This article presents and discusses the implementation of a volume rendering system for the Web, which articulates a large portion of the rendering task in the client machine -- By placing the rendering emphasis in the local client, our system takes advantage of its power, while at the same time eliminates processing from unreliable bottlenecks (e.g. network) -- The system developed articulates in efficient manner the capabilities of the recently released WebGL standard, which makes available the accelerated graphic pipeline (formerly unusable) -- The dependency on specially customized hardware is eliminated, and yet efficient rendering rates are achieved -- The Web increasingly competes against desktop applications in many scenarios, but the graphical demands of some of the applications (e.g. interactive scientific visualization by volume rendering), have impeded their successful settlement in Web scenarios -- Performance, scalability, accuracy, security are some of the many challenges that must be solved before visualWeb applications popularize -- In this publication we discuss both performance and scalability of the volume rendering by WebGL ray-casting in two different but challenging application domains: medical imaging and radar meteorolog

New motor rehabilitation therapies include virtual reality (VR) and robotic technologies. In limb rehabilitation, limb posture is required to (1) provide a limb realistic representation in VR games and (2) assess the patient improvement. When exoskeleton devices are used in the therapy, the measurements of their joint angles cannot be directly used to represent the posture of the patient limb, since the human and exoskeleton kinematic models differ. In response to this shortcoming, we propose a method to estimate the posture of the human limb attached to the exoskeleton. We use the exoskeleton joint angles measurements and the constraints of the exoskeleton on the limb to estimate the human limb joints angles. This paper presents (a) the mathematical formulation and solution to the problem, (b) the implementation of the proposed solution on a commercial exoskeleton system for the upper limb rehabilitation, (c) its integration into a rehabilitation VR game platform, and (d) the quantitative assessment of the method during elbow and wrist analytic training. Results show that this method properly estimates the limb posture to (i) animate avatars that represent the patient in VR games and (ii) obtain kinematic data for the patient assessment during elbow and wrist analytic rehabilitation.

Industrial dimensional assessment presents instances in which early control is exerted among “warm” (approx. 600 ${}^{\circ }$C) pieces. Early control saves resources, as defective processes are timely stopped and corrected. Existing literature is devoid of dimensional assessment on warm workpieces. In response to this absence, this manuscript presents the implementation and results of an optical system which performs in-line dimensional inspection of revolution warm workpieces singled out from the (forming) process. Our system can automatically measure, in less than 60 s, the circular runout of warm revolution workpieces. Such a delay would be 20 times longer if cool-downs were required. Off-line comparison of the runout of T-temperature workpieces (27 ${}^{\circ }$C ≤ T ≤ 560 ${}^{\circ }$C) shows a maximum difference of 0.1 mm with respect to standard CMM (Coordinate Measurement Machine) runout of cold workpieces (27 ${}^{\circ }$C), for workpieces as long as 160 mm. Such a difference is acceptable for the forging process in which the system is deployed. The test results show no correlation between the temperature and the runout of the workpiece at such level of uncertainty. A prior-to-operation Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) test validates the repeatability and reproducibility (R&R) of our measurement system. In-line assessment of warm workpieces fills a gap in manufacturing processes where early detection of dimensional misfits compensates for the precision loss of the vision system. The integrated in-line system reduces the number of defective workpieces by $95\%$ .

In the context of lattice-based design and manufacturing, the problem of physical realization of density maps into lattices of a particular family is central. Density maps are prescribed by design optimization algorithms, which seek to fulfill structural demands on a workpiece, while saving material. These density maps cannot be directly manufactured since local graded densities cannot be achieved using the bulk solid material. Because of this reason, existing topology optimization approaches bias the local voxel relative density to either 0 (void) or 1 (filled). Additive manufacturing opens possibilities to produce graded density individuals belonging to different lattice families. However, voxel-level sampled boundary representations of the individuals produce rough and possibly disconnected shells. In response to this limitation, this article uses sub-voxel sampling (largely unexploited in the literature) to generate lattices of graded densities. This sub-voxel sampling eliminates the risk of shell disconnections and renders better surface continuity. The manuscript devises a function to produce Schwarz cells that materialize a given relative density. This article illustrates a correlation of continuity against stress concentration by simulating ${\mathrm{C}}^0$ and ${\mathrm{C}}^1$ inter-lattice continuity. The implemented algorithm produces implicit functions and thus lattice designs which are suitable for metal additive manufacturing and able to achieve the target material savings. The resulting workpieces, produced by outsource manufacturers, are presented. Additional work is required in the modeling of the mechanical response (stress/strain/deformation) and response of large lattice sets (with arbitrary geometry and topology) under working loads.