A Novel Remote Visual Inspection System for Bridge Predictive Maintenance

Predictive maintenance on infrastructures is currently a hot topic. Its importance is proportional to the damages resulting from the collapse of the infrastructure. Bridges, dams and tunnels are placed on top on the scale of severity of potential damages due to the fact that they can cause loss of lives. Traditional inspection methods are not objective, tied to the inspector’s experience and require human presence on site. To overpass the limits of the current technologies and methods, the authors of this paper developed a unique new concept: a remote visual inspection system to perform predictive maintenance on infrastructures such as bridges. This is based on the fusion between advanced robotic technologies and the Automated Visual Inspection that guarantees objective results, high-level of safety and low processing time of the results

Octopus‐Inspired Soft Arm with Suction Cups for Enhanced Grasping Tasks in Confined Environments

n/

Thermoelasticity and ArUco marker-based model validation of polymer structure: application to the San Giorgio's bridge inspection robot

Experimental procedures are often involved in the numerical models validation. To define the behaviour of a structure, its underlying dynamics and stress distributions are generally investigated. In this research, a multi-instrumental and multi-spectral method is proposed in order to validate the numerical model of the Inspection Robot mounted on the new San Giorgio's Bridge on the Polcevera river. An infrared thermoelasticity-based approach is used to measure stress-concentration factors and, additionally, an innovative methodology is implemented to define the natural frequencies of the Robot Inspection structure, based on the detection of ArUco fiducial markers. Established impact hammer procedure is also performed for the validation of the results.</p

An Outline of Fused Deposition Modeling: System Models and Control Strategies

Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) is a type of Additive Manufacturing (AM) technology that is becoming increasingly common in numerous applications thanks to its versatility and reduced material waste. However, the complex physical phenomena occurring during extrusion, including the dynamics of non-Newtonian fluids, viscoelastic behaviors and rheology, make the use of heuristic observations preferable to that of analytical approaches. Consequently, engineers have focused on optimizing materials and hardware rather than control algorithms. The limited knowledge about extrusion and deposition dynamics usually confines the control action to the motion of the printing head while keeping a constant flow rate. Existing attempts to synchronize motion and extrusion consists of open loop compensations, which, however, require identified transfer functions or need to be tuned manually. This article aims to compactly review FDM technologies from a control perspective by presenting (i) the models of extrusion and deposition and (ii) the control strategies currently adopted in industry

An Outline of Fused Deposition Modeling: System Models and Control Strategies

Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) is a type of Additive Manufacturing (AM) technology that is becoming increasingly common in numerous applications thanks to its versatility and reduced material waste. However, the complex physical phenomena occurring during extrusion, including the dynamics of non-Newtonian fluids, viscoelastic behaviors and rheology, make the use of heuristic observations preferable to that of analytical approaches. Consequently, engineers have focused on optimizing materials and hardware rather than control algorithms. The limited knowledge about extrusion and deposition dynamics usually confines the control action to the motion of the printing head while keeping a constant flow rate. Existing attempts to synchronize motion and extrusion consists of open loop compensations, which, however, require identified transfer functions or need to be tuned manually. This article aims to compactly review FDM technologies from a control perspective by presenting (i) the models of extrusion and deposition and (ii) the control strategies currently adopted in industry

Scalable six bar linkage mechanism for re-orienting and aligning objects: Design methodology

This paper summarizes the work done in the context of an industrial research project in collaboration between the Italian Institute of Technology and the company Fameccanica Data Spa. This paper introduces the design of a six bar linkage mechanism, actuated by a single motor, for re-orienting and aligning objects. The main application consists of grasping empty bottles lying flat on an input conveyor, rotating, aligning and placing them in upright position on another conveyor. The breakthrough aspect of the general and scalable design introduced lays in a system of kinematic equations whose solutions correspond to the linkage lengths. Such lengths define a six-bar-linkage able to re-orient and align vertically a generic object. Finally, this paper presents the mechanism prototype created for such industrial application for performing tests in an operational environment at high speed

Long-term monitoring of respiratory rate in patients with heart failure: the Multiparametric Heart Failure Evaluation in Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator Patients (MULTITUDE-HF) study

Monitoring respiratory rate (RR) is recommended at the time of hospital presentation for acute decompensation in heart failure (HF). Device-based continuous monitoring of RR may be helpful for diagnostic and prognostic stratification after implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) implantation. This study was undertaken to analyze short- and long-term changes in ICD-measured RR and to relate RR with the patient's clinical status and the occurrence of HF events