Industrial and Biomechanical Applications of Actuators and Robots and Eco-Sutstainability—2nd Edition
A special issue of Actuators (ISSN 2076-0825). This special issue belongs to the section "Actuators for Manufacturing Systems".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2026 | Viewed by 1
Special Issue Editors
Interests: electromechanical coupling mechanisms; pneumatic actuators; numerical and analytical modelling of pneumatic circuits and actuators; experimental design; fault diagnosis; fault tree analysis (FTA); failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA); reliability; friction and wear of thin films; additive manufacturing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: mechanical joints; bolted connections; mechanical transmissions; lightweigt design; additive manufactured components; fatigue strength
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: additive manufacturing; sustainability; mechanical joints; lightweight design; computer-aided engineering
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
There has been increasing interest in using actuators and robots in industry, for applications such as handling parts and running high-precision machining. Advanced simulative tools have also enabled full-process reliable simulation following experimental calibration. Advanced manufacturing strategies, such as additive manufacturing, make it possible to reduce weight and address eco-sustainability purposes. Regarding the latter, the proper selection of an energy source and friction reduction are likely to have a significant effect on the environment. Actuators and robots may also be used for medical purposes, and miniaturization may be highly appreciated in this case.
The main topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Industrial engineering: Actuators and robots in manufacturing engineering (for part handling and preparation, high-precision machining and finishing, assembly, and repair purposes), cost assessments, sensor integration, operating system software, process digital twins, eco-sustainability issues, risk assessment, and product reliability.
- Testing and diagnostics: Numerical simulations, simulative models, tests on actuators in a laboratory or in industrial settings, control strategies, data acquisition and achievements, comparison between numerical and experimental results, and calibration of models.
- Mechanical design and prototyping: Mechanical design of actuators, product development, additive manufacturing, prototyping in developing novel actuators, and actuators optimized for eco-sustainability purposes.
- Fatigue and fracture: Determining fatigue loads affecting actuators or robots, entailing numerical assessments, experimental testing, calibration and validation of models, structural diagnostics, redesign, and optimization.
- Energy and thermo-fluid systems: Design of advanced energy systems, development of different types of actuators (e.g., electromechanical actuators, fluid mechanical actuators, pneumatic actuators, hydraulic actuators, and smart actuators), actuator redesign for eco-sustainability purposes, and assessing the environmental impact arising from different energy sources.
- Tribology and surface engineering: Lubrication and the effect of friction on actuator performance, the use of coatings to reduce friction, minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) strategies to reduce lubricant use, actuators with self-lubricated surfaces, and impacts on the environment.
- Biomechanics: Design of actuators and robotic devices for medical applications, biomaterials and biocompatibility, design of prostheses, actuators for testing devices for sport or rehabilitation, miniaturized actuators, and biomechanical devices.
Dr. Giorgio Olmi
Prof. Dr. Dario Croccolo
Dr. Mattia Mele
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Actuators is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- industrial applications
- actuators for manufacturing
- testing and control
- actuator design
- energy source for actuators
- actuators in biomechanics
- eco-sustainability
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