Search results

This paper aims to examine the structure of the control strategy that is being deployed on the control of the mobile materials handling platform, from the higher level onboard interface software to the low‐level control system that is tasked with the dynamic stability of the platform.

The application of the principle of the inverted pendulum in mobile robotics has only recently been made possible by advances in the technology of electronics. A mobile materials handling platform has been designed and built for use in manufacturing systems of the future. The principle of the inverted pendulum has been incorporated into the design. This means that the platform is able to maintain dynamic stability during specific periods of operation. The mechatronic engineering approach was adopted in the design of the platform, which produced an integrated embedded system.

Open source software being implemented onboard the platform for interfacing between the platform and remote client computers is found to be easily customisable according to the requirements of one's application. A solution to the problem of nonholonomic motion constraints that concern any differential drive mobile robot was found in a nonlinear state transformation algorithm. The algorithm was implemented on an intermediate level between the interface software and the low‐level control system. The low‐level feedback control system was designed using a linear quadratic regulator design method. Simulations of this control system showed that it was robust enough to reject predetermined disturbances in system characteristics.

The application of a mobile platform specifically designed for materials handling based on the principle of the inverted pendulum has not been attempted to date.

In the garment industry, web lace fabric material must be tensioned and placed at the right position and orientation prior to the cutting process. In order to avoid a bottleneck, the speed of material handling must be relatively fast compared to the laser cutting speed so that the use of a laser for rapid prototyping of two‐dimensional (2D) cutting shapes is feasible. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of a novel gripping system for handling flexible web materials.

The manner in which this intelligent material handling system operates will be discussed in this paper. This includes its system configuration, errors that may occur during the web handling operation, and sequential operations of web distortion control. The material handling system uses a machine vision system coupled with a self‐tuning motion control strategy to assist the material handling system in controlling the web tension, adjusting the web deformation parameters and transporting the web materials.

The online image analysis and a novel mechanical design concept, coupled with the motion controller, are the key issues in the mechatronic integration of this intelligent web‐based material handling system.

The paper presents a novel approach to designing and realizing an intelligent gripping system, which has not previously been attempted.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of various motion capture technologies and discuss the methods for handling the captured data in applications related to robotics.

The approach taken in the paper is to compare the features and limitations of motion trackers in common use. After introducing the technology, a summary is given of robotic‐related work undertaken with the sensors and the strengths of different approaches in handling the data are discussed. Each comparison is presented in a table. Results from the author's experimentation with an inertial motion capture system are discussed based on clustering and segmentation techniques.

The trend in methodology is towards stochastic machine learning techniques such as hidden Markov model or Gaussian mixture model, their extensions in hierarchical forms and non‐linear dimension reduction. The resulting empirical models tend to handle uncertainty well and are suitable for incrementally updating models. The challenges in human‐robot interaction today include expanding upon generalising motions to understand motion planning and decisions and build ultimately context aware systems.

Reviews including descriptions of motion trackers and recent methodologies used in analyzing the data they capture are not very common. Some exist, as has been pointed out in the paper, but this review concentrates more on applications in the robotics field. There is value in regularly surveying the research areas considered in this paper due to the rapid progress in sensors and especially data modeling.

The purpose of this paper is to propose the situation that the existing parking automated guided vehicle (AGV) has a single walking mode, a spin forward motion mode based on a dual steering wheel driven parking AGV. In this way, the AGV can complete the 180° spin of the AGV in the process of straight forward.

A spin forward kinematics model of the dual steering wheel AGV is established, and a motion controller of the dual steering wheel AGV is designed based on the principle of model predictive control to complete the path following the spin forward motion mode.

Computer simulations and laboratory tests were performed on this movement mode, which showed that the operation mode was feasible. It also verified that the mode can improve the handling efficiency, and also solved the problem that the parking space beside the wall could not be set and the site utilization was improved.

The controller should be further improved to make the operation smoother and more accurate.

This mode has the applicability to the indoor logistics AGVs. In addition, it can improve the handling efficiency and also solved the problem that the storage space for goods beside the wall could not be set and the site utilization was improved.

This method can solve the problem due to the increasing number of private cars and parking spaces are hard to find. It increases the number of parking spaces and improves the utilization rate of the site. In addition, it also saves people the time to find a parking space and reduces car exhaust emissions in the process. It follows the requirements of sustainable development.

The studies in this paper provide AGV with more ideas on the issue of improving handling efficiency and site utilization and also solves the problem of being unable to set parking spaces when parking against the wall. In addition, this model has applicability to indoor logistics AGV and plays the same role.

THE accountant is the latest competitor for management power. The Institute of Cost & Works Accountants—the value of whose Associate qualification we acknowledge—has re‐cast its requirements for the grade of Fellowship. Cost Accountants' or for that matter many other kinds of accountant, are now invited to sit for the Fellowship examination, the syllabus for which has just been published. This comprises the now familiar: Management—Factory and Distribution, Statistical Method, Advanced Cost Accountancy, Company Law, Management Accountancy and the Economic Aspects of Industry and Commerce. (The Management Section includes Motion & Time Study). Assuming that they are successful in this and that they satisfy a Reviewing Board of the adequacy of their experience, they may then call themselves “Management Accountants”.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a novel device to handle a robot manipulator which can grip large‐size panels. This concept arises from questioning why the glazing task is always performed manually and it is assumed that if the panel is handled by worker's bare hands, the material is lifted by a robot system and can be assembled to a frame easily and intuitively.

This study proposes the intuitive manipulator device (IMD) which can be attached on the panel directly and connected to it with the coordinate of robot end‐effector based on a virtual coordinate of IMD. The virtual coordinate is defined by the detection of the location of the IMD from the robot end‐effector using IR sensor scanning and origin point estimation method. In this study, the robot manipulator system is operated by a combination of the commands of two IMDs to perform the panel assembly test and its aspect of input commands is compared with the previous force‐control based human‐robot cooperative systems.

The proposed system shows the better performance while reducing the frequent force reflection of robot system against an environment and simplifies the instant input source for robot control system. Those are caused by the intuitiveness of visual servoing performed by operators and the minimization of a force control strategy by utilizing the operator's own sensitivity. The proposed system shows the possibility of efficiency improvement and simple mechatronic system to realize the automation of panel assembly task.

The proposed device alternates the expensive 6‐axis F/T sensor system to handle the robot manipulator by using the two 3‐axis load cell and those force/torque combinations. Also, the developed device is portable and can attach on the material anywhere. That is why this system could cover various sizes of materials. This system minimizes the computational load to control the robot system and improves the efficiency of an assembly task based on the human‐robot cooperation strategy.

FEW visitors to the Business Efficiency Exhibition held in London a few weeks ago can be in any doubt that electronic “brains” and other electro‐mechanical developments will be used more widely in business in future for preparing up‐to‐date records of production and sales and for doing such laborious, time‐consuming tasks as the bookkeeping necessary in the banks.

Electronics in the Service of Man. It has been estimated that the current publication of technical matter is 60 million pages annually. The task of the future research worker, therefore, is likely to be a heavy one as 25 per cent of the total time to complete any future research project may be needed to find, correlate and assimilate past knowledge. But the research worker of the future will have one big aid—an electronic machine, now being developed by the Battelle Memorial Institute, Ohio, U.S.A., which may be able to scan up to five million published documents per hour and identify those relating to the specific information needed.

ANY system based on a standard unit capable of being divided by tenths or hundredths for any lesser value enormously simplifies calculations and through a saving of time and labour reduces costs. It is therefore a matter for satisfaction that this country, laggard as usual, will within a matter of days fall into step with other industrial nations. Indeed, as the official guide to the decimal system points out, almost every country in the world uses it. So Britain at last joins the great majority.