关键词： ROBOTICS   HIGH school contests   HIGH school students   COMPETITIONS  

摘要： The article discusses the First Robotics Championship competition which was held in April 2013 in St. Louis, Missouri wherein an alliance of three teams of students from Toronto, Mississauga, Ontario, and The Woodlands have served as the winners.

关键词： Women engineers   Gender biases   Gender gap   State-of-the-art methods   Robotics  

摘要： In recent history, information and communications technologies (ICTs) have been radically advanced and largely infiltrated daily routine. Additionally, modern educational methods encourage the use of ICTs in the learning processes. Especially in the education of hard sciences like Physics, the use of ICTs is favored because the students can more easily understand the natural laws and observe in real time the results of the experimental process. Women engineers approach this kind of educational process better as they combine a variety of traits due to their feminine nature that gives them precedence. It is widely accepted that females outperform males in verbal ability, are raised to be more sensitive, have maternal instincts, and can be extremely supportive not only to same sex peers but also to both genders. These inherent genetic traits result in women’s ability to be naturally tuned into the world around them. In a man’s world - more importantly when ICTs are concerned - women are often discouraged and need to work a lot harder than men to achieve a favorable situation. This pressure makes women more active and persistent. According to the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research report for 2010 to 2011, only 3.7% of the entrepreneurs between 18 and 64 years old are women (Ioannidis and Chatzichristou http://***/***?a_id=853 , 2012). In the last two decades, the field of robotics has been advancing more radically than ever. Many distinctive robotic mechanisms have been implemented due to the innovative ideas and the outburst of technology. During author MT’s PhD research, she noticed that few women participate actively in state-of-the-art educational methods including ICTs. More distinctively, women involved in robotics seem to have been excluded from the productive or research process. The absence of contributions by women engineers in robotics and in the assistive educational tools it provides has led to a more masculine approach in the fie

关键词： Pain management   Vaccination   Immunization   Pediatric   Robotics   Human-robot interaction  

摘要： Objective: Millions of children in North America receive an annual flu vaccination, many of whom are at risk of experiencing severe distress. Millions of children also use technologically advanced devices such as computers and cell phones. Based on this familiarity, we introduced another sophisticated device - a humanoid robot - to interact with children during their vaccination. We hypothesized that these children would experience less pain and distress than children who did not have this interaction. Method: This was a randomized controlled study in which 57 children (30 male;age, mean +/- SD: 6.87 +/- 1.34 years) were randomly assigned to a vaccination session with a nurse who used standard administration procedures, or with a robot who was programmed to use cognitive-behavioral strategies with them while a nurse administered the vaccination. Measures of pain and distress were completed by children, parents, nurses, and researchers. Results: Multivariate analyses of variance indicated that interaction with a robot during flu vaccination resulted in significantly less pain and distress in children according to parent, child, nurse, and researcher ratings with effect sizes in the moderate to high range (Cohen's d = 0.49-0.90). Conclusion: This is the first study to examine the effectiveness of child-robot interaction for reducing children's pain and distress during a medical procedure. All measures of reduction were significant. These findings suggest that further research on robotics at the bedside is warranted to determine how they can effectively help children manage painful medical procedures. Crown Copyright (C) 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

关键词： 双框架蒙皮检测机器人   动力学建模   切换系统   反步镇定控制   非完整约束   牛顿-欧拉法  

摘要： 研究了双层架构蒙皮检测机器人在切换运动方式下的动力学问题.首先分析了蒙皮检测机器人的结构和受力情况;然后建立了非完整约束方程,进而基于牛顿-欧拉法分别建立了蒙皮检测机器人内外框架两个子系统的动力学模型,并建立了双层架构状态空间表达式;最后设计了反步切换控制算法.通过仿真实验验证了切换控制算法的有效性和可行性.

关键词： 工业机械人   瞬态变化   刚柔耦合动力学模型   振动分析  

摘要： 为适应工业机器人高速、重载、高精度的要求,以工业机械臂的瞬变过程为研究对象,提出以末端执行器的振幅判断机器人在瞬变过程中的动态性能,利用多体动力学和有限元的方法建立刚柔耦合模型,对工业机器人在整个作业过程中的动态特性进行描述和分析,仿真计算工业机器人在振幅最大时刻的应力分布及危险区域节点的应力变化,为机器人的动态性能评估、疲劳强度分析和寿命预测提供了依据。

关键词： 独轮车机器人   欠驱动   非完整约束   动力学建模   平衡控制  

摘要： 提出一种具有3个驱动自由度的全方位行走独轮车机构,并对其动态行为及平衡控制策略进行了初步研究。考虑车轮的纯滚动和非完整约束条件,采用Kane方法建立了系统的力学模型;以此为基础,通过反馈线性化车架的3个欠驱动欧拉角,并选择全部6个自由度为输出,设计平衡运动控制器;借助MATLAB/Simulink模块,对系统平衡运动进行仿真控制,所得结果表明,通过合理选择控制参数,系统可以在短时间内实现车体平衡和航向稳定。

关键词： 旋翼飞行机器人   受限环境   运动协调机制   6-DOF模型   容错自适应控制  

摘要： 针对目前无人飞行器在受限环境执行作业时操控性和安全性不足的问题,设计了一种基于旋翼动力的碟式自主旋翼飞行机器人(rotor aerial robot,RAR),采用内置桨叶和冗余执行机构以增强飞行器的安全性和容错能力,采用内、外双旋翼系统和碟式机体构架以提高空气动力特性和操控性能.运用牛顿-欧拉方法建立了系统的6自由度(six-degrees-of-freedom,6-DOF)动力学模型,根据模型执行环节易受气动干扰或故障等因素影响而出现参数不稳定的问题,设计了容错自适应控制方法,在Matlab/SIMULINK环境下以飞行器的侧向通道控制为例进行了仿真实验,验证了旋翼飞行机器人具有良好的操控性和鲁棒性.

关键词： 机器人   ADAMS   动力学仿真   拉格朗日  

摘要： 针对七自由度机器人结构特点,以拉格朗日法为理论基础建立了机器人动力学方程,并对机器人进行了动力学分析。基于ADAMS仿真软件构建机器人虚拟样机模型,对七自由度机器人进行了动力学仿真,获得了各个关节驱动力矩的函数曲线,验证了模型设计的合理性。基于MATLAB软件对动力学模型进行数值分析,绘出其力矩曲线,并与ADAMS仿真曲线进行对比,验证理论计算的正确性。为机构设计提供数据和结构方面的参考,为进一步研发7自由度机器人设备提供可靠有力的依据。

关键词： ROBOTS -- Design & construction   TACTILE sensors -- Design & construction   ROBOTS -- Kinematics   NAVIGATION   ALGORITHMS   REMOTE submersibles  

摘要： The article discusses the design of a robotic arm with an electronic skin containing touch sensors by researcher Charlie Kemp and team. The sensors enable the robotic arm to navigate through its environment without colliding with objects or people, using an algorithm which chooses its route based on the objects in its path and a determined task sensitivity level. Potential applications include assisting quadriplegic persons and the navigation of underwater robots.

关键词： 柔性杆   柔性铰   机器人   碰撞   动力学   高次耦合  

摘要： 为了研究杆和铰的柔性对柔性多体系统碰撞动力学的影响,该文以高次刚柔耦合动力学理论为基础,对由n柔性杆和n转动铰构成的柔性机器人系统进行了碰撞动力学建模与仿真。考虑了柔性杆的拉伸变形、横向弯曲变形、扭转变形、铰的柔性效应和质量。采用Hertz接触理论和非线性阻尼理论描述碰撞力。引入碰撞力势能,运用拉格朗日方程获得碰撞力所对应的广义力,得到了柔性机器人的碰撞动力学方程。编制了柔性杆柔性铰机器人含碰撞的全局动力学仿真软件。通过2个仿真算例分析了高次耦合和铰的柔性效应对柔性机器人系统碰撞动力学行为的影响,验证了该文方法的可行性。