Humanoid Robots

For many years, the human being has been trying, in all ways, to recreate the complex mechanisms that form the human body. Such task is extremely complicated and the results are not totally satisfactory. However, with increasing technological advances based on theoretical and experimental researches, man gets, in a way, to copy or to imitate some systems of the human body. These researches not only intended to create humanoid robots, great part of them constituting autonomous systems, but also, in some way, to offer a higher knowledge of the systems that form the human body, objectifying possible applications in the technology of rehabilitation of human beings, gathering in a whole studies related not only to Robotics, but also to Biomechanics, Biomimmetics, Cybernetics, among other areas. This book presents a series of researches inspired by this ideal, carried through by various researchers worldwide, looking for to analyze and to discuss diverse subjects related to humanoid robots. The presented contributions explore aspects about robotic hands, learning, language, vision and locomotion

Aeronautical Engineering: a Continuing Bibliography with Indexes (Supplement 243)

This bibliography lists 423 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in August 1989. Subject coverage includes: design, construction and testing of aircraft and aircraft engines; aircraft components, equipment and systems; ground support systems; and theoretical and applied aspects of aerodynamics and general fluid dynamics

Finger Movement Discrimination Of EMG Signals Towards Improved Prosthetic Control Using TFD

Prosthetic is an artificially made as a substitute or replacement for missing part of a body. The function of the missing body part can be replaced by using the prosthesis and it can help disabled people do their activities easily. A myoelectric control system is a fundamental part of modern prostheses. The electromyogram (EMG) signals are used in this system to control the prosthesis movements by taking it from a person's muscle. The problem for the myoelectric control system is when it did not receive the same attention to control fingers due to more dexterous of individual and combined finger control in a signal. Thus, a method to solve the problem of the myoelectric control system by using time-frequency distribution (TFD) is proposed in this paper. The EMG features of the individual and combine finger movements for ten subjects and ten different movements is extracted using TFD, ie. spectrogram. Three machine learning algorithms which are Support Vector Machine (SVM), k-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) and Ensemble Classifier are then used to classify the individuals and combine finger movement based on the extracted EMG feature from the spectrogram. The performance of the proposed method is then verified using classification accuracy. Based on the results, the overall accuracy for the classification is 90% (SVM), 100% (KNN) and 100% (Ensemble Classifier), respectively. The finding of the study could serve as an insight to improve the conventional prosthetic control strategies

Control of large-scale structures with large uncertainties

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2011.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 279-300).Performance-based design is a design approach that satisfies motion constraints as its primary goal, and then verifies for strength. The approach is traditionally executed by appropriately sizing stiffnesses, but recently, passive energy dissipation systems have gained popularity. Semi-active and active energy dissipation systems have been shown to outperform purely passive systems, but they are not yet widely accepted in the construction and structural engineering fields. Several factors are impeding the application of semi-active and active damping systems, such as large modeling uncertainties that are inherent to large-scale structures, limited state measurements, lack of mechanically reliable control devices, large power requirements, and the need for robust controllers. In order to enhance acceptability of feedback control systems to civil structures, an integrated control strategy designed for large-scale structures with large parametric uncertainties is proposed. The control strategy comprises a novel controller, as well as a new semi-active mechanical damping device. Specifically, the controller is an adaptive black-box representation that creates and optimizes control laws sequentially during an excitation, with no prior training. The novel feature is its online organization of the input space. The representation only requires limited observations for constructing an efficient representation, which allows control of unknown systems with limited state measurements. The semi-active mechanical device consists of a friction device inspired by a vehicle drum brakes, with a viscous and a stiffness element installed in parallel. Its unique characteristic is its theoretical damping force reaching the order of 100 kN, using a friction mechanism powered with a single 12-volts battery. It is conceived using mechanically reliable technologies, which is a solution to large power requirement and mechanical robustness. The integrated control system is simulated on an existing structure located in Boston, MA, as a replacement to the existing viscous damping system. Simulation results show that the integrated control system can mitigate wind vibrations as well as the current damping strategy, utilizing only one third of devices. In addition, the system created effective control rules for several types of earthquake excitations with no prior training, performing similarly to an optimal controller using full parametric and state knowledge.by Simon Laflamme.Ph.D

Aeronautical engineering: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 292)

This bibliography lists 675 reports, articles, and other documents recently introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system database. Subject coverage includes the following: design, construction and testing of aircraft and aircraft engines; aircraft components, equipment, and systems; ground support systems; and theoretical and applied aspects of aerodynamics and general fluid dynamics

Measurements, Models, Systems and Design

531 s.

Aeronautical engineering: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 277)

This bibliography lists 467 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in Mar. 1992. Subject coverage includes: the engineering and theoretical aspects of design, construction, evaluation, testing, operation, and performance of aircraft (including aircraft engines); and associated aircraft components, equipment, and systems. It also includes research and development in ground support systems, theoretical and applied aspects of aerodynamics, and general fluid dynamics

Aeronautical engineering: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 254)

This bibliography lists 538 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in June 1990. Subject coverage includes: design, construction and testing of aircraft and aircraft engines; aircraft components, equipment and systems; ground support systems; and theoretical and applied aspects of aerodynamics and general fluid dynamics

Европейский и национальный контексты в научных исследованиях

Tом 3. Predstavleny trudy molodyh uchenyh po estestvennym i tochnym naukam, tehnicheskim i prikladnym naukam. = Т.3. Представлены труды молодых ученых по естественным и точным наукам, техническим и прикладным наукам

Aeronautical engineering: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 275)

This bibliography lists 379 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in Jan. 1991