71 research outputs found
T.P.T. a novel Taekwondo personal trainer robot
No full textIn recent years, robotics has been widely used in the sport sector, but few examples of robotic platforms are currently used in combat sports. This work presents T.P.T., a novel robotic prototype used in the context of Taekwondo, an Olympic martial art sport, able of interacting with children and with adult athletes. In this paper, the conceptual and functional design of the robot, including some preliminary tests aimed at its calibration, is described in details. The robot has been presented at the 2013 Italian Championship of Taekwondo, and it is in a patent pending status (Muscolo and Recchiuto, 2013)
A novel tactile sensor for underwater applications: Limits and perspectives
No full textThe paper deals with the problem of designing tactile sensors for underwater applications. The tactile sensors are used in many terrestrial applications, but research in underwater tactile perception remains limited because of the scarcity of underwater tactile sensors. In this paper the authors, after a review on underwater sensors available in commerce and in literature, propose a conceptual design of novel tactile sensors for underwater applications. The investigations are performed in collaboration with a national Italian project named MARIS regarding the possible extension to the underwater field of the technologies developed for a terrestrial use, within the European project ROBOSKIN
A novel linear pneumatic actuator with tunable-compliance constraint
No full textThis paper introduces a novel pneumatic linear actuator that features variable stiffness/compliance along constrained directions. Specifically, the proposed system is a pneumatically driven linear actuator that is implemented according to a common piston-cylinder architecture. The system employs two long-stroke rolling diaphragms that assume both the functions of sealing the pressurized cylinder chamber and constraining the motion of piston. The control of stiffness along non-actuated directions is achieved through the regulations of the pre-pressurization of an air chamber that is enclosed by the two rolling diaphragms. A theoretical model able to explain and describe the variation stiffness for the proposed architecture is presented. A preliminary prototype of the system is designed and built, and a set of experiments are implemented to demonstrate the concept, to verify the modelling approach and to validate the theoretical analysis
Design of a robot for hygienization of walls in hospital environments
No full textThe paper describes the methodology applied to the design of a climbing robot that has been conceived and studied to solve the real task of cleaning the wall surfaces of hospital and clinic nursing home environments. The robot is able to spray different cleaning and disinfecting liquids for preventing infections. This robot is light and simple and it is thought to work in a team in order to guarantee a fast and coordinated cleaning system to all the room walls. It has been conceived, and designed taking into account critical issues in geometric modelling and functional requirements involving multiple engineering disciplines which concur to optimize the robot characteristics while reducing the development time
From Savonius to Bronzinus: a comparison among vertical wind turbines
No full textAbstractIn this paper the authors propose a novel vertical wind turbine named Bronzinus and obtained by comparisons and optimisations of classical Savonius rotors. We redesigned some proposed Savonius turbines using CAD software and simulated the virtual behaviour of rotors using CFD software. A comparison among classical turbines and our Bronzinus underlines high Cp and Ct values of our proposed solution. This is a first step of a research oriented to design and develop new vertical wind turbines to solve energy problems in Lebanon. The research is proposed by an Italian company and an Italian University in collaboration with private Lebanese building Constructors
Ricerca: l’umanoide vuole...volare
No full textviene presentato il concetto di centro di massa nei robot umanoidi e viene discussa la locomozione biped
Formulation of a Transfer Function between rotor responses on a High Speed Balancing Machine and in Turbo Machinery by System Identification
No full textIn this paper the authors propose an innovative method for the determination of a transfer function (MTF) between the rotor responses on a balancing machine (HSB) and on turbo machinery (SP). The prediction of the rotor behavior in its turbo machine final housing is a crucial problem for turbo machinery manufacturers and very complex to solve using classical approaches. The proposed method uses a particular MTF formula, calculated with a black/box approach based on the application of the theory of System Identification, using the rotor responses in SP and in HSB as input and output respectively. MTF was determined by a regression analysis of the responses in HSB and SP of 10 rotors; subsequently it was tested and validated on other 15 rotors. The results demonstrate that proposed MTF simulates a rotor behavior in SP with a satisfactory overlapping of the measured output
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