Development of a Two-Wheel Inverted Pendulum and a Cable Climbing Robot

The research work in this thesis constitutes two parts: one is the development and control of a Two-wheel inverted pendulum (TWIP) robot and the other is the design and manufacturing of a cable climbing robot (CCR) for suspension bridge inspection. The first part of this research investigates a sliding mode controller for self-balancing and stabilizing a two-wheel inverted pendulum (TWIP) robot. The TWIP robot is constructed by using two DC gear motors with a high-resolution encoder and zero backlashes, but with friction. It is a highly nonlinear and unstable system, which poses challenges for controller design. In this study, a dynamic mathematical model is built using the Lagrangian function method. And a sliding mode controller (SMC) is proposed for auto-balancing and yaw rotation. A gyro and an accelerometer are adopted to measure the pitch angle and pitch rate. The effect on the sensor’s installation location is analyzed and compensated, and the precision of the pose estimation is improved accordingly. A comparison of the proposed SMC controller with a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller and state feedback controller (SFC) with linear quadratic regulation (LQR) has been conducted. The simulation and experimental test results demonstrate the SMC controller outperforms the PID controller and SFC in terms of transient performance and disturbance rejection ability. In the second part of the research, a wheel-based cable climbing robotic system which can climb up and down the cylindrical cables for the inspection of the suspension bridges is designed and manufactured. Firstly, a rubber track climbing mechanism is designed to generate enough adhesion force for the robot to stick to the surface of a cable and the driving force for the robot to climb up and down the cable, while not too big to damage the cable. The climbing system includes chains and sprockets driven by the DC motors and adhesion system. The unique design of the adhesion mechanism lies in that it can maintain the adhesion force even when the power is lost while the system works as a suspension mechanism. Finally, a safe-landing mechanism is developed to guarantee the safety of the robot during inspection operations on cables. The robot has been fully tested in the inspection of Xili bridge, Guangzhou, P.R. China

Proceedings of the Scientific-Practical Conference "Research and Development - 2016"

talent management; sensor arrays; automatic speech recognition; dry separation technology; oil production; oil waste; laser technolog

Proceedings of the Scientific-Practical Conference "Research and Development - 2016"

talent management; sensor arrays; automatic speech recognition; dry separation technology; oil production; oil waste; laser technolog

Shortest Route at Dynamic Location with Node Combination-Dijkstra Algorithm

Abstract— Online transportation has become a basic requirement of the general public in support of all activities to go to work, school or vacation to the sights. Public transportation services compete to provide the best service so that consumers feel comfortable using the services offered, so that all activities are noticed, one of them is the search for the shortest route in picking the buyer or delivering to the destination. Node Combination method can minimize memory usage and this methode is more optimal when compared to A* and Ant Colony in the shortest route search like Dijkstra algorithm, but can’t store the history node that has been passed. Therefore, using node combination algorithm is very good in searching the shortest distance is not the shortest route. This paper is structured to modify the node combination algorithm to solve the problem of finding the shortest route at the dynamic location obtained from the transport fleet by displaying the nodes that have the shortest distance and will be implemented in the geographic information system in the form of map to facilitate the use of the system. Keywords— Shortest Path, Algorithm Dijkstra, Node Combination, Dynamic Location (key words

Maritime expressions:a corpus based exploration of maritime metaphors

This study uses a purpose-built corpus to explore the linguistic legacy of Britain’s maritime history found in the form of hundreds of specialised ‘Maritime Expressions’ (MEs), such as TAKEN ABACK, ANCHOR and ALOOF, that permeate modern English. Selecting just those expressions commencing with ’A’, it analyses 61 MEs in detail and describes the processes by which these technical expressions, from a highly specialised occupational discourse community, have made their way into modern English. The Maritime Text Corpus (MTC) comprises 8.8 million words, encompassing a range of text types and registers, selected to provide a cross-section of ‘maritime’ writing. It is analysed using WordSmith analytical software (Scott, 2010), with the 100 million-word British National Corpus (BNC) as a reference corpus. Using the MTC, a list of keywords of specific salience within the maritime discourse has been compiled and, using frequency data, concordances and collocations, these MEs are described in detail and their use and form in the MTC and the BNC is compared. The study examines the transformation from ME to figurative use in the general discourse, in terms of form and metaphoricity. MEs are classified according to their metaphorical strength and their transference from maritime usage into new registers and domains such as those of business, politics, sports and reportage etc. A revised model of metaphoricity is developed and a new category of figurative expression, the ‘resonator’, is proposed. Additionally, developing the work of Lakov and Johnson, Kovesces and others on Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), a number of Maritime Conceptual Metaphors are identified and their cultural significance is discussed