关键词： Aqueous computing   Automaton   Plant enzyme   Plant signaling  

摘要： The automata theory is the mathematical study of abstract machines commonly studied in the theoretical computer science and highly interdisciplinary fields that combine the natural sciences and the theoretical computer science. In the present review article, as the chemical and biological basis for natural computing or informatics, some plants, plant cells or plant-derived molecules involved in signaling are listed and classified as natural sequential machines (namely, the Mealy machines or Moore machines) or finite state automata. By defining the actions (states and transition functions) of these natural automata, the similarity between the computational data processing and plant decision-making processes became obvious. Finally, their putative roles as the parts for plantbased computing or robotic systems are discussed. © 2012 Landes Bioscience.

关键词： Synchronized tracking control   Cooperative manipulators   Neural networks   Consensus   Multiple robots   Output feedback  

摘要： In this paper, we investigate the mutual synchronization control problem of multiple robot manipulators in the case that the desired trajectory is only available to a portion of the team members, and the dynamics and the external disturbances of the manipulators are unknown. Treating the weighted average of the outputs of the neighbors as the reference trajectory, an adaptive neural network (NN) tracking control is designed for each manipulator. Based on the Lyapunov analysis, rigid mathematical proof is provided for the proposed algorithm for both state feedback and output feedback cases. It is shown that, under the proposed adaptive NN control, the tracking error of each manipulator converges to an adjustable neighborhood of the origin. Simulations are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

关键词： Microelectromechanical (MEMS)   piezoelectric   ferroelectric   devices  

摘要： Thin-film piezoelectric lead zirconate titanate (PZT) is one of the most efficient electromechanical coupling transducer materials currently available for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). This article reviews piezoelectric MEMS (piezo MEMS) technologies using PZT thin films in radio frequency (RF) devices for communications and radar applications and in the emerging field of millimeter-scale robotics. The electromechanical material properties of thin-film PZT uniquely enable insect-inspired and insect-scale autonomous robots. Recent progress on large force and displacement actuators for robotic leg joints, compact and high torque ultrasonic motors, and bioinspired millimeter-scale flapping wing platforms will be presented. The use of thin-film PZT to achieve high performance and low-voltage RF MEMS switches, ultralow power consumption nanomechanical logic circuits, and high coupling and low loss resonators, filters, and transformers are also reviewed.

关键词： Research & development--R&D   Vehicles   Robotics   Navigation systems   ISO standards   Lean manufacturing   Technological change   Product lines  

关键词： Robotics   Behavioral research   Information processing   Biomimicry   Robot design & construction   Biological systems   Human-robot interaction   Morphology   Dynamics   Humanoid robots   Artificial intelligence research   Artificial skin  

摘要： Soft materials may enable the automation of tasks beyond the capacities of current robotic technology.

关键词： Roboethics   Survey   Military robots   Eldercare robots   Social robotics  

摘要： Introduction: As applications of robotics extend to areas that directly impact human life, such as the military and eldercare, the deployment of autonomous and semi-autonomous robots increasingly requires the input of stakeholder opinions. Up to now, technological deployment has been relying on the guidance of government/military policy and the healthcare system without specific incorporation of professional and lay opinion. Methods: This paper presents results from a roboethics study that uses the unique N-Reasons scenario-based survey instrument. The instrument collected Yes, No, Neutral responses from more than 250 expert and lay responders via the Internet along with their ethics-content reasons for the answers, allowing the respondents to agree to previously-provided reasons or to write their own. Data from three questions relating to military and eldercare robots are analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. Results: The survey reveals that respondents weigh the appropriateness of robotics technology deployment in concert with the level of autonomy conferred upon it. The accepted level of robot autonomy does not appear to be solely dependent on the perceived efficiency and effectiveness of the technology, but is subject to the robot's relationship with the public's principle-based reasons and the application field in focus. Conclusion: The N-Reasons instrument was effective in eliciting ethical commentary in a simple, on-line survey format and provides insights into the interactions between the issues that respondents consider across application and technology boundaries.

关键词： Tracked mobile robot   Dynamical model   Stability evaluation   Stairs-climbing  

摘要： Aiming at the functional requirement of climbing up the stairs, the dynamics and stability during a tracked mobile robot's climbing of stairs is studied. First, from the analysis of its cross-country performance, the mechanical structure of the tracked mobile robot is designed and the hardware composition of its control system is given. Second, based on the analysis to its stairs-climbing process, the dynamical model of stairs-climbing is established by using the classical mechanics method. Next, the stability conditions for its stairs-climbing are determined and an evaluation method of its stairs-climbing stability is proposed, based on a mechanics analysis on the robot's backwards tumbling during the stairs-climbing process. Through simulation and experiments, the effectiveness of the dynamical model and the stability evaluation method of the tracked mobile robot in stairs-climbing is verified, which can provide design and analysis foundations for the tracked mobile robots' stairs-climbing.

关键词： Robotics   planetary exploration   bio-inspired robot   jumping robot   hopping robot   dynamics  

摘要： A small, bio-inspired and minimally actuated intermittent hopping robot for planetary surface exploration is proposed in this paper. The robot uses a combined-geared six-bar linkage/spring mechanism, which has a possible rich trajectory and metamorphic characteristics and, due to this, the robot is able to recharge, lock/release and jump by using just a micro-power motor as the actuator. Since the robotic system has a closed-chain structure and employs underactuated redundant motion, the constrained multi-body dynamics are derived with time-varying driving parameters and ground unilateral constraint both taken into consideration. In addition, the established dynamics equations, mixed of higher order differential and algebraic expressions, are solved by the immediate integration algorithm. A prototype is implemented and experiments are carried out. The results show that the robot, using a micro-power motor as the actuator and solar cells as the power supply, can achieve a biomimetic multi-body hopping stance and a nonlinearly increasing driving force. Typically, the robot can jump a horizontal distance of about 1 m and a vertical height of about 0.3 m, with its trunk and foot moving stably during takeoff. In addition, the computational and experimental results are consistent as regards the hopping performance of the robot, which suggests that the proposed dynamics model and its solution have general applicability to motion prediction and the performance analysis of intermittent hopping robots.