Acute effect of foot strike patterns on in vivo tibiotalar and subtalar joint kinematics during barefoot running

Background:Foot kinematics,such as excessive eversion and malalignment of the hindfoot,are believed to be associated with running-related injuries.The maj ority of studies to date show that different foot strike patterns influence these specific foot and ankle kinematics.However,technical deficiencies in traditional motion capture approaches limit knowledge of in vivo joint kinematics with respect to rearfoot and forefoot strike patterns(RFS and FFS,respectively).This study uses a high-speed dual fluoroscopic imaging system(DFIS)to determine the effects of different foot strike patterns on 3D in vivo tibiotalar and subtalar joints kinematics.Methods:Fifteen healthy male recreational runners underwent foot computed tomography scanning for the construction of 3-dimensional models.A high-speed DFIS(100 Hz)was used to collect 6 degrees of freedom kinematics for participants’tibiotalar and subtalar joints when they adopted RFS and FFS in barefoot condition.Results:Compared with RFS,FFS exhibited greater internal rotation at 0%-20%of the stance phase in the tibiotalar joint.The peak internal rotation angle of the tibiotalar joint under FFS was greater than under RFS(p<0.001,Cohen’s d=0.92).RFS showed more dorsiflexion at 0%-20%of the stance phase in the tibiotalar joint than FFS.RFS also presented a larger anterior translation(p<0.001,Cohen’s d=1.28)in the subtalar joint at i nitial contact than FFS.Conclusion:Running with acute barefoot FFS increases the internal rotation of the tibiotalar joint in the early stance.The use of high-speed DFIS to quantify the movement of the tibiotalar and subtalar joint was critical to revealing the effects of RF S and FFS during running.

3D Kinematics of Classical Cepheids According to Gaia EDR3 Catalog

The kinematics of about 2000 classical Cepheids of the Milky Way with data from Gaia EDR3 catalog has been studied.For some of these stars,there are line-of-sight velocities.On the basis of the nonlinear rotation model,the parameters of the rotation curve of the Galaxy were determined.The circular linear rotation velocity of the near-solar neighborhood around the Galaxy center was V0=236±3 km s^(−1) for the assumed Sun's galactocentric distance R0=8.1±0.1 kpc.Analysis of residual velocities of Cepheids based on the linear Ogorodnikov–Milne model showed the presence of the following significantly different from zero gradients:∂U/∂x,∂U/∂z,∂V/∂x,∂V/∂z and∂W/∂x,which behave differently depending on the selection radius.The most interesting is the gradient∂W/∂x∼−0.5±0.1 km s^(−1) kpc^(−1)(positive rotation of this star system around the Galactic axis y,Ωy)since the velocities W are free of Galactic rotation.Here we have an indirect influence of various effects leading to a perturbation of the vertical velocities of the Galactic disk stars.Based on a simpler model,a more accurate estimate of this rotation is obtained,Ωy=0.51±0.07 km s^(−1) kpc^(−1).

Velocity Dispersion σ_(aper)Aperture Corrections as a Function of Galaxy Properties from Integral-field Stellar Kinematics of 10,000 MaNGA Galaxies

The second moment of the stellar velocity within the effective radius,denoted by σ^(2)_(e),is a crucial quantity in galaxy studies,as it provides insight into galaxy properties and their mass distributions.However,large spectroscopic surveys typically do not measure σ_(e) directly,instead providing σ_(aper),the second moment of the stellar velocity within a fixed fiber aperture.In this paper,we derive an empirical aperture correction formula,given byσ_(aper)/σ_(e)=(R_(aper)/R_(e))^(α),using spatially resolved stellar kinematics extracted from approximately 10,000 Sloan Digital Sky Survey-Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory integral field unit observations.Our analysis reveals a strong dependence ofαon the r-band absolute magnitude M_(r),g-i color,and Sérsic index nSer,whereαvalues are lower for brighter,redder galaxies with higher Sérsic indices.Our results demonstrate that the aperture correction derived from previous literature on early-type galaxies cannot be applied to predict the aperture corrections for galaxies with intermediate Sérsic indices.We provide a lookup table ofαvalues for different galaxy types,with parameters in the ranges of-18>M_(r)>-24,0.4<g-i<1.6,and 0<n_(Ser)<8.A Python script is provided to obtain the correction factors from the lookup table.

Machine-learning-based head impact subtyping based on the spectral densities of the measurable head kinematics

Background:Traumatic brain injury can be caused by head impacts,but many brain injury risk estimation models are not equally accurate across the variety of impacts that patients may undergo,and the characteristics of different types of impacts are not well studied.We investigated the spectral characteristics of different head impact types with kinematics classification.Methods:Data were analyzed from 3262 head impacts from lab reconstruction,American football,mixed martial arts,and publicly available car crash data.A random forest classifier with spectral densities of linear acceleration and angular velocity was built to classify head impact types(e.g.,football,car crash,mixed martial arts).To test the classifier robustness,another 271 lab-reconstructed impacts were obtained from 5 other instrumented mouthguards.Finally,with the classifier,type-specific,nearest-neighbor regression models were built for brain strain.Results:The classifier reached a median accuracy of 96% over 1000 random partitions of training and test sets.The most important features in the classification included both low-and high-frequency features,both linear acceleration features and angular velocity features.Different head impact types had different distributions of spectral densities in low-and high-frequency ranges(e.g.,the spectral densities of mixed martial arts impacts were higher in the high-frequency range than in the low-frequency range).The type-specific regression showed a generally higher R2value than baseline models without classification.Conclusion:The machine-learning-based classifier enables a better understanding of the impact kinematics spectral density in different sports,and it can be applied to evaluate the quality of impact-simulation systems and on-field data augmentation.

Paleozoic Accretion-Collision Events and Kinematics of Ductile Deformation in the Eastern Part of the Southern-Central Tianshan Belt, China

The Tianshan range could have been built by both late Early Paleozoicaccretion and Late Paleozoic collision events. The late Early Paleozoic Aqqikkudug-Weiya suture ismarked by Ordovician ophiolitic melange and a Silurian flysch sequence, high-pressure metamorphicrelics, and mylonitized rocks. The Central Tianshan belt could principally be an Ordovician volcanicarc; whereas the South Tianshan belt, a back-arc basin. Macro- and microstructures, along withunconformities, provide some kinematic and chronological constraints on 2-phase ductile deformation.The earlier ductile deformation occurring at ca. 400 Ma was marked by north-verging ductileshearing, yielding granulite-bearing ophiolitic melange blocks and garnet-pyroxene-facies ductiledeformation, and the later deformation, a dextral strike-slip tectonic process, occurred during theLate Carboniferous-Early Permian. Early Carboniferous molasses were deposited unconformably onpre-Carboniferous metamorphic and ductilely sheared rocks, implying the end of the early orogeny.The large-scale ductile strike-slip along the Aqqikkudug-Weiya zone was possibly caused by thesecond tectonic event, the Hercynian collision between the northern Tarim block and the southernSiberian block. Late Paleozoic granitic magmatism and superimposed structures overprinted this EarlyPaleozoic deformation belt. Results of geometric and kinematic studies suggest that the primaryframework of the Southern-Central Tianshan belt, at least the eastern part of the Tianshan belt, wasbuilt by these two phases of accretion events.

Kinematics and Dynamics Hessian Matrices of Manipulators Based on Screw Theory

The complexity of the kinematics and dynamics of a manipulator makes it necessary to simplify the modeling process.However,the traditional representations cannot achieve this because of the absence of coordinate invariance.Therefore,the coordinate invariant method is an important research issue.First,the rigid-body acceleration,the time derivative of the twist,is proved to be a screw,and its physical meaning is explained.Based on the twist and the rigid-body acceleration,the acceleration of the end-effector is expressed as a linear-bilinear form,and the kinematics Hessian matrix of the manipulator（represented by Lie bracket）is deduced.Further,Newton-Euler＇s equation is rewritten as a linear-bilinear form,from which the dynamics Hessian matrix of a rigid body is obtained.The formulae and the dynamics Hessian matrix are proved to be coordinate invariant.Referring to the principle of virtual work,the dynamics Hessian matrix of the parallel manipulator is gotten and the detailed dynamic model is derived.An index of dynamical coupling based on dynamics Hessian matrix is presented.In the end,a foldable parallel manipulator is taken as an example to validate the deduced kinematics and dynamics formulae.The screw theory based method can simplify the kinematics and dynamics of a manipulator,also the corresponding dynamics Hessian matrix can be used to evaluate the dynamical coupling of a manipulator.

KINEMATICS FEATURE ANALYSIS OF A 3-DOF COMPLIANT MECHANISM FOR MICRO MANIPULATION

Kinematics and its related issues of a 3-DOF in-parallel compliant mechanismare focused on. The micro manipulation application that requires high accuracy is developed. Designof the developed micromanipulator is based on the modified Delta mechanism. The main advantages ofthis manipulator are the use of only revolute flexure hinges and the capability to produce puretranslation theoretically. The aim is to develop an efficient kinematic model used for positioningcontrol. For this purpose, the Jacobian matrix relating the end effector position with the actuatordisplacements is obtained by both theoretical derivation and experiment. Aiming at the abnormalityin the motion capabilities of the micromanipulator found in calibration experiment, the mobility ofthe compliant mechanism on a theoretical level is analyzed by using the matrix method and screwtheory. Both the experimental and theoretical results have verified that the compliant mechanismdoes have rotational motion.

Kinematics and Dynamics of Deployable Structures with Scissor-Like-Elements Based on Screw Theory

Because the deployable structures are complex multi-loop structures and methods of derivation which lead to simpler kinematic and dynamic equations of motion are the subject of research effort, the kinematics and dynamics of deployable structures with scissor-like-elements are presented based on screw theory and the principle of virtual work respectively. According to the geometric characteristic of the deployable structure examined, the basic structural unit is the common scissor-like-element（SLE）. First, a spatial deployable structure, comprised of three SLEs, is defined, and the constraint topology graph is obtained. The equations of motion are then derived based on screw theory and the geometric nature of scissor elements. Second, to develop the dynamics of the whole deployable structure, the local coordinates of the SLEs and the Jacobian matrices of the center of mass of the deployable structure are derived. Then, the equivalent forces are assembled and added in the equations of motion based on the principle of virtual work. Finally, dynamic behavior and unfolded process of the deployable structure are simulated. Its figures of velocity, acceleration and input torque are obtained based on the simulate results. Screw theory not only provides an efficient solution formulation and theory guidance for complex multi-closed loop deployable structures, but also extends the method to solve dynamics of deployable structures. As an efficient mathematical tool, the simper equations of motion are derived based on screw theory.

Bionic Mechanism and Kinematics Analysis of Hopping Robot Inspired by Locust Jumping

A flexible-rigid hopping mechanism which is inspired by the locust jumping was proposed, and its kinematic characteris- tics were analyzed. A series of experiments were conducted to observe locust morphology and jumping process. According to classic mechanics, the jumping process analysis was conducted to build the relationship of the locust jumping parameters. The take-offphase was divided into four stages in detail. Based on the biological observation and kinematics analysis, a mechanical model was proposed to simulate locust jumping. The forces of the flexible-rigid hopping mechanism at each stage were ana- lyzed. The kinematic analysis using pseudo-rigid-body model was described by D-H method. It is confirmed that the proposed bionic mechanism has the similar performance as the locust hind leg in hopping. Moreover, the jumping angle which decides the jumping process was discussed, and its relation with other parameters was established. A calculation case analysis corroborated the method. The results of this paper show that the proposed bionic mechanism which is inspired by the locust hind limb has an excellent kinematics performance, which can provide a foundation for design and motion planning of the hopping robot.

Global kinematics of tectonic plates and subduction zones since the late Paleozoic Era

Detailed global plate motion models that provide a continuous description of plate boundaries through time are an effective tool for exploring processes both at and below the Earth's surface. A new generation of numerical models of mantle dynamics pre-and post-Pangea timeframes requires global kinematic descriptions with full plate reconstructions extending into the Paleozoic(410 Ma). Current plate models that cover Paleozoic times are characterised by large plate speeds and trench migration rates because they assume that lowermost mantle structures are rigid and fixed through time. When used as a surface boundary constraint in geodynamic models, these plate reconstructions do not accurately reproduce the present-day structure of the lowermost mantle. Building upon previous work, we present a global plate motion model with continuously closing plate boundaries ranging from the early Devonian at 410 Ma to present day.We analyse the model in terms of surface kinematics and predicted lower mantle structure. The magnitude of global plate speeds has been greatly reduced in our reconstruction by modifying the evolution of the synthetic Panthalassa oceanic plates, implementing a Paleozoic reference frame independent of any geodynamic assumptions, and implementing revised models for the Paleozoic evolution of North and South China and the closure of the Rheic Ocean. Paleozoic(410-250 Ma) RMS plate speeds are on average ～8 cm/yr, which is comparable to Mesozoic-Cenozoic rates of ～6 cm/yr on average.Paleozoic global median values of trench migration trend from higher speeds(～2.5 cm/yr) in the late Devonian to rates closer to 0 cm/yr at the end of the Permian(～250 Ma), and during the Mesozoic-Cenozoic(250-0 Ma) generally cluster tightly around ～1.1 cm/yr. Plate motions are best constrained over the past 130 Myr and calculations of global trench convergence rates over this period indicate median rates range between 3.2 cm/yr and 12.4 cm/yr with a present day median rate estimated at～5 cm/yr. For Paleozoic times(410-251 Ma) our model results in median convergence rates largely～5 cm/yr. Globally,～90% of subduction zones modelled in our reconstruction are determined to be in a convergent regime for the period of 120-0 Ma. Over the full span of the model, from 410 Ma to 0 Ma,～93% of subduction zones are calculated to be convergent, and at least 85% of subduction zones are converging for 97% of modelled times. Our changes improve global plate and trench kinematics since the late Paleozoic and our reconstructions of the lowermost mantle structure challenge the proposed fixity of lower mantle structures, suggesting that the eastern margin of the African LLSVP margin has moved by as much as ～1450 km since late Permian times(260 Ma). The model of the plate-mantle system we present suggests that during the Permian Period, South China was proximal to the eastern margin of the African LLSVP and not the western margin of the Pacific LLSVP as previous thought.

Kinematics and Dynamics Analysis of a Quadruped Walking Robot with Parallel Leg Mechanism

It is desired to require a walking robot for the elderly and the disabled to have large capacity,high stiffness,stability,etc.However,the existing walking robots cannot achieve these requirements because of the weight-payload ratio and simple function.Therefore,Improvement of enhancing capacity and functions of the walking robot is an important research issue.According to walking requirements and combining modularization and reconfigurable ideas,a quadruped/biped reconfigurable walking robot with parallel leg mechanism is proposed.The proposed robot can be used for both a biped and a quadruped walking robot.The kinematics and performance analysis of a 3-UPU parallel mechanism which is the basic leg mechanism of a quadruped walking robot are conducted and the structural parameters are optimized.The results show that performance of the walking robot is optimal when the circumradius R,r of the upper and lower platform of leg mechanism are 161.7 mm,57.7 mm,respectively.Based on the optimal results,the kinematics and dynamics of the quadruped walking robot in the static walking mode are derived with the application of parallel mechanism and influence coefficient theory,and the optimal coordination distribution of the dynamic load for the quadruped walking robot with over-determinate inputs is analyzed,which solves dynamic load coupling caused by the branches’ constraint of the robot in the walk process.Besides laying a theoretical foundation for development of the prototype,the kinematics and dynamics studies on the quadruped walking robot also boost the theoretical research of the quadruped walking and the practical applications of parallel mechanism.

Kinematics of Terrestrial Locomotion in Mole Cricket Gryllotalpa orientalis

The fore leg of mole cricket （Orthoptera： Glyllotalpidae） has developed into claw for digging and excavating. As the result of having a well-suited body and appendages for living underground, mole cricket still needs to manoeuvre on land in some cases with some kinds of gait. In this paper, the three-dimensional kinematics information of mole cricket in terrestrial walking was recorded by using a high speed 3D video recording system. The mode and the gait of the terrestrial walking mole cricket were investigated by analyzing the kinematics parameters, and the kinematics coupling disciplines of each limb and body were discussed. The results show that the locomotion gait of mole cricket in terrestrial walking belongs to a distinctive alternating tripod gait. We also found that the fore legs of a mole cricket are not as effective as that of common hexapod insects, its middle legs and body joints act more effective in walking and turning which compensate the function of fore legs. The terrestrial lo-comotion of mole cricket is the result of biological coupling of three pairs of legs, the distinctive alternating tripod gait and the trunk locomotion.

Kinematics and Path Following Control of an Articulated Drum Roller

Automatic navigation of an articulated drum roller, which is an articulated steering type vehicle widely used in the construction industry, is highly expected for operation cost reduction and improvement of work effi- ciency. In order to achieve the path following control, considering that its steering system is articulated steering and two frames are articulated by an active revolute joint, a kinematic model and an error dynamic state-space equation of an articulated drum roller are proposed. Besides, a state- feedback control law based on Lyapunov stability theory is also designed, which can be proved to achieve the purpose of control by the analysis of stability. What＇s more, to evaluate the performance of the proposed method, simu- lation under the MATLAB/Simulink and experiments using positioning algorithm and errors correction at the uneven construction site are performed, with initial dis- placement error （-1.5 m）, heading error （-0.11 tad） and steering angle （-0.19 rad）. Finally, simulation and exper- imental results show that the errors and steering angle can decrease gradually, and converge to zero with time. Meanwhile, the control input is not saturated. An articu- lated drum roller can lock into a desired path with the proposed method in uneven fields.

Kinematics Analysis of Mechanisms Based on Virtual Assembly

Currently, virtual assembly technology has attracted increasing attention due to considerations of solving assembly problems in virtual environment before actual assembly in manufactory. Previous studies on kinematic analysis of mechanism only aim at analyzing motion law of single mechanism, but can not simulate the multi-mechanisms motion process at the same time, let alone simulating the automatic assembly process of products in a whole assembly workshop. In order to simulate the assembly process of products in an assembly workshop and provide effective data for analyzing mechanical performance after finishing assembly simulation in virtual environment, this study investigates the kinematics analysis of mechanisms based on virtual assembly. Firstly, in view of the same function of the kinematic pairs and the assembly constraints on restricting the motion of components （subassembly or part）, the method of identifying kinematic pairs automatically based on assembly constraints is presented. The information of kinematic pairs can be obtained through calculating the constraint degree of the assembly constraints. Secondly, the incidence matrix eliminating element method is proposed in order to search the information and establish the models of mechanisms automatically after finishing assembly simulation in virtual environment. Both methods have important significance for reducing the workload of pretreatment and promoting the level of automation of kinematics analysis. Finally, the method of kinematics analysis of mechanisms is presented. Based on Descartes coordinates, three types of kinematics equations are formed. The parameters, like displacement, velocity, and acceleration, can be obtained by solving these equations. All these data are important to analyze mechanical performance. All the methods are implemented and validated in the prototype system virtual assembly process planning（VAPP）. The mechanism models are established and simulated in the VAPP system, and the result curves are shown accurately. The proposed kinematics analysis of mechanisms based on virtual assembly provides an effective method for simulating product assembly process automatically and analyzing mechanical performance after finishing assembly simulation.

Learning from Fish: Kinematics and Experimental Hydrodynamics for Roboticists

Over the past 20 years, experimental analyses of the biomechanics of locomotion in fishes have generated a number of key findings that are relevant to the construction of biomimetic fish robots. In this paper, we present 16 results from recent experimental research on the mechanics, kinematics, fluid dynamics, and control of fish locomotion that summarize recent work on fish biomechanics. The findings and principles that have emerged from biomechanical studies of fish locomotion provide important insights into the functional design of fishes and suggest specific design features relevant to construction of robotic fish-inspired vehicles that underlie the high locomotor performance exhibited by fishes.

Two optimization algorithms for solving robotics inverse kinematics with redundancy

The kinematic redundancy in a robot leads to an infinite number of solutions for inverse kinematics, which implies the possibility to select a 'best' solution according to an optimization criterion. In this paper, two optimization objective functions are proposed, aiming at either minimizing extra degrees of freedom (DOFs) or minimizing the total potential energy of a multilink redundant robot. Physical constraints of either equality or inequality types are taken into consideration in the objective functions. Since the closed-form solutions do not exist in general for highly nonlinear and constrained optimization problems, we adopt and develop two numerical methods, which are verified to be effective and precise in solving the two optimization problems associated with the redundant inverse kinematics. We first verify that the well established trajectory following method can precisely solve the two optimization problems, but is computation intensive. To reduce the computation time, a sequential approach that combines the sequential quadratic programming and iterative Newton-Raphson algorithm is developed. A 4-DOF Fujitsu Hoap-1 humanoid robot arm is used as a prototype to validate the effectiveness of the proposed optimization solutions.

Measurement on Morphology and Kinematics of Crucian Vertebral Joints

In order to provide data for joints control of our recently designed crucian hke biomlmetlc robot fish, an A-ray photograph technology was adopted to determine the number and length of vertebral joints. A frame-by-frame analysis of high-speed videotapes was conducted to quantify the kinematics of crucian at four speeds （12.651 cm·s^-1, 18.201 cm·s^-1, 21.901 cm·s^-1, 24.368cm·s^-1） during cruising. In addition to a brief introduction to experimental conditions and methods, we analyzed the influence of individual diversity on the absolute length as well as the non-dimensional length of vertebral joints. We also presented the maximal angular velocity and acceleration of vertebral joints under four swimming speeds, and provided the change of relative rotation angle, angular difference, angular velocity and angular acceleration of the rear vertebral joints with time at a certain swimming speed of 12.651 cm·s^-1. At last, we presented the maximal lateral displacement of each mark at that speed. The study found that the influence of individual diversity on the non-dimensional length of vertebral joints is not significant; the maximal angular velocity and acceleration of vertebral joints increase with swimming speed; angular difference, angular velocity and angular acceleration exhibit two maximal values over one period at a certain swimming speed.

An Analysis of the Inverse Kinematics for a 5-DOF Manipulator

This paper proposes an analytical solution for a 5-DOF manipulator to follow a given trajectory while keeping the orientation of one axis in the end-effector frame. The forward kinematics and inverse kinematics for a 5-DOF manipulator are analyzed systematically. The singular problem is discussed after the forward kinematics is provided. For any given reachable position and orientation of the end-effector, the derived inverse kinematics will provide an accurate solution. In other words, there exists no singular problem for the 5-DOF manipulator, which has wide application areas such as welding, spraying, and painting. Experiment results verify the effectiveness of the methods developed in this paper. Keywords Inverse kinematics - modeling and control - 5-DOF manipulator This work was supported by the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (No. 2002AA422160), and the National Key Fundamental Research and Development Project of China (973, No.2002CB312200)De Xu graduated from Shandong University of Technology (SUT), China in 1985. He received a Masters degree from SUT in 1990, and a Ph.D. degree from Zhejiang University, China in 2001. He has been with the Institute of Automation, at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CASIA) since 2001. He is an associate professor with the Laboratory of Complex Systems and Intelligence Science, CASIA. He worked as on academic visitor in the Department of Computer Science, at the University of Essex from May to August 2004. He is a member of the IEEE. His research interests include robotics and automation, especially the control of robots such as visual and intelligent control.Carlos Antonio Acosta Calderon received a B.S. degree in Computer Science Engineering from Pachuca Institute of Technology, Mexico in 2000, and a M.Sc. degree in Computer Science (Robotics and Intelligent Machines) from the University of Essex, UK in 2001. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D degree in Computer Science at the University of Essex, UK. His research interests have focused on mobile robots, in particular, the coordination of multi-robot systems, mobile manipulators, and learning by imitation. He is a member of IEEE.John Q. Gan received a B.Sc. degree in electronic engineering from Northwestern Polytechnic University, China in 1982, a M.Eng. degree in automatic control and a Ph.D degree in biomedical electronics from Southeast University, China in 1985 and 1991, respectively. He is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Essex, UK. He has co-authored a book, and published over 100 research papers. His research interests are in robotics and intelligent systems, brain-computer interfaces, pattern recognition, signal processing, data fusion, and neurofuzzy computation.Huosheng Hu is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science, at the University of Essex, and head of the Human Centered Robotics Group. His research interests include autonomous mobile robots, human-robot interaction, evolutionary robotics, multi-robot collaboration, embedded systems, pervasive computing, sensor integration, RoboCup, intelligent control, and networked robotics. He has published over 200 papers in journals, books, and conferences, and received two best paper awards. He is a founding member of the IEEE Society of Robotics and Automation Technical Committee of Internet and Online Robots, and a member of the IASTED Technical Committee on “Robotics” for 2001–2004. He was a Conference Chairman for the 1st European Embedded Systems Conference in Paris, 1996, and has been a member of the Program Committees for many international conferences such as IROS (2005–2006), IASTED Robotics and Applications Conferences (2000-present), and RoboCup Symposiums (2000–2004). Dr. Hu is a Chartered Engineer, a senior member of IEEE, and a member of IEE, AAAI, ACM, IASTED and IAS.Min Tan graduated from Tsing Hua University, China in 1986. He received a Ph.D. degree in 1990 from CASIA. He is a professor with the Laboratory of Complex Systems and Intelligence Science, CASIA. He has published over 100 papers in journals, books, and conferences. His research interests include robotics and complex system theory.

Inverse Kinematics Analysis of a 7-DOF Space Manipulator for Trajectory Design

To solve the inverse kinematics problem for redundant degrees of freedom（DOFs）manipulators has been and still continues to be quite challenging in the field of robotics.Aiming at trajectory planning for a 7-DOF space manipulator system,joint rotation trajectories are obtained from predetermined motion trajectories and poses of the end effector in Cartesian space based on the proposed generalized inverse kinematics method.A minimum norm method is employed to choose the best trajectory among available trajectories.Numerical simulations with the7-DOF manipulator show that the proposed method can achieve the planned trajectory and pose under the circumstances of minimum angular velocities.Moreover,trajectory results from the proposed kinematics model and inverse kinematics method has the advantages of simple modelling,low computation cost,easy to solve and plan trajectory conveniently.The smooth and continuous joint rotation functions obtained from the proposed method are suitable for practical engineering applications.

Variable elliptical vibrating screen: Particles kinematics and industrial application

Traditional vibrating screen usually adopts the linear centralized excitation mode,which causes the difficulty in particles loosening and low screening efficiency.The variable elliptical vibrating screen(VEVS)trajectory is regulated to adapt the material mass along the direction of the screen length,improving the particles distribution as well as the screening efficiency.In this work,a theoretical model was developed for analyzing the screen surface motion law during VEVS-based screening process.An equation was obtained to show the relationship between the horizontal amplitude and the vertical amplitude.The materials kinetic characteristics were studied by using high-speed camera during screening process.Compared with equal-amplitude screen(EAS),the material moving velocity was increased by 13.03%on the first half but decreased by 3.52% on the second half,and the total screening time was reduced by 9.42% by using VEVS.In addition,-6 mm screening test was carried out.At the length of VEVS equaled to 1.2 m,the screening efficiency and the total misplaced material content were 92.50% and 2.90%,respectively.However,the screening efficiency was 89.91% and the total misplaced material content was 3.76% during EAS-based screening process.Furthermore,when external moisture is 5.96%,the screening efficiency of VEVS could reach 86.95%.The 2 TKB50113 type VEVS with double-layered screen surface used in Huoshizui Coal Mine was 5.0 m in width and 11.3 m in length.The areas of single layer and double layer were 56.5 and 113 m~2,respectively.In industrial production,the processing capacity was 2500-3000 t/h and the screening efficiency was larger than 90%.