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The paper aims to discuss a new design methodology for multi-fingered robotic grippers.

Optimization of the compliant mechanism with underactuation.

A new robotic gripper principle without active control.

Design of multi-fingered robotic gripper as a monolithic structure without joints.

Tactile sensing is the process of determining physical properties and events through contact with objects in the world. The purpose of this paper is to establish a novel design of an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) for estimation of contact position of a new tactile sensing structure.

The major task is to investigate implementations of carbon-black-filled silicone rubber for tactile sensation; the silicone rubber is electrically conductive and its resistance changes by loading or unloading strains.

The sensor-elements for the tactile sensing structure were made by press-curing from carbon-black-filled silicone rubber. The experimental results can be used as training and checking data for the ANFIS network.

This system is capable to find any change of contact positions and thus indicates state of the current contact location of the tactile sensing structure. The behavior of the use silicone rubber shows strong non-linearity, therefore, the sensor cannot be used for high accurate measurements. The greatest advantage of this sensing material lies in its high elasticity.

Passively compliant underactuated mechanisms are one way to obtain the gripper which could accommodate to any irregular and sensitive grasping object. The purpose of the underactuation is to use less active inputs than the number of degrees of freedom of the gripper mechanism to drive the open and close motion of the gripper. Another purpose of underaction is to reduce the number of control variables.

The underactuation can morph shapes of the gripper to accommodate different objects. As a result, the underactuated grippers require less complex control algorithms. The fully compliant mechanism has multiple degrees of freedom and can be considered as an underactuated mechanism.

This paper presents a new design of the adaptive underactuated compliant gripper with distributed compliance. The optimal topology of the gripper structure was obtained by optimality criteria method using mathematical programming technique. Afterwards, the obtained model was improved by iterative finite element optimization procedure. The gripper was constructed entirely of silicon rubber.

The main points of this paper are the explanation of the development and production of the new compliant gripper structure.

The essence of the conceptual design is getting the innovative projects or ideas to ensure the products with best performance. It has been proved that the theory of inventive problem solution (TRIZ) is a systematic methodology for innovation. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the design of an adaptive robotic gripper as an engineering example to show the significance and approaches of applying TRIZ in getting the creative conceptual design ideas.

Gripping and holding of objects are key tasks for robotic manipulators. The development of universal grippers able to pick up unfamiliar objects of widely varying shapes and surfaces is a very challenging task. The requirement for new adaptive grippers is the ability to detect and recognize objects in their environments.

The main aim of this work is to show a systematic methodology for innovation as an effective procedure to enhance the capability of developing innovative products and to overcome the main design problems. The TRIZ method will be utilized in order to eliminate the technical contradictions which appear in the passively adaptive compliant robotic gripper.

The design of an adaptive robotic gripper as an engineering example is illustrated in this paper to show the significance and approaches of applying TRIZ in getting the creative conceptual design ideas.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a new methodological framework within which a compliant robotic joint can be studied.

A new method is presented for detecting the direction of the robotic joint rotation when subjected to an external collision force.

The behaviour of the silicone rubber shows strong non‐linearity, therefore, the sensor‐elements cannot be used for accurate measurements.

A new type of safe robotic mechanisms with an internal measuring system is proposed in this paper.

The aim of this paper is to investigate implementations of carbon‐black filled silicone rubber for tactile sensation.

The sensor‐elements for this tactile sensing structure were made by press‐curing from carbon‐black filled silicone rubber.

The behaviour of the silicone rubber shows strong non‐linearity, therefore, the sensor cannot be used for accurate measurements. The greatest advantage of this material lies in its high elasticity.

A new method for artificial tactile sensing skin for robotic applications.

The purpose of this study is to establish a vibration prediction of pellet mills power transmission by artificial neural network. Vibration monitoring is an important task for any system to ensure safe operations. Improvement of control strategies is crucial for the vibration monitoring.

As predictive control is one of the options for the vibration monitoring in this paper, the predictive model for vibration monitoring was created.

Although the achieved prediction results were acceptable, there is need for more work to apply and test these results in real environment.

Artificial neural network (ANN) was implemented as the predictive model while extreme learning machine (ELM) and back propagation (BP) learning schemes were used as training algorithms for the ANN. BP learning algorithm minimizes the error function by using the gradient descent method. ELM training algorithm is based on selecting of the input weights randomly of the ANN network and the output weight of the network are determined analytically.

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the dependence of flexible-electronics properties on the metal conductor parameters, such as the width, thickness, connection length and inner meander radius of the conductor.

This paper uses the finite element method to simulate flexible electronics with a copper conductor attached to polyimide substrate under tension, by using different parameters of the conductor.

By careful variation of copper conductor parameters, the authors obtain an optimized structure that can undergo large deformations with small stress concentrations, lending convenience for packaging.

The authors have developed an optimization method for selecting metal conductor parameters in flexible electronics.

Through the review of several journal articles on the adoption of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and how it impacts students’ motivation to continue with their studies or to drop out of their academic program, this study aims to review the literature on the impact of ICTs on student motivation at a university.

This paper is based on a systematic literature review steered by the PRISMA guidelines. This paper uses both Durban University of Technology subscription-based and publicly available papers. The research articles examined were published between 2018 and 2023 in Scopus, Web of Science and ScienceDirect.

Reviewed literature bespeaks that ICTs can increase student motivation by enhancing interactive, engaging and individualized learning. Digital technologies that engage students and offer a more engaging learning environment include instructional apps, online simulations and multimedia content. Using ICTs may be useful in lowering university dropout rates.

The systematic review yielded valuable insights for both academic research and real-world applications in education regarding the Durban University of Technology. The study offers a comprehensive analysis of the nexus between ICTs and student motivation.