Advances in Mechanism Design for Robots

A special issue of Inventions (ISSN 2411-5134). This special issue belongs to the section "Inventions and Innovation in Advanced Manufacturing".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2017) | Viewed by 41980

Special Issue Editor

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Robots are mechatronic systems of which functionalities and tasks are related to mechanical actions either with humans or with other systems. Therefore, the mechanical design can be considered fundamental to ensure the proper performance that are expected by a robot in an assigned task. In this Special Issue we have directed the main attention to the design and development of the mechanical design of robots by looking at the advances in solutions and procedures that can provide enhancements in robot structures and their functionalities even in new areas of application. Papers are solicited not only in the following topics that are related to robot structures and architectures:

  • Mechanism designs
  • Kinematics of robots
  • Robot path planning
  • Prototypes
  • Experimental evaluations
  • Applications
  • Control mechanisms
  • Multi-body dynamics design
  • Design procedures
  • CAD design and simulations

Prof. Dr. Marco Ceccarelli
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Editorial

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1 pages, 131 KiB  
Editorial
Advances in the Mechanical Design of Robots
by Marco Ceccarelli
Inventions 2018, 3(1), 10; https://doi.org/10.3390/inventions3010010 - 30 Jan 2018
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 4417
Abstract
Robots are mechatronic systems whose functionalities and tasks are mechanical actions and interactions either with humans or with other systems[...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Mechanism Design for Robots)

Research

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5062 KiB  
Article
Development of a Bridge Inspection Robot Capable of Traveling on Splicing Parts
by Yogo Takada, Satoshi Ito and Naoto Imajo
Inventions 2017, 2(3), 22; https://doi.org/10.3390/inventions2030022 - 26 Aug 2017
Cited by 19 | Viewed by 7462
Abstract
Several infrastructures, such as bridges and tunnels, require periodic inspection and repair to prevent collapse. There is a strong demand for practical bridge inspection robots to reduce the cost and time associated with the inspection of bridges by an inspector. Bridge inspection robots [...] Read more.
Several infrastructures, such as bridges and tunnels, require periodic inspection and repair to prevent collapse. There is a strong demand for practical bridge inspection robots to reduce the cost and time associated with the inspection of bridges by an inspector. Bridge inspection robots are expected to pass through obstacles such as bolted splice part and right-angled routes. The aim of this study involved developing a bridge inspection robot that can travel on a right-angle path as well as splicing parts. A two-wheel-drive robot was developed and equipped with two rimless wheels as driving wheels. A neodymium magnet was provided at the tip of each spoke. Non-driving wheels were attached at the rear as a rotatable caster. The robot can turn on the spot to avoid the bolt on the splicing part. Experiments were conducted to check the performance of the robot. The results confirmed that the robot passed through the internal right-angle paths in a laboratory and in an actual environment that corresponds to a box girder of a bridge. It is extremely difficult to manually control a robot on the splicing part. Therefore, a camera and an LED (light emitting diode) were attached to autonomously control the robot. The results indicate that the newly developed robot could run through the splicing part without hitting the nuts. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Mechanism Design for Robots)
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3478 KiB  
Article
A Novel Nested Reconfigurable Approach for a Glass Façade Cleaning Robot
by Shunsuke Nansai, Mohan Rajesh Elara, Thein Than Tun, Prabakaran Veerajagadheswar and Thejus Pathmakumar
Inventions 2017, 2(3), 18; https://doi.org/10.3390/inventions2030018 - 17 Aug 2017
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 7389
Abstract
The façade cleaning of high rise buildings is one of the hazardous tasks that is performed by human operators. Even after a significant advancement in construction technologies, several newfangled skyscrapers are still using the manual method for cleaning the glass panels. This research [...] Read more.
The façade cleaning of high rise buildings is one of the hazardous tasks that is performed by human operators. Even after a significant advancement in construction technologies, several newfangled skyscrapers are still using the manual method for cleaning the glass panels. This research is aimed at the development of a glass façade cleaning robot, capable of adapting to any kind of building architecture. A robotic system capable of cleaning vertical glass surfaces demands a transformable morphology. A self-reconfigurable robot is one of the potential solutions to realize high degrees of adaptability. Following the design principles we derived, we propose a nested reconfigurable design approach for glass façade cleaning and develope a system of robot modules that performs glass façade cleaning. Throughout this research article, we discuss the brief concept and scheme of nested reconfigurable design principle and the hardware-software challenges associated with it. This article also discusses the capability to maximize the flexibility and modularity of the robot by using intra- and inter-reconfigurations. The effectiveness of the designed system is verified by experimental means. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Mechanism Design for Robots)
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8112 KiB  
Article
Characteristics and Performance of CAUTO (CAssino hUmanoid TOrso) Prototype
by Daniele Cafolla and Marco Ceccarelli
Inventions 2017, 2(3), 17; https://doi.org/10.3390/inventions2030017 - 15 Aug 2017
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 5790
Abstract
An artificial torso is a fundamental part of a humanoid robot for imitating human actions. In this paper, a prototype of CAUTO (CAssino hUmanoid TOrso) is presented. Its design is characterized by artificial vertebras actuated by cable-driven parallel manipulators. The design was conceived [...] Read more.
An artificial torso is a fundamental part of a humanoid robot for imitating human actions. In this paper, a prototype of CAUTO (CAssino hUmanoid TOrso) is presented. Its design is characterized by artificial vertebras actuated by cable-driven parallel manipulators. The design was conceived by looking at the complex system and functioning of the human torso, in order to develop a solution for basic human-like behavior. The requirements and kinematic structure are introduced to explain the peculiarities of the proposed mechanical design. A prototype is presented, and built with low-cost and high-performance features. Tests results are reported to show the feasibility and the characteristics in replicating human torso motions. In addition, the power consumption has been measured during the tests to prove the efficiency of the Li-Po battery supply, employed for a fully portable solution of the designed torso. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Mechanism Design for Robots)
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2185 KiB  
Article
Control of the Acrobot with Motors of Atypical Size Using Artificial Intelligence Techniques
by Gonzalo Mier and Javier De Lope
Inventions 2017, 2(3), 16; https://doi.org/10.3390/inventions2030016 - 14 Aug 2017
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 5572
Abstract
An acrobot is a planar robot with a passive actuator in its first joint. The main purpose of this system is to make it rise from the rest position to the inverted pendulum position. This control problem can be divided in the swing-up [...] Read more.
An acrobot is a planar robot with a passive actuator in its first joint. The main purpose of this system is to make it rise from the rest position to the inverted pendulum position. This control problem can be divided in the swing-up issue, when the robot has to rise itself by swinging up as a human acrobat does, and the balancing issue, when the robot has to maintain itself in the inverted pendulum position. We have developed three controllers for the swing-up problem applied to two types of motors: small and large. For small motors, we used the State-Action-Reward-State-Action (SARSA) controller and the proportional–derivative (PD) controller with a trajectory generator. For large motors, we propose a new controller to control the acrobot—a pulse-width modulation (PWM) controller. All controllers except SARSA are tuned using a genetic algorithm. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Mechanism Design for Robots)
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3433 KiB  
Article
A Finger Exoskeleton Robot for Finger Movement Rehabilitation
by Tzu-Heng Hsu, Yen-Cheng Chiang, Wei-Tun Chan and Shih-Jui Chen
Inventions 2017, 2(3), 12; https://doi.org/10.3390/inventions2030012 - 01 Jul 2017
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 10539
Abstract
In this study, a finger exoskeleton robot has been designed and presented. The prototype device was designed to be worn on the dorsal side of the hand to assist in the movement and rehabilitation of the fingers. The finger exoskeleton is 3D-printed to [...] Read more.
In this study, a finger exoskeleton robot has been designed and presented. The prototype device was designed to be worn on the dorsal side of the hand to assist in the movement and rehabilitation of the fingers. The finger exoskeleton is 3D-printed to be low-cost and has a transmission mechanism consisting of rigid serial links which is actuated by a stepper motor. The actuation of the robotic finger is by a sliding motion and mimics the movement of the human finger. To make it possible for the patient to use the rehabilitation device anywhere and anytime, an Arduino™ control board and a speech recognition board were used to allow voice control. As the robotic finger follows the patients voice commands the actual motion is analyzed by Tracker image analysis software. The finger exoskeleton is designed to flex and extend the fingers, and has a rotation range of motion (ROM) of 44.2°. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Mechanism Design for Robots)
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