@article{latif_dieffenderfer_tanneeru_lee_misra_bozkurt_2021, title={Evaluation of Environmental Enclosures for Effective Ambient Ozone Sensing in Wrist-worn Health and Exposure Trackers}, ISSN={["1930-0395"]}, DOI={10.1109/SENSORS47087.2021.9639530}, abstractNote={The ambient environmental conditions, most notably ozone concentration, play a critical role in exacerbating asthma related symptoms. Wearable devices offer a great potential for asthma care and management by tracking health and environmental status. Wearable devices in the form factor of a wristband using ultra-low power ozone sensors can provide a localized, real-time, and vigilant monitoring of users’ ambient environment. This work presents a preliminary investigation of environmental enclosures for such a custom designed wrist-worn wearable device for asthma. Enclosure design plays an important role in ensuring optimal environmental and gas sensor operation. In this study, we studied openings along the sidewall of the wrist-worn device covered with commercially available expanded polytetrafluoroethylene-based membranes to provide the required air flow while ensuring resistance to water.}, journal={2021 IEEE SENSORS}, author={Latif, Tahmid and Dieffenderfer, James and Tanneeru, Akhilesh and Lee, Bongmook and Misra, Veena and Bozkurt, Alper}, year={2021} }
 @article{latif_mcknight_dickey_bozkurt_2018, title={In vitro electrochemical assessment of electrodes for neurostimulation in roach biobots}, volume={13}, ISSN={["1932-6203"]}, DOI={10.1371/journal.pone.0203880}, abstractNote={Biobotics investigates the use of live insects as biological robots whose locomotion can be controlled by neurostimulation through implanted electrodes. Inactivity in the biobots (biological robots) can sometimes be noticed following extended neurostimulation, partly owing to incompatibility of implanted electrodes with the biobotic application or gradual degradation of the tissue-electrode interface. Implanted electrodes need to sufficiently exhibit consistent, reliable, and stable performance during stimulation experiments, have low tissue-electrode impedance, facilitate good charge injection capacity, and be compact in size or shape. Towards the goal of finding such electrodes suitable for biobotic applications, we compare electrochemical performances of five different types of electrodes in vitro with a saline based electrolytic medium. These include stainless steel wire electrodes, microfabricated flexible gold electrodes coated with PEDOT:PSS conductive polymer, eutectic gallium indium (EGaIn) in a tube, and “hybrid” stainless steel electrodes coated with EGaIn. We also performed accelerated aging of the electrodes to help estimate their longitudinal performance. Based on our experimentation, microfabricated electrodes with PEDOT:PSS and stainless steel electrodes coated with EGaIn performed remarkably well. This is the first time conductive polymer and liquid metal electrodes were studied comparatively for neurostimulation applications. These in vitro comparison results will be used in the future to provide a benchmark for subsequent in vivo tests with implanted electrodes in cockroach biobots.}, number={10}, journal={PLOS ONE}, publisher={Public Library of Science (PLoS)}, author={Latif, Tahmid and McKnight, Michael and Dickey, Michael D. and Bozkurt, Alper}, editor={Lebedev, NikolaiEditor}, year={2018}, month={Oct} }
 @article{latif_bozkurt_2017, title={Roach Biobots Toward reliability and optimization of control}, volume={8}, ISSN={["2154-2287"]}, DOI={10.1109/mpul.2017.2729413}, abstractNote={Imagine a natural disaster, such as an earthquake, causing residential buildings to collapse and trapping the people inside underneath the rubble. Over the following days, first responders spend a significant amount of time locating survivors. Despite having the assistance of life-detection tools and techniques, these first responders are still hampered by certain limitations in searching for survivors and pinpointing their exact location deep within the rubble. Current methods involving dogs and relatively large robots and machinery can assist only with surface-level surveying of the disaster area and removal of rubble. In contrast, a swarm of centimeter-scale robots could be employed for under-rubble mapping and surveying in these scenarios. In fact, progress has been made in developing centimeter-scale robotics that could assist first responders in the future. However, these prototypes still require improvements in the efficiency of the mechanical parts and control systems deployed in real-life scenarios.}, number={5}, journal={IEEE PULSE}, author={Latif, Tahmid and Bozkurt, Alper}, year={2017}, pages={27–30} }
 @inproceedings{xiong_latif_lobaton_bozkurt_sichitiu_2016, title={Characterization of RSS variability for biobot localization using 802.15.4 radios}, DOI={10.1109/wisnet.2016.7444305}, abstractNote={A cyber-physically organized swarm of insect biobots or biological robots can aid first responders in search-and-rescue scenarios after natural disasters or earthquakes by establishing an under-rubble sensor network. In such a network, the nodes are represented by the insect biobots equipped with electronic backpacks utilizing a system-on-chip. This application requires effective real-time localization of the mobile sensor nodes. Radio signal strength (RSS) is a measurement of the received signal power, and can be used in estimating the distance between two nodes, which then can help localize the biobotic sensor nodes in the future. This paper investigates RSS variability and its suitability for biobotic localization.}, booktitle={2016 ieee topical conference on wireless sensors and sensor networks (wisnet)}, author={Xiong, H. and Latif, T. and Lobaton, E. and Bozkurt, A. and Sichitiu, Mihail L.}, year={2016}, pages={1–3} }
 @inproceedings{latif_yang_lobaton_bozkurt_2016, title={Preliminary statistical assessment towards characterization of biobotic control}, booktitle={2016 38th annual international conference of the ieee engineering in medicine and biology society (embc)}, author={Latif, T. and Yang, M. and Lobaton, E. and Bozkurt, A.}, year={2016}, pages={2184–2187} }
 @inproceedings{latif_gong_dickey_sichitiu_bozkurt_2016, title={Using liquid metal alloy (EGaIn) to electrochemically enhance SS stimulation electrodes for biobotic applications}, DOI={10.1109/embc.2016.7591152}, abstractNote={Biobotics is an emerging and useful advent in the field of robotics which harnesses the mechanical power of live invertebrates and benefits from them as "working" animals. Most biobotic applications rely on neural or muscular stimulation through implanted electrodes for achieving direct control of their locomotory behavior. Degradation of stimulation efficiency is often noticed through extended usage, partly owing to incompatibility of implanted electrodes to the application. Our previous achievements in biobotics utilized commercially available stainless steel wires as stimulation electrodes due to its availability and lower cost. In this study, we look into the potential of using a liquid metal alloy, eutectic gallium-indium (EGaIn), as a means of enhancing properties of the stainless steel electrodes and its first time consideration as in vivo neurostimulation electrodes. We present in vitro analysis of the electrodes in terms of the electrolyte-electrode interface impedance and interface equivalent circuit model.}, booktitle={2016 38th annual international conference of the ieee engineering in medicine and biology society (embc)}, author={Latif, T. and Gong, F. Y. and Dickey, Michael and Sichitiu, Mihail L. and Bozkurt, A.}, year={2016}, pages={2141–2144} }
 @article{latif_whitmire_novak_bozkurt_2016, title={Sound Localization Sensors for Search and Rescue Biobots}, volume={16}, ISSN={["1558-1748"]}, DOI={10.1109/jsen.2015.2477443}, abstractNote={Recent advances in neural engineering have enabled direct control of insect locomotion through neural and muscular stimulation. The resulting insect biobots, with a natural ability to crawl through small spaces, offer unique advantages over traditional synthetic robots. A cyberphysical network of such biobots could prove useful for search and rescue applications in uncertain disaster environments. We present a vision-based automated system for an objective assessment of biobotic navigation capability on Madagascar hissing cockroaches. We report the most precise control results obtained with insect biobots so far both manually and autonomously. We also demonstrate autonomous control capability where a low-power insect-mounted array of microphones was used to localize a sound source and guide the biobot toward it. Forming a wireless mobile sensor network with directional and omnidirectional microphones distributed within the structure of a rubble pile could be useful for both environmental mapping and localization of trapped survivors under the rubble.}, number={10}, journal={IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL}, author={Latif, Tahmid and Whitmire, Eric and Novak, Tristan and Bozkurt, Alper}, year={2016}, month={May}, pages={3444–3453} }
 @article{brugarolas_latif_dieffenderfer_walker_yuschak_sherman_roberts_bozkurt_2016, title={Wearable Heart Rate Sensor Systems for Wireless Canine Health Monitoring}, volume={16}, ISSN={["1558-1748"]}, DOI={10.1109/jsen.2015.2485210}, abstractNote={There is an increasing interest from dog handlers and veterinarians in an ability to continuously monitor dogs' vital signs (heart rate, heart rate variability, and respiratory rate) outside laboratory environments, with the aim of identifying physiological correlations to stress, distress, excitement, and other emotional states. We present a non-invasive wearable sensor system combining electrocardiogram (ECG), photoplethysmogram (PPG), and inertial measurement units (IMU) to remotely and continuously monitor the vital signs of dogs. To overcome the limitations imposed by the efficiently insulated skin and dense hair layers of dogs, we investigated the use of various styles of ECG electrodes and the enhancements of these by conductive polymer coatings. We also studied the incorporation of light guides and optical fibers for an efficient optical coupling of PPG sensors to the skin. Combined with our parallel efforts to use IMUs to identify dog behaviors, these physiological sensors will contribute to a canine-body area network to wirelessly and continuously collect data during canine activities with a long-term goal of effectively capturing and interpreting dogs' behavioral responses to environmental stimuli that may yield measurable benefits to handlers' interactions with their dogs.}, number={10}, journal={IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL}, author={Brugarolas, Rita and Latif, Tahmid and Dieffenderfer, James and Walker, Katherine and Yuschak, Sherrie and Sherman, Barbara L. and Roberts, David L. and Bozkurt, Alper}, year={2016}, month={May}, pages={3454–3464} }
 @article{bozkurt_lobaton_sichitiu_hedrick_latif_dirafzoon_whitmire_verderber_marin_xiong_et al._2014, title={Biobotic Insect Swarm based Sensor Networks for Search and Rescue}, volume={9091}, ISSN={["1996-756X"]}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.2053906}, DOI={10.1117/12.2053906}, abstractNote={The potential benefits of distributed robotics systems in applications requiring situational awareness, such as search-and-rescue in emergency situations, are indisputable. The efficiency of such systems requires robotic agents capable of coping with uncertain and dynamic environmental conditions. For example, after an earthquake, a tremendous effort is spent for days to reach to surviving victims where robotic swarms or other distributed robotic systems might play a great role in achieving this faster. However, current technology falls short of offering centimeter scale mobile agents that can function effectively under such conditions. Insects, the inspiration of many robotic swarms, exhibit an unmatched ability to navigate through such environments while successfully maintaining control and stability. We have benefitted from recent developments in neural engineering and neuromuscular stimulation research to fuse the locomotory advantages of insects with the latest developments in wireless networking technologies to enable biobotic insect agents to function as search-and-rescue agents. Our research efforts towards this goal include development of biobot electronic backpack technologies, establishment of biobot tracking testbeds to evaluate locomotion control efficiency, investigation of biobotic control strategies with Gromphadorhina portentosa cockroaches and Manduca sexta moths, establishment of a localization and communication infrastructure, modeling and controlling collective motion by learning deterministic and stochastic motion models, topological motion modeling based on these models, and the development of a swarm robotic platform to be used as a testbed for our algorithms.}, journal={SIGNAL PROCESSING, SENSOR/INFORMATION FUSION, AND TARGET RECOGNITION XXIII}, publisher={SPIE}, author={Bozkurt, A. and Lobaton, E. and Sichitiu, Mihail L. and Hedrick, T. and Latif, T. and Dirafzoon, A. and Whitmire, E. and Verderber, A. and Marin, J. and Xiong, H. and et al.}, editor={Kadar, IvanEditor}, year={2014} }
 @inproceedings{latif_whitmire_novak_bozkurt_2014, title={Towards fenceless boundaries for solar powered insect biobots}, DOI={10.1109/embc.2014.6943927}, abstractNote={Demonstration of remote navigation with instrumented insects, such as the Madagascar Hissing Cockroach, Gromphadorhina portentosa, has enabled the concept of biobotic agents for search and rescue missions and environmental monitoring applications. The biobots can form the nodes of a mobile sensor network to be established, for example, in unknown and dynamic environments after natural disasters to pinpoint surviving victims. We demonstrate here, for the first time, the concept of an invisible fence for insect biobots with an ultimate goal of keeping insect biobots within a certain distance of each other or a base station to ensure a reliable wireless network. For extended mission durations, this fenceless boundary would also be used to guide insects towards light sources for autonomous solar charging of their on-board batteries.}, booktitle={2014 36th annual international conference of the ieee engineering in medicine and biology society (embc)}, author={Latif, T. and Whitmire, E. and Novak, T. and Bozkurt, A.}, year={2014}, pages={1670–1673} }
 @inproceedings{whitmire_latif_bozkurt_2013, title={Kinect-based system for automated control of terrestrial insect biobots}, DOI={10.1109/embc.2013.6609789}, abstractNote={Centimeter scale mobile biobots offer unique advantages in uncertain environments. Our previous experimentation has demonstrated neural stimulation techniques in order to control the motion of Madagascar hissing cockroaches. These trials relied on stimulation by a human operator using a remote control. We have developed a Kinect-based system for computer operated automatic control of cockroaches. Using image processing techniques and a radio transmitter, this platform both detects the position of the roach biobot and sends stimulation commands to an implanted microcontroller-based receiver. The work presented here enables repeatable experimentation and allows precise quantification of the line following capabilities of the roach biobot. This system will help refine our model for the stimulation response of the insect and improve our ability to direct them in increasingly dynamic situations.}, booktitle={2013 35th annual international conference of the ieee engineering in medicine and biology society (embc)}, author={Whitmire, E. and Latif, T. and Bozkurt, A.}, year={2013}, pages={1470–1473} }
 @inproceedings{latif_bozkurt_2012, title={Line following terrestrial insect biobots}, DOI={10.1109/embc.2012.6346095}, abstractNote={The present day technology falls short in offering centimeter scale mobile robots that can function effectively under unknown and dynamic environmental conditions. Insects, on the other hand, exhibit an unmatched ability to navigate through a wide variety of environments and overcome perturbations by successfully maintaining control and stability. In this study, we use neural stimulation systems to wirelessly navigate cockroaches to follow lines to enable terrestrial insect biobots. We also propose a system-on-chip based ZigBee enabled wireless neurostimulation backpack system with on-board tissue-electrode bioelectrical coupling verification. Such a capability ensures an electrochemically safe stimulation and avoids irreversible damage to the interface which is often misinterpreted as habituation of the insect to the applied stimulation.}, booktitle={2012 annual international conference of the ieee engineering in medicine and biology society (embc)}, author={Latif, T. and Bozkurt, A.}, year={2012}, pages={972–975} }