A semi-optimal path generation scheme for a frame articulated steering-type vehicle

A wheel loader is one of the main machines that is used in various applications. The present authors have been interested in autonomous control of its locomotion and navigation. An inevitable step in achieving this is path planning. The authors choose a technique of designing a steering method for car-like vehicles by proposing a semi-optimal path generation scheme using a canonical path skeleton consisting of three line segments and two clotohid pairs. Taking such a path skeleton, for any given pair of a locally desired initial configuration and a locally desired destination configuration, path planning is equivalent to finding the suitable values of parameters which characterize this skeleton. Due to the lower number of constraints than the number of parameters, ascertaining the values of parameters comes from the optimizations of the authors' formulated non-linear programmings with equality constraints. In addition, the realizable path must be subject to the upper-bounded curvature and curvature derivative. Adopting a genetic algorithm as the search tool in one of the optimizations makes it possible to allow the use of only a single canonical skeleton for the desired path planning.     

Anti-infrared/ultraviolet property of fullerene-containing polyacrylate film

Abstract

High-optical quality polyacrylate films containing a small load of C₆₀ were prepared by blending the soluble polyacrylate with the fullerene C₆₀ derivative poly-[2-(acrylamido)-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid] (PAMPS)-C₆₀. TEM was used to observe the morphological structure of the fullerene-containing polyacrylate solution. The anti-infrared/ultraviolet property was characterised by UV–VIS and FTIR in the wavelength range of 190–5000 nm. Experimental results demonstrated an improved anti-IR/UV property of polyacrylate as well as good diaphaneity. In the visible spectrum, its transmittance was greater than 80%. In the UV region, the transmittance decreased to 10% (<300 nm). Meanwhile, the transmittance was 55·7% in the near IR wave range (4000–14000 cm^?1) and 31% in the middle IR wave range (2000–4000 cm^?1), respectively. This new nanocomposite material has great potential to serve as an anti-IR/UV thin coating to implement heat insulation in many applications.