Machines, Volume 4, Issue 1

We report overall design considerations and preliminary results for a new haptic rendering device based on an audio loudspeaker. Our application models tissue properties during microsurgery. For example, the device could respond to the tip of a tool...

Haptic devices tend to be kept small as it is easier to achieve a large change of stiffness with a low associated apparent mass. If large movements are required there is a usually a reduction in the quality of the haptic sensations which can be displ...

Several multiple model adaptive control architectures have been proposed in the literature. Despite many advances in theory, the crucial question of how to synthesize the pairs model/controller in a structurally optimal way is to a large extent not a...

The objective of this work is to study the relevance of haptic feedback in remote communication between people. The application is handwriting. A haptic device designed to help people to improve their writing skills is presented. Two experimental ses...

Analysis of human running has revealed that the motion of the human leg can be modeled by a compression spring because the joints of the leg behave like a torsion spring in the stance phase. In this paper, we describe the development of a joint mecha...

Wire rope and pulley devices are used in various machines. To use these machines more safely, it is necessary to analyze the behavior of the contact between them. In this study, we represent a wire rope by a numerical model of a flexible body. This f...

The release of the open source 3-D printer known as the RepRap (a self-Replicating Rapid prototyper) resulted in the potential for distributed manufacturing of products for significantly lower costs than conventional manufacturing. This development,...

In electric power generation, customers want generators with high efficiency. Nowadays, modern turbo-generators have efficiencies greater than 98%. Although this amount should not be obtained for all kind of machines, efficiency will remain one of th...

Bipedal humanoid robots are expected to play a major role in the future. Performing bipedal locomotion requires high energy due to the high torque that needs to be provided by its legs’ joints. Taking the WABIAN-2R as an example, it uses harmonic gea...