Rapid and continuous regulating adhesion strength by mechanical micro-vibration

Controlled tuning of interface adhesion is crucial to a broad range of applications, such as space technology, micro-fabrication, flexible electronics, robotics, and bio-integrated devices. Here, we show a robust and predictable method to continuously regulate interface adhesion by exciting the mechanical micro-vibration in the adhesive system perpendicular to the contact plane. An analytic model reveals the underlying mechanism of adhesion hysteresis and dynamic instability. For a typical PDMS-glass adhesion system, the apparent adhesion strength can be enhanced by 77 times or weakened to 0. Notably, the resulting adhesion switching timescale is comparable to that of geckos (15 ms), and such rapid adhesion switching can be repeated for more than 2×10^7 vibration cycles without any noticeable degradation in the adhesion performance. Our method is independent of surface microstructures and does not require a preload, representing a simple and practical way to design and control surface adhesion in relevant applications

Design and Development of Climbing Robotic Systems for Automated Inspection of Steel Structures and Bridges

Steel structures are indispensable parts of modern civilization, with typical civil infrastructures including bridges, wind turbines, electric towers, oil rigs, ships, and submarines, all made of steel. These structures require frequent maintenance to ensure safety and longevity. Steel bridges are the most challenging architectures due totheir complexity and height. Most inspections are conducted manually by professional human inspectors with special devices to inspect visible damages and defects on or inside these structures. However, this procedure is usually highly time-consuming, costly, and risky. Automated solutions are desired to address this problem. However, arduous engineering is delaying progress. A complete system needs to deal with three main problems: (1) locomotive performance for the high complexity of steel bridges, including differential curvatures, transitions between beams, and obstacles; (2) data collection capability, inclusive of visible and invisible damages, in-depth information such as vibration, coat, and material thickness, etc.; and (3) working conditions made up of gust winds. To achieve such a complete system, this dissertation presents novel developments of inspection-climbing robots. Five different robot versions are designed to find the simplest and most effective configuration as well as control manner. Our approach started with (1) a transformable tank-like robot integrated with a haptic device and ii two natural-inspired locomotion, (2) a roller chain-like robot, (3) a hybrid worming mobile robot, (4) a multi-directional bicycle robot, and (5) an omni-directional climbing Robot, identified as the most potential solution for automated steel bridge inspection. For each robotic development, detailed mechanical analysis frameworks are presented. Both lab tests and field deployments of these robotic systems have been conducted to validate the proposed designs

Development of a Chain Climbing Robot and an Automated Ultrasound Inspection System for Mooring Chain Integrity Assessment

Mooring chains used to stabilise offshore floating platforms are often subjected to harsh environmental conditions on a daily basis, i.e. high tidal waves, storms etc. Chain breakage can lead to vessel drift and serious damage such as riser rupture, production shutdown and hydrocarbon release. Therefore, integrity assessment of chain links is vital, and regular inspection is mandatory for offshore structures. Currently, structural health monitoring of chain links is conducted using either remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), which are associated with high costs, or by manual means, which increases the risk to human operators. The development of climbing robots for mooring chain applications is still in its infancy due to the operational complexity and geometrical features of the chain. This thesis presents a Cartesian legged magnetic adhesion tracked-wheel crawler robot developed for mooring chain inspection. The crawler robot presented in this study is suitable for mooring chain climbing in air and the technique can be adapted for underwater use. The proposed robot addresses straight mooring chain climbing and a misaligned scenario that is commonly evident in in-situ conditions. The robot can be used as a platform to convey equipment, i.e. tools for non-destructive testing/evaluation applications. The application of ultrasound for in-service mooring chain inspection is still in the early stages due to lack of accessibility, in-field operational complexity and the geometrical features of mooring systems. With the advancement of robotic/automated systems (i.e. chain-climbing robotic mechanisms), interest in in-situ ultrasound inspection has increased. Currently, ultrasound inspection is confined to the weld area of the chain links. However, according to recent studies on fatigue and residual stresses, ultrasound inspection of the chain crown should be further investigated. A new automated application for ultrasonic phased-array full-matrix capture is discussed in this thesis for investigation of the chain crown. The concept of the chain-climbing robot and the inspection technique are validated with laboratory-based climbing experiments and presented in this thesis

Mechatronic Systems

Mechatronics, the synergistic blend of mechanics, electronics, and computer science, has evolved over the past twenty five years, leading to a novel stage of engineering design. By integrating the best design practices with the most advanced technologies, mechatronics aims at realizing high-quality products, guaranteeing at the same time a substantial reduction of time and costs of manufacturing. Mechatronic systems are manifold and range from machine components, motion generators, and power producing machines to more complex devices, such as robotic systems and transportation vehicles. With its twenty chapters, which collect contributions from many researchers worldwide, this book provides an excellent survey of recent work in the field of mechatronics with applications in various fields, like robotics, medical and assistive technology, human-machine interaction, unmanned vehicles, manufacturing, and education. We would like to thank all the authors who have invested a great deal of time to write such interesting chapters, which we are sure will be valuable to the readers. Chapters 1 to 6 deal with applications of mechatronics for the development of robotic systems. Medical and assistive technologies and human-machine interaction systems are the topic of chapters 7 to 13.Chapters 14 and 15 concern mechatronic systems for autonomous vehicles. Chapters 16-19 deal with mechatronics in manufacturing contexts. Chapter 20 concludes the book, describing a method for the installation of mechatronics education in schools

Overcoming barriers and increasing independence: service robots for elderly and disabled people

This paper discusses the potential for service robots to overcome barriers and increase independence of elderly and disabled people. It includes a brief overview of the existing uses of service robots by disabled and elderly people and advances in technology which will make new uses possible and provides suggestions for some of these new applications. The paper also considers the design and other conditions to be met for user acceptance. It also discusses the complementarity of assistive service robots and personal assistance and considers the types of applications and users for which service robots are and are not suitable

Characterisation of a nuclear cave environment utilising an autonomous swarm of heterogeneous robots

As nuclear facilities come to the end of their operational lifetime, safe decommissioning becomes a more prevalent issue. In many such facilities there exist ‘nuclear caves’. These caves constitute areas that may have been entered infrequently, or even not at all, since the construction of the facility. Due to this, the topography and nature of the contents of these nuclear caves may be unknown in a number of critical aspects, such as the location of dangerous substances or significant physical blockages to movement around the cave. In order to aid safe decommissioning, autonomous robotic systems capable of characterising nuclear cave environments are desired. The research put forward in this thesis seeks to answer the question: is it possible to utilise a heterogeneous swarm of autonomous robots for the remote characterisation of a nuclear cave environment? This is achieved through examination of the three key components comprising a heterogeneous swarm: sensing, locomotion and control. It will be shown that a heterogeneous swarm is not only capable of performing this task, it is preferable to a homogeneous swarm. This is due to the increased sensory and locomotive capabilities, coupled with more efficient explorational prowess when compared to a homogeneous swarm

Bio-Inspired Robotics

Modern robotic technologies have enabled robots to operate in a variety of unstructured and dynamically-changing environments, in addition to traditional structured environments. Robots have, thus, become an important element in our everyday lives. One key approach to develop such intelligent and autonomous robots is to draw inspiration from biological systems. Biological structure, mechanisms, and underlying principles have the potential to provide new ideas to support the improvement of conventional robotic designs and control. Such biological principles usually originate from animal or even plant models, for robots, which can sense, think, walk, swim, crawl, jump or even fly. Thus, it is believed that these bio-inspired methods are becoming increasingly important in the face of complex applications. Bio-inspired robotics is leading to the study of innovative structures and computing with sensory–motor coordination and learning to achieve intelligence, flexibility, stability, and adaptation for emergent robotic applications, such as manipulation, learning, and control. This Special Issue invites original papers of innovative ideas and concepts, new discoveries and improvements, and novel applications and business models relevant to the selected topics of ``Bio-Inspired Robotics''. Bio-Inspired Robotics is a broad topic and an ongoing expanding field. This Special Issue collates 30 papers that address some of the important challenges and opportunities in this broad and expanding field

Volume 3 – Conference

We are pleased to present the conference proceedings for the 12th edition of the International Fluid Power Conference (IFK). The IFK is one of the world’s most significant scientific conferences on fluid power control technology and systems. It offers a common platform for the presentation and discussion of trends and innovations to manufacturers, users and scientists. The Chair of Fluid-Mechatronic Systems at the TU Dresden is organizing and hosting the IFK for the sixth time. Supporting hosts are the Fluid Power Association of the German Engineering Federation (VDMA), Dresdner Verein zur Förderung der Fluidtechnik e. V. (DVF) and GWT-TUD GmbH. The organization and the conference location alternates every two years between the Chair of Fluid-Mechatronic Systems in Dresden and the Institute for Fluid Power Drives and Systems in Aachen. The symposium on the first day is dedicated to presentations focused on methodology and fundamental research. The two following conference days offer a wide variety of application and technology orientated papers about the latest state of the art in fluid power. It is this combination that makes the IFK a unique and excellent forum for the exchange of academic research and industrial application experience. A simultaneously ongoing exhibition offers the possibility to get product information and to have individual talks with manufacturers. The theme of the 12th IFK is “Fluid Power – Future Technology”, covering topics that enable the development of 5G-ready, cost-efficient and demand-driven structures, as well as individual decentralized drives. Another topic is the real-time data exchange that allows the application of numerous predictive maintenance strategies, which will significantly increase the availability of fluid power systems and their elements and ensure their improved lifetime performance. We create an atmosphere for casual exchange by offering a vast frame and cultural program. This includes a get-together, a conference banquet, laboratory festivities and some physical activities such as jogging in Dresden’s old town.:Group 8: Pneumatics Group 9 | 11: Mobile applications Group 10: Special domains Group 12: Novel system architectures Group 13 | 15: Actuators & sensors Group 14: Safety & reliabilit

Aeronautical Engineering: A continuing bibliography with indexes

This bibliography lists 725 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in April 1985

Spinoff, 1990

This publication is intended to foster the aim of the NASA Technology Utilization Program by heightening awareness of the NASA technology available for transfer and its potential for benefits realized by secondary applications. Spinoff 1990 is organized in three main sections. Section 1 outlines NASA's mainline effort, the major programs that generate new technology and therefore replenish and expand the bank of knowledge available for transfer. Section 2 contains a representative sampling of spinoff products that resulted from secondary application of technology originally developed to meet mainline goals. Section 3 describes the various mechanisms NASA employs to stimulate technology transfer and lists, in an appendix, contact sources for further information about the Technology Utilization Program