods are used, reducing the flexibility and increasing the initial cost in manufacturing. Pin type fixturing methods are the dominating method of fixturing for complex shaped components. But the point loading from pin type fixturing methods can lead to surface damage reducing the quality of the product. So various methods have been introduced to reduce the negative effects from point loading. Granular jamming is one such method that has been of recent interest. The fixturing force granular jamming materials can provide depends on various factors including membrane properties. This research paper describes how the fixturing force provided by granular jammed pin type method vary on the thickness of the granular jamming membrane and how negative pressure variation affect the fixturing force from granular jamming. The membrane in this study is made out of latex using simple dipping techniques. According to the results of experiments carried out, fixturing force increases with increase of thickness in jamming membrane and when negative pressure is increased. Further, a novel configuration to increase fixturing force with a tubular membrane mounted on two pins was experimented. Experiments revealed that higher fixturing force can be obtained through such a novel configuration.
{"title":"An Improved Fixturing Solution for Holding Complex Shaped Components","authors":"B. Balasuriya, H.W.P. Bhanuka, Hkt Sampath, A. Kulasekera, N. Jayaweera","doi":"10.1109/MERCON.2018.8421912","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MERCON.2018.8421912","url":null,"abstract":"Manufacturing industry faces several challenges when manufacturing complex shaped components. One such challenge is holding complex shaped components. For such instances, various dedicated fixturing methods are used, reducing the flexibility and increasing the initial cost in manufacturing. Pin type fixturing methods are the dominating method of fixturing for complex shaped components. But the point loading from pin type fixturing methods can lead to surface damage reducing the quality of the product. So various methods have been introduced to reduce the negative effects from point loading. Granular jamming is one such method that has been of recent interest. The fixturing force granular jamming materials can provide depends on various factors including membrane properties. This research paper describes how the fixturing force provided by granular jammed pin type method vary on the thickness of the granular jamming membrane and how negative pressure variation affect the fixturing force from granular jamming. The membrane in this study is made out of latex using simple dipping techniques. According to the results of experiments carried out, fixturing force increases with increase of thickness in jamming membrane and when negative pressure is increased. Further, a novel configuration to increase fixturing force with a tubular membrane mounted on two pins was experimented. Experiments revealed that higher fixturing force can be obtained through such a novel configuration.","PeriodicalId":6603,"journal":{"name":"2018 Moratuwa Engineering Research Conference (MERCon)","volume":"12 1","pages":"555-559"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86885199","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-05-01DOI: 10.1109/MERCON.2018.8421899
C. S. Witharamage, M. Maddumage, V. Weragoda
Thermal conductivity is the one of most significant parameters in materials when it comes to the industrial applications, it is important to know the thermal conductivity of materials for materials selection, especially when thermal insulation is required. However, the techniques available in laboratory scale to measure the thermal conductivity of poor thermal conductors like polymers, meeting reliability and economy are not available. This research focuses on developing an instrument to measure the thermal conductivity of polymers that overcome the inherent problems in the existing methods. Measuring of the thermal conductivity can be done either at the steady state conditions or transient conditions. The temperature measurements of the polymer specimen in the transient state were done based on the well-known “Transient Hot-Wire Probe Theory”. Here, basically the temperature of a linear heat source embedded in the specimen, which is read at different time intervals and supplied energy to the heat element were the interested quantities and a programmed micro-controller was used to control the sensing elements of the system (thermocouples, current and voltage sensors) by performing pre-defined or user intended functions. Likewise microcontroller then reads out the sensor signals accordingly, to process and produce results in a useful manner (temperature vs time behavior) so that the thermal conductivity can be calculated according to the theory.
{"title":"Determination of Thermal Conductivity of LDPE Using Dual Hot Wire Probe Method","authors":"C. S. Witharamage, M. Maddumage, V. Weragoda","doi":"10.1109/MERCON.2018.8421899","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MERCON.2018.8421899","url":null,"abstract":"Thermal conductivity is the one of most significant parameters in materials when it comes to the industrial applications, it is important to know the thermal conductivity of materials for materials selection, especially when thermal insulation is required. However, the techniques available in laboratory scale to measure the thermal conductivity of poor thermal conductors like polymers, meeting reliability and economy are not available. This research focuses on developing an instrument to measure the thermal conductivity of polymers that overcome the inherent problems in the existing methods. Measuring of the thermal conductivity can be done either at the steady state conditions or transient conditions. The temperature measurements of the polymer specimen in the transient state were done based on the well-known “Transient Hot-Wire Probe Theory”. Here, basically the temperature of a linear heat source embedded in the specimen, which is read at different time intervals and supplied energy to the heat element were the interested quantities and a programmed micro-controller was used to control the sensing elements of the system (thermocouples, current and voltage sensors) by performing pre-defined or user intended functions. Likewise microcontroller then reads out the sensor signals accordingly, to process and produce results in a useful manner (temperature vs time behavior) so that the thermal conductivity can be calculated according to the theory.","PeriodicalId":6603,"journal":{"name":"2018 Moratuwa Engineering Research Conference (MERCon)","volume":"1 1","pages":"259-263"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78613448","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-05-01DOI: 10.1109/MERCON.2018.8421898
H.S. Selaka, Kapila Perera, M.A.W.T. Deepal, P.D.R. Sanjeewa, H. Chapa Sirithunge, A. Jayasekara
Fuzzy Logic has become an emerging control mechanism in robotics as well as in many other streams. Hence fuzzy logic is an often-talked topic in teaching as well as learning. This paper presents a robot platform used to demonstrate applications of fuzzy logic in both teaching and learning aspects. A food serving robot is developed to demonstrate the changes in the actions of the robot based on the inputs from the environment while delivering foods and beverages. Here, the inputs from the environment are the parameters related to the navigation of the robot. Actions of the robot while serving a human user are decided based on a predefined set of fuzzy rules. These rules can be altered as preferred by the user, in order to understand complex fuzzy applications depending on the scenario. An observer would be able to understand how fuzzy rules change the perception of robot about the environment, through this demonstration. An experiment is conducted in a simulated environment in the laboratory to evaluate the behavior of this system and the results of the experiment are presented.
{"title":"Fuzzy-Bot: A Food Serving Robot as a Teaching and Learning Platform for Fuzzy Logic","authors":"H.S. Selaka, Kapila Perera, M.A.W.T. Deepal, P.D.R. Sanjeewa, H. Chapa Sirithunge, A. Jayasekara","doi":"10.1109/MERCON.2018.8421898","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MERCON.2018.8421898","url":null,"abstract":"Fuzzy Logic has become an emerging control mechanism in robotics as well as in many other streams. Hence fuzzy logic is an often-talked topic in teaching as well as learning. This paper presents a robot platform used to demonstrate applications of fuzzy logic in both teaching and learning aspects. A food serving robot is developed to demonstrate the changes in the actions of the robot based on the inputs from the environment while delivering foods and beverages. Here, the inputs from the environment are the parameters related to the navigation of the robot. Actions of the robot while serving a human user are decided based on a predefined set of fuzzy rules. These rules can be altered as preferred by the user, in order to understand complex fuzzy applications depending on the scenario. An observer would be able to understand how fuzzy rules change the perception of robot about the environment, through this demonstration. An experiment is conducted in a simulated environment in the laboratory to evaluate the behavior of this system and the results of the experiment are presented.","PeriodicalId":6603,"journal":{"name":"2018 Moratuwa Engineering Research Conference (MERCon)","volume":"69 1","pages":"565-570"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79261410","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-05-01DOI: 10.1109/MERCON.2018.8421964
M. N. Rammuni, T. Ariyadasa, P. Nimarshana, RA Attalage
Cultivation is the paramount step of microalgae bioprocessing as a concentrated and flourished biomass broth will result in higher recoveries of its metabolites. But there is scarce model development for the prediction of microalgae biomass productivity in outdoor cultivation systems under the fluctuations of process conditions. Hence, this study develops a mathematical model based on the first principles with a nonlinear approach to forecast the microalgae growth in open ponds under non-optimal cultivation conditions in respect of the location. The model accounts for the effect of temperature, solar irradiance level, availability of nutrients in the cultivation medium and the effect of local climatic conditions over the microalgae growth. The model is validated against the experimental results from literature data and model analyses have been proceeded to determine the effect of variations in process parameters on the microalgae biomass yield.
{"title":"A Mathematical Model to Predict the Microalgal Growth in an Open Pond Cultivation : A location based approach","authors":"M. N. Rammuni, T. Ariyadasa, P. Nimarshana, RA Attalage","doi":"10.1109/MERCON.2018.8421964","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MERCON.2018.8421964","url":null,"abstract":"Cultivation is the paramount step of microalgae bioprocessing as a concentrated and flourished biomass broth will result in higher recoveries of its metabolites. But there is scarce model development for the prediction of microalgae biomass productivity in outdoor cultivation systems under the fluctuations of process conditions. Hence, this study develops a mathematical model based on the first principles with a nonlinear approach to forecast the microalgae growth in open ponds under non-optimal cultivation conditions in respect of the location. The model accounts for the effect of temperature, solar irradiance level, availability of nutrients in the cultivation medium and the effect of local climatic conditions over the microalgae growth. The model is validated against the experimental results from literature data and model analyses have been proceeded to determine the effect of variations in process parameters on the microalgae biomass yield.","PeriodicalId":6603,"journal":{"name":"2018 Moratuwa Engineering Research Conference (MERCon)","volume":"49 1","pages":"306-311"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87654835","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-05-01DOI: 10.1109/MERCON.2018.8421945
H. G. M. T. Yashoda, A. M. S. Piumal, P. G. S. P. Polgahapitiya, M. M. M. Mubeen, M. Muthugala, A. Jayasekara
The degradation of mobility is one of the major concerns that affect the independent living ability of elderly/disabled people. Therefore, mobility assistive devices are being developed to uplift the living standards of the people. However, the existing mobility assistive devices require improvements. This paper presents about design and development of a smart wheel chair with multiple control interfaces. A prototype of the smart wheelchair system has been developed based on a conventional wheelchair that is commonly available in the market, with the addition of related electrical and mechanical advancements. Voice and gesture controlling interfaces are deployed to the system in addition to the conventional joystick-controlling interface to enhance the interaction with the user. Particulars on the mechanical design, the electrical and control system of the smart wheelchair are presented. Experiments have been conducted to verify the functionality of the developed smart wheelchair. Furthermore, the user preferences between the different controlling interfaces have been evaluated through a user study and the results are presented.
{"title":"Design and Development of a Smart Wheelchair with Multiple Control Interfaces","authors":"H. G. M. T. Yashoda, A. M. S. Piumal, P. G. S. P. Polgahapitiya, M. M. M. Mubeen, M. Muthugala, A. Jayasekara","doi":"10.1109/MERCON.2018.8421945","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MERCON.2018.8421945","url":null,"abstract":"The degradation of mobility is one of the major concerns that affect the independent living ability of elderly/disabled people. Therefore, mobility assistive devices are being developed to uplift the living standards of the people. However, the existing mobility assistive devices require improvements. This paper presents about design and development of a smart wheel chair with multiple control interfaces. A prototype of the smart wheelchair system has been developed based on a conventional wheelchair that is commonly available in the market, with the addition of related electrical and mechanical advancements. Voice and gesture controlling interfaces are deployed to the system in addition to the conventional joystick-controlling interface to enhance the interaction with the user. Particulars on the mechanical design, the electrical and control system of the smart wheelchair are presented. Experiments have been conducted to verify the functionality of the developed smart wheelchair. Furthermore, the user preferences between the different controlling interfaces have been evaluated through a user study and the results are presented.","PeriodicalId":6603,"journal":{"name":"2018 Moratuwa Engineering Research Conference (MERCon)","volume":"9 4","pages":"324-329"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72606979","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-05-01DOI: 10.1109/MERCON.2018.8421935
H. Rosayuru, K. Waidyasekara, M. Wijewickrama
Construction project procurement is a fundamental process in construction project management. The current conventional procurement practices have been widely criticised due to associated issues including disregarding sustainability. Even if, Sustainable Procurement (SP) has been emerged as one of the best solutions for such issues, current practice level of SP in Sri Lanka (SL) is unclear. Therefore, the aim of this study is to review SP practices in Sri Lankan construction industry. Concurrent triangulation mixed method was used in this study by combining both qualitative and quantitative research approaches. Data was collected through questionnaire surveys and semi-structured interviews and analysed using statistical analysis and content analysis respectively. Data triangulation was used to combine the results of all three research tools. The study proved that SP principles have been used in Sri Lankan construction industry at a moderate level. Limited sustainability initiatives were used in the project procurement, while economical sustainability criteria were given the prominence. Furthermore, SL is at a lower level of practicing SP when compared with most of developed countries like United Kingdom (UK) and Canada. Non-availability of policies, procedures and legislations in regional or national levels is the main factor that limit the SP practices. Further, the study identified drivers which influence the practice level of SP in SL.Thus, the study recommended that strengthening drivers and mitigating constrains are the appropriate strategies to increase the level of practice of SP in Sri Lankan construction industry.
{"title":"Current Practices of Sustainable Procurement in the Sri Lankan Construction Industry","authors":"H. Rosayuru, K. Waidyasekara, M. Wijewickrama","doi":"10.1109/MERCON.2018.8421935","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MERCON.2018.8421935","url":null,"abstract":"Construction project procurement is a fundamental process in construction project management. The current conventional procurement practices have been widely criticised due to associated issues including disregarding sustainability. Even if, Sustainable Procurement (SP) has been emerged as one of the best solutions for such issues, current practice level of SP in Sri Lanka (SL) is unclear. Therefore, the aim of this study is to review SP practices in Sri Lankan construction industry. Concurrent triangulation mixed method was used in this study by combining both qualitative and quantitative research approaches. Data was collected through questionnaire surveys and semi-structured interviews and analysed using statistical analysis and content analysis respectively. Data triangulation was used to combine the results of all three research tools. The study proved that SP principles have been used in Sri Lankan construction industry at a moderate level. Limited sustainability initiatives were used in the project procurement, while economical sustainability criteria were given the prominence. Furthermore, SL is at a lower level of practicing SP when compared with most of developed countries like United Kingdom (UK) and Canada. Non-availability of policies, procedures and legislations in regional or national levels is the main factor that limit the SP practices. Further, the study identified drivers which influence the practice level of SP in SL.Thus, the study recommended that strengthening drivers and mitigating constrains are the appropriate strategies to increase the level of practice of SP in Sri Lankan construction industry.","PeriodicalId":6603,"journal":{"name":"2018 Moratuwa Engineering Research Conference (MERCon)","volume":"105 1","pages":"144-149"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80690662","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-05-01DOI: 10.1109/MERCON.2018.8421919
M.H.T.T. Thilekha, K. Siriwardana, N. Siebel, D.A.D. Waslathanthri, N. Lidula, T. Siyambalapitiya, A. Wickramasinghe
Many nations have shown their support to a battle against environmental pollution by integrating large scale solar and wind energy resources, to their respective grids. Although these commendable efforts have paved the way for a greener future, it has to be noted that non-conventional renewable energy (NCRE) possess their own inherent drawbacks. Their availability is highly dependent on the prevalent weather conditions, which means that they are subjected to uncontrollable variability. With the rise of intermittent renewable resources, it is important to have appropriate amounts of operating reserves to provide back-up to the system. This will ensure that the system will be stable under variable power conditions and thus, improve the reliability of the system. This paper is focused in quantifying additional operating reserves requirements to stabilize the system under intermittent conditions with the large penetration of renewables into an islanded power system. It assesses the spinning reserve requirement during the high wind and low wind seasons.
{"title":"Impact of Large-Scale Wind and Solar Power Integration on Operating Reserve Requirements of an Islanded Power System","authors":"M.H.T.T. Thilekha, K. Siriwardana, N. Siebel, D.A.D. Waslathanthri, N. Lidula, T. Siyambalapitiya, A. Wickramasinghe","doi":"10.1109/MERCON.2018.8421919","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MERCON.2018.8421919","url":null,"abstract":"Many nations have shown their support to a battle against environmental pollution by integrating large scale solar and wind energy resources, to their respective grids. Although these commendable efforts have paved the way for a greener future, it has to be noted that non-conventional renewable energy (NCRE) possess their own inherent drawbacks. Their availability is highly dependent on the prevalent weather conditions, which means that they are subjected to uncontrollable variability. With the rise of intermittent renewable resources, it is important to have appropriate amounts of operating reserves to provide back-up to the system. This will ensure that the system will be stable under variable power conditions and thus, improve the reliability of the system. This paper is focused in quantifying additional operating reserves requirements to stabilize the system under intermittent conditions with the large penetration of renewables into an islanded power system. It assesses the spinning reserve requirement during the high wind and low wind seasons.","PeriodicalId":6603,"journal":{"name":"2018 Moratuwa Engineering Research Conference (MERCon)","volume":"26 7","pages":"589-594"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91439102","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-05-01DOI: 10.1109/MERCON.2018.8421920
V. Weragoda, A. Samarasekara
This study investigates a novel way of analyzing the rheometer curves obtained from an Oscillating Disk Rheometer (ODR) for predicting the non-isothermal curing characteristics of a rubber compound. A mathematical function is proposed to predict the change in the observed rheometer torque as a function of the temperature to model the state of cure under transient temperature conditions. This was achieved by modeling the rheometer curve with the aid of six temperature dependant parametric constants. The proposed function was observed to accurately describe, the shape of the torque rate at any given temperature. The characteristics variation of the parametric constants too have been briefly examined.
{"title":"Analysing Non-Isothermal Curing Behaviour of Natural Rubber Compounds By Mathematical Modelling of Oscillating Disc Rheometer Curves","authors":"V. Weragoda, A. Samarasekara","doi":"10.1109/MERCON.2018.8421920","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MERCON.2018.8421920","url":null,"abstract":"This study investigates a novel way of analyzing the rheometer curves obtained from an Oscillating Disk Rheometer (ODR) for predicting the non-isothermal curing characteristics of a rubber compound. A mathematical function is proposed to predict the change in the observed rheometer torque as a function of the temperature to model the state of cure under transient temperature conditions. This was achieved by modeling the rheometer curve with the aid of six temperature dependant parametric constants. The proposed function was observed to accurately describe, the shape of the torque rate at any given temperature. The characteristics variation of the parametric constants too have been briefly examined.","PeriodicalId":6603,"journal":{"name":"2018 Moratuwa Engineering Research Conference (MERCon)","volume":"9 1","pages":"522-526"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84325688","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-05-01DOI: 10.1109/MERCON.2018.8421933
G. W. Malith Manuhara, M. Muthugala, A. Jayasekara
Introduction of service robots has become a very promising development in addressing problems faced by elderly population in the world. This paper proposes a robot conversational companion capable of voice interacting with elders in human-like dialogues, during service assistance. A system consisting of a finite state interaction module and a regular expression based language identification method have been introduced for facilitating this task. A knowledge database containing language, user and object specific data has been designed, implemented and connected with the above system to enable more meaningful and natural dialogue creation. State transition diagram and event flow diagrams explaining the functionality of the system are presented. The proposed system has been implemented on a robot named Moratuwa Intelligent Robot (MIRob). The performance of the proposed system has been evaluated through a user study. Experimental results including a selected segment of a conversation are presented with an analysis. The evaluation results have indicated a high user satisfaction rate validating the robots capability to interact in a human-friendly manner during service assistance.
{"title":"Design and Development of an Interactive Service Robot as a Conversational Companion for Elderly People","authors":"G. W. Malith Manuhara, M. Muthugala, A. Jayasekara","doi":"10.1109/MERCON.2018.8421933","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MERCON.2018.8421933","url":null,"abstract":"Introduction of service robots has become a very promising development in addressing problems faced by elderly population in the world. This paper proposes a robot conversational companion capable of voice interacting with elders in human-like dialogues, during service assistance. A system consisting of a finite state interaction module and a regular expression based language identification method have been introduced for facilitating this task. A knowledge database containing language, user and object specific data has been designed, implemented and connected with the above system to enable more meaningful and natural dialogue creation. State transition diagram and event flow diagrams explaining the functionality of the system are presented. The proposed system has been implemented on a robot named Moratuwa Intelligent Robot (MIRob). The performance of the proposed system has been evaluated through a user study. Experimental results including a selected segment of a conversation are presented with an analysis. The evaluation results have indicated a high user satisfaction rate validating the robots capability to interact in a human-friendly manner during service assistance.","PeriodicalId":6603,"journal":{"name":"2018 Moratuwa Engineering Research Conference (MERCon)","volume":"29 1","pages":"378-383"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81883540","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-05-01DOI: 10.1109/MERCON.2018.8422003
D. Amarasinghe, A. Samarasekara, W. Madhuwanthi, D. Dammage
It is the common belief that, silver is one of the most effective and the least toxic inorganic antimicrobial agent. At minute concentrations, silver ions are nontoxic to human cells. In this study we investigate the ability of nano-silver to act as a spoilage controlling agent. Authors have developed a wrapping film impregnated with nano silver and hereby, its effectiveness in preserving fruit during storage is investigated. It is well-known that the antimicrobial activity of nano-silver depends on it size and shape. Assuming that the dissolved monovalent silver ion is the major contributor to its bactericidal effect, a semi-empirical mathematical model was developed to predict the changes of antibacterial effect with time, of the silver sol used.
{"title":"Nano-Silver Impregnated Wrapping Film to Keep Fruit Fresh","authors":"D. Amarasinghe, A. Samarasekara, W. Madhuwanthi, D. Dammage","doi":"10.1109/MERCON.2018.8422003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MERCON.2018.8422003","url":null,"abstract":"It is the common belief that, silver is one of the most effective and the least toxic inorganic antimicrobial agent. At minute concentrations, silver ions are nontoxic to human cells. In this study we investigate the ability of nano-silver to act as a spoilage controlling agent. Authors have developed a wrapping film impregnated with nano silver and hereby, its effectiveness in preserving fruit during storage is investigated. It is well-known that the antimicrobial activity of nano-silver depends on it size and shape. Assuming that the dissolved monovalent silver ion is the major contributor to its bactericidal effect, a semi-empirical mathematical model was developed to predict the changes of antibacterial effect with time, of the silver sol used.","PeriodicalId":6603,"journal":{"name":"2018 Moratuwa Engineering Research Conference (MERCon)","volume":"32 1","pages":"511-516"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79855483","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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