A Protocol for Digitalized Collection of Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM)Pulse Information Using Bionic Pulse Diagnosis Equipment

Pulse diagnosis equipment used in Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM)has long been developed for collecting pulse information and in TCM research.However,it is still difficult to implement pulse taking automatically or efficiently in clinical practice.Here,we present a digital protocol for TCM pulse information collection based on bionic pulse diagnosis equipment,which ensures high efficiency,reliability and data integrity of pulse diagnosis information.A four-degree-of-freedom pulse taking platform together with a wrist bracket can satisfy the spatial positioning and angle requirements for individually adaptive pulse acquisition.Three-dimensional reconstruction of a wrist surface and an image localization model are combined to provide coordinates of the acquisition position and detection direction automatically.Three series elastic joints can not only simulate the TCM pulse taking method that“Three fingers in a straight line,the middle finger determining the‘Guan’location and finger pulp pressing on the radial artery,”but also simultaneously carry out the force-controlled multi-gradient pressing process.In terms of pulse information integrity,this proposed protocol can generate rich pulse information,including basic individual information,pulse localization distribution,multi-gradient dynamic pulse force time series,and objective pulse parameters,which can help establish the fundamental data sets that are required as the pulse phenotype for subsequent comprehensive analysis of pulse diagnosis.The implementation of this scheme is beneficial to promote the standardization of the digitalized collection of pulse information,the effectiveness of detecting abnormal health status,and the promotion of the fundamental and clinical research of TCM,such as TCM pulse phenomics.

蚯蚓直线运动的三轴地面反作用力:测量、分析和对机器人建模的影响

蚯蚓在狭窄受限环境中具有良好的移动性,但其在运动过程中与地面的三轴反作用力还未被深入研究.本文探讨了蚯蚓在直线运动过程中的三轴地反力特征及其对机器人建模的影响.具体地,本研究设计了一个基于应变片的三轴微型测力板来测量蚯蚓(P.guillelmi)在直线运动时的三轴地反力.通过建立地反力的时间历程与运动视频的对应关系,将蚯蚓的周期性运动划分为三个阶段,并从蚯蚓身体变形的角度解析了地反力在三个阶段的力学特征.本研究还对蚯蚓的地反力特征进行了统计分析,并建立了蚯蚓直线运动过程的阻力系数模型.以此为基础,本文还提出了与机器人节段/单元变形相关的阻力系数模型,为离散型和连续型仿蚯蚓机器人的动力学建模提供基础.本研究首次对蚯蚓运动过程中的mN级三轴地反力进行了测量、分析和建模,研究结果对蚯蚓运动生物力学、仿蚯蚓移动机器人设计和机器人-环境接触界面调控等具有重要的指导意义.

Continuity Scaling: A Rigorous Framework for Detecting and Quantifying Causality Accurately

Data-based detection and quantification of causation in complex,nonlinear dynamical systems is of paramount importance to science,engineering,and beyond.Inspired by the widely used methodology in recent years,the cross-map-based techniques,we develop a general framework to advance towards a comprehensive understanding of dynamical causal mechanisms,which is consistent with the natural interpretation of causality.In particular,instead of measuring the smoothness of the cross-map as conventionally implemented,we define causation through measuring the scaling law for the continuity of the investigated dynamical system directly.The uncovered scaling law enables accurate,reliable,and eficient detection of causation and assessment of its strength in general complex dynamical systems,outperforming those existing representative methods.The continuity scaling-based framework is rigorously established and demonstrated using datasets from model complex systems and the real world.

Environmental contact modeling for the earthworm-like robot via the novel elementary mechanical network

The earthworm-like robot is designed for prospective applications such as disaster rescue and pipeline detection in natural environments.However,current studies on the interaction modeling between the earthworm-like robot and the environment only consider rigid contact.This simplification limits the reliability of dynamic analysis and locomotion optimization on soft surfaces,such as sand.Therefore,developing a method for refined contact modeling for the earthworm-like robot and describing the contact effect induced by the soft environmental medium is urgent.To this end,this paper proposes a new modeling architecture called the elementary mechanical network(EMN).EMN is constructed as fractal structures for the convenience of network reconfiguration.First,elementary mechanical elements,such as the damper,spring,and slider,are parallelly connected to constitute a basic module.Second,the modules are serially linked to create a group.Finally,the groups are parallelly assembled to form the network.EMN is also proven to be equivalent to recurrent neural networks in specific forms.Therefore,EMN inherits the advantages of physical interpretability from mechanical elements and universal approximability from conventional networks.In addition,particle swarm optimization and Boolean operation are employed for network weight training and topological minimization.Numerical examples show that using EMNs with identical initial structures can accurately describe diverse empirical models in the minimum realization.EMN is applied for contact modeling for the earthworm-like locomotion robot in the dry sand based on such versatility.The experiment measures the normal and tangential ground reaction forces with different sinkage depths and locomotion speeds.Trained results reveal a common law that the contact effect in the dry sand is similar to Coulomb friction.The proposed EMN does not require prior system knowledge and promises a minimal physical representation,thus encouraging a successful exploration of constitutive modeling in broad scopes.

Snake-worm: A Bi-modal Locomotion Robot

Inspired by the morphology characteristics and the locomotion mechanisms of the earthworm,and the snakes’morphology characteristics and motivated by the demands for multi-modal locomotion robots in variable working environments,this paper presents a novel bi-modal robot named as Snake-Worm Locomotion Robot(SWL-Robot).Two fundamentally different locomotion mechanisms,the earthworm’s peristaltic rectilinear locomotion and the snake’s lateral undulation,are synthesized in the SWL-Robot design.In detail,the SWL-Robot consists of six earthworm-like body segments interconnected by rotational joints and a head segment equipped with a couple of independently driven wheels.By actuating the segments following a peristaltic wave-like gait,the robot as a whole could perform earthworm-like rectilinear crawling.The robot could also perform snake-like undulatory locomotion driven by differential motions of the wheels at the head segment.To understand the relationship between the design parameters and the robotic locomotion performance,kinematic models of the SWL-Robot corresponding to the two locomotion modes are developed.Rich locomotion behaviors of the SWL-Robot are achieved,including the peristaltic locomotion inside a tube,multiple planar motions on a flat surface,and a hybrid motion that switches between the tube and the flat surface.It shows that the measured trajectories of the SWL-Robot agree well with the theoretical predictions.The SWL-Robot is promising to be implemented in tasks where both tubular and flat environments may be encountered.