Alberto Borghese

University of Milan | UNIMI · Department of Computer Science

In an ageing society, the at-home use of Socially Assistive Robots (SARs) could provide remote monitoring of their users’ well-being, together with physical and psychological support. However, private home environments are particularly challenging for SARs, due to their unstructured and dynamic nature which often contributes to robots’ failures. Fo...

Door detection represents a fundamental capability for autonomous mobile robots employed in tasks involving indoor navigation. Recognizing the presence of a door and its status (open or closed) can induce a remarkable impact on the navigation performance, especially for dynamic settings where doors can enable or disable passages, hence changing the...

The integration of Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) frameworks with Socially Assistive Robots (SARs) has proven useful for monitoring and assisting older adults in their own home. However, the difficulties associated with long-term deployments in real-world complex environments are still highly under-explored. In this work, we first present the MoveCa...

A therapist relies on his/her experience and knowledge to define the most suitable rehabilitation program for the patient and tune it on the actual patient status. Here we propose a non-intrusive method, based on AR, which allows to provide therapists, in real-time, while the patient is exercising, quantitative information extracted from the ongoin...

Global ageing of the population is deeply affecting the everyday lives of the frailest, by exposing them to increasing isolation and loneliness that, in turn, can cause or accelerate cognitive decline. The use of digital technologies and, in particular, social networks can be an effective tool to mitigate this phenomenon, by helping older age peopl...

The development and application of empathic virtual agents is rising fast in many fields, from rehabilitation to education, from mental health to personal wellbeing. The empathic agents should be developed to appropriately react to the user’s affective state, with the aim of establishing an emotional connection with him/her. We propose a position p...

Background Early detection of gait impairments in older adults allows the early uncovering of fall risk and/or cognitive deficits, resulting in timely interventions. Dual-task paradigms have been shown to be more sensitive than single-task conditions for the detection of subtle yet relevant gait impairments. Research question Can a system - encomp...

We present and discuss results of the application of a deep convolutional network model developed for the automatic recognition of images of insects. The network was trained using transfer learning on an architecture called MobileNet, specifically developed for mobile applications. To fine tune the model, a grid-search on hyperparameters space was...

Objective: We present the development of a novel smart ink pen instrumented with force and motion sensors designed for the quantitative and ecological assessment of daily-life handwriting. This work aims at testing the pen’s sensors and algorithms, and the use of the smart pen to detect age-related changes of writing and tremor parameters during da...

Background: Dementia is a major and growing health problem, and early diagnosis is key to its management. Objective: With the ultimate goal of providing a monitoring tool that could be used to support the screening for cognitive decline, this study aims to develop a supervised, digitized version of 2 neuropsychological tests: Trail Making Test a...

Exploration is a task in which autonomous mobile robots incrementally discover features of interest in initially unknown environments. We consider the problem of exploration for map building, in which a robot explores an indoor environment in order to build a metric map. Most of the current exploration strategies used to select the next best locati...

As Europe sees its population aging dramatically, Assisted Daily Living for the elderly becomes a more and more important and relevant research topic. The Movecare Project focuses on this topic by integrating a robotic platform, an IoT system, and an activity center to provide assistance, suggestions of activities and transparent monitoring to user...

Wepresentanddiscussresultsoftheapplicationofadeepconvolutional network model developed for the automatic recognition of images of insects. The network was trained using transfer learning on an architecture called MobileNet, specifically developed for mobile applications. To fine tune the model, a grid-search on hyperparameters space was carried out...

The analysis of the writing gesture has been successfully investigated in the diagnosis of age-related diseases, but the current technologies and methods still do not allow the ecological daily monitoring of handwriting, mostly because they rely on standardized writing protocols. In this study, we first designed and validated a novel electronic ink...

BACKGROUND Dementia is a major and growing health problem and early diagnosis is key. OBJECTIVE With the ultimate goal of providing a monitoring tool that could be of support in the screening for cognitive decline, we developed a supervised digitized version of two neuropsychological tests: Trail Making Test and Bells Test. The system consists in...

Telemonitoring is one of the most expedient answers to the strong need for preventive care imposed by the rapidly aging society. We propose an innovative solution to the detection of early signs of frailty by presenting a serious game controlled by a smart sensorized soft plastic ball, designed to achieve continuous home-based monitoring of muscle...

We describe here a platform for autonomous hand rehabilitation and telemonitoring of young patients. A toy embedding the electronics required to sense fingers pressure in different grasping modalities is the core element of this platform. The system has been realized following the user-centered design methodology taking into account stakeholder nee...

SCOPO DEL LAVORO: Valutare la percezione di un programma di esercizio fisico mediato da tecnologia (EMT) come promozione dell’active aging (http://europa.eu/ ey2012). Le ICT potrebbero avere un ruolo importante nel sostenere abilità cognitive e motorie degli anziani, nello sviluppo di nuovi apprendimenti e nell’interazione sociale, soprattutto quan...

Background: In the last decade, the family system has changed significantly. Although in the past, older people used to live with their children, nowadays, they cannot always depend on assistance of their relatives. Many older people wish to remain as independent as possible while remaining in their homes, even when living alone. To do so, there a...

This study aimed at evaluating whether people with a normal cognitive function can be discriminated from subjects with a mild impairment of cognitive function based on a set of acoustic features derived from spontaneous speech. Voice recordings from 90 Italian subjects (age >65 years; group 1: 47 subjects with MMSE>26; group 2: 43 subjects with 20≤...

MoveCare develops and field tests an innovative multi-actor platform that supports the independent living of the elder at home by monitoring, assist and promoting activities to counteract decline and social exclusion. It is being developed under H2020 framework and it comprises 3 hierarchical layers: (1) A service layer provides monitoring and inte...

With the increase of rehabilitation costs in the last years, tele-rehabilitation systems are becoming popular. These systems allow patients to exercise at home, without the need to commute to a rehabilitation center. In this paper we introduce a web-based platform to support and manage the entire cycle of a rehabilitation program that can be carrie...

The lowering costs of DNA sequencing and the diffusion of numerous Direct to Consumer Genetic Testing (DTC-GT) services have made genetic testing easily available to the general public who can buy them without any medical prescription or consultation. Nevertheless, the knowledge required to understand the provided results and their implications is...

The ageing of the population deeply impacts on the social costs relative to health care. The use of modern technologies is one of the most promising approaches, under current study, to reduce such impact. In this demonstration, we propose a framework that can be employed for at-home assessment of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). It is composed by a...

We describe here a novel platform for hand rehabilitation through exer-games. It is based on a mobile device on which the game is run combined with a modular adaptive architecture that senses fingers pressure and communicates with the mobile device in real-time. Exer-games designed to increase fingers mobility are plaid with the device touch-screen...

The dysgraphic disorder is usually underestimated and belatedly diagnosed. The need of prevention and early intervention focused on prewriting exercises emerges from the literature. We explore exergames to supply this need, together with an adequate assessment module of the training results. The exergames were designed in collaboration with clinici...

Background: New technologies, such as telerehabilitation and gaming devices offer the possibility for patients to train at home. This opens the challenge of safety for the patient as he is called to exercise neither with a therapist on the patients' side nor with a therapist linked remotely to supervise the sessions. Aim: To study the safety, us...

Dyslexia can have different manifestations: this has motivated different theories on its nature, on its underlying brain bases and enduring controversies on how to best treat it. The relative weight of the different manifestations has never been evaluated using both behavioural and fMRI measures, a challenge taken here to assess the major systems c...

One of the implications of aging population is the increasing need for services for elderly people, with an emphasis on earlier diagnosis and effective interventions promoting an active and healthy aging process. To face this need, the MoveCare Project develops and field-tests an innovative multi- actor platform that integrates a robotic system...

Background: Visuospatial neglect due to stroke is characterized by the inability to perceive stimuli emerging in the area opposite to the side of brain damage. Besides adopting conventional rehabilitation methods to treat neglect symptoms, the use of virtual reality (VR) is becoming increasingly popular. We designed a series of 9 exergames aimed t...

Background: Use of exergames can complement conventional therapy and increase the amount and intensity of visuospatial neglect (VSN) training. A series of 9 exergames-games based on therapeutic principles-aimed at improving exploration of the neglected space for patients with VSN symptoms poststroke was developed and tested for its feasibility. O...

Novel gaming devices, like the Nintendo balance board and the Microsoft Kinect, have opened the possibility to do autonomous rehabilitation at home, where patients are guided by adequate video-games that are named therapeutic exer-games. To ensure safety and effectiveness, it has become soon evident that some form of supervision through technology...

Well-developed coordination of the upper extremities is critical for function in everyday life. Interlimb coordination is an intuitive, yet subjective concept that refers to spatio-temporal relationships between kinematic, kinetic and physiological variables of two or more limbs executing a motor task with a common goal. While both the clinical and...

We describe here a novel defect classification system that works in real-time on the images of material running on the production line, provided by a video-inspection module. The classifier is constituted of a two-levels hierarchical architecture: a set of adequate features are extracted from the image first; the defect type is then identified from...

Low-cost gaming technologies offer promising devices for the rehabilitation of stroke patients at home. While several attempts have been made to use low-cost motion tracking devices (Kinect) or balance boards (Wii Board), the potential of low-cost haptic devices has yet to be explored in this context. The objective of this study was to investigate...

Powdery mildew is a major fungal disease for grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) as well as for other important specialty crops, causing severe damage, including yield loss and depreciation of wine or produce quality. This disease is thoroughly controlled by uniform spraying of vineyards with agrochemicals according to a calendar, which can easily result...

Novel tracking devices, like Nintendo Wii and balance board and Microsoft Kinect, have open the possibility to do rehabilitation at home, where patients are guided by video-games. It was soon recognized however, that to be effective, rehabilitation games cannot work as stand-alone applications but must be embedded into a broader architecture involv...

Background: Post-stroke recovery benefits from structured, intense, challenging, and repetitive therapy. Ex-ergames have emerged as promising to achieve sustained therapy practice and patient motivation. This study assessed the usability and effects of exergames on balance and gait. Subjects and Methods: Sixteen elderly participants were provided w...

Background: Post-stroke recovery benefits from structured, intense, challenging, and repetitive therapy. Ex-ergames have emerged as promising to achieve sustained therapy practice and patient motivation. This study assessed the usability and effects of exergames on balance and gait. Subjects and Methods: Sixteen elderly participants were provided w...

Background: Post-stroke recovery benefits from structured, intense, challenging, and repetitive therapy. Ex-ergames have emerged as promising to achieve sustained therapy practice and patient motivation. This study assessed the usability and effects of exergames on balance and gait. Subjects and Methods: Sixteen elderly participants were provided w...

Background: Post-stroke recovery benefits from structured, intense, challenging, and repetitive therapy. Ex-ergames have emerged as promising to achieve sustained therapy practice and patient motivation. This study assessed the usability and effects of exergames on balance and gait. Subjects and Methods: Sixteen elderly participants were provided w...

Background: Post-stroke recovery benefits from structured, intense, challenging, and repetitive therapy. Exergames have emerged as promising to achieve sustained therapy practice and patient motivation. This study assessed the usability and effects of exergames on balance and gait. Subjects and Methods: Sixteen elderly participants were provided wi...

Video-games are effective and motivating tools in the rehabilitation of patients. This study presents a video-game based platform controlled by a haptic device for the rehabilitation of Neglect patients. Haptic structure, game engine, game design criteria and example games are presented in detail.

Since the pioneer observations of Alan Turing, emotional and aesthetical capabilities have been considered as one of the fundamental element of a genuinely intelligent machine. Among the proposed approaches, genetic algorithms try to combine intuitively a generative impulse with a critical capacity that steers the production towards a valuable goal...

Rehabilitation is now more costly than ever and novel solutions are needed to cope with such increasing costs. Exergames at home can be a viable solution, allowing the patients to exercise in the comfort of their own home while playing simple games. However, to provide all the functionalities that a traditional therapy would, an adequate architectu...

Computer games are a promising tool to support intensive rehabilitation. However, at present, they do not incorporate the supervision provided by a real therapist and do not allow a safe and effective use at patient’s home. We show here how specifically tailored computational intelligence based techniques allow extending exergames with functionalit...

A method for radiographic imaging is described. Radiographic raw images of an object are generated by an imaging system comprising an X-ray source and an X-ray detector and moving along a given trajectory during an acquisition process of the radiographic images. During the generation of the radiographic raw images displacement data describing the d...

Natural User Interfaces allow users to interact with virtual environments with little intermediation. Immersion becomes a vital need for such interfaces to be successful and it is achieved by making the interface invisible to the user. For cognitive rehabilitation, a mirror view is a good interface to the virtual world, but obtaining immersion is n...

Physical and cognitive rehabilitation under the form of therapeutic videogames has been growing in popularity over the last years. Many rehabilitation games (or exergames) have been created with the intent to promote functional rehabilitation in a highly motivational environment. However, such exergames are often created as standalone products typi...

In this chapter a particular kind of neural model, namely the Hierarchical Radial Basis Function Network, is presented as an effective hierarchical network organization. In a similar way, in the next chapter another kind of multi-scale model, namely Support Vector Machines, will be presented.

Once the geometrical data of a physical object have been sampled on its surface, the next step is the generalization of the sampled data to obtain a continuous description of the object surface, to which visual attributes (like color, textures, and reflectance) can be associated. In this chapter an overview of the techniques used for generalization...

We review here the main characteristics of the HRBF and HSVR models. Possible future developments based on parallelization and GPU implementation are described.

In the previous chapter the RBFN model and the advantages of a hierarchical version for surface reconstruction has been presented. In a similar way in this chapter another paradigm, Support Vector Regression (SVR), and its hierarchical version, Hierarchical Support Vector Regression (HSVR) that allows an efficient construction of the approximating...

The existence of multiple solutions in clustering, and in hierarchical clustering in particular, is often ignored in practical applications. However, this is a non-trivial problem, as different data orderings can result in different cluster sets that, in turns, may lead to different interpretations of the same data. The method presented here offers...

Although it is widely accepted that nouns and verbs are functionally independent linguistic entities, it is less clear whether their processing recruits different brain areas. This issue is particularly relevant for those theories of lexical semantics (and, more in general, of cognition) that suggest the embodiment of abstract concepts, i.e., based...

The recent availability of advanced video game interfaces (such as the Microsoft Kinect, the Nintendo WiiMote and Balance Board) is creating interesting opportunities to provide low-cost rehabilitation at-home for patients. In this context, video games are rising as promising tools to guide patients through their recovery experience and to increase...

Rehabilitation for stroke patients with postural instability or balance disorders can be enhanced using game-based rehabilitative strategies. Our work explored the potential of commercially available haptic devices for a home rehabilitation system. One group of participants used a low-cost device (Falcon) while another group used a high-end device...