Digital biofabrication to realize the potentials of plant roots for product design

Technological and economic opportunities,alongside the apparent ecological benefits,point to biodesign as a new industrial paradigm for the fabrication of products in the twenty-first century.The presented work studies plant roots as a biodesign material in the fabrication of self-supported 3D structures,where the biologically and digitally designed materials provide each other with structural stability.Taking a material-driven design approach,we present our systematic tinkering activities with plant roots to better understand and anticipate their responsive behaviour.These helped us to identify the key design parameters and advance the unique potential of plant roots to bind discrete porous structures.We illustrate this binding potential of plant roots with a hybrid 3D object,for which plant roots connect 600 computationally designed,optimized,and fabricated bioplastic beads into a low stool.

螺旋榨油机榨螺螺纹体积计算的研究

计算螺旋榨油机压缩比的关键是计算榨螺的体积。研究圆柱根圆等截面圆柱榨螺体积的计算,将螺纹对应的圆心角M等分,得到M个计算单元。由于榨螺推料面倾角和背面倾角的存在,该计算单元的6个外表面中,有两个平面、有两个圆柱曲面片、还有两个不同的螺旋面。将榨螺螺纹高度沿径向N等分,计算出N个薄壁圆管曲面片段的体积即可得到计算单元的体积。用VC++6.0编程,根据输入的榨螺参数计算螺纹的体积和榨膛空余容积。

基于空间四边形单元的正螺旋面下料图设计方法

分析正螺旋面的空间尺寸特点,将计算下料方法和三角线法相结合,计算组成螺旋叶片的各个空间四边形单元的展开尺寸,将四边形单元的展开图依次拼接即可得到螺旋叶片的展开图。用VisualC++编程,能够快速、较精确地展开各种规格的正螺旋面(包括圆台形螺旋),绘制近似展开图。同时得到DXF文件,供AutoCAD直接调用以便输出下料图。最后给出了设计实例。

Non-Assembly Walking Mechanism Utilizing a Hexapod Gait

Small inspection robots allow for the optimal exploration of environments and the collection of data from challenging areas,particularly where there may be small access points or tight and fragile surroundings.These robots can be custom-built for specific tasks,but the design and assembly process for this can be costly,both in resources and assembly time.The use of 3D printing to create Non-Assembly mechanisms can assist in saving time and resources by reducing the number of different components required and removing the necessity for complex assembly tasks.By iterating on previous work performed in the institute,this paper introduces a novel robot design to push the capabilities of Non-Assembly systems.By building on previous knowledge,this new walking robot improves on the previous iteration by creating a more robust and reliable system,more capable of effectively exploring challenging environments accurately,while still using practices designed to save on cost and production time.Benchmark tests were performed to provide an accurate comparison against the previous design and highlight the robots marked improvements in positional accuracy over its predecessor.

Systematic exploration of signal-based indicators for failure diagnosis in the context of cyber-physical systems

Malfunction or breakdown of certain mission critical systems(MCSs) may cause losses of life, damage the environments, and/or lead to high costs. Therefore, recognition of emerging failures and preventive maintenance are essential for reliable operation of MCSs. There is a practical approach for identifying and forecasting failures based on the indicators obtained from real life processes. We aim to develop means for performing active failure diagnosis and forecasting based on monitoring statistical changes of generic signal features in the specific operation modes of the system. In this paper, we present a new approach for identifying emerging failures based on their manifestations in system signals. Our approach benefits from the dynamic management of the system operation modes and from simultaneous processing and characterization of multiple heterogeneous signal sources. It improves the reliability of failure diagnosis and forecasting by investigating system performance in various operation modes, includes reasoning about failures and forming of failures using a failure indicator matrix which is composed of statistical deviation of signal characteristics between normal and failed operations, and implements a failure indicator concept that can be used as a plug and play failure diagnosis and failure forecasting feature of cyber-physical systems. We demonstrate that our method can automate failure diagnosis in the MCSs and lend the MCSs to the development of decision support systems for preventive maintenance.

Information schema constructs for defining warehouse databases of genotypes and phenotypes of system manifestation features

Our long-term objective is to develop a software toolbox for pre-embodiment design of complex and heterogeneous systems, such as cyber-physical systems. The novelty of this toolbox is that it uses system manifestation features(SMFs) for transdisciplinary modeling of these systems. The main challenges of implementation of the toolbox are functional design- and language-independent computational realization of the warehouses, and systematic development and management of the various evolving implements of SMFs(genotypes, phenotypes, and instances). Therefore, an information schema construct(ISC) based approach is proposed to create the schemata of the associated warehouse databases and the above-mentioned SMF implements. ISCs logically arrange the data contents of SMFs in a set of relational tables of varying semantics. In this article we present the ISCs necessary for creation of genotypes and phenotypes. They increase the efficiency of the database development process and make the data relationships transparent. Our follow-up research focuses on the elaboration of the SMF instances based system modeling methodology.

Information schema constructs for instantiation and composition of system manifestation features

Complementing our previous publications, this paper presents the information schema constructs （ISCs） that underpin the programming of specific system manifestation feature （SMF） orientated information management and composing system models. First, we briefly present （1） the general process of pre-embodiment design with SMFs, （2） the procedures of creating genotypes and phenotypes of SMFs, （3） the specific procedure of instantiation of phenotypes of SMFs, and （4） the procedure of system model management and processing. Then, the chunks of information needed for instantiation of phenotypes of SMFs are discussed, and the ISCs designed for instantiation presented. Afterwards, the information management aspects of system modeling are addressed. Methodologically, system modeling involves （1） placement of phenotypes of SMF in the modeling space, （2） combining them towards the desired architecture and operation, （3） assigning values to the parameters and checking the satisfac- tion of constraints, and （4） storing the system model in the SMFs-based warehouse database. The final objective of the reported research is to develop an SMFs-based toolbox to support modeling of cyber-physical systems （CPSs）.

A multi-axis robot-based bioprinting system supporting natural cell function preservation and cardiac tissue fabrication

Despite the recent advances in artificial tissue and organ engineering,how to generate large size viable and functional complex organs still remains as a grand challenge for regenerative medicine.Three-dimensional bioprinting has demonstrated its advantages as one of the major methods in fabricating simple tissues,yet it still faces difficulties to generate vasculatures and preserve cell functions in complex organ production.Here,we overcome the limitations of conventional bioprinting systems by converting a six degree-of-freedom robotic arm into a bioprinter,therefore enables cell printing on 3D complex-shaped vascular scaffolds from all directions.We also developed an oil bath-based cell printing method to better preserve cell natural functions after printing.Together with a self-designed bioreactor and a repeated print-and-culture strategy,our bioprinting system is capable to generate vascularized,contractible,and long-term survived cardiac tissues.Such bioprinting strategy mimics the in vivo organ development process and presents a promising solution for in vitro fabrication of complex organs.

复杂技术系统中基础研究的初步分类(英文)

目的:对于复杂技术系统,给出不同研究领域的初步分类,并找出一些研究关注的问题。创新点:提出了一种推理方法,将复杂技术系统的研究领域分为三类。方法:1.对相关的学术刊物进行直觉探索;2.对领域和子领域研究给出基于证据的分类规范;3.对基于相关学术刊物的控制给出的分类进行提炼与验证。结论:复杂技术系统的研究领域分为三类,分别为:(1)智能化类,包括哲学、本体和认识论;(2)实现类,包括方法论和复杂技术系统的创建;(3)影响类,包括表现和价值学。