Actuators MDPI

📢📢 /Actuators/ Receives an Increased CiteScore of 3.9 We are pleased to inform you that /Actuators/ (ISSN: 2076-0825 ) has received a heightened CiteScore of 3.9. The 2023 CiteScore provides an assessment of the scientific influence of journals in the 2020 to 2023 period. This is a reflection of the excellent performance, support, and dedication of all journal editors, reviewers, authors, and readers. Actuators CiteScore ranks as follows: Q2 (37 out of 130) in "Control and Optimization". Q2 (131 out of 321) in "Control and Systems Engineering". Q2 (131 out of 321) in "Engineering". For more journal statistics, please visit https://lnkd.in/gmZ-HAMi Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the journal.

🌐 Join the Pioneering Minds at IECAT 2024! 🧬  The 2nd International Electronic Conference on Actuator Technology is your global stage! Dive into sessions led by luminaries like Prof. Dr. Kenji Uchino.  📅 Mark your calendars: 4–6 November 2024  📅 Abstract Submission Deadline:11 August 2024  📅 Submission Link: https://lnkd.in/gN-Vd7Jj  🌟 Online Platform: https://lnkd.in/euAnqEdJ 🚀 Key Sessions Include:  S1. New actuator materials  S2. Innovative actuator designs  S3. Drive/control technologies  S4. Remarkable actuator applications  Share your research, engage with the community, and stay ahead in actuator. With topics ranging from Compact Actuator System to Autonomous Actuator, this conference is your gateway to cutting-edge science. 📝 Submit your abstract by 11 August 2024 and be part of this virtual scientific extravaganza. For inquiries, reach out to us at iecat2024@mdpi.com. 🌟 Let's propel our understanding of cell biology forward together!   #IECAT2024 #ActuatorConference #GlobalScienceMeetup

#Article 📜 Motion Modelling of the Floating Bushing in an External Gear Pump Using Dimensional Analysis by Miquel Torrent, Pedro Javier Gamez-Montero and Esteban Codina 🔗 https://lnkd.in/gv_C7FvV MDPI; Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya #gearpump #floatingbearingbushings #bondgraph #labtests #Abstract A new approach to model the motion of floating bushings in external gear pumps is presented in this article, where lubrication conditions have been introduced using dimensional analysis. This model is based on Bond Graph diagrams and has been experimentally validated in lab tests measuring the movement of the floating bushing inside the gear pump by means of laser micrometers. The novelty of this research is the creation of a simple and experimentally validated tool for the behaviour study of these types of pumps, which allows the simulation of a dynamic rigid solid in a fluid boundary with clearances of the order of microns, without using powerful CFD tools, with very short execution times, and using conventional computational tools. The qualitative behaviour of the model with respect to the experimental results is very similar, adjusting the numerical values with very acceptable accuracies by taking into account the precision of the experimental measurements, and allows us to use the model to interpret the volumetric and mechanical efficiency variations according the operating conditions.

#Article 📜 Vibration Performance of Traction Gearbox of a High-Speed Train: Theoretical Analysis and Experiments by Wangang Zhu, Hao Lin, Wei Sun and Jing Wei 🔗 https://lnkd.in/gd6qFuyQ MDPI; Dalian University of Technology; Chongqing University #dynamicevaluationindex #dynamicmodel #highspeedtrain #Abstract The gearbox is the key component of the traction drive system of a high-speed train. At the same time, the traction gearbox can easily experience a box housing failure due to bearing internal excitation from gear meshing and external excitation from motor torque fluctuation, the wheel polygon, and so on. In order to analyze the vibration and noise of the gearbox, a dynamic model of a high-speed train gear transmission system was established under the conditions of time-varying meshing stiffness and time-varying meshing error. A frequency spectrum analysis of the vibration at the key nodes of the model that changed with the speed was carried out. A test rig for a traction gearbox of a high-speed train was built, and a testing method for the vibration and noise of a high-speed train traction gearbox was put forward. The testing of and research on the traction gearbox under various working conditions were carried out, and the dynamic evaluation indexes of acceleration, vibration intensity, and air noise at different measuring points of the high-speed train traction gearbox were obtained. The study provided a test reference and a basis for the dynamic performance optimization design and fault diagnosis of a high-speed railway traction gearbox system.

#Article 📜 Augmented Reality Based Distant Maintenance Approach by János Simon, László Gogolák, József Sárosi and Igor Fürstner 🔗 https://lnkd.in/gPXVTTVi MDPI; University of Szeged; Óbuda University #augmentedreality #distantmaintenance #telepresence #Abstract This paper focuses on the implementation of Industry 4.0-based maintenance approaches using AR technology. The primary objective is to highlight the benefits of AR in maintenance and provide a framework for implementing AR-based maintenance systems. AR can assist maintenance personnel in performing maintenance tasks more efficiently by providing real-time instructions and information. By overlaying virtual information on real equipment, AR can guide maintenance personnel through maintenance procedures, reducing human errors and improving the quality of the work. AR can also provide remote assistance to maintenance personnel, allowing experts to remotely guide less experienced personnel through complex maintenance procedures. The proposed application provides motorcycle service assistance using AR and telepresence technologies. It enables remote monitoring of the service flow and performs an automated identification of parts. The system provides instructions for disassembling more complex mechanical components, provides a 3D model of the object, and enables ordering of the necessary parts.

#Article 📜 Data-Driven Robotic Tactile Grasping for Hyper-Personalization Line Pick-and-Place by Zhen Xie, Josh Ye Seng Chen, Guo Wei Lim and Guo Wei Lim 🔗 https://lnkd.in/gpazZdSh MDPI; Advanced Remanufacturing and Technology Centre (ARTC) #roboticgrasping #datadriven #tactilesensing #FMCG #Abstract Industries such as the manufacturing or logistics industry need algorithms that are flexible to handle novel or unknown objects. Many current solutions in the market are unsuitable for grasping these objects in high-mix and low-volume scenarios. Finally, there are still gaps in terms of grasping accuracy and speed that we would like to address in this research. This project aims to improve the robotic grasping capability for novel objects with varying shapes and textures through the use of soft grippers and data-driven learning in a hyper-personalization line. A literature review was conducted to understand the tradeoffs between the deep reinforcement learning (DRL) approach and the deep learning (DL) approach. The DRL approach was found to be data-intensive, complex, and collision-prone. As a result, we opted for a data-driven approach, which to be more specific, is PointNet GPD in this project. In addition, a comprehensive market survey was performed on tactile sensors and soft grippers with consideration of factors such as price, sensitivity, simplicity, and modularity. Based on our study, we chose the Rochu two-fingered soft gripper with our customized force-sensing resistor (FSR) force sensors mounted on the fingertips due to its modularity and compatibility with tactile sensors.

#Article 📜 Effect of Material Properties on Fiber-Shaped Pneumatic Actuators Performance by Muh Amdadul Hoque, Emily Petersen and Xiaomeng Fang 🔗 https://lnkd.in/gWcawrDc MDPI; North Carolina State University #pneumaticactuators #materialproperties #yarnstiffness #Abstract Thin fiber-shaped pneumatic artificial muscle (PAM) can generate contractile motions upon stimulation, and it is well known for its good compliance, high weight-to-power ratio, resemblance to animal muscle movements, and, most importantly, the capability to be integrated into fabrics and other textile forms for wearable devices. This fiber-shaped device, based on McKibben technology, consists of an elastomeric bladder that is wrapped around by a braided sleeve, which transfers radial expansion into longitudinal contraction due to the change in the sleeve’s braiding angle while being inflated. This paper investigates the effect of material properties on fiber-shaped PAM’s behavior, including the braiding yarn and bladder’s dimensional and mechanical properties. A range of samples with combinations of yarn and bladder parameters were developed and characterized. A robust fabrication process verified through several calibration and control experiments of PAM was applied, which ensured a more accurate characterization of the actuators. The results demonstrate that material properties, such as yarn stiffness, yarn diameter, bladder diameter, and bladder hardness, have significant effects on PAMs’ deformation strains and forces generated. The findings can serve as fundamental guidelines for the future design and development of fiber-shaped pneumatic actuators.

#Article 📜 Hybrid Visual Servo Control of a Robotic Manipulator for Cherry Tomato Harvesting by Yi-Rong Li, Wei-Yuan Lien, Zhi-Hong Huang and Chun-Ta Chen 🔗 https://lnkd.in/g2Et-Kmm MDPI; National Taiwan Normal University #roboticmanipulator #cherrytomato #harvesting #Abstract This paper aims to develop a visual servo control of a robotic manipulator for cherry tomato harvesting. In the robotic manipulator, an RGB-depth camera was mounted to the end effector to acquire the poses of the target cherry tomatoes in space. The eye-in-hand-based visual servo controller guides the end effector to implement eye–hand coordination to harvest the target cherry tomatoes, in which a hybrid visual servo control method (HVSC) with the fuzzy dynamic control parameters was proposed by combining position-based visual servo (PBVS) control and image-based visual servo (IBVS) control for the tradeoff of both performances. In addition, a novel cutting and clipping integrated mechanism was designed to pick the target cherry tomatoes. The proposed tomato-harvesting robotic manipulator with HVSC was validated and evaluated in a laboratory testbed based on harvesting implementation. The results show that the developed robotic manipulator using HVSC has an average harvesting time of 9.40 s/per and an average harvesting success rate of 96.25% in picking cherry tomatoes.

#Article 📜 Development of Autonomous Driving and Motion Control System for a Patient Transfer Robot by Changwon Kim and Chan-Jung Kim 🔗 https://lnkd.in/ghy4Gmwj MDPI; Pukyong National University #patienttransferrobot #analytichierarchyprocess #Kalmanfilter #Abstract In this study, an autonomous driving system of a patient-transfer robot is developed. The developed autonomous driving system has a path-planning module and a motion-control module. Since the developed autonomous driving system is applied to medical robots, such as patient-transfer robots, the main purpose of this study is to generate an optimal path for the robot’s movement and to ensure the patient on board moves comfortably in the PTR. In particular, for the patient’s comfortable movement, a lower controller is needed to minimize the sway angle of the patient. In this paper, we propose a hybrid path-planning algorithm that combines the A-STAR algorithm as a global path-planning method and the AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process)-based path-planning algorithm as a local path-planning method. In addition, model-based controllers are designed to move patient-transport robots along planned paths. In particular, the LQR controller with the Kalman filter is designed to be robust to the uncertainty and disturbance of the model including the patient. The optimal path generation and patient shaking angle reduction performance of the proposed autonomous driving system have been demonstrated via a simulation on a map that mimics a hospital environment.

#Article 📜 An Obstacle-Avoidance Motion Planning Method for Redundant Space Robot via Reinforcement Learning by Zeyuan Huang, Gang Chen, Yue Shen, Ruiquan Wang, Chuankai Liu and Long Zhang 🔗 https://lnkd.in/giVv9ufx MDPI; Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications; Beijing Aerospace Control Center; Chinese Academy of Sciences #redundantspacerobot #reinforcementlearning #nullspace #Abstract On-orbit operation tasks require the space robot to work in an unstructured dynamic environment, where the end-effector’s trajectory and obstacle avoidance need to be guaranteed simultaneously. To ensure the completability and safety of the tasks, this paper proposes a new obstacle-avoidance motion planning method for redundant space robots via reinforcement learning (RL). First, the motion planning framework, which combines RL with the null-space motion for redundant space robots, is proposed according to the decomposition of joint motion. Second, the RL model for null-space obstacle avoidance is constructed, where the RL agent’s state and reward function are defined independent of the specific information of obstacles so that it can adapt to dynamic environmental changes. Finally, a curriculum learning-based training strategy for RL agents is designed to improve sample efficiency, training stability, and obstacle-avoidance performance. The simulation shows that the proposed method realizes reactive obstacle avoidance while maintaining the end-effector’s predetermined trajectory, as well as the adaptability to unstructured dynamic environments and robustness to the space robot’s dynamic parameters.