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Machines
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Advances in Applied Mechatronics
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Advances in Applied Mechatronics

A special issue of Machines (ISSN 2075-1702). This special issue belongs to the section "Robotics, Mechatronics and Intelligent Machines".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 July 2022) | Viewed by 14630

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Wenjun (Chris) Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A9, Canada
Interests: design; manufacturing; MEMS; dynamic systems; biorobotics; biosensors; bioacutators
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Aydin Azizi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics, Oxford Brookes University, Wheatley Campus, Wheatley, Oxford OX33 1HX, UK
Interests: mechatronics; control & automation; artificial intelligence
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The name "mechatronics" originated in 1969 by senior Japanese engineer Tetsura Mori, and the field has indeed been said to have grown out of robotics. Early on, robot arms were uncoordinated and had no sensory feedback, but as advances have been made in programming, sensor technology, and controls, the robotic movements have become more coordinated. Mechatronics is the combination of mechanical, electrical and electronics, control and automation and computer engineering. The main research task of mechatronics is the development and control of advanced hybrid systems covering all these fields and is supported by interdisciplinary studies. Several new technologies have emerged that allow for designers to revolutionize their approach. Some ideas were impossible to implement a decade ago, but, with the advent of these technologies, these ideas have been revised, and mechatronics design methods have been considered. As mechatronic systems become more complex, the challenges associated with successfully executing them also become more demanding.

The purpose of this Special Issue, in general, is to help us to better understand how mechatronics will impact the practice and research of developing advanced techniques to model, control and optimize complex systems. This Special Issue presents the current state of advances in mechatronics and related technologies including: Automatic Control, Robotics, Agent-Based Systems, Smart Manufacturing and Industry 4.0. The selected topics provide an overview of the state of the art and present new research results and prospects of the future development in the interdisciplinary field of mechatronic systems. The Special Issue will provide up-to-date and useful knowledge for researchers and engineers involved in mechatronics and related fields.

Within the above dimensions, the scope of the Special Issue welcomes high-quality original research and review articles that cover a broad range of topics related to theoretical and applied aspects of modern mechatronics.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

  • Advanced Smart Automation Technologies in Mechatronics
  • MEMS Dynamics and Control
  • Sensor Design and Data Collection Approaches
  • Model-Based Mechatronic System Design
  • Mechatronics and Smart Manufacturing Systems
  • Computational Intelligence in Mechatronic Systems
  • Artificial Intelligence in Mechatronic Systems
  • Mechanism Synthesis, Analysis, and Design
  • Modeling, Control and Optimization of complex Mechatronic systems
  • Novel Robotic Systems
  • Intelligent Health Monitoring and Supervisory Control of Mechatronic Systems
  • Medical Mechatronics for Healthcare

 

Prof. Dr. Wenjun (Chris) Zhang
Dr. Aydin Azizi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Machines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Advanced Smart Automation Technologies in Mechatronics
  • MEMS Dynamics and Control
  • Sensor Design and Data Collection Approaches
  • Model-Based Mechatronic System Design
  • Mechatronics and Smart Manufacturing Systems
  • Computational Intelligence in Mechatronic Systems
  • Artificial Intelligence in Mechatronic Systems
  • Mechanism Synthesis, Analysis, and Design
  • Modeling, Control and Optimization of complex Mechatronic systems
  • Novel Robotic Systems
  • Intelligent Health Monitoring and Supervisory Control of Mechatronic Systems
  • Medical Mechatronics for Healthcare

Related Special Issue

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 7500 KiB  
Article
A Dynamic Pole Motion Approach for Control of Nonlinear Hybrid Soft Legs: A Preliminary Study
by Ki-Young Song, Mahtab Behzadfar and Wen-Jun Zhang
Machines 2022, 10(10), 875; https://doi.org/10.3390/machines10100875 - 28 Sep 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1516
Abstract
Hybrid soft leg systems have been studied for advanced gaits of soft robots. However, it is challenging to analyze and control hybrid soft legs due to their nonlinearity. In this study, we adopted dynamic pole motion (DPM) to analyze stability of a nonlinear [...] Read more.
Hybrid soft leg systems have been studied for advanced gaits of soft robots. However, it is challenging to analyze and control hybrid soft legs due to their nonlinearity. In this study, we adopted dynamic pole motion (DPM) to analyze stability of a nonlinear hybrid soft leg system with dynamic Routh’s stability criterion and to design a proper controller for the nonlinear system with an error-based adaptive controller (E-BAC). A typical hybrid soft leg system was taken as an example, as such a system can easily become unstable and needs a controller to get the system back to a stable state. Specifically, E-BAC was designed to control the unstable hybrid soft leg fast with a minimal overshoot. As a nonlinear controller, the implanted E-BAC in a feedback control system includes two dominant dynamic parameters: the dynamic position feedback Kpe,t and the dynamic velocity feedback Kve,t. These parameters were properly selected, and the feedback was continuously varying as a function of system error et, exhibiting an adaptive control behavior. The simulation shows that this approach for constructing an adaptive controller can yield a very fast response with no overshoot. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Applied Mechatronics)
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24 pages, 9794 KiB  
Article
CLOVER Robot: A Minimally Actuated Jumping Robotic Platform
by Alejandro Macario-Rojas, Ben Parslew, Andrew Weightman and Katharine Lucy Smith
Machines 2022, 10(8), 640; https://doi.org/10.3390/machines10080640 - 02 Aug 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2055
Abstract
Robots have been critical instruments to exploration of extreme environments by providing access to environments beyond human limitations. Jumping robot concepts are attractive solutions to negotiate complex and cluttered terrain. However, among the engineering challenges that need to be addressed to enable sustained [...] Read more.
Robots have been critical instruments to exploration of extreme environments by providing access to environments beyond human limitations. Jumping robot concepts are attractive solutions to negotiate complex and cluttered terrain. However, among the engineering challenges that need to be addressed to enable sustained operation of jumping robot concepts in extreme environments, the reduction of mechanical failure modes is one of the most fundamental. This study sets out to develop a jumping robot design, with a focus on a minimal actuation to support reduced mechanism maintenance and thus limit the number of mechanical failure modes. We present the synthesis of a Sarrus-style linkage to constrain the system to a single translational degree of freedom thus removing the need for synchronising gears, which exhibit high failure rates in dusty environments. We have restricted the present research to vertical solid jumps to assess the performance of the fundamental main-drive linkage. A laboratory demonstrator assists the transfer of theoretical concepts and approaches to practical implementation. The laboratory demonstrator performs jumps with 63% potential-to-kinetic energy conversion efficiency, with a theoretical maximum of 73%. Satisfactory operation opens up design optimisation and directional jump capability towards the development of a jumping robotic platform for extreme environments exploration. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Applied Mechatronics)
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16 pages, 3991 KiB  
Article
Operational Stability Analysis on the Roller-Coating Process for a Roll Coating-Simulation Test Equipment
by Hongzhan Lv, Kehang Yang, Jia You and Shuyan Wang
Machines 2022, 10(5), 304; https://doi.org/10.3390/machines10050304 - 25 Apr 2022
Viewed by 2040
Abstract
In the research on key technology of radiation-curing coil steel coating, it is necessary to evaluate the coating stability of radiation-curing coil steel coating materials. In this paper, a roll coating-simulation test equipment is proposed to test coating status. Considering the operational stability [...] Read more.
In the research on key technology of radiation-curing coil steel coating, it is necessary to evaluate the coating stability of radiation-curing coil steel coating materials. In this paper, a roll coating-simulation test equipment is proposed to test coating status. Considering the operational stability of the equipment, dynamic vibration response analysis and stability analysis of the roller-coating process are performed on the equipment. The test results show that the rotor vibration of the designed roll coating-simulation test equipment meets the requirements of rotating machinery, and the coating thickness remains stable under the vibration condition, which satisfies the working condition of the test equipment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Applied Mechatronics)
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22 pages, 5558 KiB  
Article
Simulation of the Landing Buffer of a Three-Legged Jumping Robot
by Yilin Yan, Katharine Smith, Alejandro Macario-Rojas and Hongbo Zhang
Machines 2022, 10(5), 299; https://doi.org/10.3390/machines10050299 - 23 Apr 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2261
Abstract
In recent years, the research of planetary exploration robots has become an active field. The jumping robot has become a hot spot in this field. This paper presents a work modelling and simulating a three-legged jumping robot, which has a powerful force, high [...] Read more.
In recent years, the research of planetary exploration robots has become an active field. The jumping robot has become a hot spot in this field. This paper presents a work modelling and simulating a three-legged jumping robot, which has a powerful force, high leaping performance, and good flexibility. In particular, the jumping of the robot was simulated and the landing buffer of the robot was analyzed. Because this jumping robot lacks landing buffer, this paper verifies a method of absorbing landing kinetic energy to improve landing stability and storing it as the energy for the next jump in the simulation. Through the landing simulation, the factors affecting the landing energy absorption are identified. Moreover, the simulation experiment verifies that the application of the intermediate axis theorem helps to absorb more energy and adjust the landing attitude of the robot. The simulation results in this paper can be applied to the optimal design of robot prototypes and provide a theoretical basis for subsequent research. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Applied Mechatronics)
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19 pages, 5887 KiB  
Article
Partial Shaking Moment Balancing of Spherical Parallel Robots by a Combined Counterweight and Adjusting Kinematic Parameters Approach
by Hongfei Yu, Zhiqin Qian, Anil Borugadda, Wei Sun and Wenjun Zhang
Machines 2022, 10(3), 216; https://doi.org/10.3390/machines10030216 - 19 Mar 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2075
Abstract
Spherical parallel robots (SPR) are widely used in industries and robotic rehabilitation. Designing such systems for better balance properties is still a challenge. This paper presents a work to minimize the shaking moment for a fully force-balanced SPR by combining the counterweight (CW) [...] Read more.
Spherical parallel robots (SPR) are widely used in industries and robotic rehabilitation. Designing such systems for better balance properties is still a challenge. This paper presents a work to minimize the shaking moment for a fully force-balanced SPR by combining the counterweight (CW) and adjusting the kinematic parameters (AKP). An approximate model of the shaking moment of the SPR is proposed for computational efficiency (specifically allowing for a gradient-based optimization algorithm available in MATLAB) yet without the loss of much accuracy. The effectiveness of the proposed approach has been confirmed based on simulation, especially with the software system SPACAR due to its high reliability and easy availability. Specifically, the simulation result shows that compared with the unbalanced SPR, the shaking moment of the balanced SPR can decrease by more than 90%. It is worth mentioning that the AKP approach is an excellent example of mechatronics by combining the capability of re-planning the joint motion from the end-effector motion and adjusting the kinematic parameters to redistribute the mass of the whole robot for canceling the shaking force and shaking moment—inertia-induced force and moment to the ground. In short, the main contributions of this paper are: (1) a combined CW and AKP approach to the partial moment balancing of the SPR enhanced with a simplified mathematical model of the shaking moment of the SPR, and (2) a new design of the SPR which can be fully force balanced yet partially moment balanced. A note is taken that the simplified model is under the condition that the parameters of the link have certain geometric relations, which is a limitation of our approach. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Applied Mechatronics)
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18 pages, 5013 KiB  
Article
Applied Mechatronics: On Mitigating Disturbance Effects in MEMS Resonators Using Robust Nonsingular Terminal Sliding Mode Controllers
by Aydin Azizi, Hamed Mobki, Hassen M. Ouakad and Omid Reza B. Speily
Machines 2022, 10(1), 34; https://doi.org/10.3390/machines10010034 - 03 Jan 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1489
Abstract
This investigation attempts to study a possible controller in improving the dynamic stability of capacitive microstructures through mitigating the effects of disturbances and uncertainties in their resultant dynamic behavior. Consequently, a nonsingular terminal sliding mode control strategy is suggested in this regard. The [...] Read more.
This investigation attempts to study a possible controller in improving the dynamic stability of capacitive microstructures through mitigating the effects of disturbances and uncertainties in their resultant dynamic behavior. Consequently, a nonsingular terminal sliding mode control strategy is suggested in this regard. The main features of this particular control strategy are its high response speed and its non-reliance on powerful controller forces. The stability of the controller was investigated using Lyapunov theory. For this purpose, a suitable Lyapunov function was introduced to prove the stability of a controller, and the singularity conditions and methods to overcome these conditions are presented. The achieved results proved the high capability of the applied technique in stabilizing of the microstructure as well as mitigating the effects of disturbances and uncertainties. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Applied Mechatronics)
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