Hands: Human to Robotic

Hands have for centuries been recognized as a fundamental tool for humans to gain an understanding of their environment and at the same time be able to manipulate it. In this presentation we will look at various studies made on the functionality and use of the human hand and examine the different approaches to analyzing and classifying human grasps and building a taxonomy of these grasps. We study the anatomy of the human hand, and examine experiments performed to understand the how gripping forces are applied when lifting objects, and the methods extraction of haptic information, by humans. We discuss issues involved in the building of electro-mechanical manipulators and some of the mathematics used in analyzing the suitability of a design. We look at one of the earliest designs of a computer controlled articulated gripper, as well as two of the most prevalent designs in today\u27s research world, the Stanford/JPL hand and the Utah/MIT had. Finally, we show why a more fundamental understanding of how human grasping works will help us design more useful manipulators

Structural and kinematic synthesis of overconstrained mechanisms

Thesis (Doctoral)--Izmir Institute of Technology, Mechanical Engineering, Izmir, 2012Includes bibliographical references (leaves: 133-140)Text in English; Abstract: Turkish and Englishxiii, 140 leavesInvestigation on overconstrained mechanisms needs attention especially in the structural synthesis. Knowing overconstrained conditions and including them in the design process will help creating manipulators with less degree of freedom (DoF) and more rigidity. Also this knowledge of overconstrained conditions will clarify concept of mobility of the parallel manipulators. Another subject, kinematic synthesis of overconstrained mechanisms, is important because it will allow describing a function, path, or motion with less DoF less number of joints. The aim of this thesis is to describe a generalized approach for structural synthesis and creation of new overconstrained manipulators and to describe a potentially generalizable approach for function and motion generation synthesis of overconstrained mechanism. Moreover, screw theory is investigated as a mathematical base for defining kinematics of overconstrained mechanisms. Also, overconstrained mechanisms are investigated and generation of new mechanisms is introduced with examples. Some mathematical models for the subspace geometries are given. A method for defining overconstrained simple structural groups is introduced and extended to design of manipulators with examples and solid drawings. Linear approximation and least squares approximation methods are used for the function generation and motion generation of overconstrained 6R mechanisms. A gap of describing overconstrained manipulators is filled in the area of structural synthesis. A general methodology is described for structural synthesis, mobility and motion calculations of overconstrained manipulators using simple structural groups. A potentially generalizable method for the kinematic synthesis of overconstrained manipulators is described both for function and motion generation

Fire and Life Safety Report- Battalion Headquarters Complex (UEPH)

This fire and life safety report covers a Battalion Headquarters Complex that is used for housing military troops. This is a complete review of the building with prescriptive based fire protection along with performance base review of the building. The prescriptive fire protection covers egress analysis of the space, passive fire protection (i.e. fire walls and doors) and active fire protection (i.e. fire alarm and fire sprinklers). The performance based section looks at the prescriptive requirements and sees if these would be enough for the application at hand. The building fire protection and life safety are covered by three different codes. The Uniform Facility Code (UFC), National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and International Building Code (IBC). With the UFC being the driving code because it is a military based project and the others being derivatives there of. The building is a 3 story barracks housing approximately 296 military personnel. The location of the building is at an undisclosed location. In looking at the building height and area requirements it was determined that the building was too large in area based on the requirements of the IBC. To become code compliant the best solution was to break the building up into five separate areas using 2-hour fire walls at strategic locations. The building was primarily of an R-2 occupancy classification with some other areas. The travel distances, common paths and dead ends in the building were all code compliant. The exit capacity for the building was compliant with the number of occupants based on the egress analysis. Along those lines the evacuation time was also looked at for how long a general evacuation of the building would take. The water based fire protection and fire alarm for the building were designed in accordance with their applicable codes NFPA 13R and NFPA 72 respectively. The water supply for the building was sufficient enough that the building would not require a fire pump to suppliant. There was a 4 head sprinkler calculation that was performed in the most remote location to show that there would be a sufficient supply of water and pressure. The fire alarm system is of an addressable type with mass notification for the building. There are horns and strobes with smoke detection throughout the building. There is a smoke detector in each sleeping room with a sounder base along with a horn. The performance based section consisted of using FDS model to show a worse case fire scenario for the building. For this building a dorm room with a trash can fire was looked at to see how this would affect the building with its protection features and see if there will be enough time to egress from the building. The parameters for the fire were a 100 kW slow growth trash can fire. The visibly for the building was set at 4 meters as the occupants will be familiar with the building at the 6 ft mark. The fractional effective dose (FED) at the 6 ft mark was set to 3500 ppm CO. The smoke temperature at the 6ft mark was set to 200 F. The model was then ran for 5 minutes. It was determined after examining the model that current design would be enough to meet all parameters that applied to it

On alternative uses of structural compliance for the development of adaptive robot grippers and hands

Adaptive robot hands are typically created by introducing structural compliance either in their joints (e.g., implementation of flexures joints) or in their finger-pads. In this paper, we present a series of alternative uses of structural compliance for the development of simple, adaptive, compliant and/or under-actuated robot grippers and hands that can efficiently and robustly execute a variety of grasping and dexterous, in-hand manipulation tasks. The proposed designs utilize only one actuator per finger to control multiple degrees of freedom and they retain the superior grasping capabilities of the adaptive grasping mechanisms even under significant object pose or other environmental uncertainties. More specifically, in this work, we introduce, discuss, and evaluate: (a) a design of pre-shaped, compliant robot fingers that adapts/conforms to the object geometry, (b) a hyper-adaptive finger-pad design that maximizes the area of the contact patches between the hand and the object, maximizing also grasp stability, and (c) a design that executes compliance adjustable manipulation tasks that can be predetermined by tuning the in-series compliance of the tendon routing system and by appropriately selecting the imposed tendon loads. The grippers are experimentally tested and their efficiency is validated using three different types of tests: (i) grasping tests that involve different everyday objects, (ii) grasp quality tests that estimate the contact area between the grippers and the objects grasped, and (iii) dexterous, in-hand manipulation experiments to evaluate the manipulation capabilities of the Compliance Adjustable Manipulation (CAM) hand. The devices employ mechanical adaptability to facilitate and simplify the efficient execution of robust grasping and dexterous, in-hand manipulation tasks

Vehicle Wheelchair Storage Final Design Report

Many people who use wheelchairs are very active. They have errands to run and lives to live just like everybody else. For a busy person who uses a wheelchair there are currently no quick methods for storing and unloading your wheelchair from your vehicle that do not require expensive custom modifications which can ruin the resell value and the aesthetics of the vehicle. This has resulted in users hastily loading their wheelchairs which can cause damage to the wheelchair, the vehicle, and other passengers while the vehicle is in motion. The goal of this project was to develop a wheelchair storage system that can be installed in any vehicle and securely store any wheelchair during transportation. The device allows for a wheelchair to be quickly and compactly stored behind the driver’s seat. Hopefully by making this process quick and safe this device can improve the lives of many users

Adaptive Technology Catalog

By design, the purpose of this Adaptive Technology Catalog is to provide a resource for governments, survivor-assistance and other agencies to help victims of landmines and other explosive remnants of war (ERW) and other disabled workers get back to self-sufficiency and paid work. Landmine and ERW injuries have a devastating impact on the economic security of individuals, families and communities. Most often, these circumstances exist in countries that lack the basic social welfare infrastructure that might otherwise keep this at-risk population from poverty. Designing, developing and identifying simple and inexpensive tools and programs that assist with survivor work reintegration is a challenge with broad implications for the economic recovery of communities and nations as they emerge from conflict. The Adaptive Technology Catalog was created to offer information pertaining to both products that are readily available for use and those that may require some modification depending on intended usage. We expect this Catalog to be a resource for governments and organizations planning rehabilitation projects and those working in the field of survivors’ assistance. Although this is not an all-inclusive publication, we hope that you find the tools in it useful. It is not a comprehensive catalog by any means. There are certainly many more companies around the world that produce similar products or tools that are even more innovative and practical for the mine-affected population. We invite you to let us know about manufacturers and innovative tools you have created or found to help your survivors recover and reintegrate into society

Adaptive Technology Catalog

By design, the purpose of this Adaptive Technology Catalog is to provide a resource for governments, survivor-assistance and other agencies to help victims of landmines and other explosive remnants of war (ERW) and other disabled workers get back to self-sufficiency and paid work. Designing, developing and identifying simple and inexpensive tools and programs that assist with survivor work reintegration is a challenge with broad implications for the economic recovery of communities and nations as they emerge from conflict. The Adaptive Technology Catalog was created to offer information pertaining to both products that are readily available for use and those that may require some modification depending on intended usage. We expect this Catalog to be a resource for governments and organizations planning rehabilitation projects and those working in the field of survivors’ assistance. Although this is not an all-inclusive publication, we hope that you find the tools in it useful. It is not a comprehensive catalog by any means. There are certainly many more companies around the world that produce similar products or tools that are even more innovative and practical for the mine-affected population. We invite you to let us know about manufacturers and innovative tools you have created or found to help your survivors recover and reintegrate into society