5,775 research outputs found
Flora robotica -- An Architectural System Combining Living Natural Plants and Distributed Robots
Key to our project flora robotica is the idea of creating a bio-hybrid system
of tightly coupled natural plants and distributed robots to grow architectural
artifacts and spaces. Our motivation with this ground research project is to
lay a principled foundation towards the design and implementation of living
architectural systems that provide functionalities beyond those of orthodox
building practice, such as self-repair, material accumulation and
self-organization. Plants and robots work together to create a living organism
that is inhabited by human beings. User-defined design objectives help to steer
the directional growth of the plants, but also the system's interactions with
its inhabitants determine locations where growth is prohibited or desired
(e.g., partitions, windows, occupiable space). We report our plant species
selection process and aspects of living architecture. A leitmotif of our
project is the rich concept of braiding: braids are produced by robots from
continuous material and serve as both scaffolds and initial architectural
artifacts before plants take over and grow the desired architecture. We use
light and hormones as attraction stimuli and far-red light as repelling
stimulus to influence the plants. Applied sensors range from simple proximity
sensing to detect the presence of plants to sophisticated sensing technology,
such as electrophysiology and measurements of sap flow. We conclude by
discussing our anticipated final demonstrator that integrates key features of
flora robotica, such as the continuous growth process of architectural
artifacts and self-repair of living architecture.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figure
Optimal mapping of joint faults into healthy joint velocity space for fault-tolerant redundant manipulators
redundant manipulator
A new methodology for designing PID controllers
It is known that it is impossible to select fixed gains for a PD controller that will critically damp the response to disturbances for all configurations of a given robot system. Because of this the potential for overshoot is always present and cannot be avoided unless the system is severely overdamped. This is not necessarily a practical solution and can be an economically unacceptable approach. On the other hand, however, if overshoot is permissible to some degree for some systems in the case of conventional Serial robots it is still prohibited in the case of Parallel robots as it may easily bring the robot to one of its possible singular configurations, causing damage to the system. This paper introduces a new algorithm for the design of PD controllers that ensures uniform and fast dynamic responses, which are free from overshoots for all robot configurations. The technique also satisfies general stability requirements for the system
Dynamics of the Orthoglide parallel robot
Recursive matrix relations for kinematics and dynamics of the Orthoglide
parallel robot having three concurrent prismatic actuators are established in
this paper. These are arranged according to the Cartesian coordinate system
with fixed orientation, which means that the actuating directions are normal to
each other. Three identical legs connecting to the moving platform are located
on three planes being perpendicular to each other too. Knowing the position and
the translation motion of the platform, we develop the inverse kinematics
problem and determine the position, velocity and acceleration of each element
of the robot. Further, the principle of virtual work is used in the inverse
dynamic problem. Some matrix equations offer iterative expressions and graphs
for the input forces and the powers of the three actuators
Evaluation method of the innovation project global efficiency
A complete system of indexes to evaluate the global efficiency of a new product development project must approach at least the following perspectives: the financial performances of the project; the project's value; the technical performances of the project; the efficiency of research and development activities of the project; the capacity of fitting in the estimated cost and duration of activities; the degree of integration between the R&D and production activities; the degree of integration between the R&D and marketing activities. Therefore, in this paper is drawn up a method for new product development projects evaluation, based on those seven perspectives.innovation project, evaluation method, value, financial performances
Myoelectric forearm prostheses: State of the art from a user-centered perspective
User acceptance of myoelectric forearm prostheses is currently low. Awkward control, lack of feedback, and difficult training are cited as primary reasons. Recently, researchers have focused on exploiting the new possibilities offered by advancements in prosthetic technology. Alternatively, researchers could focus on prosthesis acceptance by developing functional requirements based on activities users are likely to perform. In this article, we describe the process of determining such requirements and then the application of these requirements to evaluating the state of the art in myoelectric forearm prosthesis research. As part of a needs assessment, a workshop was organized involving clinicians (representing end users), academics, and engineers. The resulting needs included an increased number of functions, lower reaction and execution times, and intuitiveness of both control and feedback systems. Reviewing the state of the art of research in the main prosthetic subsystems (electromyographic [EMG] sensing, control, and feedback) showed that modern research prototypes only partly fulfill the requirements. We found that focus should be on validating EMG-sensing results with patients, improving simultaneous control of wrist movements and grasps, deriving optimal parameters for force and position feedback, and taking into account the psychophysical aspects of feedback, such as intensity perception and spatial acuity
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