Design of a Mobile Mechanism for Missing Miner Search Robots in Underground Mines

A mobile mechanism with four tracked-units for a missing miner search robot (MMSR) is presented, with a design based on the terrain features and atrocious environment of an underground mine. Its structure and working prin- ciple is discussed. The four tracked-units are controlled independently and driven cooperatively. By means of two DC motors being controlled respectively, one tracked-unit can accomplish two types of driving mode: tracked travel and in- tegral unit legged rotation (IULR), forming a track-legged compound function mechanism. Its capabilities of surmount- ing obstacles and its toppling stability in underground mines have also been analyzed. The results show that the mobile mechanism can directly surmount an obstacle of the height less than the length of one tracked-unit and get across a raceway with a span less than the length of one tracked-unit by using tracked travel and IULR. Its unstable slope angle is 51.3°. Toppling stability is determined by its structural size, moving direction and slope angle. IULR of four tracked-units can adjust the robot’s posture and then enhance toppling stability or assist in surmounting obstacles. Its track-legged compound function mechanism makes it suitable for working in underground mines.

MECHANISM DESIGN AND MOTION ANALYSIS OF A SPHERICAL MOBILE ROBOT

A new spherical mobile robot BHQ-1 is designed. The spherical robot is driven by two internally mounted motors that induce the ball to move straight and turn around on a fiat surface. A dynamic model of the robot is developed with Lagrange method and factors affecting the driving torque of two motors are analyzed. The relationship between the turning radius of the robot and the length of two links is discussed in order to optimize its mechanism design. Simulation and experimental results demonstrate the good controllability and motion performance of BHQ-1.

Locomotion Optimization and Manipulation Planning of a Tetrahedron-Based Mobile Mechanism with Binary Control

Locomotion and manipulation optimization is essential for the performance of tetrahedron-based mobile mechanism. Most of current optimization methods are constrained to the continuous actuated system with limited degree of freedom(DOF), which is infeasible to the optimization of binary control multi-DOF system. A novel optimization method using for the locomotion and manipulation of an 18 DOFs tetrahedron-based mechanism called 5-TET is proposed. The optimization objective is to realize the required locomotion by executing the least number of struts.Binary control strategy is adopted, and forward kinematic and tipping dynamic analyses are performed, respectively.Based on a developed genetic algorithm(GA), the optimal number of alternative struts between two adjacent steps is obtained as 5. Finally, a potential manipulation function is proposed, and the energy consumption comparison between optimal 5-TET and the traditional wheeled robot is carried out. The presented locomotion optimization and manipulation planning enrich the research of tetrahedron-based mechanisms and provide the instruction to the successive locomotion and operation planning of multi-DOF mechanisms.

Dynamic Analysis of Propulsion Mechanism Directly Driven by Wave Energy for Marine Mobile Buoy

Marine mobile buoy（MMB） have many potential applications in the maritime industry and ocean science.Great progress has been made,however the technology in this area is far from maturity in theory and faced with many difficulties in application.A dynamic model of the propulsion mechanism is very necessary for optimizing the parameters of the MMB,especially with consideration of hydrodynamic force.The principle of wave-driven propulsion mechanism is briefly introduced.To set a theory foundation for study on the MMB,a dynamic model of the propulsion mechanism of the MMB is obtained.The responses of the motion of the platform and the hydrofoil are obtained by using a numerical integration method to solve the ordinary differential equations.A simplified form of the motion equations is reached by omitting terms with high order small values.The relationship among the heave motion of the buoy,stiffness of the elastic components,and the forward speed can be obtained by using these simplified equations.The dynamic analysis show the following：The angle of displacement of foil is fairly small with the biggest value around 0.3 rad;The speed of mobile buoy and the angle of hydrofoil increased gradually with the increase of heave motion of buoy;The relationship among heaven motion,stiffness and attack angle is that heave motion leads to the angle change of foil whereas the item of speed or push function is determined by vertical velocity and angle,therefore,the heave motion and stiffness can affect the motion of buoy significantly if the size of hydrofoil is kept constant.The proposed model is provided to optimize the parameters of the MMB and a foundation is laid for improving the performance of the MMB.

Theoretical Prediction of the Photovoltaic Properties of BFBPD-PC61 BM System as a Promising Organic Solar Cell

In this work,the photovoltaic properties of BFBPD-PC61 BM system as a promising high-performance organic solar cell（OSC） were theoretically investigated by means of quantum chemistry and molecular dynamics calculations coupled with the incoherent charge-hopping model.Moreover,the hole carrier mobility of BFBPD thin-film was also estimated with the aid of an amorphous cell including 100 BFBPD molecules.Results revealed that the BFBPD-PC61 BM system possesses a middle-sized open-circuit voltage of 0.70 V,large short-circuit current density of 17.26 mA ·cm^-2,high fill factor of 0.846,and power conversion efficiency of 10%.With the Marcus model,in the BFBPD-PC61 BM interface,the exciton-dissociation rate,kdis,was predicted to be 2.684×10^13 s^-1,which is as 3-5 orders of magnitude large as the decay（radiative and non-radiative） one（10-8-10^10s^-1）,indicating a high exciton-dissociation efficiency of 100% in the BFBPD-PC61 BM interface.Furthermore,by the molecular dynamics simulation,the hole mobility of BFBPD thin-film was predicted to be as high as 1.265 × 10^-2 cm-2·V^-1·s^-1,which can be attributed to its dense packing in solid state.

Motion design of a hybrid wheeled/legged robot for lunar exploration

The robot consists of a quadruped mechanism and two active dual-wheel casters possesses the advantages of wheeled and legged mechanism, and can quickly move on the relatively plane ground with the wheeled mechanism, and can walk on the extremely uneven terrain with the legged mechanism. The effectiveness of the motion design of the hybrid robot is iHustrated by simulation results.

MECHANICAL VIBRATIONAL POWER FLOW IN BEAM-PLATE ASSEMBLIES

The vibrational power flow in the beam-plate assemblies and then with the isolators is investigated using analytical ' power flow' approach based on the some concepts of mechanical mo- bility and structural dynamics. Theoretical expressions of the power flow in the structures are given and examined. The numerical results of the expressions are good agreements with the measuring re- sults obtained by the technique of vibration intensity. On the basis of these results, possible ways of reducing the vibrational power flow in the structures are suggested .

Analysis of the constraint relation between ground and self-adaptive mobile mechanism of a transformable wheel-track robot

To maneuver in unstructured terrains where the ground might be soft, hard, flat or rough, a transformable wheel-track robot (NEZA-I) with a self-adaptive mobile mechanism is proposed and developed. The robot consists of a control system unit, two symmetric transformable wheel-track (TWT) units, and a rear-wheel unit. The TWT unit is the main mobile mechanism for the NEZA-I robot, with the rear-wheel unit acting as an assistant mechanism. Driven only by one servomotor, each TWT unit can efficiently select between track mode and wheel mode for optimal locomotion, autonomously switching locomotion mode and track configuration with changes in the terrain. In this paper, the mechanism structure, the self-adaptive drive system, the locomotion mode and posture of the NEZA-I robot are presented, the kinematic relation of the inside parts of the TWT unit is analysed, and the mathematic model of the constraint relation between the mobile mechanism and the ground, abbreviated to "MGCR model" is set up for the NEZA-I robot to go through some typical unstructured environments. The mechanism parameters, which influence the self-adaptability of the NEZA-I robot, are found and optimized. Basic experiments show that the mobile mechanism has the self-adaptability to navigate in unstructured terrains and has superior obstacle-negotiating performance, and that the MGCR model and the analysis method of mechanism parameters are reasonable. From a mechanism point of view, it can provide an idea for research on the adaptive control of the robot.

Novel probabilistic rolling regular tetrahedron mechanism

With recent relevant publications on stochastic motion robots in Nature, Science, and other journals, research on such robots has gained increasing attention. However, theoretical and applied research on stochastic motion in the field of robotics and mechanisms face many challenges due to the uncertainty of stochastic motion. Currently, a large gap remains in the research of stochastic motion mechanism. In this study, a novel mechanism that can conduct probabilistic rolling is proposed to reach a designated position and achieve overlying movement over a particular area. The mechanism consists of a regular tetrahedron frame, a central node, and four connecting linear actuators. According to mobility and kinematic analyses, the mechanism can implement probabilistic rolling. Each rolling gait has three probable rolling directions, and the mechanism rolls in one of the three directions in probability. A kinematic simulation is conducted, and a control method is proposed on the basis of the moving path analysis. Furthermore, the mathematical principle of probabilistic rolling is revealed in terms of probability theory and statistics. Lastly, a prototype is fabricated. To achieve the rolling function, the design of the linear actuators is improved, and the extension ratio is increased from 0.58 to 1.13. Then, tests are conducted. In a 4 m2 test site, the mechanism makes 11 moves to reach the target position and covers 29.25% of the site.

A physical model of hole mobility for germanium-on-insulator pMOSFETs

A physical model of hole mobility for germanium-on-insulator p MOSFETs is built by analyzing all kinds of scattering mechanisms, and a good agreement of the simulated results with the experimental data is achieved, confirming the validity of this model. The scattering mechanisms involved in this model include acoustic phonon scattering, ionized impurity scattering, surface roughness scattering, coulomb scattering and the scattering caused by Ge film thickness fluctuation. The simulated results show that the coulomb scattering from the interface charges is responsible for the hole mobility degradation in the low-field regime and the surface roughness scattering limits the hole mobility in the high-field regime. In addition, the effects of some factors, e.g. temperature, doping concentration of the channel and the thickness of Ge film, on degradation of the mobility are also discussed using the model, thus obtaining a reasonable range of the relevant parameters.

A 150%enhancement of PMOSFET mobility using hybrid orientation

A high-performance PMOSFET based on silicon material of hybrid orientation is obtained.Hybrid orientation wafers,integrated by（100） and（110） crystal orientation,are fabricated using silicon-silicon bonding, chemical mechanical polishing,etching silicon and non-selective expitaxy.A PMOSFET with W/L = 50μm/8μm is also processed,and the measured results show that the drain-source current and peak mobility of the PMOSFET are enhanced by up to 50.7%and 150%at V_（gs） =-15 V and V_（ds） =-0.5 V,respectively.The mobility values are higher than that reported in the literature.