1,720,975 research outputs found
The design of a new manual wheelchair for sport
Full text linkIn this paper, an innovative system of propulsion inspired by a rowing gesture for manual wheelchairs is shown. The innovative system of propulsion, named Handwheelchair.q, can be applied to wheelchairs employed in everyday life and to sports wheelchairs for speed races, such as Handbike and Wheelchair racing. The general features of the innovative system of propulsion and the functional designs of the different solutions are described in detail. In addition, the design of the mechanism for the transmission of motion, employed in a second prototype, Handwheelchair.q02, is presented and analysed. Finally, the dynamic model of the Handwheelchair.q has been developed in order to obtain important results for the executive design of Handwheelchair.q
Prototyping of manual wheelchair with alternative propulsion system
Full text linkAim: This paper presents the study, design and prototyping of a manual wheelchair, named handwheelchair.q, with an innovative propulsion's system. The research is based on a novel system of propulsion that is more efficient and ergonomic than the hand rim one. The main goal of the designed prototype is to facilitate the mobility and to extend the reachable areas while reducing the required time. Methods: The propulsion is realised through a rowing-inspired gesture. Results: This gesture avoids the damages caused on shoulders by the compressive force of the hand rim and lever systems. Conclusion: The prototyping allowed the analysis of the project parameters and their influence on the kinematic characteristics of the prototype and the biomechanical characteristics of the gesture. The same propulsion's system can be adopted on wheelchairs devoted to sport activities, representing the starting point for a future prototype of racing wheelchairs. In this regard, the wheelchair's braking system has been redesigned in order to improve efficiency and safety.Implication for rehabilitation The use of the Handwheelchair.q may have positive impacts in terms of the quality of life, in order to reduce the shoulder pain caused by the handrim and lever system. In addition, it can be a good tool for rehabilitation because the activity can be performed outdoor
Data-Driven Analysis of Locomotion for a Class of Articulated Mobile Robots
Full text linkIn the recent past, the use of autonomous vehicles is becoming of relevant interest in several fields of application. In many cases, the use of articulated structures is preferred to single chassis robots for their peculiar modularity. Such vehicles are often built as an active front module and a rear one that is pulled passively or that can contribute to the vehicle traction when required. Understanding whether this contribution is convenient or not is the main matter of this paper. Two different mobile robots of different scales and purposes are taken into consideration. A dynamic model is presented and analyzed. An experimental validation of the model parameters is also presented in order to make it exploitable as a reliable analysis tool. At last, a simple yet effective actuation law is tested for both the considered robots to evaluate whether the contribution of the back module is beneficial or not to the whole machine maneuverability
The Agri.q Mobile Robot: Preliminary Experimental Tests
Full text linkPrecision agriculture is a management strategy aimed at enhancing the productivity, profitability, and sustainability of agricultural production from incorporation of technological advances primarily developed for other industries. Among them, robotics is playing a leading role for it allows monitoring with unprecedented punctuality the number of factors affecting the production processes. In this scenario the researchers at Politecnico di Torino developed an innovative unmanned ground vehicle expressly featured for accomplishment of monitoring tasks, with particular focus on the vine cultivation industry which is peculiarly strong in the region. The rover, named Agri.q, is an eight-wheeled mobile robot whose conceptual design has been already presented to the scientific community. This paper presents the first experimental results gathered on the prototype under different conditions of use, in order to illustrate the actual performance of Agri.q in its work environment
Functional Design of a Novel Over-Actuated Mobile Robotic Platform for Assistive Tasks
No full textThis paper presents a novel over-actuated mobile platform for assistive robotics tasks. Its main peculiarity is that of owning an innovative architecture expressly conceived to enhance the dynamics performance offered by the present-day solutions for omni-directional planar motions. The machine, named Paquitop_01, is aimed at living and working in a domestic, non-structured, and variously populated environment. Such premise is a crucial point within the design process, from either the mechanical, or the control point of view, for it arises a set of uncharted challenges under many aspects. Which go from the ability to avoid or overpass small obstacles, passing through the capability to achieve specific person tracking tasks, and arriving to the need of operating with a as-high-as-possible dynamic performance. As a matter of fact, such a wide variety of issues cannot be approached without a preliminary accurate analysis. This paper is aimed at fulfilling such task, by investigating the kinematics and dynamic properties of a novel over-actuated platform
On the suspension design of paquitop, a novel service robot for home assistance applications
Full text linkThe general and constant ageing of the world population that has been observed in the last decade has led robotics researchers community to focus its aims to answer the ever-growing demand for health care, housing, care-giving, and social security. Among others, the researchers at Politecnico di Torino are developing a novel platform to enhance the performance offered by present-day issues, and to assess many others which were not even taken into consideration before they have been highlighted by the pandemic emergency currently in progress. This situation, in fact, made dramatically clear how important it is to have reliable non-human operators whom one can trust when the life of elderly or weak patients is endangered by the simple presence of other people. The platform, named Paquitop, features an innovative architecture conceived for omni-directional planar motion. The machine is designed for domestic, unstructured, and variously populated environments. Therefore, the mobile robot should be able to avoid or pass over small obstacles, passing through the capability to achieve specific person tracking tasks, and arriving to the need of operating with an high dynamic performance. Given its purpose, this work addresses the design of the suspension system which enables the platform to ensure a steady floor contact and adequate stability in every using condition. Different configurations of such system are then presented and compared through use-case simulations
Preliminary observations for functional design of a mobile robotic manipulator
No full textThis paper presents the first steps approached for the functional design of a mobile robotic manipulator conceived for home assistance. The main characteristic of the mobile platform is that of owning an innovative architecture conceived to enhance the dynamics performance offered by the present-day solutions for omni-directional planar motions. The mobile robot, named Paquitop.arm, is aimed at working in a domestic unstructured environment and it has been designed to mainly perform monitoring activities. The variety of tasks to whom it can be devoted significantly increases if an on-board manipulation ability is installed. Due to that, it is worth investigating what aspects could be to be considered while designing such a mobile manipulator. The manuscript approaches a simplified kinematics analysis to define the most relevant parameters necessary for implementation of a commercial robot arm on the customized mobile platform Paquitop
Modelling and Experimental Validation of Articulated Mobile Robots with Hybrid Locomotion System
Full text linkIn recent years, autonomous vehicles and mobile robots are starting to become a trend also in several new fields of application. In some cases, they are articulated vehicles with an active front module and a rear one that is pulled passively or that can contribute to the vehicle traction when required. Although modelling of mobile robots is not a novelty, most of the available studies are limited to kinematic or very basic dynamic models. In order to correctly simulate mobile robots with fast dynamics or operating off-road, this study proposes a dynamic model of such systems derived taking into account lateral and longitudinal slip in the wheels. The model is then validated experimentally using a small articulated robot
Mechanism for the Locomotion Layout Reconfiguration of the Agri_q Mobile Robot
No full textThis paper deals with the design of a mechanism able to modify the locomotion layout of a novel UGV (Unmanned Ground Vehicle), named Agri_q, specifically designed for precision agriculture applications. Taking into account that it has to move over an irregular and loose soil, the rover is equipped with eight wheels, each couple supported by a rocker, which ensure a wide contact surface between the vehicle and the ground. A limit of this solution is the substantial lateral slithering occurring when the rover engages curved trajectories, which causes an increase of the needed driving torque. Therefore, reducing the number of ground contact points to compare the torque adsorption in different configurations, namely four, six or eight wheels, could be of interest. The designed mechanism has to lift one of the two wheels connected to the rocker providing at the same time a suspension system to reduce the vibrations transmitted to the sub-chassis. Having analyzed the system requirements, two possible functional solutions are proposed and compared. Finally, the synthesis of the chosen mechanism is presented
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