Special Issue Editors

Dr. Hakki Erhan Sevil

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Guest Editor

Department of Intelligent Systems & Robotics, University of West Florida, Pensacola, FL 32514, USA
Interests: cyber security; intelligent systems; guidance-navigation-control of unmanned vehicles; multi-agent systems; robotics; data-driven detection and estimation; computer vision
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Mahdi Haghshenas-Jaryani

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Guest Editor

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, USA
Interests: bioinspired and soft robotics; dynamics and control of soft morphing robots; physical human-robot interaction; soft-bodied animal locomotion and neuromuscular control

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue comprises selected papers from the proceedings of the 34th Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics (FCRAR 2021) that was held on 13–14 May 2021. FCRAR is a national conference with emphasis on robotic research areas, such as artificial intelligence for robots, kinematics, dynamics, and controls, robotic design, mobile and humanoid robots, autonomous and unmanned vehicles, machine vision, and mechatronics. It has been organized since 1988, and it has been held in one of the major Florida universities every year. In 2021, the University of West Florida (UWF) organized the conference. Authors of selected papers are invited to submit extended versions of their original papers and contributions with the following topics:

Robot kinematics, dynamics, and controls;
Serial and parallel manipulators;
Mobile and humanoid robots;
Medical applications of automation and robotics;
Bio-inspired and biomimetic robotics;
Soft actuators and sensors;
Perception, localization, mapping, and path planning;
Robotics, automation, and mechatronics in education.

Dr. Hakki Erhan Sevil
Dr. Mahdi Haghshenas-Jaryani
Guest Editors

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Keywords

automation and robotics
manipulators
robot kinematics
mobile robotics
localization and mapping
perception

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

26 pages, 11581 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Muscle-Driven Mechanism for Locomotion of Snake-Robots

by Marcela Lopez and Mahdi Haghshenas-Jaryani

Automation 2022, 3(1), 1-26; https://doi.org/10.3390/automation3010001 - 31 Dec 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3257

Abstract

This paper presents the concept of muscle-driven locomotion for planar snake robots, which combines the advantages of both rigid and soft robotic approaches to enhance the performance of snake robot locomotion. For this purpose, two adjacent links are connected by a pair of pneumatic artificial muscles wherein an alternate actuation of these soft actuators causes a rotational motion at the connecting joints. The muscle-based actuated linkage mechanism, as a closed six-linkage mechanism, was designed and prototyped. The linear motion and force generation of the pneumatic artificial muscle was experimentally characterized using isotonic and isometric contraction experiments. A predictive model was developed based on the experimental data to describe the relationship between the force–length–pressure of the PAMs. Additionally, the muscle-driven mechanism was kinematically and dynamically characterized based on both theoretical and experimental studies. The experimental data generally agreed with our model’s results and the generated joint angle and torque were comparable to the current snake-like robots. A skx-link planar snake robot with five joints, five pairs of antagonistic muscles, and an associated pneumatic controller was prototyped and examined for simple movements on a straight-line. We demonstrated the muscle-driven locomotion of the six-link snake robot, and the results show the feasibility of using the proposed mechanism for future explorations of snake robot locomotion. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from the 34th Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics (FCRAR 2021))

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14 pages, 4807 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Wave Propagation and Structural Health Monitoring Application on Parts Fabricated by Additive Manufacturing

by Alireza Modir and Ibrahim Tansel

Automation 2021, 2(3), 173-186; https://doi.org/10.3390/automation2030011 - 18 Aug 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3468

Abstract

Additive manufacturing (AM) applications have been steadily increasing in many industry sectors. AM allows creating complex geometries inside of a part to leave some space empty, called infills. Lighter parts are manufactured in a shorter time with less warpage if the strength of the part meets the design requirements. While the benefits of structural health monitoring (SHM) have been proven in different structures, few studies have investigated SHM methods on AM parts. In this study, the relationship between wave propagation and infill density has been studied for the additively manufactured polymer parts. The propagation of surface waves is monitored by using piezoelectric elements. Four rectangular parts are manufactured by using the material extrusion method with 20%, 40%, 60%, and 100% rectilinear infill densities. Four piezoelectric elements were attached on the surface of each beam, one for excitation and three for monitoring the response of the part at equal distances on each part. The results demonstrated that the surface waves diminish faster at parts with lower densities. The received signal in the part with totally solid infills showed about 10 times higher amplitudes compare with the part with 20% infill. The surface response to excitation (SuRE) method was used for sensing the loading on the part. Also, the wave propagation speed was calculated with exciting parts with a pulse signal with a 10-microsecond duration. The wave propagation speed was almost the same for all infill densities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from the 34th Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics (FCRAR 2021))

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Selected Papers from the 34th Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics (FCRAR 2021)

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