Politecnico di Milano, in collaboration with Fondazione Politecnico di Milano and IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele, created ARTERY (Autonomous Robotics for Transcatheter dEliveRy sYstems), an H2020 project funded by the European Commission which deals with research in the field of structural heart diseases.
ARTERY's goal is to create a robotic platform that exploits artificial intelligence and augmented reality to implement the non-invasive treatment of heart valve diseases.
HOW DOES ARTERY WORKS?
The ARTERY project aims to develop new guidance and monitoring systems and systems capable of training and supporting operators, making interventions safer and more effective for the patient and eliminating the use of X-rays.
Trained doctors will be able, thanks to the use of virtual reality, to experience cardiovascular interventions in simulation, thus significantly reducing stress and improving the approach to interventions. In this way the doctor does not learn directly on the patient but on the simulator, in safety and eliminating the risks.
Credits: tecnicaospedaliera.it
ARTERY involves the creation of a robotic platform that will simplify percutaneous procedures (i.e. procedures in which diseased structures are repaired or replaced by implanting one or more devices into the heart via a catheter inserted from a small peripheral access) and which will eliminate the use of intra-operative X-rays; the system will also be semi-autonomous and the decisions, which will be guided by artificial intelligence, will always be shared and agreed with the human operator.
"Artery project will introduce two major innovations that will have an important impact on cardiac operations: - says Emiliano Votta, Alumnus and associate professor at the Politecnico di Milano - the remote control of robots through artificial intelligence and augmented reality, and therefore the ability to manage complex operations intuitively and potentially remotely, and the use of sensorized catheters, which will allow more control and precision in the movements of the catheter inside the patient's body. These innovations will make percutaneous heart surgery easier to learn and perform, and safer for patients and practitioners. "
To achieve this ambitious goal, the Politecnico di Milano combines its skills with those of the IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital , which provides clinical guidance in the development, of the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna of Pisa, which deals with the sensorization of the system, of the Catholic University of Leuven, which deals with the robotic implementation of catheters and three companies that will contribute to the translatability of the research: FBGS , expert in fiber optic sensors, Artiness , expert in augmented reality applied to the medical world, and Swissvortex , expert in transcatheter technologies.
The analysis of universities, divided between public, private and polytechnic and according to their size, examines various parameters , including the campus structures, the services provided, the number of grants of study in favor of students, the level of internationalization, communication, digital services and employability one year after the qualification.
Censis in its report states that university enrollments in Italy increased by 4.4% in 2020, disproving the forecasts that assumed a drop in enrollments due to the pandemic.
This positive trend is also confirmed at the Politecnico di Milano : those enrolled in the 2021/2022 academic year were 15,413 (5,442 women; 9,971 men), against 12,811 the previous year (4,497 women; 8,314 men). This demonstrates the resilience of the Politecnico di Milano which, in the face of the pandemic emergency, has consolidated and strengthened practices already in place to ensure, despite the social distancing, access to online and offline training activities during the last 18 months.
Regina De Albertis, Alumna of Building Engineering has been voted president of Assimpredil Ance, the Association of Construction and Complementary Companies of Milan, Lodi, Monza and Brianza.
De Albertis, working in the family company Borio Mangiarotti spa, of which is the technical and managing director is the first woman in the role and will be the president for the next four years.
"I chose to accept this challenge, to be at the leadership of the association because this moment, is so crucial for our companies and for the territory, we must work together to shape our future, taking pride in being builders and being at the center of the economic recovery" commented the new president.
Credits Assimpredil Ance Milan Lodi Monza and Brianza
The goal will be to put the territory back at the center of the strategies of the Italian System , because the construction sector is entrusted with the success of the National Recovery Plan: it is a challenge that will lead "the country towards a true renaissance in a sustainable manner, with a pact of trust between generations, between civil and political society, between economics and administrators of public affairs”.
To support the President, there will be a team of Vice-Presidents and a Treasurer also the four coordinators of the Area Councils, who will ensure the Association will oversee the metropolitan area of Milan and the provinces of Lodi and Monza Brianza, to facilitate dialogue between institutions and stakeholders .
"Urban regeneration will guide the green transformation of the country - continues De Albertis - because cities can create a new development model that allows the territory to be transformed by inverting all the parameters of resource consumption, parameters that for centuries have been the basis of growth models. The vision for the future must include the construction of supply chain alliances capable of affirming a new model of relations between the production components, but also between the supply chain and the community. Today, interventions on buildings must generate environmental and social value for future generations”.
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Credits home and header: Il Quotidiano Immobiliare
Cini Boeri graduated in 1951. In 2015 we met her among her works, some older than this writer, to hear about more than 60 years of her career through one of her latest monographic exhibitions: ’Designing joy’. We recall the famous architect travelling with dreamy eyes and irony through her long years and the history of twentieth century architecture and design while answering the questions from alumni:
foto Maria Mulas
AP: Cini, you graduated in 1951 and then opened your studio very early, in 1963. Your career took off among projects, teaching, research, leading to this exhibition, ‘Designing Joy’, a sort of compendium of your professional life.
CB: Yes. I didn't have to wait long after graduation to start working. I only worked with Gio’ Ponti for a year. He was the one who pushed me into the profession. He said: ‘You, with the colours you make, you must become an architect!’ Then I went on alone. I had a secretary and occasionally some interns practicing with me.
AP: During one interview, you said that a good part of your work consists of designing everyday objects, with the goal that they are not owned but rather used. The use of objects and the relationship with space can be a source of joy. What does that mean?
CB: When I design a house for a couple, for example, I always suggest including an extra room. They always ask, ‘Is it for guests?’ No! Not for guests. Because if one of them has a cold one night, for example, they can go to sleep in the other room. One should be able to choose, to know that they can sleep with their partner, but that they can also decide not to, without affecting their life as a couple. I think it would be very educational to teach young people that when they come together as a couple, it is not compulsory to share a bed; it is a choice. It is much nicer that way.
AP: So you think that everyday spaces can be used to educate people about different models of life?
CB: Exactly! Of course.
Soucre: Historic archive Arflex
AP: In what way do you think your work can contribute to educating citizens?
CB: Society matures a bit on its own. Today people are more autonomous and independent. It is an ongoing process. As an architect, I can propose alternative ways of living and using spaces, facilitating an ongoing process of emancipation and promoting freedom of choice wherever possible.
AP: When speaking about your work, the words that often emerge are those of a democratic approach to architecture and design. What does that mean? Who were your intellectual fathers?
CB: It is the Politecnico that accustomed us to this. We were taught very openly … I don't know if it's still like that today!
AP: Can you tell us something about your time at Poli?
CB: Umm … we used to debate a lot! I started the course with mature ideas about independence and mutual responsibility. Even then I thought it was important to focus on individual freedom, and my projects have always tried to concretize this principle. So we debated! Even today, these ideas are unlikely to be accepted as serious proposals. The one about the extra bedroom, for example, is taken as a threat to marriage! But it isn’t. Learning to think for yourself benefits a couple’s well-being; it doesn’t threaten it.
AP: Who did you debate with? The teaching staff?
CB: Not necessarily. The professors were broad-minded. I remember, for example, Renato Camus (I guess he's no longer with us!), always oriented towards modernity, towards new ways of living. But the family model was still very traditional and hierarchical. Freedom was not always considered an acceptable tool.
AP: A tool?
CB: Freedom is a tool, in a broader sense. For example, when a child learns to do something on their own, they acquire both the responsibility of having to do it and the freedom to do it.
AP: You have had and still have many younger collaborators. What has changed in architects over the 60 years of your career?
CB: There is more freedom of action, more choice, and more awareness. This is due to both the general evolution of society and the fact that the profession is better recognised today; it has assumed a cultural and also aesthetic value. In my day, architects were viewed a bit like decorators, not as someone who makes a space functional, and that approach took away our main value — functionality. Functionality is an invitation to experience space in a certain way rather than another. In my case, it implies an invitation to remove dependence, to promote autonomy and reflection. Designing for functionality means designing for joy.
foto Cantina Pieve Vecchia
AP: You have not only designed spaces, though, but also designer items. Once, architecture and design were not two separate disciplines, but these days they are taught in two different schools at the Politecnico. What is the relationship between them?
CB: It is a very close relationship. The underlying reason for a project, whether it is a piece of furniture or a room, is always functionality. The features of the space are tied to its function. The same goes for design. Objects must help us to live in the space, not occupy it.
AP: Still on the subject of the relationship between the various disciplines at the Politecnico, here’s a recent statement by Renzo Piano: ‘During my years at the Politecnico, the idea grew in me that architects and engineers have the same profession.’ It is an invitation to reflect on the things that bind us as Politecnico alumni, rather than those that divide us. What do you think?
CB: [laughs] In some ways it's true! That is, they are not exactly the same thing, but a project cannot be realized without the collaboration of both. They are two very close professions and must work together. They are not the same thing though, because an engineer lacks one thing: a focus on the person’s needs. I mean, if I’m designing an apartment for a family, for example, I go to meet them, I spend time with them, I try to enter their family dynamics.
AP: What supports the relationship between you and your client?
CB: Communication and trust, which must be mutual. What I propose is not always what the client expects. We don't always understand each other immediately. For example, that extra bedroom thing has sometimes made me seem like a ‘marriage killer’ [laughs]. But that’s just not true! As an architect, I must know how to listen to and interpret their needs. The client must learn to trust. It usually works!
AP: Do your clients know what they want when they come to you?
CB: No! They want the best… [laughs], and usually, they want what they have seen. Once they presented me with nineteenth-century-style sofas, all shapes and spirals, today they come with abstract things that are useless. On the other hand, they believe that the architect contributes the novelty as such. Instead, I want to bring benefits to life! So we must listen to each other and meet each other in the middle. In the end, everyone is always very satisfied.
AP: You said in an interview that a project is born, to put it in polytechnic words, out of a process of analysis and synthesis. Could you further explain this to me?
CB: Il momento di analisi è quello dell’ascolto, in cui, come ho spiegato, imparo a conoscere il committente. Il momento di sintesi è quello creativo, che è altrettanto importante. Noi proponiamo il nuovo, che è frutto della creatività, ma non lo proponiamo in modo indiscriminato: deve avere un posto e una funzione chiara nella vita delle persone.
AP: Is it a ‘controlled creativity’?
CB: In a way … For example, if I have to design a chair, I don't just do the first thing that comes to mind. That would be stupid. Instead, I think about how we sit, how the different shapes of the human body can have the right support. The shape of the body determines the internal line of a seat, the starting point of the project. Functionality directs creativity.
AP: What is innovation for you?
CB: It is what brings a project closer to the client, to their needs, which are personal. To avoid repeating the same ideas over and over, the architect must be able to customize the project. They must know the client. And to know them, they must have an easy, direct way of communicating.
AP: So communication is a key factor in innovation?
CB: Exactly.
AP: Why did you choose to become an architect?
CB: Ah, that’s a difficult question! I don't know how to answer. Perhaps the defining moment was during the Resistance, when I met De Finetti in the mountains. At the beginning, he told me that I was a girl and that architecture was a man's profession. But then he would take me on walks, show me houses, ask me what I thought of them. And in the end, he told me that maybe I was serious enough to become an architect. ‘Remember that it is a serious thing,’ he told me, ’not a game.’
Wood house, 1969 (photo Matteo Piazza)
AP: Can you tell me something about the years of the Resistance?
CB: Ah, yes. I gave it my all, with a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of good effort. I was young! We started with the most mundane things, like bringing correspondence to the rebels in the mountains. Then things got serious. Eventually we led the partisan troops.
AP: Weren’t you scared?
CB: No, I was very passionate. My youth was determined by anti-fascism, which was fortunately alive in my family and our friends. I was already politicised in a certain sense with a sensitivity to the social context and its manifestations. It was all very clear. Anti-fascism had led us to the struggle, and the struggle to be the authors of a new society. I speak in the plural: I was not alone. I was surrounded by my peers.
AP: Did you know what you had to do?
CB: It was a simple war. We fought in the mountains, we shot, we went down to town to exchange documents, and we went back up. But it wasn't a mass of people, it wasn't an army. It was a way of being and thinking; it was our nature. And so it was natural for us to do that. In turn, the Resistance shaped my character and strengthened the principles passed on by my family.
AP: What did it mean to be partisans?
CB: It was a simple war. We fought in the mountains, we shot, we went down to town to exchange documents, and we went back up. But it wasn't a mass of people, it wasn't an army. It was a way of being and thinking; it was our nature. And so it was natural for us to do that. In turn, the Resistance shaped my character and strengthened the principles passed on by my family.
AP: Those principles which are the basis of your work ...
CB: That's right: autonomy, personal freedom, a democratic approach, responsibility, respect for others in interpersonal relationships … all these values, which have determined my career, come from there. I am happy with my profession, but if I had to choose another, I would be a teacher, even in a primary school. These are values that must be passed on.
AP: One last question and then I'll leave you to your guests. What is the most important lesson that the Politecnico taught you?
CB: Seriousness. Architecture is about building. It is discipline. When I was in the studio with Gio’ Ponti, he scolded me if I neglected details such as tidying up the desk. He said: ‘Architects do not make these kind of mistakes. An architect keeps everything organised, so that it is stable.’
Among the Alumni of the Politecnico, about one in three (29%) is already hired at the date of graduation : in 82% of cases they are employed as employees (94% in the private sector with 52% of permanent contracts and 1,549 euros of average salary upon entering the world of work). 96% are already employed one year after the title (98% Engineering; 93% Architecture; 88% Design). The percentage of employment rises up to 99% five years after graduation (99% Engineering; 97% Architecture; 97% Design), with 90% permanent contracts and an average salary of 2062 euros.
This is certified by the employment survey released by the Politecnico di Milano, conducted on Italian master's degree graduates who obtained their degree in 2015: a total of 4,567. 3,490 responded to the survey. The 2021 employment survey was coordinated by the Career Service of the Politecnico di Milano, which supports and prepares students for entry into the world of work, cultivating contacts with the most important national and international companies.
As for the foreign master's graduates, 82% of them are employed one year after the title , a percentage that rises to 93% after five years from graduation . The percentage of employment is also good for three-year graduates of the Politecnico who decide not to continue their studies: 87% of them are employed one year after graduation, 97% after five years , with an average entry salary of 1,393 euros which rises to 1,830 euros five years after the bachelor's degree.
"We are very happy to note that, despite the legacies of the pandemic, the employment of our graduates is not falling , but rather showing a positive trend. A growth that continues uninterrupted for the Politecnico di Milano and which is confirmed even after five years from the graduation ”, comments Ferruccio Resta, Rector of the Politecnico di Milano . “This is the demonstration of a training capable of re-evaluating itself over time and appreciated by the productive fabric. A necessary recipe for recovery. An investment for the future ".
Fondazione Milano per Expo (FMpE) donated 120.000 euros to Politecnico di Milano, aimed at financing 3 research grants for young female researchers.
The donation is part of the E4WE / Education for Women Empowerment project, in the spirit of what was sown during EXPO 2015 and paving the way for what Women Pavilion will offer at the next EXPO. FMpE and Politecnico di Milano have decided to join the Pavilion schedule, helping to support the importance of an inclusive society, increasingly indispensable for the advantages it entails in terms of innovation, sustainability and economic value . The initiative also aims to give international visibility to this theme and create connections in particular with the Arab world and with Dubai, where the next exhibition will be held.
The donation will support research grants in fields where there is a strong intersection of technologies, design and health sciences : from addressing the impact of Big Data on biomedical research , to measurement models and Artificial Intelligence at the service of health technologies and of the contribution of science and technology in relation to the social responsibility of therapeutic environments. Another area that will affect the call for the allocation of these funds is that of sustainability in the agri-food chain .
These are highly hot research fields with an important social impact , topics in which the Politecnico is investing heavily, leading the way in Italy for new professions in engineering and design, that will become more and more relevant in the coming years.
Credits: Alexis Brown on Unsplash
This initiative is part of the strategic plan of Politecnico di Milano, which carries out various actions aimed at involving young researchers, as outlined in Gender balance: a document that takes an overall picture of our University, showing an updated analysis of the main data relating to the student component, to the teaching staff and to the technical-administrative staff.
With regard to gender balance, the Politecnico is in line with what happens at Italian and European level in technical-scientific universities: one third of the teaching and research staff within the University (29%) is represented by women .
In the book “ALUMNAE, Engineer and Technologies” we have collected the stories of 67 women engineers in our community. The goal? To lay out a set of positive examples for the “STEM” girls of today and tomorrow. .
Read more .
Alumna Annaluigia Meroni, aged 96, was born in 1925 and graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering in 1953. The story of her life passes through World War II, her coveted diploma and her degree from the Poli, which she attended immediately after the war. Then came her profession as an engineer, working at patent offices, Siemens and Pirelli, in Italy and the United States, as well as her involvement in the first women’s organisations, oil wells and splitting the atom.
A career in a predominantly male-dominated world, in which the question “should I address you as ‘engineer’ or ‘madam’?” is - in our alumna’s eyes - nothing more than a “ridiculous detail, a relic of the past”, like water off a duck’s back, and in which there is no lack of enterprising. professional women in technology.
We asked her to tell us her story, now that things have changed so much, but there is still a long way to go if we are to achieve true inclusivity in society.
“In February of 1942,,
due to the growing pressure of the countless attacks and bombings, I left Milan to seek shelter in a small village at the source of the River Livenza. I never knew what I was going to do the next day: we took every day as it came. In the schools, the only information available was about the politics in vogue at the time - propaganda about how the war was going, but with the spin they wanted to put on it.
I was quite sure that painting and the sciences were my favourite subjects, and I wanted to complete my studies at the scientific secondary school, at least. So I acquired and brought with me all the books that I would need to do it privately.
I was also lucky enough to meet and spend time with an old Anglo-American lady who had sought refuge along with me to escape the racial laws, allowing me to perfect my English, so much so that it became almost a second language to me.
However, time seemed to stand still, and it was unclear whether or not everything that was happening could ever come to an end. In 1943, the Germans took over the whole of northern Italy. For us young people, this wasn’t living - it was just waiting. And for what? We were isolated: the boys were mostly in the military, or in the mountains. Still no information aside from Radio London - we would huddle around the set every evening, in the room farthest down the mountain and farthest from the road so as not to be discovered by the German patrols.
It was in this environment that in 1944, the time finally came for my long-awaited final school exam, which I passed. As if waking from a lifelong slumber, it was then that I realised that there was life and events beyond that exam, and that I would have to make decisions for my future. My father, a skilled builder, often had to call upon engineers for advice for his work. That was a source of inspiration for me, and as I have always been a fairly hands-on person, I opted to study Civil Engineering, specifically the Construction option. My dad, who had stayed in Milan, enrolled my in the Poli, but of course I couldn’t actually attend until I returned, once the war was over.
Unfortunately, when the war ended I lost my father, and I was faced with the dilemma of whether to give up or continue with my engineering studies. As I’m a fairly tenacious person, I decided to look for work and continue my studies, knowing full well that this would mean it would take a lot longer. A cousin of mine who was an officer in the American army, aware of my level of English, offered me a job organising travel for Americans staying at the Hotel du Nord.
Unfortunately, the schedule meant that I couldn’t get to my Mathematical Analysis lecture in time - which I think started at 2 o’clock - but I didn’t want to miss it. However, other students seemed to arrive late and quietly slip into the room, so I prepared to do the same. That was when I suffered my first trial of discrimination: when I came in, the boys sitting in the amphitheatre made a huge noise, disturbing the professor, who threw me out after it happened on a few occasions. As a result, I left that job so that I could come to the class, but I found work elsewhere as a translator, especially for Agip Mineraria and Eni. After years of sacrifice and compromises, work and study, I finally graduated in 1953.
I immediately found a job in the Automotive Construction department under Prof. Fessia (the inventor of the Fiat 500 car) but, as I still dreamt of being a civil engineer, I requested to work gratis et amore Dei at the firm owned by the engineer Cesa Bianchi (who designed Milan’s first skyscraper), and my application was accepted.
I was assigned to work with a senior engineer on the calculation of a staircase for a building under construction at Via Circo 6, Milan. I found the work fairly boring and not at all in line with my wishes, and as such I enthusiastically accepted an offer from the Racheli & Bossi Patent Office. The two owners, Adele Racheli and Rosita Bossi, were two engineers, also alumnae of the Politecnico: Racheli graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1920 and Bossi in Electrotechnics in 1924 (these two were joined by a third engineer, Ms. Lazzeri, who had worked as a cook in Switzerland during the war to escape racial persecution).
I immediately took to the job as a patent agent, as I was in close contact with countless innovations, and the languages I spoke at the time - French and English - proved useful, whilst I also started learning German. It was here that I was invited to the US by the Department of Labor Women’s Bureau for a period of training and coaching in which I worked on women’s organisations, oil recovery wells and splitting the atom.
As soon as I returned to Italy, I felt the need to improve my financial situation, so I accepted an offer from Siemens to take care of their library and the patents of one of their directors - which were extended worldwide and related to the fission of Samarium 144 - as well as, in the meantime, to start setting up a patent office: something the company did not yet have. I was also allowed to continue running my business as a consultant in the field of Patents, Models and Trademarks at the Court of Milan, which I had already been doing for a few years.
The work was incredibly interesting and dynamic, and allowed me to travel a great deal. My relationship with the colleagues on my level was excellent. Further up the ladder, let’s say, people were not yet ready for women to be engineers. The top management had consulted to ensure that I was referred to as ‘miss’ rather than ‘engineer’, and I remember that one of the many directors that came and went over the years, in response to my request for a pay rise, made no bones about telling me that he would have given it to me if I were a man.
I left Siemens in June of ‘64 to follow my husband to Spain, where I added another language to my repertoire. When I returned to Italy in 1967, I accepted Pirelli’s offer to take over the Cables section of their Patent Office.
At Pirelli, too, I was simply referred to as ‘madam’, as decided in a meeting between the managers held before I even arrived, whilst for the Mechanical section (I believe), they had hired another female engineer who was five years older than me. However, a chemist in charge of the Rubber section was referred to as ‘Doctor’ - an obvious inconsistency, given that engineers also hold the title of ‘Doctor’, as in ‘Dr. Engineer so-and-so’.
Apart from this ridiculous detail, this relic of the past, the work at Pirelli was interesting, especially given that fibre optics were being invented at that time. My relationship with my colleagues/clients (as they are best described) from the Patent Office was excellent, so much so that the company insisted that I stay on board until I was 60, well beyond retirement age, which was 55 for women at the time. I left Pirelli in 1985 with the hope of devoting myself - at least for a little while - to one of the great loves of my youth: painting.
Annaluigia Meroni, Alumna Ing. Civile 1953
In the book “ALUMNAE, Engineer and Technologies” we have collected the stories of 67 engineers in our community. The target? Telling a set of positive examples for the “STEM” girls of today and tomorrow. This book is one of the many initiatives created by Alumni Politecnico di Milano. If you like our activities, you can donate to support them .
NTT Data announced the appointment of Walter Ruffinoni as CEO Everis Italia. Ruffinoni, Alumnus of Politecnico (graduated in electronic engineering in 1990), also remains in office as CEO of NTT DATA EMEA and Italy .
This appointment has been strategically placed to strengthen the presence of the group on the Italian market and to consolidate partnerships in Italy. “I am proud and excited to start this new challenge as CEO of Everis Italia at a crucial moment for the company” - comments Ruffinoni.
Credits: ansa.it
Ruffinoni, during his tenure at NTT Data Italia, managed to double the company's turnover as well as the the number of employees , continuing to grow and hire talent despite the pandemic.
He was also an active promoter of a collaboration agreement with the Politecnico di Milano signed in November 2020 which involves research and training projects on topics such as SmartMobility, Cybersecurity, Blockchain, Internet of Humans, DataAnalytics, Design for Social Benefit, Product and Service Design (find out more about the agreement here)
Milan pays homage to the inventor of Amuchina , Alumnus Oronzio De Nora, naming a street in the Ortica district, where the company of the same name contributed to the project with a donation is based.
Oronzio De Nora , Alumnus in Electrical Engineering, patented the famous sanitizing liquid in 1923 in Germany, creating the powerful antibacterial we know today as Amuchina. The engineer then sold the patent and, in 1924, founded the company that bears his name.
Even to this day, De Nora industries are also active in the international field as a focal point for sustainable technologies, energy saving and water treatment .
Credits: De Nora on Linkedin
Via De Nora is part of the redevelopment plan of the Ortica district which foresees, for this street, to be completely pedestrian and to install benches, potted plants, ping pong tables and the creation of street art along the perimeter of the De Nora company that portray the faces of people who have distinguished themselves for their important scientific contribution, including engineer De Nora.
Credits: De Nora on Linkedin
"This is an integrated intervention of pedestrianization, tactical urbanism, public art and toponymy", commented the councilor for participation, active citizenship and open data Lorenzo Lipparini, "crowned by a collaboration agreement that holds together reality of active citizenship, business and municipal administration with the common goal of rethinking and redeveloping the public space".
Credits header e home: imbruttito.com
Credits header e home: https://bari.repubblica.it/cronaca/2020/02/27/news/amuchina_inventore_altamura_de_nora-249732543/
On October 23, 2021, the final race of the Indy Autonomous Challenge will take place at the Motor Speedway: it will be the first self-driving car race. Among the competing teams is the PoliMove Racing Team, led by Sergio Savaresi, Professor of Vehicle Control at the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering of Politecnico di Milano and Alumnus in Electronic Engineering.
For months, the team of undergraduates and doctoral students has been working on the control software and the algorithm that will be used to drive a car at 300 km per hour. Last June 30, the first decisive victory has brought the Politecnico closer to the final goal in October and that for the moment has yielded the first prize of 100,000 dollars ( at this link the video that tells the qualifications ).
“The qualifying race took place in a simulation environment, on which we had the opportunity to do several tests in recent months”, comments Savaresi. “From the point of view of the car race, we weren't particularly fun: in qualifying we set the best time ever and we started first, in pole position. We were first throughout the race and we finished first. No one has ever overtaken us despite numerous attempts to overtake by other cars that our “AI driver” has always managed to counter. We won! ”.
During this simulation race, 16 teams from the most prestigious universities in the world participated, but, among cars that went off the track, collisions between contenders and collisions with structures, only 4 crossed the finish line : Polytechnic University of Munich and University of Texas at the top, in second and third place, in fourth place MIT.
Our team gave the organizers the virtual driver one month before the race. “It is a real replacement for the human pilot, an artificial intelligence software. We developed it with different layers of tactical and strategic intelligence: during the race he was ready to evaluate if things were going badly, change tactics and choose to take a few more risks. Then, luckily, it didn't help ", continues Savaresi, who explained in detail the nature of this virtual pilot in the issue 9 of MAP (from page 28).
The race on 23 October will see a total of 10 university teams on the track. The first prize will be $ 1 million. This time the virtual drivers will race on the track, aboard a real car, the same model for everyone: a Dallara IL-15 (renamed AV-21) modified with sensors suitable for autonomous driving.
"There is a bit of tension. A lot of crashes can occur in simulation, but nobody gets hurt and you don't risk wasting nearly half a million dollars due to a mistake ”. The car, in fact, costs about 300 thousand euros, in addition to the travel and research expenses necessary to complete the tender ( find out here how to financially support the PoliMove Racing Team with a donation ).
Right now the first team members are leaving for Indianapolis and the others will join them in September. Ready for the final, Savaresi concludes: "As a working group of the Politecnico, we have been working in this area for twenty years now, so we have a lot of know-how behind us and we are certainly among the teams that are potentially a little ahead of the time. to the others. From the point of view of skills we are very strong. But yesterday, during the simulation race, we were very anxious: as in every single race, the unexpected is just around the corner, you touch someone inside, there is a mechanical malfunction, and you lose. We are certainly among the top teams and we hope to have a bit of luck also in October ”.
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Early diagnosis is of fundamental importance to ensure greater chances of survival for people suffering from malaria: for this reason the World Health Organization continues to urge the development of new rapid diagnostic tests that can be used in endemic areas.
TMek can diagnose malaria quickly because it uses of a physical lab-on-chip mechanism, which uses magnetic fields and microchips to make it possible to quantify infected red blood cells. Through low-cost “disposable” microchips equipped with micro-magnets, the system attracts infected red blood cells and counts them in order to quantify parasitemia, i.e. the percentage of infected blood cells compared to healthy ones. In this way, it is possible to provide a quick and economical solution for the diagnosis of malaria, compatible with use in tropical areas in the absence of specialized personnel.
After the first experiments in 2019 that showed how TMek is able, in just 10 minutes , to provide a quantitative result with a sensitivity limit of 10 parasites per microL of blood, the new validation study has arrived. which confirmed its potential as a rapid quantitative and selective test for the early diagnosis of malaria.
Credits Seth Doyle on Unsplash
A RESEARCH PROJECT WITH A HIGH IMPACT ON SOCIETY
TMek was created by the interdisciplinary research team led by professors Giorgio Ferrari (Electronics), Beniamino Fiore (Bioengineering) and Roberto Bertacco (Physics) and funded by Polisocial Award , the social responsibility program of the Politecnico di Milano. To ensure an ethical use of any proceeds deriving from the exploitation of intellectual property, the initiative is protected with "social" patents and the inventors have renounced their rights in favor of financing research projects with a social purpose.
The project was also realized thanks to the support of the Alumnae and Alumni who have donated and continue to donate to ensure the ethical development of TMek and create a unique diagnostic tool in the fight against malaria. Donate.
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