Trajectory Planning for Coal Gangue Sorting Robot Tracking Fast-Mass Target under Multiple Constraints

Aiming at the problems of grab failure and manipulator damage, this paper proposes a dynamic gangue trajectory planning method for the manipulator synchronous tracking under multi-constraint conditions. The main reason for the impact load is that there is a speed difference between the end of the manipulator and the target when the manipulator grabs the target. In this method, the mathematical model of seven-segment manipulator trajectory planning is constructed first. The mathematical model of synchronous tracking of dynamic targets based on a time-minimum manipulator is constructed by taking the robot's acceleration, speed, and synchronization as constraints. The model transforms the multi-constraint-solving problem into a single-objective-solving problem. Finally, the particle swarm optimization algorithm is used to solve the model. The calculation results are put into the trajectory planning model of the manipulator to obtain the synchronous tracking trajectory of the manipulator. Simulation and experiments show that each joint of the robot's arm can synchronously track dynamic targets within the constraint range. This method can ensure the synchronization of the position, speed, and acceleration of the moving target and the target after tracking. The average position error is 2.1 mm, and the average speed error is 7.4 mm/s. The robot has a high tracking accuracy, which further improves the robot's grasping stability and success rate.

G2O-Pose: Real-Time Monocular 3D Human Pose Estimation Based on General Graph Optimization

Monocular 3D human pose estimation is used to calculate a 3D human pose from monocular images or videos. It still faces some challenges due to the lack of depth information. Traditional methods have tried to disambiguate it by building a pose dictionary or using temporal information, but these methods are too slow for real-time application. In this paper, we propose a real-time method named G2O-pose, which has a high running speed without affecting the accuracy so much. In our work, we regard the 3D human pose as a graph, and solve the problem by general graph optimization (G2O) under multiple constraints. The constraints are implemented by algorithms including 3D bone proportion recovery, human orientation classification and reverse joint correction and suppression. When the depth of the human body does not change much, our method outperforms the previous non-deep learning methods in terms of running speed, with only a slight decrease in accuracy.

Combined multiple testing of multivariate survival times by censored empirical likelihood

In each study testing the survival experience of one or more populations, one must not only choose an appropriate class of tests, but further an appropriate weight function. As the optimal choice depends on the true shape of the hazard ratio, one is often not capable of getting the best results with respect to a specific dataset. For the univariate case several methods were proposed to conquer this problem. However, most of the interesting datasets contain multivariate observations nowadays. In this work we propose a multivariate version of a method based on multiple constrained censored empirical likelihood where the constraints are formulated as linear functionals of the cumulative hazard functions. By considering the conditional hazards, we take the correlation between the components into account with the goal of obtaining a test that exhibits a high power irrespective of the shape of the hazard ratio under the alternative hypothesis.

Collaborative Neural Network Algorithm for Event-Driven Deployment in Wireless Sensor and Robot Networks

Wireless sensor and robot networks (WSRNs) often work in complex and dangerous environments that are subject to many constraints. For obtaining a better monitoring performance, it is necessary to deploy different types of sensors for various complex environments and constraints. The traditional event-driven deployment algorithm is only applicable to a single type of monitoring scenario, so cannot effectively adapt to different types of monitoring scenarios at the same time. In this paper, a multi-constrained event-driven deployment model is proposed based on the maximum entropy function, which transforms the complex event-driven deployment problem into two continuously differentiable single-objective sub-problems. Then, a collaborative neural network (CONN) event-driven deployment algorithm is proposed based on neural network methods. The CONN event-driven deployment algorithm effectively solves the problem that it is difficult to obtain a large amount of sensor data and environmental information in a complex and dangerous monitoring environment. Unlike traditional deployment methods, the CONN algorithm can adaptively provide an optimal deployment solution for a variety of complex monitoring environments. This greatly reduces the time and cost involved in adapting to different monitoring environments. Finally, a large number of experiments verify the performance of the CONN algorithm, which can be adapted to a variety of complex application scenarios.

The Impact of Decision Makers' Constraints on the Outcome of Value of Information Analysis

BACKGROUND

When proven effective, decision making regarding reimbursement of new health technology typically involves ethical, social, legal, and health economic aspects and constraints. Nevertheless, when applying standard value of information (VOI) analysis, the value of collecting additional evidence is typically estimated assuming that only cost-effectiveness outcomes guide such decisions.

OBJECTIVES

To illustrate how decision makers' constraints can be incorporated into VOI analyses and how these may influence VOI outcomes.

METHODS

A simulation study was performed to estimate the cost-effectiveness of a new hypothetical technology compared with usual care. Constraints were defined for the new technology on 1) the maximum acceptable rate of complications and 2) the maximum acceptable additional budget. The expected value of perfect information (EVPI) for the new technology was estimated in various scenarios, both with and without incorporating these constraints.

RESULTS

For a willingness-to-pay threshold of €20,000 per quality-adjusted life-year, the probability that the new technology was cost-effective equaled 57%, with an EVPI of €1868 per patient. Applying the complication rate constraint reduced the EVPI to €1137. Similarly, the EVPI reduced to €770 when applying the budget constraint. Applying both constraints simultaneously further reduced the EVPI to €318.

CONCLUSIONS

When decision makers explicitly apply additional constraints, beyond a willingness-to-pay threshold, to reimbursement decisions, these constraints can and should be incorporated into VOI analysis as well, because they may influence VOI outcomes. This requires continuous interaction between VOI analysts and decision makers and is expected to improve both the relevance and the acceptance of VOI outcomes.

Generalized optimal design for two-arm, randomized phase II clinical trials with endpoints from the exponential dispersion family

For two-arm randomized phase II clinical trials, previous literature proposed an optimal design that minimizes the total sample sizes subject to multiple constraints on the standard errors of the estimated event rates and their difference. The original design is limited to trials with dichotomous endpoints. This paper extends the original approach to be applicable to phase II clinical trials with endpoints from the exponential dispersion family distributions. The proposed optimal design minimizes the total sample sizes needed to provide estimates of population means of both arms and their difference with pre-specified precision. Its applications on data from specific distribution families are discussed under multiple design considerations. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.