A Software Architecture Framework for Home Service Robots

Over the last years, home service robots have a wide range of potential applications, such as home security, patient caring, cleaning, etc. When developing robot software, one of the main challenges is to build the software architectural model. Software architecture is used throughout the software life-cycle for supporting analysis, guiding development, and acting as a roadmap for designers and implementers. Though many software architectures for robotic systems have been defined, none of them have reached all its objectives due to the great variability among systems behaviors, and still lack systematic techniques to derive the robot software architecture from its requirements model. In this paper, we present a generic architectural model for home service robots allowing for software architecture design, and preserving a continuous architectural view all along the development cycle. While avoiding the predominant decomposition problems, our approach allows for integration of the architectural components in a systematic and comprehensive way for efficient maintainability and reusability

Scanning Acoustic Microscopy of Annealing Effects for Aluminium Thin Film Deposited on Silicon Substrate

Scanning acoustic microscope (SAM) has proved to be a powerful new technique for investigation and characterization of mechanical properties of materials, especially, the opaque ones. Non-destructive measurements can be carried out using SAM in the vicinity of materials’ surfaces or relatively deeper away from them. The present work is focussed on the effects of annealing on mechanical properties of samples composed of an Al layer (10 μμm) on Si substrate. Combining the results obtained from the so-called acoustic signature and acoustic images of the Al/Si interface with those from the lateral and longitudinal waves (Rayleigh speeds), it is possible to deduce that the best homogeneous adhesion is obtained after annealing at 500°C.Сканирующий акустический микроскоп (САМ) является мощным современным инструментом для исследования и определения механических свойств материалов, особенно непрозрачных. САМ позволяет проводить неразрушающие исследования материалов как вблизи их поверхности, так и на некотором расстоянии от неё вглубь образца. Работа посвящена изучению влияния отжига на механические свойства образцов, состоящих из слоя Al (10 мкм) на подложке из Si. Объединяя результаты, полученные на основании измерений так называемой акустической сигнатуры и акустических изображений интерфейса Al/Si с использованием поперечных и продольных волн (скоростей Рэлея), можно сделать вывод, что наилучшая гомогенная адгезия реализуется после отжига при 500°С.Сканівний акустичний мікроскоп (САМ) є потужнім новим інструментом для дослідження та визначення механічних властивостей матеріялів, особливо непрозорих. САМ уможливлює проводити неруйнівні дослідження матеріялів як поблизу поверхні, так і на деякій віддалі від неї углиб зразка. Робота стосується вивчення впливу відпалу на механічні властивості зразків, що складаються з шару Al (10 мкм) на підложжі з Si. Поєднуючи результати, одержані з так званої акустичної сиґнатури й акустичних зображень інтерфейсу Al/Si з використанням поперечних і поздовжніх хвиль (Релейових швидкостей), можна зробити висновок, що найліпша гомогенна адгезія реалізується після відпалу за 500°С

Identification of the mechanical moduli of flexible thermoplastic thin films using reflected ultrasonic waves: Inverse problem

International audienceA method for the identification of the mechanical moduli and density of flexible, supple thermoplastic thin films placed on elastic substrates using ultrasonic waves has been developed. The composite medium immersed in a fluid host medium (water) was excited using a 50Mhz transducer operating at normal incidence in reflection mode. Inverse problems involving experimental data pertaining to elastic wave propagation in the thin films on their substrates and theoretical fluid-solid interaction models for stratified media using elasticity theory were solved. Two configurations having different interface boundary conditions (BC) were modeled, transverse slip for the sliding contact interface in the case where the thin films were placed on the substrate without bonding; a bonded interface condition. The inverse problem for the recovery of the mechanical parameters were solved for the thin films under the bonded and slip BCs. Substrates made of different elastic materials having different geometries were also evaluated and their advantages discussed

Investigating the Young's modulus of Cu-Al-Be shape memory alloy using a phase diagram, vibration spectroscopy and ultrasonic waves

This work presents a method for determining the effective Young’s modulus (Eeffective) and Poisson ratio of small specimens of a ternary shape memory alloy (SMA), Cu-Al-Be. The alloys were synthesized uniformly and homogeneously using various concentrations of high purity metals and formed into slabs of different geometrical shapes. The phases and fractional quantities of each sub-alloy composing the SMA were determined using SEM/EDS data and the lever rule, and confirmed by matching computed and measured X-ray diffraction peak patterns. The Eeffective was determined using the rule of mixtures, employing elastic moduli obtained from Ab initio (Density functional theory) calculations. To address the challenge of determining Eeffective experimentally for small specimens, high frequency ultrasonic waves and vibration spectroscopy were used. The Eeffective was then used in a 3D finite element model to compute the vibrational spectrum’s resonance peaks, which were found to match those of the experimental vibrational response. The Eeffective was also compared to the pressure wave (P-waves) modulus recovered using non-contact ultrasound waves propagating through the sample’s thickness. Discrepancies mainly occurring for alloys with the β phase were resolved by determining its anisotropic spatial Young’s modulus. Overall, the presented method provides a comprehensive characterization of the mechanical properties of small alloy specimens