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Energies
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Robotics, Micronanosensor and Smart Devices for Control
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Robotics, Micronanosensor and Smart Devices for Control

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2019) | Viewed by 22366

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Luigi Fortuna

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Elettrica Elettronica e Informatica, Universitá degli Studi di Catania, Viale A. Doria 6, 95125 Catania, Italy
Interests: robust control; nonlinear science and complexity; chaos; cellular neural networks; softcomputing strategies for control; robotics; micronanosensor and smart devices for control; nanocellular neural networks modeling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Arturo Buscarino

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Elettrica Elettronica e Informatica, Universitá degli Studi di Catania, viale A. Doria 6, 95125 Catania, Italy
Interests: nonlinear circuits for energy; distributed networks dynamics; control of large scale systems; Tokamak and nuclear fusion control
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the last 25 years, we have experienced fast grow in terms of interest regarding robotics and automation. Studies and applications have covered a wide range of topics and applications, including industry, automotive industry, biomedicine, and domotics.

Indeed, the area of robotics does include numerous fields and involves the definition of innovative solutions, especially in the area of mobile micro and nano sensors, necessary to have distributed information, and in the area ofsmart devices to achieve control strategies improving the reliability of the systems. Furthermore, the energy saving problem in robotics is becoming of fundamental importance, in particular for autonomous robots.

This Special Issue will be open to scientists perceiving the importance of integrating new concepts in the optimization of the performance of robotic systems, also from anenergy point of view. This Special Issue covers original research and studies related to the above-mentioned topics, including, but not limited to: Innovative robots; micro and nanorobots control; energy harvesting in robotics and automatic control systems; methods of energy saving in robots; alternative supply in robots; green energy based robots; bio-inspired robots with emphasis on small devices; flying and aerial robots; new materials for biomedical robots; and energy saving innovative controls for sustainable robots.

Prof. Dr. Luigi Fortuna
Dr. Arturo Buscarino
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Micro and nanorobots
  • Energy harvesting in robotics
  • Energy saving in robots
  • Green energy based robots
  • Bio-inspired robots
  • Flying and aerial robots
  • New materials for biomedical robots
  • Sustainable robots

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 1066 KiB  
Article
A Real Time Feed Forward Control of Slug Flow in Microchannels †
by Salvina Gagliano, Fabiana Cairone, Angelo Amenta and Maide Bucolo
Energies 2019, 12(13), 2556; https://doi.org/10.3390/en12132556 - 03 Jul 2019
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 2494
Abstract
In this work, the authors present a feed-forward control system for two-phase microfluidic processes, widely adaptable for system-on-chip control in a wide variety of bio-chemical experimental conditions, in which two fluids interact in a micro-channel. The proposed approach takes advantage of the optical [...] Read more.
In this work, the authors present a feed-forward control system for two-phase microfluidic processes, widely adaptable for system-on-chip control in a wide variety of bio-chemical experimental conditions, in which two fluids interact in a micro-channel. The proposed approach takes advantage of the optical monitoring of the slugs flow and the on-line signal processing in the frequency domain for slug passage detection. The experimental characterization of the slug flows by the frequencies of the slugs passage was obtained and used to drive the pumps. The open loop control system was designed and implemented in Labview. The platform includes four modules and a GUI. The first manages the communication between the PC and the syringe pumps, while the second is used to implement the control law. The third manages signal acquisition from the photo-diodes and the last implements the soft-sensor for the signal analysis. Wide-reaching experimental design was carried out for characterization and validation of this approach. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Robotics, Micronanosensor and Smart Devices for Control)
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23 pages, 5401 KiB  
Article
A Robust Feedback Path Tracking Control Algorithm for an Indoor Carrier Robot Considering Energy Optimization
by Yina Wang, Wenqiu Xiong, Junyou Yang, Yinlai Jiang and Shuoyu Wang
Energies 2019, 12(10), 2010; https://doi.org/10.3390/en12102010 - 26 May 2019
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3510
Abstract
This work develops an indoor carrier robot for people with disabilities, where the precise tracking of designated route is crucial. The parameter uncertainties and disturbances of the robot impose significant challenges for tracking. The present paper first investigates the dynamic of mechanical structure [...] Read more.
This work develops an indoor carrier robot for people with disabilities, where the precise tracking of designated route is crucial. The parameter uncertainties and disturbances of the robot impose significant challenges for tracking. The present paper first investigates the dynamic of mechanical structure and modeling of actuator motors and constructs a new dynamic model by considering all main parameter uncertainties and disturbances. A novel robust feedback tracking controller considering both the optimization of path tracking and the minimization of the power consumption energy is proposed. It is proved that the tracking errors e and e ˙ satisfy a H∞ performance indicator while the energy consumption is minimum. A simulation example was performed and the results show that this novel algorithm can effectively reduce the tracking error from 0.2 m to 0.006 m while guaranteeing the minimum energy consumption. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the proposed method was validated by experiment compared with the non-robust one. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Robotics, Micronanosensor and Smart Devices for Control)
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17 pages, 3327 KiB  
Article
Bio-Inspired Robotic Solutions for Landslide Monitoring
by Luca Patané
Energies 2019, 12(7), 1256; https://doi.org/10.3390/en12071256 - 01 Apr 2019
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3402
Abstract
Bio-inspired solutions are often taken into account to solve problems that nature took millions of years to deal with. In the field of robotics, when we need to design systems able to perform in unstructured environments, bio-inspiration can be a useful instrument both [...] Read more.
Bio-inspired solutions are often taken into account to solve problems that nature took millions of years to deal with. In the field of robotics, when we need to design systems able to perform in unstructured environments, bio-inspiration can be a useful instrument both for mechanical design and for the control architecture. In the proposed work the problem of landslide monitoring is addressed proposing a bio-inspired robotic structure developed to deploy a series of smart sensors on target locations with the aim of creating a sensor network capable of acquiring information on the status of the area of interest. The acquired data can be used both to create models and to generate alert signals when a landslide event is identified in the early stage. The design process of the robotic system, including dynamic simulations and robot experiments, will be presented here. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Robotics, Micronanosensor and Smart Devices for Control)
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13 pages, 4473 KiB  
Article
Smart Decision Support Systems for Volcanic Applications
by Claudia Corradino, Gaetana Ganci, Giuseppe Bilotta, Annalisa Cappello, Ciro Del Negro and Luigi Fortuna
Energies 2019, 12(7), 1216; https://doi.org/10.3390/en12071216 - 28 Mar 2019
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3122
Abstract
The huge amount of information coming from remote sensors on satellites has allowed monitoring changes in the planetary environment from about 50 years. These instruments are widely adopted to observe extreme thermal events such as eruptive phenomena in volcanic areas. Although the availability [...] Read more.
The huge amount of information coming from remote sensors on satellites has allowed monitoring changes in the planetary environment from about 50 years. These instruments are widely adopted to observe extreme thermal events such as eruptive phenomena in volcanic areas. Although the availability of so many different infrared sensors makes these instruments suitable to observe different kind of thermal phenomena, choosing the right infrared sensor to monitor each thermal event is not straightforward. In fact, the decision should take into account both the main features of the phenomena under investigation, e.g., its size and temperatures, that are often not known a priori, and the instruments specifications, e.g., spatial resolution. Here, a smart decision support system (SDSS) is proposed to address this task. In particular, we used a SDSS to simulate remote sensors responses, collect data coming from three different classes of remote sensors, retrieve information about the main features of the observed thermal event and, consequently, select the most suitable infrared remote sensor for the specific observed phenomena. Results obtained for a real case of study at Etna volcano is shown. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Robotics, Micronanosensor and Smart Devices for Control)
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10 pages, 2765 KiB  
Article
Direct Printing of a Multi-Layer Sensor on Pet Substrate for CO2 Detection
by Bruno Andò, Salvatore Baglio, Giovanna Di Pasquale, Antonio Pollicino, Salvatore Graziani, Chiara Gugliuzzo, Cristian Lombardo and Vicenzo Marletta
Energies 2019, 12(3), 557; https://doi.org/10.3390/en12030557 - 12 Feb 2019
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3435
Abstract
The use of inexpensive gas sensors is a real need for many applications requiring the use of disposable sensors. This work deals with the realization and characterization of a low cost CO2 sensor realized by rapid prototyping techniques. In particular, the sensor [...] Read more.
The use of inexpensive gas sensors is a real need for many applications requiring the use of disposable sensors. This work deals with the realization and characterization of a low cost CO2 sensor realized by rapid prototyping techniques. In particular, the sensor consists of a set of InterDigiTed electrodes, over which a double sensing layer made of PEDOT/PSS (CLEVIOS™ PHCV4, by H.C.Starck) and a solution of pristine graphene powder has been deposited. A silver nano-particle solution is used for inkjet printing the electrodes onto the PET (PolyEthylene Terephthalate) substrate, through a commercial inkjet printer. The sensing strategy is based on the variation of the electrical conductance of graphene due to gas molecules adsorption. The device responsivity observed in two different operating conditions (50 °C and 60 °C), is 4.0 µΩ/Ω/ppm and 4.7 µΩ/Ω/ppm. The corresponding values of the resolution are 400 ppm and 420 ppm. Main advantages of the developed sensor consist in the cost-effective fabrication techniques and the device flexibility, which are strategic for applications requiring disposable and shapeable devices to be installed into irregular surfaces. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Robotics, Micronanosensor and Smart Devices for Control)
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21 pages, 5919 KiB  
Article
Analytical Measurements and Efficient Process Generation Using a Dual–Arm Robot Equipped with Electronic Pipettes
by Heidi Fleischer, Daniel Baumann, Shalaka Joshi, Xianghua Chu, Thomas Roddelkopf, Michael Klos and Kerstin Thurow
Energies 2018, 11(10), 2567; https://doi.org/10.3390/en11102567 - 26 Sep 2018
Cited by 28 | Viewed by 5788
Abstract
The continued growth in life sciences is being accompanied by the constantly rising demand for robotic systems. Today, bioscreening and high–throughput screening processes are well automated. In contrast, a deficit can be found in the area of analytical measurements with complex and frequently [...] Read more.
The continued growth in life sciences is being accompanied by the constantly rising demand for robotic systems. Today, bioscreening and high–throughput screening processes are well automated. In contrast, a deficit can be found in the area of analytical measurements with complex and frequently changing processes. Robots undertake not only transportation tasks, but also direct sample manipulation and subsequent analytical measurements. Due to their human-like structure, dual-arm robots perform such processes similar to human operation. Liquid handling is required to transfer chemicals, to prepare standard solutions, or to dilute samples. Two electronic pipettes with different volume ranges (5–200 µL and 50–1000 µL) were integrated into a dual–arm robotic system. The main focus in this publication is the software interface for alternating robot and pipette control as well as the high–level process control system. The performance using a dual–arm robot equipped with electronic pipettes and conventional manual pipettes was determined and compared. The automation system presented is the first integration of a dual-arm robot in analytical measurement processes. Conventional manual laboratory pipettes and electronic pipettes are simultaneously used for liquid-handling tasks. The software control system enables a flexible and user-friendly process generation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Robotics, Micronanosensor and Smart Devices for Control)
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