Background: According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, nurses will be the largest labor pool in the United States by 2022, and more than 1.1 million nursing positions have to be filled by then in order to avoid a nursing shortage. In addition, the incidence rate of musculoskeletal disorders in nurses is above average in comparison with other occupations. Robot-assisted health care has the potential to alleviate the nursing shortage by automating mundane and routine nursing tasks. Furthermore, robots in health care environments may assist with safe patient mobility and handling and may thereby reduce the likelihood of musculoskeletal disorders. Objective: This pilot study investigates the perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness (acceptability) of a customized service robot as determined by nursing students (as proxies for nursing staff in health care environments). This service robot, referred to as the Adaptive Robotic Nurse Assistant (ARNA), was developed to enhance the productivity of nurses through cooperation during physical tasks (eg, patient walking, item fetching, object delivery) as well as nonphysical tasks (eg, patient observation and feedback). This pilot study evaluated the acceptability of ARNA to provide ambulatory assistance to patients. Methods: We conducted a trial with 24 participants to collect data and address the following research question: Is the use of ARNA as an ambulatory assistive device for patients acceptable to nurses? The experiments were conducted in a simulated hospital environment. Nursing students (as proxies for nursing staff) were grouped in dyads, with one participant serving as a nurse and the other acting as a patient. Two questionnaires were developed and administrated to the participants based on the Technology Acceptance Model with respect to the two subscales of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use metrics. In order to evaluate the internal consistency/reliability of the questionnaires, we calculated Cronbach alpha coefficients. Furthermore, statistical analyses were conducted to evaluate the relation of each variable in the questionnaires with the overall perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use metrics. Results: Both Cronbach alpha values were acceptably high (.93 and .82 for perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use questionnaires, respectively), indicating high internal consistency of the questionnaires. The correlation between the variables and the overall perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use metrics was moderate. The average perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use metrics among the participants were 4.13 and 5.42, respectively, out of possible score of 7, indicating a higher-than-average acceptability of this service robot. Conclusions: The results served to identify factors that could affect nurses’ acceptance of ARNA and aspects needing improvement (eg, flexibility, ease of operation, and autonomy level).

Artificial robot skins capable of multi-modal tactile feedback are anticipated to revolutionize how robots perceive their immediate surroundings and how they collaborate with humans on tasks more complicated and dynamic than currently possible. Efforts to develop tactile skins must tackle significant hurdles related to flexibility, robustness, and scalability of sensors. In this paper, a flexible tactile sensor array is developed to address these hurdles via a novel sensor geometry and thermal compensation technique. This tactile skin relies on a polymeric piezoresistive array of strain gauges with a novel star-shaped geometry. Due to their radial symmetry, the proposed strain gauges exhibit a biaxial response to local strain-stress loading, avoiding “blind spots” in the vicinity of individual tactels. The sensors are fabricated using gold electrodes and piezoresistive polymers (PEDOT:PSS) micropatterned on a flexible polyimide substrate enclosed in a compliant silicone matrix. The sensor is first modeled using multiphysics finite elements software to guide design choices for a variety of geometric parameters under various load profiles and locations with respect to the gauge’s center. A novel homogeneous thermal compensation technique is proposed which packages the sensors on the opposite sides of a flexible carrier. This thermal compensation technique achieves a 10-fold attenuation in temperature drifts, as well as a double sensitivity in term of strain measurement. After numerical modeling, a 4x4 tactile array with the optimal geometry obtained through simulation was fabricated and interfaced to a custom-made electronic data acquisition system. Samples were tested using an automated dynamic force experimental testbed. The tactile skin array was experimentally characterized in terms of force sensitivity, spatial response, dynamic bandwidth, and temperature drift. The array exhibits sensitivity of 1125 nV/N in the range of 0-0.5 N, sensitivity of 412 nV/N in the range of 0.5-2.3 N, hysteresis of 11.13bandwidth of 1.49 Hz, and temperature sensitivity of 6 nV/°C, averaged among individual sensors.

Due to the limited availability and high depletion rates of nonrenewable energy sources as well as environmental concerns, the scientific community is urged to explore and harness alternative, clean energy sources. In this paper, a novel piezoelectric energy harvester based on a metamaterial structure is proposed, which is capable of scavenging energy from low-frequency, multi-axial ambient vibrations. The proposed energy harvester is based on a mass-in-mass phononic crystal structure and is comprised of a spherical heavy core resonator and piezoelectric wafers, encapsulated in a cylindrical rubber matrix, and encased in a rigid cubic frame. The proposed cell behaves effectively such as a negative mass in the vicinity of its resonance frequencies and entraps the vibration energy as dynamic strain. The captured kinetic energy is then transformed to electric potential using three lead–zentrale–Teichmann wafers, optimally embedded in the cell’s soft constituent. In this paper, the proposed energy harvester cell is analytically modeled, numerically simulated via COMSOL Multiphysics software, and experimentally validated using a variety of uni- and multi-axial vibration excitations.

In the current study, we examined the effects of an instructional package comprised of an autonomous pedagogical agent, automatic speech recognition, and constant time delay during the instruction of reading sight words aloud to young adults with autism spectrum disorder. We used a concurrent multiple baseline across participants design to evaluate the efficacy of intervention and conducted post-treatment probes to assess maintenance and generalization. Our findings suggest that all three participants acquired and maintained new sight words and demonstrated generalized responding.

In this study, inspired from human cochlea, we propose an artificial basilar membrane structure based on an array of gold electrodes microfabricated along the opposite surfaces of a piezoelectric continuum. The proposed piezoelectric continuum features an isosceles trapezoidal geometry and is situated atop an elastomer matrix with embedded electrode grooves and a duct. At first, a detailed analytical model is presented, which formulates the continuum’s planar deflection equation, governing its elastodynamic behavior. Subsequently, in order to verify the analytical outcomes, a multiphysics finite-element analysis is performed in COMSOL®. Both analytical and numerical models demonstrate desired frequency selectivity akin to the capability of a biological basilar membrane. Subsequently, a proof-of-concept model of the proposed structure is custom-fabricated through standard photo- and soft lithography techniques using Polyvinylidene Difluoride (PVDF), gold, and Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) materials. Finally, the fabricated artificial basilar membrane that is intended to be used as a broad band sensor, is experimentally characterized using a custom-built acoustic exciter, and its effective performance is validated within the frequency range of 3 kHz to 8 kHz.