Solid polymer electrolytes: Ion conduction mechanisms and enhancement strategies

Solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs) possess comprehensive advantages such as high flexibility, low interfacial resistance with the electrodes, excellent film-forming ability, and low price, however, their applications in solid-state batteries are mainly hindered by the insufficient ionic conductivity especially below the melting temperatures, etc. To improve the ion conduction capability and other properties, a variety of modification strategies have been exploited. In this review article, we scrutinize the structure characteristics and the ion transfer behaviors of the SPEs (and their composites) and then disclose the ion conduction mechanisms. The ion transport involves the ion hopping and the polymer segmental motion, and the improvement in the ionic conductivity is mainly attributed to the increase of the concentration and mobility of the charge carriers and the construction of fast-ion pathways. Furthermore, the recent advances on the modification strategies of the SPEs to enhance the ion conduction from copolymer structure design to lithium salt exploitation, additive engineering, and electrolyte micromorphology adjustion are summarized. This article intends to give a comprehensive, systemic, and profound understanding of the ion conduction and enhancement mechanisms of the SPEs for their viable applications in solid-state batteries with high safety and energy density

Design of Demonstration-Driven Assembling Manipulator

Currently, a mechanical arm or manipulator needs to be programmed by humans in advance to define its motion trajectory before practical use. However, the programming is tedious and high-cost, which renders such manipulators unable to perform various different tasks easily and quickly. This article focuses on the design of a vision-guided manipulator without explicit human programming. The proposed demonstration-driven system mainly consists of a manipulator, control box, and camera. Instead of programming of the detailed motion trajectory, one only needs to show the system how to perform a given task manually. Based on internal object recognition and motion detection algorithms, the camera can capture the information of the task to be performed and generate the motion trajectories for the manipulator to make it copy the human demonstration. The movement of the joints of the manipulator is given by a trajectory planner in the control box. Experimental results show that the system can imitate humans easily, quickly, and accurately for common tasks such as sorting and assembling objects. Teaching the manipulator how to complete the desired motion can help eliminate the complexity of programming for motion control

Physical Extraction and Feature Fusion for Multi-Mode Signals in a Measurement System for Patients in Rehabilitation Exoskeleton

Measurement system of exoskeleton robots can reflect the state of the patient. In this study, we combined an inertial measurement unit and a visual measurement unit to obtain a repeatable fusion measurement system to compensate for the deficiencies of the single data acquisition mode used by exoskeletons. Inertial measurement unit is comprised four distributed angle sensors. Triaxial acceleration and angular velocity information were transmitted to an upper computer by Bluetooth. The data sent to the control center were processed by a Kalman filter to eliminate any noise. Visual measurement unit uses camera to acquire real time images and related data information. The two data acquisition methods were fused and have its weight. Comparisons of the fusion results with individual measurement results demonstrated that the data fusion method could effectively improve the accuracy of system. It provides a set of accurate real-time measurements for patients in rehabilitation exoskeleton and data support for effective control of exoskeleton robot