Search results

The use of thin sheets with 3D geometries is growing in quantity, due to current progress towards life‐cycle design and sustainable production, and growing in geometrical complexity, due to aesthetic and quality concerns. The growth in manufacturing equipment flexibility has not kept pace with these trends. The purpose of this paper is to propose a new reconfigurable fixture to shorten this gap.

The design implements a novel concept of fixturing. Without interrupting the machining process, a swarm of adaptable mobile agents periodically reposition and reconfigure to support the thin‐sheet workpiece near the tool‐point. The technology has been developed by adopting a multi‐disciplinary, life‐cycle approach. Modularity and eco‐sustainability paradigms have informed the design.

The performance of the physical prototype in an industrial scenario is highly satisfactory. Experiments demonstrate the ability of the system to reconfigure while maintaining machining accuracy in scenarios typical for aircraft part production.

Coordination between the machine‐tool numerical control and the fixture control is not complete and its improvement will make the manufacturing process more robust and autonomous.

The system allows reduction of shop‐floor fixturing inventory. Compared to other reconfigurable fixtures, SwarmItFIX is smarter, more flexible, lighter, and offers shorter reconfiguration times, easier set‐up, and better adaptability to a wider range of workpiece shapes.

This is a breakthrough idea, answering the challenges of hyper‐flexible manufacturing and the proliferation of thin‐sheet use. It is of significant value to mass‐customized industry and of special significance for small‐series production.

Aims to discuss how impedance‐controlled parallel robots can effectively perform industrial assembly tasks.

A new purely translational parallel robot has been designed to fulfil the requirements of industrial assembly tasks. The kinematic and dynamic models of the robot have been obtained in analytic form. A full‐scale prototype has been realized within the Italian research programme PRIDE (Parallel Robots Interacting with Dynamic Environments). An impedance control algorithm based on the kinematic and dynamic models has been implemented on the control unit of the PRIDE prototype. The effectiveness of the impedance‐controlled PKM has been evaluated performing the assembly of white goods components.

The test results show that the combined use of impedance control and dynamic compensation applied to parallel kinematics machines allows to reduce remarkably the operational time compared to the currently used position‐controlled industrial robots.

The experimental tests on the PRIDE prototype show the overall industrial feasibility of impedance‐controlled parallel kinematics machines.

The introduction of impedance‐controlled PKMs may improve, with a relatively low cost, the level of automation of several production plants in which delicate operations requiring force control are still executed manually.

While there is a large number of existing position‐controlled PKMs, the experimental research about force‐controlled or impedance‐controlled PKMs is not widespread.

The aim of the research is to design, build and test a robot able to autonomously execute slope consolidation tasks.

A multidisciplinary approach has been adopted to solve the problem: mechanical and control architecture have been conceived simultaneously. Modularity and lifecycle are considered. The robot can climb by means of four legs and two ropes. The drilling system is hosted onboard. Drilling process is fully automated, motion can be controlled in tele‐operation.

The performance of the first prototype has satisfied the end‐user; new on‐site tests and improvements are planned.

Roboclimber is cumbersome; both robot transport and on‐site positioning are complex operations. Coordination between legs motion and ropes tensioning is a difficult task.

The system reduces operating costs and working time, while avoiding the human presence in unsafe and harsh environments.

Roboclimber is the first robot able to do heavy duty works on rocky walls

The purpose of this paper is to present new locomotion and steering modules conceived and designed for rescue serpentine robots with enhanced climbing ability. The locomotion modules apply sock locomotion technology that allows great motion efficiency in rubble and confined environment due to the very high propulsion ratio. The steering joints guarantee good orientation dexterity by exploiting actuation based on smart materials.

Great attention and time is dedicated to the design phase, digital mock‐upping and virtual comparative assessment of different solutions. Mechatronic interdisciplinary design methodology including mechanisms analysis, sensory actuation issues and functional materials characterization, control and communication integration has been adopted.

The locomotion modules are revised and updated versions improving climbing ability of the socked locomotion module originally proposed by the authors. New steering modules with high orientation workspace, based on smart actuation, are introduced.

The evaluation of the findings on the field is planned but no experimental result is today available.

Agile serpentine robots are requested for quick and safe rescue and special risky interventions in environments where dense vegetation, rubble and confined spaces prevent human presence. These robots offer invaluable potential help in such risky interventions mainly by being agile in exploring the environment, robust, low cost, reliable, and tele‐operated.

The paper presents original issues in terms of concept and design of instrumental (locomotion and steering) modules for composing modular rescue robots with very high locomotion agility and climbing performances.

The purpose of this paper is to review the current application areas of shape memory alloy (SMA) actuators in intelligent robotic systems and devices.

This paper analyses how actuation and sensing functions of the SMA actuator have been exploited and incorporated in micro and macro robotic devices, developed for medical and non‐medical applications. The speed of response of SMA actuator mostly depends upon its shape and size, addition and removal of heat and the bias force applied. All these factors have impact on the overall size of the robotic device and the degree of freedom (dof) obtained and hence, a comprehensive survey is made highlighting these aspects. Also described are the mechatronic aspects like the software and hardware used in an industrial environment for the control of such nonlinear actuator and the type of sensory feedback devices incorporated for obtaining better control, positioning accuracy and fast response.

SMA actuators find wide applications in various facets of robotic equipments. Selecting a suitable shape, fast heating and cooling method and better intelligent control technique with or without feedback devices could optimize its performance.

The frequency of SMA actuation purely depends on the rate of heat energy added to and removed from the actuator, which in turn depends upon interrelated nonlinear parameters.

For increasing the dof of robots, number of actuators also have to be increased that leads to complex control problems.

Explains the suitability of SMA as actuators in smart robotic systems, possibility of miniaturisation. It also highlights the difficulties faced by the SMA research community.

The paper aims to present the design, validation and integration of a universal fabric gripper. Flexible material handling is one of the most challenging problems occurring in the field of manipulator robots. Because textile products shape and properties can widely vary, each textile and each technological operation should have its own specialized gripper. The objective of the work described here is therefore to design a universal gripper able to grip and transfer every kind of textile.

The design objectives are the ability to handle panels of varying shapes and sizes without material deformation and/or folding, and the easy integration with commercially available manipulator robots. To answer initial requirements and increase the textile gripping reliability, we opted to combine three different gripping technologies: vacuum, intrusion and pinch.

Each system was first validated independently through static tests. The vacuum technology offers a high reliability to handle impermeable materials. The intrusion technology is reliable for the manipulation of high porosity materials, while the pinch technology shows good results for all soft fabrics when combined with the vacuum technology. Then, the limits of the new gripper in terms of gripping capacity, compressed air consumption and characteristics and limitations of the flexible material handled were put in evidence using a robot arm. An automated selection program of the gripper based on the material characteristics has also been developed and implemented.

This paper fulfills an identified need to design a universal gripper able to grip and transfer every different kind of cut textile.

The purpose of this paper is to gain an in-depth understanding into the research progress, hot spots and future trends in smart gripping technology in the field of apparel smart manufacturing.

This work scrutinised the current research status of the five automatic grasping methods for garment fabrics including the pneumatic suction grasping, the electrostatic grasping, the intrusive grasping and the dexterous grasping. Specifically, the principles, characteristics, main devices and the impact on garment production were discussed.

In particular, soft finger of the dexterous grasping method has good flexibility and adaptability in the process of fabric grasping, which provides a new solution for garment production automation. Up to now, the reviewed method in general exhibit good grasping speed, high grasping stability and flat grasping process. However, in the face of complex fabric materials which are thin and flexible and do not return their original shapes when deformed in practical applications, the gripper for automatic fabric grasping need new technological breakthroughs in the positioning accuracy, grab efficiency and flexible grasping.

The outcomes offered an overview of the research status and future trends of the automatic grasping methods for garment fabrics in the field of apparel intelligent manufacturing. It could not only provide scholars with convenience in identifying research hot spots and building potential cooperation in the follow-up research but also assist beginners in searching core scholars and literature of great significance.

Aims to discuss how a Cartesian parallel robot with flexure revolute joints can effectively perform miniaturized assembly tasks.

The results of the test and validation phase of a Cartesian parallel robot designed for miniaturized assembly are shown. The workspace volume is a cube with 30 mm side and the target accuracy is 1 μm. Each of the three robot legs has a prismatic‐planar architecture, with a cog‐free linear motor and a planar joint realized using ten superelastic flexure revolute joints. Flexure joints are adopted in order to avoid stick‐slip phenomena and reach high positioning accuracy; their patented construction is relatively low‐cost and allows a quick replacement in case of fatigue failure.

The tests on the prototype are very encouraging: the measured positioning accuracy of the linear motors is ±0.5 μm; on the other hand, the effects of unwanted rotations of flexure joints and hysteresis of the superelastic material are not negligible and must be properly compensated for in order to fully exploit the potential performance of the machine.

The introduction of this robotic architecture can fulfil the needs of a wide range of industrial miniaturized assembly applications, thanks to its accurate positioning in a relatively large workspace. The cost of the machine is low thanks to its extreme modularity.

The combination of Cartesian parallel kinematics, cog‐free linear motors and superelastic flexure revolute joints allows one to obtain very good positioning performance.

To present a new special explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) robot designed to operate onboard airplanes.

The design approach adopted is multidisciplinary: mechanical and control architectures are conceived simultaneously. Modularity and lifecycle are considered. Motion and EOD tasks are controlled in tele‐operation.

A new EOD robot was designed in detail and it is ready to be built. A dynamic simulator has been written and set‐up, including a virtual reality module. The simulator is used to define the control logics. Simulation results are satisfactory. The simulator can be used as a training platform for the bomb squads.

The intent to keep the cost of the robot low conditioned the selection of the materials. Only aluminium and standard composites (like carbon fibers composites) have been used. A higher degree of freedom of the arm could increase the usability of the system; to limit the cost, the degree of freedom was limited to seven. A decision support system based on an expert system interfaced with the simulator could improve the performance of the system.

A new EOD robot will be built and commercialised soon by the industrial partner Ansaldo Ricerche.

The EOD robots available for use inside aircrafts are discussed. A new system named AirEOD is presented, including mobile platform, dexterous arm and all related design and control issues.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the possible merits and difficulties of utilizing participatory augmented reality simulations (PARS) with English learners (ELs) in K‐12 science classrooms.

The authors analyzed literature of PARS, sheltered English instruction (SEI), and other literature relevant to science instruction for ELs. Though the authors relied primarily on empirical research related to PARS and ELs, other papers were included to increase thoroughness.

The authors identified elements of PARS that address requirements for effective instruction of ELs including the modality, engagement, collaboration, language use, and identity forming aspects. The findings indicate that future research into the use of PARS in science instruction may benefit ELs.

The literature synthesis was conducted to address a gap in the literature. Additional research specifically examining the impact of PARS on ELs is necessary.

Despite increased focus of PARS and instruction for ELs within educational literature, there has been little examination of the relationship between the two elements. Therefore, this paper highlights parallels in PARS research with documented best practices for sheltered English instruction (SEI). No other paper was found that explicitly evaluates PARS for science instruction with ELs.