Driving Torque Reduction in Linkage Mechanisms Using Joint Compliance for Robot Head

The conventional linkage mechanisms with compliant joint have been widely studied and implemented for increasing the adaptability of the mechanism to external contacts. However, the analysis of how compliant joints in linkage mechanism can reduce the energy consumption isn＇t still studied deeply. In a mobile service robot head, the actions of blinking the eyes and moving the eyeballs are realized by the planar linkage mechanism respectively. Therefore, minimizing the driving torques through motion trajectories for the linkage mechanism, which will be beneficial to extend the working time for mobile service robots. The dynamic modeling of the linkage mechanism with springs-loaded compliant joint is established. An optimization procedure for obtaining the optimal parameters of springs is proposed for minimizing the max value of driving torques within a range of desired operating conditions. The Simulations prove that the linkage mechanism with compliant joints can effectively reduce the driving torques, and reduce the energy consumption consequently. The framework can also be applied in other similar applications to reduce the driving torque and save energy. Compared with previous efforts, this is the first attempt that the linkage mechanism with complaint joint is applied in the robot head for reducing the driving torque.

Hydrodynamic Performance of Flapping-foil Propulsion in the Influence of Vortices

Fish are able to make good use of vortices.In a complex flow field,many fish continue to maintain both efficient cruising and maneuverability.Traditional man-made propulsion systems perform poorly in complex flow fields.With fish-like propulsion systems,it is important to pay more attention to complex flow fields.In this paper,the influence of vortices on the hydrodynamic performance of 2-D flapping-foils was investigated.The flapping-foil heaved and pitched under the influence of inflow vortices generated by an oscillating D-section cylinder.A numerical simulation was run based the finite volume method,using the computational fluid dynamics(CFD) software FLUENT with Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes(RANS) equations applied.In addition,dynamic mesh technology and post processing systems were also fully used.The calculations showed four modes of interaction.The hydrodynamic performance of flapping-foils was analyzed and the results compared with experimental data.This validated the numerical simulation,confirming that flapping-foils can increase efficiency by absorbing energy from inflow vortices.

Potential for energy conservation:A portable desktop paper reusing system for office waste paper

Renewable paper reusing plays a significant role in the sustainable environment under the background of the shortage in forest resources and the pollution from the paper industry.The conventional reusing stream of waste office paper appears to have low reusing rates while consuming massive amounts of energy in intermediate steps.In this study,we developed a novel portable renewable desktop paper reusing system based on font area detection and greyscale sensor.The proposed system consists of two main parts,namely,a greyscale sensor and font area detection model and a polishing mechanism.Acting as an ink mark detector for waste desktop paper,the greyscale sensor and font area detection model can detect the font in the waste desktop paper using an adaptive dynamic compensation schematic.The polishing mechanism will grind the font area of the wasted desktop paper,and this paper reusing processing is non-chemical,energy saving and environmentally friendly.The proposed system is demonstrated through simulations and experimental results,which show that the proposed renewable desktop paper reusing system is portable and is effective for reusing waste office paper in the office.An accuracy of 99.78%is demonstrated in the greyscale sensor and font area detection model,and the average reuse rate of one piece of paper is 2.52 times,verifying that the proposed portable system is effective and practical in renewable desktop paper reusing applications.