关键词： biological actuators   cell-material integration   living materials taxonomy   soft biohybrid robotics   soft materials  

摘要： Living beings have an unsurpassed range of ways to manipulate objects and interact with them. They can make autonomous decisions and can heal themselves. So far, a conventional robot cannot mimic this complexity even remotely. Classical robots are often used to help with lifting and gripping and thus to alleviate the effects of menial tasks. Sensors can render robots responsive, and artificial intelligence aims at enabling autonomous responses. Inanimate soft robots are a step in this direction, but it will only be in combination with living systems that full complexity will be achievable. The field of biohybrid soft robotics provides entirely new concepts to address current challenges, for example the ability to self-heal, enable a soft touch, or to show situational versatility. Therefore, "living materials" are at the heart of this review. Similarly to biological taxonomy, there is a recent effort for taxonomy of biohybrid soft robotics. Here, an expansion is proposed to take into account not only function and origin of biohybrid soft robotic components, but also the materials. This materials taxonomy key demonstrates visually that materials science will drive the development of the field of soft biohybrid robotics.

关键词： Collaboration   Robot kinematics   Ethics   Bibliometrics   National Science Foundation  

摘要： The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), together with other federal agencies, launched the National Robotics Initiative (NRI) program in 2011. The aim of the NRI is to accelerate the development and use of collaborative robots (corobots), which work beside or cooperatively with people. To date, the NRI program has involved multiple directorates of the NSF (Computer and Information Science and Engineering; Engineering; Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences; and Education and Human Resources) and several other federal research funding agencies [the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), NASA, and the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD)]. As the program prepared to announce its sixth round of awards in the summer of 2017, we took the opportunity to reflect on the impacts of the first five years of NRI funding.

关键词： Education courses   Robots   Engineering education  

摘要： Reports on the courses and disciplines that are part of the education and training of roboticists.

关键词： On orbit servicing   Guidance   Navigation   Control   Robotics   Computer vision   Image simulation  

摘要： Complex robotics missions require complex GNC and Robotics algorithms, often using vision sensors. The problem of vision-in-the-loop GNC is addressed using photorealistic simulated images and simple computer vision algorithms, coupled with relative estimation and control of a servicing satellite in close proximity operations with a customer satellite. In the near future it will be required to simulate the behavior of automated servicing missions comprehending also vision data, hence the request for vision-in-the-loop simulations. In this article is proposed a GNC and Robotics scheme for proximity operations between a servicer and a customer satellite through the use of adaptive control and computer vision. The scheme is then put to test through simulation of orbital robot dynamics, sensors and camera inputs, and computer vision algorithm in the loop.

关键词： Scaling laws   Compliant actuation   Parallel arrangements   Energy storage capacity  

摘要： The key component in compliant actuators is the elastic element, typically a spring. Nevertheless, different types of springs have different characteristics in terms of size, weight, maximum allowable force, maximum allowable torque and maximum allowable deflection. It is however very important to compare them on these requirements, since each application has other demands. In this paper, the energy storage capacity of different types of compliant elements are calculated using scaling laws in order to easily derive the maximum achievable energy capacity for a certain arrangement. These scaling laws are given as a function of the structural parameters and are validated with catalog data of spring manufacturers and distributors such as Alcomex, Lesjofors and Century Spring. As such, different types of compliant elements can be compared in an easy way. To fully exploit the capabilities of compliant elements, these scaling laws are used to verify the effect of spring parallelization on mass and/or enclosed volume, which is interesting regarding redundant compliant actuation. From theoretical calculations and a case study, it follows that parallelization is beneficial, especially for mass reduction. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

关键词： Educational innovation   Educational platforms   Teaching strategy   3D simulations   Tools for teaching  

摘要： In the educational area of engineering, there has been research using simulations to illustrate the concepts and exercises seen in class, as in the case of robotics course classes in which simulations have been used to demonstrate theoretical concepts. Results have been inconclusive whether or not the use of state-of-the-art simulations with traditional teaching methods improve the academic performance of students. From the point of view of the authors, some of these negative results could be because teachers do not receive any guidance on how to incorporate the use of simulations in their teaching strategy. This paper reports the evaluation of a platform to simulate industrial robots based on the MATLAB (TM) and Simulink (TM) environment. The platform was used by 3 teachers of undergraduate robotics courses. Each teacher was trained how to use the platform. For teachers of groups A and B, in addition to this training, they also received guidance on how to use the platform in their classes, while the teacher of group C freely decided on his own how to use the platform in his classes. In each group, the teacher covered the same topics about forward kinematics, and the same exercises were given to the students to solve during the practical sessions. As a result, students in groups A and B attained better academic performance compared to students of group C. This fact shows that it is necessary to train the professors not only in the use of the platform but also in the incorporation of this technology into their courses.

关键词： Citation network analysis   Robotics   Technology convergence   Tech mining   Technological relatedness  

摘要： Robots have been developed as a result of the merging of various sophisticated technologies such as mechanical engineering, control systems, electronics, and software and they have played a significant role in automating the manufacturing industry. However, their rate of introduction in service sectors, especially the medical and healthcare sectors, is much slower than expected. Technology convergence may be one of the keys to promote the introduction of robots in new sectors e.g., the medical & healthcare sectors. Technological relatedness including technology convergence has been measured by various methodologies using citation network analysis, clustering, or technology similarity. Although these measurements could identify the overall characteristics of technology convergence, more detailed analyses are required to identify the specific patterns and instances of this convergence. The purpose of this research is first, to identify the technology convergence more precisely than before by using a new methodology named "module-based mining methodology;" second, to extract the patterns of technology convergence;and finally to examine the processes of technology convergence in the field of robotics research. This study would enable researchers and policymakers to achieve accelerated development of new products and services for new sectors including the medical and healthcare market.

关键词： Mitral valve   Robotics   Mitral repair   Mitral valve repair  

摘要： OBJECTIVES: The full potential of robotics has not been achieved in terms of addressing the most challenging mitral valve (MV) cases. We outline our technique and report our early results with totally endoscopic robotic MV repair in a wide range of pathologies. METHODS: From May 2011 to August 2017, a dedicated team attempted totally endoscopic robotic MV repair in 500 MV regurgitation patients. Repair complexity was scored in 3 categories. We analysed our sequential case experience by quartiles. RESULTS: Patient mean age was 60.8 years (range 18-88). Aetiologies included: degenerative 382 (76.4%), functional 37 (7.4%), inflammatory 22 (4.4%) and others 59 (11.8%). Mitral annular calcification was present in 64 (12.8%) cases. Simple MV repair (annuloplasty alone or with 1 leaflet segment repair) was performed in 240 (48%) patients, complex (repair involving more than 1 segment on the same leaflet) in 140 (28%) patients and most complex (bileaflet repair or mitral annular calcification excision with atrioventricular groove repair) in 120 (24%) patients. Concomitant procedures included: left appendage closure (94.8%), patent foramen ovale/atrial septal defect (PFO/ASD) closure (19.6%), cryoablation (19.4%), tricuspid repair (6.2%) or hybrid percutaneous coronary revascularization (7.8%). The overall repair rate was 99.4%, with 0.6% early mortality and 1.2% stroke rate (0.2% permanent neurological deficit). Case complexity increased with our experience. Despite an increase in aortic occlusion and perfusion times (median 86.5 and 125 min) and a slight decrease in operating room extubation rate (overall 64%), length of hospital stay (median 4 days) and 30-day readmission rate (overall 3.6%) were not affected by the progressive inclusion of more complex cases. CONCLUSIONS: Totally endoscopic robotic MV repair performed by a dedicated team allows one to address the entire spectrum of pathological complexity and provides consistent results.

关键词： Robotics  

摘要： Reports on the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2019) that was held in Montreal, Canada, focusing on the importance of artistic contributions to the field of robotics research and to its social and cultural impacts.