Snake Robots for Surgical Applications: A Review

Although substantial advancements have been achieved in robot-assisted surgery, the blueprint to existing snake robotics predominantly focuses on the preliminary structural design, control, and human–robot interfaces, with features which have not been particularly explored in the literature. This paper aims to conduct a review of planning and operation concepts of hyper-redundant serpentine robots for surgical use, as well as any future challenges and solutions for better manipulation. Current researchers in the field of the manufacture and navigation of snake robots have faced issues, such as a low dexterity of the end-effectors around delicate organs, state estimation and the lack of depth perception on two-dimensional screens. A wide range of robots have been analysed, such as the i2Snake robot, inspiring the use of force and position feedback, visual servoing and augmented reality (AR). We present the types of actuation methods, robot kinematics, dynamics, sensing, and prospects of AR integration in snake robots, whilst addressing their shortcomings to facilitate the surgeon’s task. For a smoother gait control, validation and optimization algorithms such as deep learning databases are examined to mitigate redundancy in module linkage backlash and accidental self-collision. In essence, we aim to provide an outlook on robot configurations during motion by enhancing their material compositions within anatomical biocompatibility standards

Climbing and Walking Robots

Nowadays robotics is one of the most dynamic fields of scientific researches. The shift of robotics researches from manufacturing to services applications is clear. During the last decades interest in studying climbing and walking robots has been increased. This increasing interest has been in many areas that most important ones of them are: mechanics, electronics, medical engineering, cybernetics, controls, and computers. Today’s climbing and walking robots are a combination of manipulative, perceptive, communicative, and cognitive abilities and they are capable of performing many tasks in industrial and non- industrial environments. Surveillance, planetary exploration, emergence rescue operations, reconnaissance, petrochemical applications, construction, entertainment, personal services, intervention in severe environments, transportation, medical and etc are some applications from a very diverse application fields of climbing and walking robots. By great progress in this area of robotics it is anticipated that next generation climbing and walking robots will enhance lives and will change the way the human works, thinks and makes decisions. This book presents the state of the art achievments, recent developments, applications and future challenges of climbing and walking robots. These are presented in 24 chapters by authors throughtot the world The book serves as a reference especially for the researchers who are interested in mobile robots. It also is useful for industrial engineers and graduate students in advanced study

Proceedings of the ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Multibody Dynamics 2015

This volume contains the full papers accepted for presentation at the ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Multibody Dynamics 2015 held in the Barcelona School of Industrial Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, on June 29 - July 2, 2015. The ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Multibody Dynamics is an international meeting held once every two years in a European country. Continuing the very successful series of past conferences that have been organized in Lisbon (2003), Madrid (2005), Milan (2007), Warsaw (2009), Brussels (2011) and Zagreb (2013); this edition will once again serve as a meeting point for the international researchers, scientists and experts from academia, research laboratories and industry working in the area of multibody dynamics. Applications are related to many fields of contemporary engineering, such as vehicle and railway systems, aeronautical and space vehicles, robotic manipulators, mechatronic and autonomous systems, smart structures, biomechanical systems and nanotechnologies. The topics of the conference include, but are not restricted to: ● Formulations and Numerical Methods ● Efficient Methods and Real-Time Applications ● Flexible Multibody Dynamics ● Contact Dynamics and Constraints ● Multiphysics and Coupled Problems ● Control and Optimization ● Software Development and Computer Technology ● Aerospace and Maritime Applications ● Biomechanics ● Railroad Vehicle Dynamics ● Road Vehicle Dynamics ● Robotics ● Benchmark ProblemsPostprint (published version

Novel Approaches for Structural Health Monitoring

The thirty-plus years of progress in the field of structural health monitoring (SHM) have left a paramount impact on our everyday lives. Be it for the monitoring of fixed- and rotary-wing aircrafts, for the preservation of the cultural and architectural heritage, or for the predictive maintenance of long-span bridges or wind farms, SHM has shaped the framework of many engineering fields. Given the current state of quantitative and principled methodologies, it is nowadays possible to rapidly and consistently evaluate the structural safety of industrial machines, modern concrete buildings, historical masonry complexes, etc., to test their capability and to serve their intended purpose. However, old unsolved problematics as well as new challenges exist. Furthermore, unprecedented conditions, such as stricter safety requirements and ageing civil infrastructure, pose new challenges for confrontation. Therefore, this Special Issue gathers the main contributions of academics and practitioners in civil, aerospace, and mechanical engineering to provide a common ground for structural health monitoring in dealing with old and new aspects of this ever-growing research field

Volume II: Mining Innovation

Contemporary exploitation of natural raw materials by borehole, opencast, underground, seabed, and anthropogenic deposits is closely related to, among others, geomechanics, automation, computer science, and numerical methods. More and more often, individual fields of science coexist and complement each other, contributing to lowering exploitation costs, increasing production, and reduction of the time needed to prepare and exploit the deposit. The continuous development of national economies is related to the increasing demand for energy, metal, rock, and chemical resources. Very often, exploitation is carried out in complex geological and mining conditions, which are accompanied by natural hazards such as rock bursts, methane, coal dust explosion, spontaneous combustion, water, gas, and temperature. In order to conduct a safe and economically justified operation, modern construction materials are being used more and more often in mining to support excavations, both under static and dynamic loads. The individual production stages are supported by specialized computer programs for cutting the deposit as well as for modeling the behavior of the rock mass after excavation in it. Currently, the automation and monitoring of the mining works play a very important role, which will significantly contribute to the improvement of safety conditions. In this Special Issue of Energies, we focus on innovative laboratory, numerical, and industrial research that has a positive impact on the development of safety and exploitation in mining

Multibody dynamics 2015

This volume contains the full papers accepted for presentation at the ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Multibody Dynamics 2015 held in the Barcelona School of Industrial Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, on June 29 - July 2, 2015. The ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Multibody Dynamics is an international meeting held once every two years in a European country. Continuing the very successful series of past conferences that have been organized in Lisbon (2003), Madrid (2005), Milan (2007), Warsaw (2009), Brussels (2011) and Zagreb (2013); this edition will once again serve as a meeting point for the international researchers, scientists and experts from academia, research laboratories and industry working in the area of multibody dynamics. Applications are related to many fields of contemporary engineering, such as vehicle and railway systems, aeronautical and space vehicles, robotic manipulators, mechatronic and autonomous systems, smart structures, biomechanical systems and nanotechnologies. The topics of the conference include, but are not restricted to: Formulations and Numerical Methods, Efficient Methods and Real-Time Applications, Flexible Multibody Dynamics, Contact Dynamics and Constraints, Multiphysics and Coupled Problems, Control and Optimization, Software Development and Computer Technology, Aerospace and Maritime Applications, Biomechanics, Railroad Vehicle Dynamics, Road Vehicle Dynamics, Robotics, Benchmark Problems. The conference is organized by the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) in Barcelona. The organizers would like to thank the authors for submitting their contributions, the keynote lecturers for accepting the invitation and for the quality of their talks, the awards and scientific committees for their support to the organization of the conference, and finally the topic organizers for reviewing all extended abstracts and selecting the awards nominees.Postprint (published version

Design and manufacture of a universal mechanical human joint simulator

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University London.The work performed in this thesis involves the study of human hip joint kinematics and load analysis. Such analyses are very useful for investigating mobility and natural functionality as well as the variation in motion due to replacement implants. The objective of this study is to design, build and testing of a universal human joint simulator that is configurable to hold several human joints and easily programmable to create the required motion. This was performed by creating a Stewart Platform, which is capable of moving in all six degrees of freedom; the maximum number needed by any human joint. Many specific human joint simulators are available on the market for simulating all major human limbs. These are used for wear testing replacement joints by using high load repetitive motion. These systems have a predetermined limit degree of movement and are very expensive; if one wanted to emulate another joint, one would have to purchase a whole new system. This novel system compromises of a three-phase power supply, Control Area Network with six actuators and drivers, a force reading clamp with strain gauges and data logger. A user friendly computer program was developed that is able to derive joint movement data from two inputs and replicating the movement by driving the platform, as well as recording force and displacement data from the joint. The product would be marketed towards biomechanical researchers and implant designers. Verification of this system was performed by simulating the human hip joint. A known combination of kinematic and force data were inputted into the system for nine different types of activities. The resultant force and joint centre displacement was then compared to see how well the system perform in comparison to the inputted data from a previous study. The outcome of this project is a fully functional machine and configurable program that can create movement data at varying speeds and body weights; which is also able to drive the human joint simulator. The design also costs a fraction of any industrial joint simulator. It is hoped that the simulator will allow easier study of both the kinematics and load analysis within the human joints, with the intent on aiding investigation into mobility and functionality; as well as variation in motion caused by a replacement implant

Technology 2002: The Third National Technology Transfer Conference and Exposition, volume 2

Proceedings from symposia of the Technology 2002 Conference and Exposition, December 1-3, 1992, Baltimore, MD. Volume 2 features 60 papers presented during 30 concurrent sessions

Proceedings of the NASA Conference on Space Telerobotics, volume 4

Papers presented at the NASA Conference on Space Telerobotics are compiled. The theme of the conference was man-machine collaboration in space. The conference provided a forum for researchers and engineers to exchange ideas on the research and development required for the application of telerobotic technology to the space systems planned for the 1990's and beyond. Volume 4 contains papers related to the following subject areas: manipulator control; telemanipulation; flight experiments (systems and simulators); sensor-based planning; robot kinematics, dynamics, and control; robot task planning and assembly; and research activities at the NASA Langley Research Center

A novel cross-validated nondestructive evaluation framework for damage detection using acoustic emission

Developing Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) techniques for monitoring and evaluation in civil, mechanical and aerospace applications has a direct impact on public safety, primarily because it is related to reduced downtime and life extension of critical aging components and structures. Such trends are further fueled by the observed shift in modern inspection from "time-based" to "condition-based" maintenance approaches, which promise targeted evaluations when and exactly where they are needed. In this context, the objective of this dissertation is to develop a novel cross-validated framework of using acoustics-based methods for non-destructive testing & evaluation (NDT&E) with the ultimate goal to improve infrastructure condition assessment related primarily to the aerospace industry. This framework is called cross-validated as the primary NDT method of interest, the Acoustic Emission (AE) method, is used in conjunction with several other NDT methods including Guided Ultrasonic Waves (GUW), Digital Image Correlation (DIC) and Infrared Thermography (IRT). The proposed work is built therefore upon the idea of implementing a multimodal NDE approach including both novel hardware integration and data processing techniques that can mitigate existing challenges in reliably using AE in SHM applications. The advantage of designing reliable damage detectors is realized by integrating acoustic features with heterogeneous features that can provide complementary information on the initiation and development of damage. Several demonstrations in static and dynamic conditions of the proposed framework ranging from fundamental plasticity investigations to applied structural analysis are described to demonstrate the efficacy of the novel approach.Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics -- Drexel University, 201