21,357 research outputs found
Fabrication and characterization of nanostructured fluorine doped tin oxide thin film for dssc by hydrothermal method
Nanostructured Fluorine Doped Tin Oxide (FTO) thin film has been
successfully synthesized on top of bare FTO layer substrates using hydrothermal
method. The performance of FTO thin film including conductivity and transparency
depend on the surface morphology and the properties of the material. Hydrothermal
method has proven to be a very good method for the fabrication of novel metal
oxides. Thus, a new nanostructured FTO thin film like nanorice has been fabricated
using one step hydrothermal method. FTO nanorice thin films were obtained from
the reaction of tin (iv) chloride (SnCl4), ammonium fluoride (NH4F), acetone,
deionized water and hydrochloric acid (HCl). The compound was prepared in an
autoclave at 150°C hydrothermal temperature for different reaction times of 5 hours,
10 hours, 15 hours, and 20 hours. FESEM studies on the surface morphologies of all
the samples showed that nanorice structure had formed to fully cover the bare FTO
substrate. Then, to further the optimization of FTO nanorice thin film, this research
focused on studying the effect of hydrothermal temperature on FTO nanorice thin
films. The experiments were conducted at 130°C, 140°C, 150°C, 160°C, and 170°C
of hydrothermal temperature in constant reaction time of 10 hours. Basically, there
were six properties studied; surface morphology, structural, element composition,
thickness measurement, electrical and optical properties. At the end of this research,
homogeneous FTO thin film has been successfully prepared. By controlling the
reaction time and hydrothermal temperature, a transparent FTO film with beyond
85% percentage of transmittance was developed. The FTO thin film produced at 10
hour reaction time and 150°C of hydrothermal temperature time gave the low sheet
resistance of 0.012 Ohm/sq with high transparency. The DSSC fabricated using the
optimized FTO film gave higher efficiency of 2.77% compared to commercial FTO
of 1.93%
Folding Assembly by Means of Dual-Arm Robotic Manipulation
In this paper, we consider folding assembly as an assembly primitive suitable
for dual-arm robotic assembly, that can be integrated in a higher level
assembly strategy. The system composed by two pieces in contact is modelled as
an articulated object, connected by a prismatic-revolute joint. Different
grasping scenarios were considered in order to model the system, and a simple
controller based on feedback linearisation is proposed, using force torque
measurements to compute the contact point kinematics. The folding assembly
controller has been experimentally tested with two sample parts, in order to
showcase folding assembly as a viable assembly primitive.Comment: 7 pages, accepted for ICRA 201
Ground Robotic Hand Applications for the Space Program study (GRASP)
This document reports on a NASA-STDP effort to address research interests of the NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) through a study entitled, Ground Robotic-Hand Applications for the Space Program (GRASP). The primary objective of the GRASP study was to identify beneficial applications of specialized end-effectors and robotic hand devices for automating any ground operations which are performed at the Kennedy Space Center. Thus, operations for expendable vehicles, the Space Shuttle and its components, and all payloads were included in the study. Typical benefits of automating operations, or augmenting human operators performing physical tasks, include: reduced costs; enhanced safety and reliability; and reduced processing turnaround time
NASA space station automation: AI-based technology review. Executive summary
Research and Development projects in automation technology for the Space Station are described. Artificial Intelligence (AI) based technologies are planned to enhance crew safety through reduced need for EVA, increase crew productivity through the reduction of routine operations, increase space station autonomy, and augment space station capability through the use of teleoperation and robotics
Human-Machine Interface for Remote Training of Robot Tasks
Regardless of their industrial or research application, the streamlining of
robot operations is limited by the proximity of experienced users to the actual
hardware. Be it massive open online robotics courses, crowd-sourcing of robot
task training, or remote research on massive robot farms for machine learning,
the need to create an apt remote Human-Machine Interface is quite prevalent.
The paper at hand proposes a novel solution to the programming/training of
remote robots employing an intuitive and accurate user-interface which offers
all the benefits of working with real robots without imposing delays and
inefficiency. The system includes: a vision-based 3D hand detection and gesture
recognition subsystem, a simulated digital twin of a robot as visual feedback,
and the "remote" robot learning/executing trajectories using dynamic motion
primitives. Our results indicate that the system is a promising solution to the
problem of remote training of robot tasks.Comment: Accepted in IEEE International Conference on Imaging Systems and
Techniques - IST201
Safety-related Tasks within the Set-Based Task-Priority Inverse Kinematics Framework
In this paper we present a framework that allows the motion control of a
robotic arm automatically handling different kinds of safety-related tasks. The
developed controller is based on a Task-Priority Inverse Kinematics algorithm
that allows the manipulator's motion while respecting constraints defined
either in the joint or in the operational space in the form of equality-based
or set-based tasks. This gives the possibility to define, among the others,
tasks as joint-limits, obstacle avoidance or limiting the workspace in the
operational space. Additionally, an algorithm for the real-time computation of
the minimum distance between the manipulator and other objects in the
environment using depth measurements has been implemented, effectively allowing
obstacle avoidance tasks. Experiments with a Jaco manipulator, operating in
an environment where an RGB-D sensor is used for the obstacles detection, show
the effectiveness of the developed system
Feasibility of Warehouse Drone Adoption and Implementation
While aerial delivery drones capture headlines, the pace of adoption of drones in warehouses has shown the greatest acceleration. Warehousing constitutes 30% of the cost of logistics in the US. The rise of e-commerce, greater customer service demands of retail stores, and a shortage of skilled labor have intensified competition for efficient warehouse operations. This takes place during an era of shortening technology life cycles. This paper integrates several theoretical perspectives on technology diffusion and adoption to propose a framework to inform supply chain decision-makers on when to invest in new robotics technology
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