Designing a Robotic Arm for Moving and Sorting Scraps at Pacific Can, Beijing, China

In modern industry, innovation by automating processes provides companies with competitive advantages in speed, efficiency, and production value. This Major Qualifying Project studied the potential of a robotic, palletizing arm to help Pacific Can Company Ltd. replace their manpower-driven operation of moving and stacking unpainted and painted blocks of scrap metal. Focus areas of the project included work area design, block distinction, alarm systemization, as well as robotic arm and end of arm tool selection

Designing a Robotic Arm for Moving and Sorting Scraps at Pacific Can, Beijing, China

In modern industry, innovation by automating processes provides companies with competitive advantages in speed, efficiency, and production value. This Major Qualifying Project studied the potential of a robotic, palletizing arm to help Pacific Can Company Ltd. replace their manpower-driven operation of moving and stacking unpainted and painted blocks of scrap metal. Focus areas of the project included work area design, block distinction, alarm systemization, as well as robotic arm and end of arm tool selection

Light-driven Rotary Molecular Motors for Out-of-Equilibrium Systems

This chapter discusses whether rotary molecular motors are able to operate away from thermal equilibrium and whether this work on the molecular scale can be amplified across length scales and light-driven rotary motors. The chapter analyzes examples from literature demonstrating the ability of molecular motors to perform work, starting with examples in which a net output is generated by single molecules, followed by larger (supramolecular) systems. The molecular motors are overcrowded alkene switches, and the initial establishment of a photostationary state can be recognized as the photochemical equilibrium described for photoswitches. Surface immobilization is the possibilities to overcome Brownian motion and give opportunity to turn the relative rotation of one motor half with respect to the other into an absolute rotation of the motor with respect to the surface. Self-assembly opens up the possibility to work with very complex systems and enhance functions through cooperativity without the need of complicated synthesis of elaborate single molecules.</p

AC ship microgrids: control and power management optimization

At sea, the electrical power system of a ship can be considered as an islanded microgrid. When connected to shore power at berth, the same power system acts as a grid connected microgrid or an extension of the grid. Therefore, ship microgrids show some resemblance to terrestrial microgrids. Nevertheless, due to the presence of large dynamic loads, such as electric propulsion loads, keeping the voltage and frequency within a permissible range and ensuring the continuity of supply are more challenging in ship microgrids. Moreover, with the growing demand for emission reductions and fuel efficiency improvements, alternative energy sources and energy storage technologies are becoming popular in ship microgrids. In this context, the integration of multiple energy sources and storage systems in ship microgrids requires an efficient power management system (PMS). These challenging environments and trends demand advanced control and power management solutions that are customized for ship microgrids. This paper presents a review on recent developments of control technologies and power management strategies proposed for AC ship microgrids

Desktop microfactory

Micro technology is continuously progressing towards smaller, smarter and reliable forms. Consequently, demand for such miniature and complex systems is arising rapidly in various fields such as industry, medicine, aerospace and automotive. Such fast development of micro technology is achieved thanks to improvements in micromanufacturing tools and techniques. Miniaturization of the machinery and manufacturing equipment is emerging to be an attractive idea that would eventually solve many of the issues existing in conventional micro-manufacturing. This work presents a modular and reconfigurable desktop microfactory for high precision assembly and machining of micro mechanical parts as proof of concept inspired by the downsizing trend of the production tools. The system is constructed based on primary functional and performance requirements such as miniature size, operation with sub-millimeter precision, modular and reconfigurable structure, parallel processing capability, ease of transportation and integration. Proposed miniature factory consists of downsized functional modules such as two parallel kinematic robots for manipulation and assembly, galvanometric laser beam scanning system for micromachining, high precision piezoelectric positioning stage, camera system for detection and inspection, and a rotational conveyor system. Each of the listed modules is designed and tested for fine precision tasks separately and results are presented. Design comprises development of mechanics, electronics and controller for the modules individually. Once stand-alone operation of each unit is achieved further assembly to a single microfactory system is considered. The overall mechanical structure of the proposed microfactory facilitates parallel processing, flexible rearrangement of the layout, and ease of assembling and disassembling capabilities. These important steps are taken to investigate possibilities of a microfactory concept for production of microsystems in near future

Mobile Robotics

The book is a collection of ten scholarly articles and reports of experiences and perceptions concerning pedagogical practices with mobile robotics.“This work is funded by CIEd – Research Centre on Education, project UID/CED/01661/2019, Institute of Education, University of Minho, through national funds of FCT/MCTES-PT.

Designing a new class of computational toys

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2000.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 81-83).I introduce an educational toy, called curlybot, as the basis for a new class of toys aimed at children in their early stages of development - ages four and up. curlybot is an autonomous two-wheeled vehicle with embedded electronics that can records how it has been moved on any flat surface and then plays back that motion accurately and repeatedly. Children can use curlybot to gain a strong intuition for advanced mathematical and computational concepts, like differential geometry, through play outside a traditional computer. Preliminary studies show that children can create gestures quickly, allowing them to iterate on the patterns that emerge, and successfully understanding and solving problems with curlybot. Programming by demonstration in this context makes the educational ideas implicit in the design of curlybot accessible to young children. curlybot can also act as an expressive tool because of its ability to remember the intricacies of the original gestures: every pause, acceleration, and even the shaking in the hand is recorded and played.by Philipp A. Frei.S.M

Capsule endoscopy of the future: What's on the horizon?

Capsule endoscopes have evolved from passively moving diagnostic devices to actively moving systems with potential therapeutic capability. In this review, we will discuss the state of the art, define the current shortcomings of capsule endoscopy, and address research areas that aim to overcome said shortcomings. Developments in capsule mobility schemes are emphasized in this text, with magnetic actuation being the most promising endeavor. Research groups are working to integrate sensor data and fuse it with robotic control to outperform today's standard invasive procedures, but in a less intrusive manner. With recent advances in areas such as mobility, drug delivery, and therapeutics, we foresee a translation of interventional capsule technology from the bench-top to the clinical setting within the next 10 years