An Automatic Implementation of Oropharyngeal Swab Sampling for Diagnosing Respiratory Infectious Diseases via Soft Robotic End-Effectors

The most widely adopted method for diagnosing respiratory infectious diseases is to conduct polymerase chain reaction(PCR)assays on patients’respiratory specimens,which are collected through either nasal or oropharyngeal swabs.The manual swab sampling process poses a high risk to the examiner and may cause false-negative results owing to improper sampling.In this paper,we propose a pneumatically actuated soft end-effector specifically designed to achieve all of the tasks involved in swab sampling.The soft end-effector utilizes circumferential instability to ensure grasping stability,and exhibits several key properties,including high load-to-weight ratio,error tolerance,and variable swab-tip stiffness,leading to successful automatic robotic oropharyngeal swab sampling,from loosening and tightening the transport medium tube cap,holding the swab,and conducting sampling,to snapping off the swab tail and sterilizing itself.Using an industrial collaborative robotic arm,we integrated the soft end-effector,force sensor,camera,lights,and remote-control stick,and developed a robotic oropharyngeal swab sampling system.Using this swab sampling system,we conducted oropharyngeal swab-sampling tests on 20 volunteers.Our Digital PCR assay results(RNase P RNA gene absolute copy numbers for the samples)revealed that our system successfully collected sufficient numbers of cells from the pharyngeal wall for respiratory disease diagnosis.In summary,we have developed a pharyngeal swab-sampling system based on an“enveloping”soft actuator,studied the sampling process,and imple-mented whole-process robotic oropharyngeal swab-sampling.

A novel algorithm of normal attitude regulation for the designed end-effector of a flexible drilling robot

An end-effector for a flexible drilling robot is designed, and a novel four-point algorithm of normal attitude regulation for this end-effector is presented. Four non-coplanar points can define a unique sphere tangent to them in spatial geometry, and the center point of the sphere and the radius can be calculated. The shape of a workpiece surface in the machining area is approximately regarded as such a sphere. A vector from the machining point to the center point is thus approximately regarded as a normal vector to the workpiece surface. By this principle, the algorithm first measures four coordinates on the curve in the drilling region using four sensors and calculates the normal vector at the drilling point, then calculates the error between the normal vector and the axis of the spindle. According to this error, the algorithm further figures out the angles of two revolving axes on the end- effector and the displacements of three linear axes on the robot main body, thus it implements the function of adjusting the spindle to be perpendicular to the curve at the drilling point. Simulation results of two kinds of curved surfaces show that accuracy and efficiency can be realized using the proposed algorithm.

Design Schemes and Comparison Research of the End-effector of Large Space Manipulator

The end-effector of the large space manipulator is employed to assist the manipulator in handling and manipulating large payloads on orbit.Currently,there are few researches about the end-effector,and the existing end-effectors have some disadvantages,such as poor misalignment tolerance capability and complex mechanical components.According to the end positioning errors and the residual vibration characters of the large space manipulators,two basic performance requirements of the end-effector which include the capabilities of misalignment tolerance and soft capture are proposed.And the end-effector should accommodate the following misalignments of the mechanical interface.The translation misalignments in axial and radial directions and the angular misalignments in roll,pitch and yaw are ±100 mm,100 mm,±10°,±15°,±15°,respectively.Seven end-effector schemes are presented and the capabilities of misalignment tolerance and soft capture are analyzed elementarily.The three fingers-three petals end-effector and the steel cable-snared end-effector are the most feasible schemes among the seven schemes,and they are designed in detail.The capabilities of misalignment tolerance and soft capture are validated and evaluated,through the experiment on the micro-gravity simulating device and the dynamic analysis in ADAMS software.The results show that the misalignment tolerance capabilities of these two schemes could satisfy the requirement.And the translation misalignment tolerances in axial and radial directions and the angular misalignment tolerances in roll,pitch and yaw of the steel cable-snared end-effector are 30mm,15mm,6°,3° and 3° larger than those of the three fingers-three petals end-effector,respectively.And the contact force of the steel cable-snared end-effector is smaller and smoother than that of the three fingers-three petals end-effector.The end-effector schemes and research methods are beneficial to the developments of the large space manipulator end-effctor and the space docking mechanism.

Development of space end-effector with capabilities of misalignment tolerance and soft capture based on tendon-sheath transmission system

The essential requirements of the end-effector of large space manipulator are capabilities of misalignment tolerance and soft capture.According to these requirements,an end-effector prototype combining the tendon-sheath transmission system with steel cable snaring mechanism was manufactured.An analysis method based on the coordinate transformation and the projection of key points of the mechanical interface was proposed,and it was a guideline of the end-effector design.Furthermore,the tendon-sheath transmission system was employed in the capture subassembly to reduce the inertia of the capture mechanism and enlarge the capture space.The capabilities of misalignment tolerance and soft capture were validated through the dynamic simulation in ADAMS software.The results of the capture simulation and experiment show that the end-effector has outstanding capabilities of misalignment tolerance and soft capture.The translation misalignments in radial directions are±100 mm,and angular misalignments about pitch and yaw are±15°.

Development of Chinese large-scale space end-effector

In order to achieve large tolerance capture and high stiffness connection for space payload operations,a Chinese large-scale space end-effector (EER) was developed.Three flexible steel cables were adopted to capture the payload with large capture allowance.Ball screw transmission mechanism and plane shape-constraint four bar linkage mechanism were utilized to connect the payload with high stiffness.The experiments show that capture tolerances in X,Y,Z,Pitch,Yaw,Roll directions are 100 mm,100 mm,120 mm,10.5°,10.5°,12°,respectively.The maximum connection stiffness is 4 800 N·m.The end-effector could meet the requirements for space large tolerance capture and high stiffness connection in the future.

Last decade update for three-finger toxins: Newly emerging structures and biological activities

Three-finger toxins(TFTs) comprise one of largest families of snake venom toxins. While they are principal to and the most toxic components of the venoms of the Elapidae snake family, their presence has also been detected in the venoms of snakes from other families. The first TFT, α-bungarotoxin, was discovered almost 50 years ago and has since been used widely as a specific marker of the α7 and muscle-type nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. To date, the number of TFT amino acid sequences deposited in the UniProt Knowledgebase free-access database is more than 700, and new members are being added constantly.Although structural variations among the TFTs are not numerous, several new structures have been discovered recently; these include the disulfide-bound dimers of TFTs and toxins with nonstandard pairing of disulfide bonds. New types of biological activities have also been demonstrated for the well-known TFTs, and research on this topic has become a hot topic of TFT studies. The classic TFTs α-bungarotoxin and α-cobratoxin, for example, have now been shown to inhibit ionotropic receptors of γ-aminobutyric acid, and some muscarinic toxins have been shown to interact with adrenoceptors. New, unexpected activities have been demonstrated for some TFTs as well, such as toxin interaction with interleukin or insulin receptors and even TFT-activated motility of sperm. This minireview provides a summarization of the data that has emerged in the last decade on the TFTs and their activities.

A Study on the End-Effector Exchange Mechanism of a Space Robot

This study investigates the necessity for space robots to independently exchange their end-effectors due to the contradiction that exists between the requirements of various robots in space missions and the payload capacity limits of rockets. The results of this study summarize the system requirements for a new end-effector exchange mechanism, including compact size, misalignment tolerance, and regolith tolerance. This is followed by the development of a prototype model with a set of test apparatus. Then the function of the prototype is verified, the prototype is optimized, and the relation between docking force and misalignment is examined through operation tests.

Contact detumbling toward a nutating target through deformable effectors and prescribed performance controller

Detumbling operation toward a rotating target with nutation is meaningful for debris removal but challenging. In this study, a deformable end-effector is first designed based on the requirements for contacting the nutating target. A dual-arm robotic system installed with the deformable end-effectors is modeled and the movement of the end-tips is analyzed. The complex operation of the contact toward a nutating target places strict requirements on control accuracy and controller robustness. Thus, an improvement of the tracking error transformation is proposed and an adaptive sliding mode controller with prescribed performance is designed to guarantee the fast and precise motion of the effector during the contact detumbling.Finally, by employing the proposed effector and the controller,numerical simulations are carried out to verify the effectiveness and efficiency of the contact detumbling toward a nutating target.

Receptor variability-driven evolution of snake toxins

Three-finger toxins （TFTs） are well-recognized non- enzymatic venom proteins found in snakes. However, although TFTs exhibit accelerated evolution, the drivers of this evolution remain poorly understood. The structural complexes between long-chain α-neurotoxins, a subfamily of TFTs, and their nicotinic acetylcholine receptor targets have been determined in previous research, providing an opportunity to address such questions. In the current study, we observed several previously identified positively selected sites （PSSs） and the highly variable C-terminal loop of these toxins at the toxin/receptor interface. Of interest, analysis of the molecular adaptation of the toxin-recognition regions in the corresponding receptors provided no statistical evidence for positive selection. However, these regions accumulated abundant amino acid variations in the receptors from the prey of snakes, suggesting that accelerated substitution of TFTs could be a consequence of adaptation to these variations. To the best of our knowledge, this atypical evolution, initially discovered in scorpions, is reported in snake toxins for the first time and may be applicable for the evolution of toxins from other venomous animals.

Mechanical Design and Drive Control of a Novel Dexterous Hand for On-Orbit Servicing

In order to meet the requirements of on-orbit servicing outside the cabin, a flexible, dexterous hand with easy grasping ability and strong loading capacity is designed. The dexterous hand is comprised of three fingers. Each finger is driven by a set of four linkages. Furthermore, two fingers have a set of axial rotational degrees of freedom. In order to achieve the position control and keep griping stability, the dexterous hand adopts a mechanism of hybrid force/position control. In the end, experimental results demonstrates that the on-orbit servicing dexterous hand has great adaptability and operational capability.

Design and experimental study of the end-effector for broccoli harvesting

The end-effector is an important part of the broccoli harvesting robot.Aiming at the physical characteristics of a large broccoli head and thick stem,a spherical cutting tool broccoli harvesting end-effector was designed in this study.First,the physical characteristics of broccoli were tested,and physical parameters such as the broccoli head diameter and stem diameter of broccoli were measured.The maximum cutting force of broccoli stems under different cutting angles was tested.Second,according to the physical characteristics and harvesting process of broccoli,the end-effector was designed,and the mathematical model of kinematics and dynamics was established.Based on the results of dynamic analysis,the end-effector rod was optimized,and the unilateral width of the slider was 40 mm,the length of the connecting rod was 120 mm,and the length of the crank was 42 mm.The mechanism needed an external driving force of 140.54 N to cut the broccoli stem.Therefore,a 32 mm cylinder with a load rate of 50%was selected as the power source.Finally,the feasibility of the broccoli harvesting end-effector was verified by the harvesting test.Experiments showed that the overall harvesting success rate of the end-effector is 93.3%,and the smoothness rate of the stem section is 83.3%.The harvesting performance of the broccoli end-effector was verified.This lays a foundation for agricultural robots to harvest broccoli.

Design and feasibility analysis of a graded harvesting end-effector with the function of soluble solid content estimation

In response to the prevailing scarcity of labor and with the aim of augmenting the proportion of premium-quality fruits, a robotic grading end-effector system for harvesting was meticulously designed. The end-effector could measure the soluble solid content (SSC) of peaches during the harvesting process to evaluate the quality of the fruit, thereby facilitating real-time grading during harvesting. As comprising a harvesting component and an information-gathering segment, the end-effector system was optimized with the primary structural parameters of its adaptive fingers using a mathematical model of peach morphology. Also, the buffering materials for mitigating the pressure exerted by the adaptive fingers on the peaches were compared. Furthermore, feasibility analyses of the grasping actions were conducted based on the interaction forces between the adaptive fingers and the peaches. To grade the quality of peaches, SSC was used as an indicator to assess and grade the quality of the peaches. The spectra of peaches within the wavelength range of 590-1100 nm were collected, and a predictive model for SSC was developed. The correlation coefficients for the calibration set and prediction sets of the predictive model were 0.880 and 0.890, with corresponding root mean square errors of 0.370% and 0.357% Brix, respectively. In addition, a robustness and accuracy assessment was conducted using 30 peach samples, yielding a correlation coefficient of 0.936 and a standard error of 0.386% Brix between the predicted and measured values of SSC. The results confirm that the end-effector can measure the SSC of peaches during the collection process, providing novel concepts and theoretical foundations for real-time harvesting and grading.

Detection and removal of excess materials in aircraft wings using continuum robot end-effectors

Excess materials are left inside aircraft wings due to manual operation errors,and the removal of excess materials is very crucial.To increase removal efficiency,a continuum robot(CR)with a removal end-effector and a stereo camera is used to remove excess objects.The size and weight characteristics of excess materials in aircraft wings are analyzed.A novel negative pressure end-effector and a two-finger gripper are designed based on the CR.The negative pressure end-effector aims to remove nuts,small rivets,and small volumes of aluminum shavings.A two-finger gripper is designed to remove large volumes of aluminum shavings.A stereo camera is used to achieve automatic detection and localization of excess materials.Due to poor lighting conditions in the aircraft wing compartment,supplementary lighting devices are used to improve environmental lighting.Then,You Only Look Once(YOLO)v5 is used to classify and detect excess objects,and two training data sets of excess objects in two wings are constructed.Due to the limited texture features inside the aircraft wings,this paper adopts an image-matching method based on the results of YOLO v5 detection.This matching method avoids the performance instability problem based on Oriented Fast and Rotated BRIEF feature point matching.Experimental verification reveals that the detection accuracy of each type of excess exceeds 90%,and the visual localization error is less than 2 mm for four types of excess objects.Results show the two end-effectors can work well for the task of removing excess material from the aircraft wings using a CR.

A review of the end-effector of large space manipulator with capabilities of misalignment tolerance and soft capture

The space manipulator which has advantages of high dexterity and universality, is used to the space capturing usually. According to the different types of mechanical interfaces of targets, the on orbit capturing operation includes capturing of cooperative target and capturing of uncooperative target. The performances of the famous large space manipulators named space shuttle remote manipulator system(SRMS), the space station remote manipulator system(SSRMS) and the Europe robotic arm(ERA) are reviewed and studied respectively. Moreover, the space manipulators being developed by China for space station is also surveyed. Based on the performance analysis of the large space manipulators and end-effectors, which are adapted to the construction and daily maintenance for the large space structure such as the space station, the basic requirements of large misalignment tolerance capability, soft capturing capability and hard docking capability for the end-effector of large space manipulator are proposed in this paper. According to these requirements, the capture mechanism and methods that can enable the end-effector to have the capability of misalignment tolerance and soft capturing are presented. The development trend and key technologies of the large space manipulators and the end-effectors are also reviewed.

Design and simulation of an integrated end-effector for picking kiwifruit by robot

The harvesting of fresh kiwifruit is a labor-intensive operation that accounts for more than 25%of annual production costs.Mechanized harvesting technologies are thus being developed to reduce labor requirements for harvesting kiwifruit.To improve the efficiency of a harvesting robot for picking kiwifruit,we designed an end-effector,which we report herein along with the results of tests to verify its operation.By using the established method of automated picking discussed in the literature and which is based on the characteristics of kiwifruit,we propose an automated method to pick kiwifruit that consists of separating the fruit from its stem on the tree.This method is experimentally verified by using it to pick clustered kiwifruit in a scaffolding canopy cultivation.In the experiment,the end-effector approaches a fruit from below and then envelops and grabs it with two bionic fingers.The fingers are then bent to separate the fruit from its stem.The grabbing,picking,and unloading processes are integrated,with automated picking and unloading performed using a connecting rod linkage following a trajectory model.The trajectory was analyzed and validated by using a simulation implemented in the software Automatic Dynamic Analysis of Mechanical Systems(ADAMS).In addition,a prototype of an end-effector was constructed,and its bionic fingers were equipped with fiber sensors to detect the best position for grabbing the kiwifruit and pressure sensors to ensure that the damage threshold was respected while picking.Tolerances for size and shape were incorporated by following a trajectory groove from grabbing and picking to unloading.The end-effector separates clustered kiwifruit and automatically grabs individual fruits.It takes on average 4–5 s to pick a single fruit,with a successful picking rate of 94.2%in an orchard test featuring 240 samples.This study shows the grabbing–picking–unloading robotic end-effector has significant potential to facilitate the harvesting of kiwifruit.

Fingerprint inspired advanced end-effector and its applications

The human fingertip consists of a fingerprint with many micro-grating structures.The main roles of the fingerprint could be divided into two purposes,namely,the enhancement of the frictional force and the effective transmittance of the biosignal.In this study,we present the fingerprint-inspired end-effector that has not only admirable frictional force but also electric conductivity.The end-effector is composed of fluorocarbon rubber,one of the famous materials to achieve high frictional force and robustness.Through various experiments,the novel performance of micro structured fluorocarbon rubber end-effector(MSFE)is characterized by comparing with a macroscale patterned sample(MPS),which has been already used in real industrial fields.Experimental results are analyzed theoretically.Furthermore,as feasible applications,we suggest two applications based on the role of the fingerprint.One is the conductive astronaut glove with high frictional force,and the other one is a non-slip pad for the next-generation glass transfer systems.Through these experiments,we successfully observe the enhanced system performance and confirm the possibility of using the MSFE as feasible applications.We believe that the MSFE could be a useful and powerful alternative as an end-effector,not only in the aerospace industry but also in display manufacturing processes.

Design of a flexible end-effector based on characteristics of tomatoes

The end-effector is the last executing part of the interaction between robots and fruits.In this study,the physical characteristics of tomatoes and the tomato end-effector of the fluidic elastomer actuator type were studied.There was no correlation between the test point,the mass,the size and the rupture force of tomatoes.The non-destructive clamping force of tomatoes was 11.13 N.There were statistically significant correlations between the number of finger chambers,the transverse diameter of tomatoes,the inflation pressure and the clamping force.The inflation pressure and the size of tomatoes were directly proportional to the clamping force.Since fingers with more chambers had higher flexibility,the number of chambers was inversely proportional to the slope of the horizontal force-pressure curve,and the number of chambers was directly proportional to the angle between the total clamping force and the horizontal direction.A flexible end-effector was designed by genetic algorithm according to the physical characteristics of tomatoes and the simulation results of the finger of the end-effector.The test results of the end-effector showed that the tomatoes would be successfully clamped by the end-effector composed of three four-chamber fingers in a static situation with the inflation pressure less than the optimized inflation pressure(28.293 kPa).When in a dynamic situation,the success rate of tomatoes being clamped by the end-effector with an inflation pressure of 29 kPa was 97%.The tomatoes in the static clamping test and the dynamic clamping test were not damaged.

A new strawberry harvesting robot for elevated-trough culture

In order to improve robotic harvesting and reduce production cost,a harvesting robot system for strawberry on the elevated-trough culture was designed.It was supposed to serve for sightseeing agriculture and technological education.Based on the sonar-camera sensor,an autonomous navigation system of the harvesting robot was built to move along the trough lines independently.The mature fruits were recognized according to the H(Hue)and S(Saturation)color feature and the picking-point were located by the binocular-vision unit.A nondestructive end-effector,used to suck the fruit,hold and cut the fruit-stem,was designed to prevent pericarp damage and disease infection.A joint-type industrial manipulator with six degrees-of-freedom(DOF)was utilized to carry the end-effector.The key points and time steps for the collision-free and rapid motion of manipulator were planned.Experimental results showed that all the 100 mature strawberry targets were recognized automatically in the harvesting test.The success harvesting rate was 86%,and the success harvesting operation cost 31.3 seconds on average,including a single harvest operation of 10 seconds.The average error for fruit location was less than 4.6 mm.

A 3D-printed Robot Hand with Three Linkage-driven Underactuated Fingers

In this study, we improved an underactuated finger mechanism by using Solidworks to simulate the grasp operation of a finger in some different situations. In addition, a robot palm is designed for the three-finger robot hand with the designed underactuated fingers. A Solidworks simulation was used to verify the rationality of the design. Some parts of the hand were modified to fit for 3D printing, and a prototype of the hand was produced by 3D printing, which could reduce the cost of the production process, as well as provide design flexibility and other advantages. Finally, some grasping experiments were made with the prototype. The results showed that the robot could grasp objects with different sizes, and further verified the rationality of the design and feasibility of fabricating the robot hand using 3D printing.

Review of rigid fruit and vegetable picking robots

The important indicators to measure the goodness of rigid fruit and vegetable picking robot have two aspects,the first is the reasonable structural design of the end-effector,and the second is having a high precision positioning recognition method.Many researchers have done a lot of work in these two aspects,and a variety of end-effector structures and advanced position recognition methods are constantly appearing in people’s view.The working principle,structural characteristics,advantages and disadvantages of each end-effector are summarized to help us design better fruit and vegetable picking robot.The authors start from the rigid fruit and vegetable picking robot grasping methods,separation methods,and position recognition methods,firstly introduce three different grasping methods and the characteristics of the two separation methods,then introduce the under-driven picking robot developed on the basis of the traditional rigid picking robot,then explain the single special,multi-feature,and deep learning location position recognition methods currently used,and finally make a summary and outlook on the rigid fruit and vegetable picking robot from the structural development and position recognition methods.