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Nikhil Deshpande

Associate Professor in Robotics and AI, Faculty of Science

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Biography

I am an Associate Professor of Robotics and AI, with my primary affiliation with the Cyber-physical Health and Assistive Robotics Technologies (CHART) group. With over 15 years of experience in Robotics and AI covering all aspects, including navigation, manipulation, mechanism design, machine learning, computer vision, and mixed reality, I have focused on applications in surgical robotics, telerobotics, therapy, and occupational training, among others.

Prior to joining CS @ Nottingham, I was a Researcher, non-tenured (2018-2023), at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), Genova, Italy, leading the VICARIOS Mixed Reality and Simulations Lab, where my research focused on mixed reality (MR) for immersive remote telerobotics in hazardous environments, which touched on topics including 3D vision and semantic scene understanding for real-time visualisation in MR, haptics and MR for training, control simulations for novel robotic devices, etc. I have been organising the XR-ROB workshop, which is the only gathering of its kind at the IEEE/RSJ IROS international conference exploring the confluence of extended reality (XR) and robotics technologies. I have been PI and co-I for multiple collaborative projects, with R&D funding exceeding €7 million, focused on telerobotics in hazardous environments, digital twins for intelligent therapy, and industrial worker training. I have worked closely with stakeholders, including firefighters and construction workers, and demonstrated the project outcomes in public dissemination events, including to the President of Italy in 2022.

Before this, I was a Postdoctoral fellow (2012-2017) in telesurgery at IIT, Italy, where I developed novel mechanisms in surgical robotics, as well as investigated the development of intuitive surgeon-robot interfaces using mixed reality. This work was carried out in close collaboration with expert surgeons at the San Martino hospital in Genova, Italy, and led to the first successful demonstration of live 5G telesurgery in Italy in 2019.

I received my PhD in Electrical Engineering, with a focus on Robotics, in 2012, from the North Carolina State University (NCSU), USA, my Master's in Integrated Manufacturing Systems Engineering in 2007, from NCSU itself, and my Bachelor's in Electrical Engineering in 2003 from the College of Engineering (COEP), Pune, India.

I am editor / associate editor for several conferences including IEEE ICRA, IROS, MFI, AIR, etc., and reviewer and special issue editor at journals including IEEE T-RO, RAS, Frontiers, etc.

Selected Publications

  • NACERI, ABDELDJALLIL, MAZZANTI, DARIO, BIMBO, JOAO, TEFERA, YONAS T, PRATTICHIZZO, DOMENICO, CALDWELL, DARWIN G, MATTOS, LEONARDO S and DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, 2021. The vicarios virtual reality interface for remote robotic teleoperation: teleporting for intuitive tele-manipulation Journal of Intelligent & Robotic Systems. 101, 1-16
  • DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, PERETTI, GIORGIO, MORA, FRANCESCO, GUASTINI, LUCA, LEE, JINOH, BARRESI, GIACINTO, CALDWELL, DARWIN G and MATTOS, LEONARDO S, 2018. Design and study of a next-generation computer-assisted system for transoral laser microsurgery OTO open. 2(2), 2473974X18773327
  • TEFERA, YONAS T, MAZZANTI, DARIO, ANASTASI, SARA, CALDWELL, DARWIN G, FIORINI, PAOLO and DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, 2022. FoReCast: Real-time Foveated Rendering and Unicasting for Immersive Remote Telepresence
  • KIM, YAESOL, SILVA, MYRNA CITLALI CASTILLO, ANASTASI, SARA and DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, 2023. Towards Immersive Bilateral Teleoperation Using Encountered-Type Haptic Interface In: 2023 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC). 1354-1359
  • TAVASSOLI, MEHRDAD, KATYARA, SUNNY, POZZI, MARIA, DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, CALDWELL, DARWIN G and PRATTICHIZZO, DOMENICO, 2023. Learning skills from demonstrations: A trend from motion primitives to experience abstraction IEEE Transactions on Cognitive and Developmental Systems.
  • KIM, YAESOL, ANASTASI, SARA and DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, 2023. Towards Encountered-type Haptic Interaction for Immersive Bilateral Telemanipulation
  • HIDALGO, ANDRÉS F, SVAMPA, DAVIDE GEOFFREY and DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, 2023. Analysing Gyroscopic Balance Support in Full-Body Human Models Based on Predictive Simulations In: International Conference on Digital Human Modeling. 275-284
  • TEFERA, YT, GARCIA, JV, KIM, Y, CALDWELL, DARWIN G, ANASTASI, S and DESHPANDE, N, 2023. Real-time Immersive Remote Telerobotics: Highlighting the Benefit of Humans in the Loop and Applying Machine Learning
  • TEFERA, YONAS T, MAZZANTI, DARIO, ANASTASI, SARA, CALDWELL, DARWIN, FIORINI, PAOLO and DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, 2023. Towards Gaze-contingent Visualization of Real-time 3D Reconstructed Remote Scenes in Mixed Reality In: Proceedings of the 2023 6th International Conference on Advances in Robotics. 1-6
  • KIM, YAESOL, SILVA, MYRNA CITLALI CASTILLO, ANASTASI, SARA and DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, 2023. Towards Immersive Bilateral Teleoperation Using Encountered-Type Haptic Interface In: 2023 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC). 1354-1359
  • AKHORMEH, ALIREZA NADERI, HIDALGO, ANDRÉS F, SVAMPA, DAVIDE GEOFFREY and DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, 2023. Conceptual Design and Simulation of Cold Gas Thrusters as Wearable Fall Arresting Devices In: 2023 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC). 208-214
  • HIDALGO, ANDRÉS F, SVAMPA, DAVIDE GEOFFREY and DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, 2023. Predictive Simulations of a Wearable Balance Assistance Device in Neuro-Musculoskeletal Models In: 2023 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC). 202-207
  • TEFERA, Y, MAZZANTI, DARIO, ANASTASI, SARA, CALDWELL, DARWIN, FIORINI, PAOLO and DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, 2022. Towards Foveated Rendering For Immersive Remote Telerobotics In: The International Workshop on Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed-Reality for Human-Robot Interactions at HRI 2022.
  • SALATINO, LAURA, DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, DEMARZI, GIORGIO, BERTA, RICCARDO, DE ZAMBOTTI, MASSIMILIANO, BOCCARDO, NICOLÒ, FREDDOLINI, MARCO, LAFFRANCHI, MATTEO, DE MICHIELI, LORENZO and BARRESI, GIACINTO, 2022. Spatial Augmented Respiratory Cardiofeedback Design for Prosthetic Embodiment Training: a Pilot Study In: 2022 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC). 3390-3395
  • TEFERA, YONAS T, MAZZANTI, DARIO, ANASTASI, SARA, CALDWELL, DARWIN G, FIORINI, PAOLO and DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, 2022. FoReCast: Real-time Foveated Rendering and Unicasting for Immersive Remote Telepresence
  • TEFERA, YT, MAZZANTI, D, ANASTASI, S, CALDWELL, DG, FIORINI, P and DESHPANDE, N, 2022. A Perception-Driven Approach To Immersive Remote Telerobotics arXiv preprint arXiv:2210.05417.
  • NACERI, ABDELDJALLIL, MAZZANTI, DARIO, BIMBO, JOAO, TEFERA, YONAS T, PRATTICHIZZO, DOMENICO, CALDWELL, DARWIN G, MATTOS, LEONARDO S and DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, 2021. The vicarios virtual reality interface for remote robotic teleoperation: teleporting for intuitive tele-manipulation Journal of Intelligent & Robotic Systems. 101, 1-16
  • MATTOS, LEONARDO S, ACEMOGLU, ALPEREN, GERALDES, ANDRÉ, LABORAI, ANDREA, SCHOOB, ANDREAS, TAMADAZTE, BRAHIM, DAVIES, BRIAN, WACOGNE, BRUNO, PIERALLI, CHRISTIAN, BARBALATA, CORINA and OTHERS, 2021. $mu$RALP and beyond: Micro-technologies and systems for robot-assisted endoscopic laser microsurgery Frontiers in Robotics and AI. 8, 664655
  • BARRESI, GIACINTO, MARINELLI, ANDREA, CASERTA, GIULIA, DE ZAMBOTTI, MASSIMILIANO, TESSADORI, JACOPO, ANGIOLETTI, LAURA, BOCCARDO, NICOLÒ, FREDDOLINI, MARCO, MAZZANTI, DARIO, DESHPANDE, NIKHIL and OTHERS, 2021. Exploring the embodiment of a virtual hand in a spatially augmented respiratory biofeedback setting Frontiers in Neurorobotics. 15, 683653
  • KATYARA, SUNNY, DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, FICUCIELLO, FANNY, CHEN, FEI, SICILIANO, BRUNO and CALDWELL, DARWIN G, 2021. Fusing visuo-tactile perception into kernelized synergies for robust grasping and fine manipulation of non-rigid objects arXiv preprint arXiv:2109.07207.
  • KATYARA, SUNNY, DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, FICUCIELLO, FANNY, TENG, TAO, SICILIANO, BRUNO, CALDWELL, DARWIN G and CHEN, FEI, 2021. Formulating Intuitive Stack-of-Tasks using Visuo-Tactile Perception for Collaborative Human-Robot Fine Manipulation arXiv preprint arXiv:2103.05676.
  • LEE, JINOH, DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, CALDWELL, DARWIN G and MATTOS, LEONARDO S, 2020. Microscale precision control of a computer-assisted transoral laser microsurgery system IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics. 25(2), 604-615
  • ACEMOGLU, ALPEREN, PERETTI, GIORGIO, TRIMARCHI, MATTEO, HYSENBELLI, JULJANA, KRIEGLSTEIN, JAN, GERALDES, ANDRE, DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, CEYSENS, PIERRE MARIE VINCENT, CALDWELL, DARWIN GORDON, DELSANTO, MARCO and OTHERS, 2020. Operating from a distance: robotic vocal cord 5G telesurgery on a cadaver Annals of internal medicine. 173(11), 940-941
  • CHAUHAN, MANISH, DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, PACCHIEROTTI, CLAUDIO, MELI, LEONARDO, PRATTICHIZZO, DOMENICO, CALDWELL, DARWIN G and MATTOS, LEONARDO S, 2019. A robotic microsurgical forceps for transoral laser microsurgery International journal of computer assisted radiology and surgery. 14, 321-333
  • CHAUHAN, MANISH, DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, CALDWELL, DARWIN G and MATTOS, LEONARDO S, 2019. Design and modeling of a three-degree-of-freedom articulating robotic microsurgical forceps for trans-oral laser microsurgery Journal of Medical Devices. 13(2), 021006
  • ACEMOGLU, ALPEREN, DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, LEE, JINOH, CALDWELL, DARWIN G and MATTOS, LEONARDO S, 2019. The calm system: New generation computer-assisted laser microsurgery In: 2019 19th International Conference on Advanced Robotics (ICAR). 641-646
  • NACERI, ABDELDJALLIL, MAZZANTI, DARIO, BIMBO, JOAO, PRATTICHIZZO, DOMENICO, CALDWELL, DARWIN G, MATTOS, LEONARDO S and DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, 2019. Towards a virtual reality interface for remote robotic teleoperation In: 2019 19th International Conference on Advanced Robotics (ICAR). 284-289
  • SANI, MOHAMMAD FATTAHI, EMERY, BRENDAN, CALDWELL, DARWIN G, MATTOS, LEONARDO S and DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, 2019. Towards Sound-source Position Estimation using Mutual Information for Next Best View Motion Planning In: 2019 19th International Conference on Advanced Robotics (ICAR). 24-29
  • ACEMOGLU, ALPEREN, DESHPANDE, NIKHIL and MATTOS, LEONARDO S, 2018. Towards a magnetically-actuated laser scanner for endoscopic microsurgeries Journal of Medical Robotics Research. 3(02), 1840004
  • DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, PERETTI, GIORGIO, MORA, FRANCESCO, GUASTINI, LUCA, LEE, JINOH, BARRESI, GIACINTO, CALDWELL, DARWIN G and MATTOS, LEONARDO S, 2018. Design and study of a next-generation computer-assisted system for transoral laser microsurgery OTO open. 2(2), 2473974X18773327
  • SCHIATTI, LUCIA, TESSADORI, JACOPO, DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, BARRESI, GIACINTO, KING, LOUIS C and MATTOS, LEONARDO S, 2018. Human in the loop of robot learning: Eeg-based reward signal for target identification and reaching task In: 2018 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA). 4473-4480
  • DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, ORTIZ, JESÚS, SARAKOGLOU, IOANNIS, SEMINI, CLAUDIO, TSAGARAKIS, NIKOS, BRYGO, ANAIS, FERNANDEZ, JORGE, FRIGERIO, MARCO, SACCARES, LORENZO, TOXIRI, STEFANO and OTHERS, 2017. Next Generation Collaborative Robotic Systems for Industrial Safety and Health WIT Transactions on the Built Environment. 174(Safety and Security Engineering VII), 187-200
  • CHAUHAN, MANISH, DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, BARRESI, GIACINTO, PACCHIEROTTI, CLAUDIO, PRATTICHIZZO, DOMENICO, CALDWELL, DARWIN G and MATTOS, LEONARDO S, 2017. Design and control of a novel robotic microsurgical forceps for Transoral Laser Microsurgery In: 2017 IEEE International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics (AIM). 737-742
  • ACEMOGLU, A, DESHPANDE, N and MATTOS, LS, 2017. A Magnetic Laser Scanner for Non-Contact Endoscopic Ablations In: The Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics. 73
  • CHAUHAN, MANISH, BARRESI, GIACINTO, DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, CALDWELL, DARWIN G and MATTOS, LEONARDO S, 2016. Novel modular 2-DOF microsurgical forceps for transoral laser microsurgeries: Ergonomic design and preliminary evaluation In: 2016 38th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC). 5216-5219
  • DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, CHAUHAN, MANISH, PACCHIEROTTI, CLAUDIO, PRATTICHIZZO, DOMENICO, CALDWELL, DARWIN G and MATTOS, LEONARDO S, 2016. Robot-assisted microsurgical forceps with haptic feedback for transoral laser microsurgery In: 2016 38th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC). 5156-5159
  • DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, GRANT, EDWARD, HENDERSON, THOMAS C and DRAELOS, MARK T, 2016. Autonomous navigation using received signal strength and bearing-only pseudogradient interpolation Robotics and Autonomous Systems. 75, 129-144
  • CHAUHAN, MANISH, MATTOS, LEONARDO S, CALDWELL, DARWIN G and DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, 2016. Design and modeling of novel modular 2 DOF microsurgical forceps for transoral laser microsurgeries In: 2016 IEEE International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics (AIM). 1339-1344
  • MATTOS, LEONARDO S, PARDO, DIEGO, OLIVIERI, EMIDIO, BARRESI, GIACINTO, ORTIZ, JESUS, FICHERA, LORIS, DESHPANDE, NIKHIL and PENZA, VERONICA, 2015. Microsurgery systems The E-Medicine, E-Heath, M-Health, Telemedicine, and Telehealth Handbook. 2, 61-89
  • DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, MATTOS, LEONARDO S and CALDWELL, DARWIN G, 2015. New motorized micromanipulator for robot-assisted laser phonomicrosurgery In: 2015 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA). 4755-4760
  • DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, 2014. Student Member, IEEE, Edward Grant, Senior Member, IEEE, and Thomas C. Henderson, Fellow, IEEE. Target Localization and Autonomous Navigation Using Wireless Sensor Networks—A Pseudogradient Algorithm Approach IEEE systems journal. 5(8), 93-103
  • DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, GRANT, EDWARD, DRAELOS, MARK and HENDERSON, THOMAS C, 2014. Received signal strength based bearing-only robot navigation in a sensor network field In: 2014 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems. 4618-4623
  • DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, ORTIZ, JESÚS, CALDWELL, DARWIN G and MATTOS, LEONARDO S, 2014. Enhanced computer-assisted laser microsurgeries with a “virtual microscope” based surgical system In: 2014 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA). 4194-4199
  • GUASTINI, LUCA, MATOS, LEONARDO, DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, ORTIZ, JESUS, MORA, FRANCESCO and PERETTI, GIORGIO, 2014. Redesign of the Microsurgical Interface with a Novel, Computer-Assisted “Virtual Microscope” System in Laser Phonomicrosurgery Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery. 151(1_suppl), P76-P76
  • MATTOS, LEONARDO S, DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, BARRESI, GIACINTO, GUASTINI, LUCA and PERETTI, GIORGIO, 2014. A novel computerized surgeon-machine interface for robot-assisted laser phonomicrosurgery The Laryngoscope. 124(8), 1887-1894
  • BARRESI, GIACINTO, DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, MATTOS, LEONARDO S, BROGNI, ANDREA, GUASTINI, LUCA, PERETTI, GIORGIO and CALDWELL, DARWIN G, 2013. Comparative usability and performance evaluation of surgeon interfaces in laser phonomicrosurgery In: 2013 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems. 3610-3615
  • DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, GRANT, EDWARD and HENDERSON, THOMAS C, 2013. Target localization and autonomous navigation using wireless sensor networks—A pseudogradient algorithm approach IEEE Systems Journal. 8(1), 93-103
  • DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, MATTOS, LEONARDO S, BARRESI, GIACINTO, BROGNI, ANDREA, DAGNINO, GIULIO, GUASTINI, LUCA, PERETTI, GIORGIO and CALDWELL, DARWIN G, 2013. Imaging based metrics for performance assessment in laser phonomicrosurgery In: 2013 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation. 4850-4856
  • FICHERA, L, PARDO, D, DESHPANDE, N and MATTOS, LS, 2013. On-line estimation of ablation depth during co2-laser exposure In: Workshop on Cognitive Surgical Robotics, IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2013), 2013.
  • DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, ORTIZ, JESÚS, MATTOS, LEONARDO S and CALDWELL, DARWIN G, 2013. A''Virtual Microscope''Surgeon Interface in Computer-Assisted Laser Microsurgeries In: Proceedings of the 2014 International Conference on Robotics and Automation of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC).
  • BARRESI, GIACINTO, DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, MATTOS, LEONARDO S, GUASTINI, LUCA, PERETTI, GIORGIO and CALDWELL, DARWIN G, 2013. Usability and performance: comparative evaluation of surgeon interfaces in laser phonomicrosurgery In: 3rd Joint Workshop on New Technologies for Computer/Robot Assisted Surgery.
  • DESHPANDE, NIKHIL AJIT, 2012. Signal Strength Assisted Robot Navigation in a Sensor Network Field North Carolina State University.
  • HENDERSON, THOMAS C, COHEN, ELAINE, JOSHI, ANSHUL, GRANT, EDWARD, DRAELOS, MARK and DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, 2012. Symmetry as a basis for perceptual fusion In: 2012 IEEE International Conference on Multisensor Fusion and Integration for Intelligent Systems (MFI). 101-107
  • LUTHY, KYLE, GRANT, EDWARD, DESHPANDE, NIKHIL and HENDERSON, THOMAS C, 2012. Perimeter detection in wireless sensor networks Robotics and Autonomous Systems. 60(2), 266-277
  • HENDERSON, THOMAS C, PENG, HONGCHANG, DESHPANDE, NIKHIL and GRANT, EDWARD, 2012. The Role of Symmetry in Structural Bootstrapping Bridges between the Methodological and Practical Work of the Robotics and Cognitive Systems Communities-from Sensors to Concepts.
  • DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, GRANT, EDWARD and HENDERSON, THOMAS C, 2012. Target-directed navigation using wireless sensor networks and implicit surface interpolation In: 2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation. 457-462
  • DRAELOS, MARK, DESHPANDE, NIKHIL and GRANT, EDWARD, 2012. The Kinect up close: Adaptations for short-range imaging In: 2012 IEEE International Conference on Multisensor Fusion and Integration for Intelligent Systems (MFI). 251-256
  • ROAN, PHILIP, DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, WANG, YIZHOU and PITZER, BENJAMIN, 2012. Manipulator state estimation with low cost accelerometers and gyroscopes In: 2012 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems. 4822-4827
  • HENDERSON, TC, PENG, HONGCHANG, SIKORSKI, CHRISTOPHER, DESHPANDE, NIKHIL and GRANT, EDDIE, 2011. Symmetry: A Basis for Sensorimotor Reconstruction Technical Report UUCS-11-011.
  • HENDERSON, TC, PENG, H, SIKORSKI, K, DESHPANDE, N and GRANT, E, 2011. The cognitive symmetry engine: an active approach to knowledge In: Proceedings of the IROS 2011 workshop on knowledge representation for autonomous robots.
  • PENG, THOMAS C HENDERSON HONGCHANG, SIKORSKI, CHRISTOPHER, DESHPANDE, NIKHIL and GRANT, EDDIE, 2011. Symmetry: A Basis for Sensorimotor Reconstruction
  • DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, GRANT, EDWARD and HENDERSON, THOMAS C, 2010. Target localization in unknown environments using static wireless sensors and mobile robots IEEE MFI, Salt Lake City.
  • DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, GRANT, EDWARD and HENDERSON, THOMAS C, 2010. Experiments with a “pseudo-gradient” algorithm for target localization using wireless sensor networks In: 2010 IEEE Conference on Multisensor Fusion and Integration. 74-79
  • CHAUHAN, MANISH, DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, CALDWELL, DARWIN G and MATTOS, LEONARDO S, Design of robot assisted microsurgical forceps for Transoral Laser Microsurgery
  • CHAUHAN, MANISH, DESHPANDE, NIKHIL and MATTOS, LEONARDO S, Novel modular 2-DOF microsurgical forceps for Trans-oral Laser Microsurgeries
  • DESHPANDE, N, MATTOS, LS and CALDWELL, DG, Motorized 2-DOF Spherical Orienting Mechanism for Laser Micromanipulation in Trans-oral Laser Microsurgeries
  • BARRESI, GIACINTO, MATTOS, LEONARDO S, DESHPANDE, NIKHIL, BROGNI, ANDREA and CALDWELL, DARWIN G, Ergonomic Evaluation for Comparative Studies of Laser Phonomicrosurgery User Interfaces

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