14,268 research outputs found
Quick-cast: A method for fast and precise scalable production of fluid-driven elastomeric soft actuators
Fluid-driven elastomeric actuators (FEAs) are among the most popular
actuators in the emerging field of soft robotics. Intrinsically compliant, with
continuum of motion, large strokes, little friction, and high power-to-weight
ratio, they are very similar to biological muscles, and have enabled new
applications in automation, architecture, medicine, and human-robot
interaction. To foster future applications of FEAs, in this paper we present a
new manufacturing method for fast and precise scalable production of complex
FEAs of high quality (leak-free, single-body form, with <0.2 mm precision). The
method is based on 3d moulding and supports elastomers with a wide range of
viscosity, pot life, and Young's modulus. We developed this process for two
different settings: one in laboratory conditions for fast prototyping with 3d
printed moulds and using multi-component liquid elastomers, and the other
process in an industrial setting with 3d moulds micromachined in metal and
applying compression moulding. We demonstrate these methods in fabrication of
up to several tens of two-axis, three-chambered soft actuators, with two types
of chamber walls: cylindrical and corrugated. The actuators are then applied as
motion drivers in kinetic photovoltaic building envelopes
Micro-manufacturing : research, technology outcomes and development issues
Besides continuing effort in developing MEMS-based manufacturing techniques, latest effort in Micro-manufacturing is also in Non-MEMS-based manufacturing. Research and technological development (RTD) in this field is encouraged by the increased demand on micro-components as well as promised development in the scaling down of the traditional macro-manufacturing processes for micro-length-scale manufacturing. This paper highlights some EU funded research activities in micro/nano-manufacturing, and gives examples of the latest development in micro-manufacturing methods/techniques, process chains, hybrid-processes, manufacturing equipment and supporting technologies/device, etc., which is followed by a summary of the achievements of the EU MASMICRO project. Finally, concluding remarks are given, which raise several issues concerning further development in micro-manufacturing
A Multi-Robot Cooperation Framework for Sewing Personalized Stent Grafts
This paper presents a multi-robot system for manufacturing personalized
medical stent grafts. The proposed system adopts a modular design, which
includes: a (personalized) mandrel module, a bimanual sewing module, and a
vision module. The mandrel module incorporates the personalized geometry of
patients, while the bimanual sewing module adopts a learning-by-demonstration
approach to transfer human hand-sewing skills to the robots. The human
demonstrations were firstly observed by the vision module and then encoded
using a statistical model to generate the reference motion trajectories. During
autonomous robot sewing, the vision module plays the role of coordinating
multi-robot collaboration. Experiment results show that the robots can adapt to
generalized stent designs. The proposed system can also be used for other
manipulation tasks, especially for flexible production of customized products
and where bimanual or multi-robot cooperation is required.Comment: 10 pages, 12 figures, accepted by IEEE Transactions on Industrial
Informatics, Key words: modularity, medical device customization, multi-robot
system, robot learning, visual servoing, robot sewin
A Multi-Robot Cooperation Framework for Sewing Personalized Stent Grafts
This paper presents a multi-robot system for manufacturing personalized
medical stent grafts. The proposed system adopts a modular design, which
includes: a (personalized) mandrel module, a bimanual sewing module, and a
vision module. The mandrel module incorporates the personalized geometry of
patients, while the bimanual sewing module adopts a learning-by-demonstration
approach to transfer human hand-sewing skills to the robots. The human
demonstrations were firstly observed by the vision module and then encoded
using a statistical model to generate the reference motion trajectories. During
autonomous robot sewing, the vision module plays the role of coordinating
multi-robot collaboration. Experiment results show that the robots can adapt to
generalized stent designs. The proposed system can also be used for other
manipulation tasks, especially for flexible production of customized products
and where bimanual or multi-robot cooperation is required.Comment: 10 pages, 12 figures, accepted by IEEE Transactions on Industrial
Informatics, Key words: modularity, medical device customization, multi-robot
system, robot learning, visual servoing, robot sewin
Nonterrestrial utilization of materials: Automated space manufacturing facility
Four areas related to the nonterrestrial use of materials are included: (1) material resources needed for feedstock in an orbital manufacturing facility, (2) required initial components of a nonterrestrial manufacturing facility, (3) growth and productive capability of such a facility, and (4) automation and robotics requirements of the facility
Computational intelligence approaches to robotics, automation, and control [Volume guest editors]
No abstract available
Development of system supervision and control software for a micromanipulation system
This paper presents the realization of a modular software architecture that is capable of handling the complex supervision structure of a multi degree of freedom open architecture and reconfigurable micro assembly workstation. This software architecture initially developed for a micro assembly workstation is later structured to form a framework and design guidelines for precise motion control and system supervision tasks explained subsequently through an application on a micro assembly workstation. The software is separated by design into two different layers, one for real-time and the other for non-realtime. These two layers are composed of functional modules that form the building blocks for the precise motion control and the system supervision of complex mechatronics systems
Benchmarking Cerebellar Control
Cerebellar models have long been advocated as viable models
for robot dynamics control. Building on an increasing insight
in and knowledge of the biological cerebellum, many models have been
greatly refined, of which some computational models have emerged
with useful properties with respect to robot dynamics control.
Looking at the application side, however, there is a totally different
picture. Not only is there not one robot on the market which uses
anything remotely connected with cerebellar control, but even in
research labs most testbeds for cerebellar models are restricted to
toy problems. Such applications hardly ever exceed the complexity of
a 2 DoF simulated robot arm; a task which is hardly representative for
the field of robotics, or relates to realistic applications.
In order to bring the amalgamation of the two fields forwards, we
advocate the use of a set of robotics benchmarks, on which existing
and new computational cerebellar models can be comparatively tested.
It is clear that the traditional approach to solve robotics dynamics
loses ground with the advancing complexity of robotic structures;
there is a desire for adaptive methods which can compete as traditional
control methods do for traditional robots.
In this paper we try to lay down the successes and problems in the
fields of cerebellar modelling as well as robot dynamics control.
By analyzing the common ground, a set of benchmarks is suggested
which may serve as typical robot applications for cerebellar models
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