Development and control of a single-wheel robot: Practical Mechatronics approach

This article presents a Mechatronics approach to make the complex dynamical system satisfy the specification as desired. The Mechatronics approach has several phases: analytical design, system integration, sensing & control, and evaluation. The Mechatronics approach means that cycles of design, implementation, sensing, and control are repeated until the system satisfies the goal through evaluation. A single-wheel robot system called GYROBO after a robot that uses gyroscopic effect is developed and controlled by the Mechatronics approach. The goal of GYROBO is to navigate its terrain while maintaining the stable balance. However, successful balancing and navigation of a single-wheel robot are quite difficult and challenging since one point contact may fall down in lateral direction with ease. To have a successful balancing performance, many problems have to be solved a priori before applying any advanced control algorithms. Among several phases of analytical design, integration, sensing & control, and evaluation, the most important phase is the analytical design. However, the analytical design cannot guarantee successful performances due to the complexity of the system. Practical Mechatronic approach is to repeat cycles of system integration, sensing & control, and evaluation. After several modifications of mechanical assembly and relocation of components inside the wheel housing, simple linear controllers enable GYROBO to perform successful balancing and navigation. GYROBO is able to follow the specified trajectory given by a remote operator. Experimental studies of control of balancing, driving forward and backward, turning, and climbing over an obstacle of GYROBO are conducted to demonstrate and evaluate its functionality and support the concept of the Mechatronics approach to control complex systems.     

“机电一体化”课程移动机器人协作实验平台搭建与探索

为改善现有实验平台实验项目综合性不强等问题,满足理论与实际应用相结合的实验教学及科研的要求,研制移动机器人协作实验平台。以牧草捡拾堆垛协作机器人为载体,采用机电一体化设计理念和模块化设计思想,以STM32为控制系统核心,结合光电传感技术和多传感器融合技术确保机器人行进路径及检测结果的精准性。学生可以灵活重组不同功能模块,完善软件编程,完成多个捡拾堆垛目标、多种路径控制综合实验。此外,在改善牧草业领域人工捡拾堆垛牧草劳动强度大的现状,提高牧草捡拾的生产效率及经济效益方面具有一定的实际应用价值。     

A new automatic generation controller for a wind-driven slip-ring induction generator

A new scheme for controlling the stator power output of a system-connected slip-ring induction generator by electronic variation of its rotor resistance is presented. Laboratory testing suggests the application of this scheme in overcoming major operational difficulties experienced by wind turbine generators operating in parallel with a small power grid.     

Intelsat's new generation

The author gives a brief history of the Intelsat satellites and then discusses the requirements for the seventh generation of satellites. These satellites are needed in the Pacific Ocean region and the Atlantic Ocean region. The main coverage features are briefly discussed. The Intelsat VII series are smaller than the Intelsat VI series and have fewer transponders. The main components and construction of the satellites is discussed     

A new approach for the design of robot joint transmission

Until recently the only alternative to traditional transmission techniques for robot manipulators was direct-drive (DD), and associated transmission mechanisms. These methodologies were developed to overcome the inherent problems of friction, backlash and compliance of gearboxes. The DD concept is however not ideal as the absence of a reduction ratio, means that dynamic coupling and joint interaction become important at the motor shaft. An alternative approach that keeps the directness of DD, while providing dynamic coupling and joint interaction attenuation, is the non-linear direct transmission. The new concept is applied to the prototype SPRINTA robot and its performance demonstrates the potential of the non-linear direct transmission philosophy.     

Fabrication of oxide heterostructures for promising solar cells of a new generation

The prospects of the fabrication of solar cells based on metal oxides (ZnO formed by the hydrothermal method) with a bulk heterojunction are considered. The results of synthesizing zinc-oxide nanorods on different seed layers are presented. The important role of seed-layer formation is noted. It is shown that the structure of nanorod arrays can be controlled using a surfactant. Faceted nanorods are obtained, which are promising for designing new-generation solar cells.     

Mechatronics for the design of human-oriented machines

One of the topics of mechatronics is the design of "intelligent" machines, thus making them different from previous ones and allowing more sophisticated cooperation between humans and machines. Such machines are expected to emulate human skills and to communicate and interact with their human users on an appropriate level. The requirements for such human-oriented machines and the implications on their design will be discussed here. A number of examples from actual Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) research, ranging from nanomanipulation tasks and medical devices to a mobile service robot, demonstrate the application of the concept.     

Mechatronics applied to auditory localisation for telepresence

This paper describes the importance of the sense of hearing for immersive telepresence systems, and a fundamental approach to designing and implementing a binaural sensor system. This approach relies on knowledge of how the human auditory localisation mechanisms work to locate sounds in space, in order that a synthetic system can be derived. The most important of these mechanisms are explained. The Strathclyde auditory system is then described including ideas drawn from the literature to define a binaural approach. This novel system consists of a set of artificial pinnae and microphones mounted on a binocular stereo sensor platform capable of pan, tilt and roll which is slaved to a head tracking system. A set of preliminary experiments is described which test the performance of the system in practice, as a basis for further development.     

A new concept of planar self-reconfigurable modular robot for conveying microparts

Modularity and self-healing are two interesting properties that could help to design more flexible conveyors of micro-objects. In the Smart Blocks project, we propose to design a 2D modular and self-reconfigurable robot composed of centimeter-scale sliding blocks that embed their own actuators and control electronics. This article presents a proof-of-concept of the linkage and of the traveling system as well as an algorithm able to reconfigure a set of blocks from a spatial configuration to another one. Prototype blocks have been realized using electro-permanent magnets which show a good motion speed while saving power consumption during the linkage. Our reconfiguration algorithm is implemented in a simulator software showing in real-time the reconfiguration of the robot.     

MECHATRONICS 2000. Seventh Mechatronics Forum InternationalConference and Mechatronics Education Workshop

The following topics are dealt with: flip chip solder joint quality inspection; direct chip attach packaging for microsystems; reliability analysis of no-underfill flip chip package; ASIC/memory integration by system-on-package; wafer-level and flip chip designs through solder prediction models and validation; reliability evaluation of under bump metallurgy in two solder systems; a method to improve the efficiency of the CMP process; thermal and reliability analysis of packaging systems     

电脑智能机器人活动--培养学生综合素质的新载体

电脑智能机器人活动是一种新兴的、融合了众多先进技术的教育活动平台,经过本人的几年教育实践,发现通过机器人活动可以培养学生对科学的兴趣、提高学生的思维品质、发展学生的实践能力、促进学生良好品德的形成。     

向新一代分组业务转移

今 天服务提供商面临着应付管理多重叠加网络管理困难的挑战。众所周知，叠加网络结构对提高现有业务收入方面显得无能为力。因此，服务提供商需要能帮助他扩展当前的基础设施，同时保持提供给最终用户的服务水平的解决方案。 面对激烈的价格竞争，服务提供商必须设法降低成本。此外，服务提供商还必须准备在逐渐形成的ＩＰ业务市场上投入资金，因此不得不想方设法使现有的可提供给用户的业务向分组化业务转型。 商业挑战 电信业务由以下三个网络协作平台组成：ＰＳＴＮ，全球语音网络；互联网，尽力而为的全球数据网络；还有服务提供商的商…     

Mechatronics in the Netherlands

This article assesses the present situation of mechatronics in the Netherlands. After a short historical survey, it describes the postgraduate "mechatronic designer course", introduced in 1991. It deals with the principles of this course and how these principles have been implemented. Also, the activities of the Dutch government in cooperation with the industrial mechatronics community to enhance the awareness of mechatronics, especially directed toward small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is described.     

机电一体化技术和应用研究初探

讨论了机电一体化技术对于改变整个机械制造业面貌所起的重要作用,并说明其在钢铁工业中的应用以及发展趋势。     

A new key generation method for frequency-domain speech scramblers

This paper describes a method which uses “derangement” permutations as scrambling keys in a frequency-domain speech scrambling system. Subjective tests based on the number test confirm that such keys produce scrambled speech with virtually no residual intelligibility. A new derangement generation algorithm is introduced for key generation. This algorithm maps each integer g, in the range of 0⩽g<(n-1)!, to a distinct derangement of 2 elements,     

A new generation of SIS receivers for millimeter-wave radioastronomy

A new generation of low-noise, dual-polarization heterodyne receivers covering all atmospheric windows between 68 and 300 GHz has been developed for the 12-m telescope on Kitt Peak, AZ, operated by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). A modular approach to the receiver construction has been used. Each receiver channel is constructed as a self-contained insert which is mounted in a dewar equipped with a closed-cycle 4 K refrigerator capable of cooling up to eight inserts, thereby enabling several frequency bands to be contained within one dewar. The telescope and receiver optics are so arranged that switching between frequency bands may be accomplished rapidly by rotating the optical elements placed in the signal path. Single-sideband noise temperatures ranging from 50 to 400 K are obtained across the frequency range     

A new DLL-based approach for all-digital multiphase clock generation

A new DLL-based approach for all-digital multiphase clock generation is presented. By using the time-to-digital converter (TDC) with fixed-step search scheme, the proposed all-digital and cell-based solution can overcome the false-lock problem in conventional designs. Furthermore, the proposed all-digital multiphase clock generator (ADMCG) can easily be ported to different processes in a short time. Thus, it can reduce the design time and design complexity in many different applications. The test chip shows that our proposal demonstrates a wide frequency range to meet the needs of many digital communication applications.