Could Local Agricultural Machines Make a Country ‘Impact Free’ by 2010?

Many countries affected by landmines are also facing food crises, underscoring the necessity of cost-effective mine removal. Converting agricultural machines already available in many mine-affected countries for use on mine-action projects saves not only time but also money by speeding up the removal process and turning the land back into an agricultural resource

Toward LOCOSTRA: Blast-resistant Wheels Test

Technical Survey, often an efficient method of achieving land release, can also be prohibitively expensive for certain communities due to the utilization of the same hulking, heavily-armored machines used in clearance operations. If Technical Survey could be achieved through the use of less expensive agricultural equipment that is already present in communities near suspected areas, land release could be achieved at a much lower price. The following study explores this possibility by examining the explosion resilience of four different designs of blast-resistant tractor wheels, each made of commercial off-the-shelf components and designed for easy reproduction in mine-affected communities

Design Issues and in Field Tests of the New Sustainable Tractor LOCOSTRA

first, in Italy, focusing on the agricultural application of the machine, in natural scenarios with different ground and vegetatio

Energizing Sustainable Agriculture: Advances in Greenhouse Heating through Microwave-Based Technologies

For the agricultural sector to develop sustainably in the future, progress toward more environmentally friendly technologies and methods is crucial. It is necessary to increase output while reducing the demand for energy, agrochemicals, and water resources. Although greenhouses can be utilized successfully for this purpose, significant technical advancements are required, especially when it comes to heating, to lower the use of fossil fuels and boost energy efficiency. Microwaves can warm plants without heating the entire greenhouse volume, which takes a significant amount of energy to compensate for heat loss in the outdoor environment. In this paper, through a thorough examination of the state of the art, a general overview of novel greenhouse heating systems based on radiation is reported. First, the strengths and weaknesses of microwave heating are discussed, and finally, the use of microwaves for soil sterilization is examined. All outcomes suggest these irradiation-based technologies can contribute significantly to energetically sustainable agriculture; moreover, they can be used to increase plant comfor

The use of low pressure plasma surface modification for bonded joints to assembly a robotic gripper designed to be additive manufactured

The paper explores how different surface preparations modify the mechanical performance of bonded joints on components made in acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) processed by fused filament fabrication (FFF) additive manufacturing. Two alternative treatments are considered: surface abrasion compliant to the standard ASTM D2093-03 (17) and using low pressure plasma, an innovative solution. The assessment is performed on standard lap shear test specimens and structural epoxy adhesive. The bonding layer with abraded surfaces shows adhesive failure while after the low-pressure plasma treatment shows adherends failure. As case of study the bonding solution to perform the assembly is considered a jaw finger of a robotic gripper for the picking of garments from a table. The redesign of the finger availing of the performance of bonding with the new plasma treatment is proposed and discussed. Experimental testing assessed the feasibility of this innovative technical solution

coordinated selection and timing of multiple trajectories of discretely mobile robots

Abstract The paper addresses the multi-agent path planning (MPP) of mobile agents with multiple goals taking into consideration the kinematic constraints of each agent. The "Swing and Dock" (SaD) robotic system being discussed uses discrete locomotion, where agents swing around fixed pins and dock with their mounting legs to realize displacement from one point to another. The system was developed as a subsystem for mobile robotic fixture (SwarmItFix). Previous work dealt with MPP for SaD agents using the concept of extended temporal graph with Integer Linear Programming (ILP) based formulations. The approach discretized time into unit steps, whereas in reality, the agents are constrained by velocity limits. Hence, a real-time schedule is required to accurately plan the agent movement in a working scenario. We utilize the concept of simple temporal network and extend our ILP formulations to model the velocity kinematic constraints. The mathematical formulations are implemented and tested using a GUROBI solver. Computational results display the effectiveness of the approach

Dynamic Pose Tracking Performance Evaluation of HTC Vive Virtual Reality System

Virtual reality tracking devices are rapidly becoming the go-to system for cost-effective motion tracking solutions across different communities such as robotics, biomechanics, sports, rehabilitation, motion simulators, etc. This article focuses on the spatial tracking performance of HTC Vive's lighthouse tracking system (VLTS) devices (tracker, controller, and head mount display). A comprehensive literature survey on the performance analysis of VLTS on the various aspects is presented along with its shortcomings in terms of spatial tracking evaluation. The two key limitations have been identified: in static cases, there is a lack of standard procedures and criteria, and in dynamic cases, the entire study of spatial tracking. We address the first by assessing VLTS using the optical tracking system standard specified by ASTM International, and the latter by revising the standards to determine the upper-velocity limit for reliable tracking. The findings are substantiated with the trajectories of human wrist motion. Each evaluation's results are systematically analyzed with statistical hypothesis tests and criteria fulfillment. Comau NS16, an industrial serial robot, was used as the ground truth motion generator due to its repeatability and 6 degrees of workspace freedom. One of the major reasons for not having more generalized spatial tracking studies is that the tracking performance heavily depends on the configurations of the setup, work volume, environment, etc. Thus, the guidelines for configuring VLTS and the approach adapted from ASTM standards for evaluating VLTS for custom applications using our reported findings for both static and dynamic cases are included in the appendix

The SwarmItFix Pilot

Abstract The paper presents the integration and experiments with a pilot cell including a traditional machine tool and an innovative robot-swarm cooperative conformable support for aircraft body panels. The pilot was installed and tested in the premises of the aircraft manufacturer Piaggio Aerospace in Italy. An original approach to the support of the panels is realized: robots with soft heads operate from below the panel; they move upward the panel where manufacturing is performed, removing the sagging under gravity and returning it to its nominal geometry; the spindle of amilling machine performs the machining from above