Actuators, Volume 10, Issue 5

This paper proposes a new method to control the pose of a camera mounted on a two-axis gimbal system for visual servoing applications. In these applications, the camera should be stable while its line-of-sight points at a target located within the ca...

A compact annular-radial-orifice flow magnetorheological (MR) valve with variable radial damping gaps was proposed, and its structure and working principle were also described. Firstly, a mathematical model of pressure drop was established as well to...

The soft robots actuated by pressure, cables, thermal, electrosorption, combustion and smart materials are usually faced with the problems of poor portability, noise, weak load capacity, small deformation and high driving voltages. In this paper, a n...

The cable-spring folding wing is a novel type of rigid-flexible coupling structure for missiles, which is composed of several sets of deployable mechanisms, with each composed of a wheel-rope transmission system and a parallel spring driving mechanis...

This paper proposes a pneumatic artificial muscle based on a novel winding method. By this method, the inflation of silicone tubes is transformed to the contraction of muscle, whereas the expansion keeps on one side of the muscle, i.e., the expansion...

Soft pneumatic actuators with a channel network (pneu-net) based on thermoplastic elastomers are compatible with fused deposition modeling (FDM). However, conventional filament-based fused deposition modeling (FDM) printers are not well suited for th...

With the breadth of applications and analysis performed over the last few decades, it would not be an exaggeration to call piezoelectric materials “the top of the crop” of smart materials. Piezoelectric materials have emerged as the most researched m...

In this research we conducted a sensitivity experimental study where we explored the dependency of the shear strain on the seismic properties of bearings, namely lead rubber bearing (LRB) and super high damping rubber bearing (SHDR). The factors stud...

This paper addresses a novel nonlinear algorithm for the trajectory tracking of a planar cable-driven parallel robot. In particular, we outline a nonlinear continuous-time generalized predictive control (NCGPC). The proposed controller design is base...

Force feedback gloves allow users to touch and manipulate virtual objects intuitively. Compared with gloves providing active feedback force, gloves with passive feedback force are promising in terms of safety and low weight, but simulating the variab...

Computerized machine knitting offers an attractive fabrication technology for incorporating wearable assistive devices into garments. In this work, we utilized, for the first time, whole-garment knitting techniques to manufacture a seamless fully kni...

Spiders rely on a hydraulic system to stretch their legs but use muscles to make their legs flex. The compound drive of hydraulics and muscle makes an integrate dexterous structure with powerful locomotion abilities, which perfectly meets the primary...

A low-frequency model of the magnetization reversal of a microwire is developed for those cases when the microwire magnetization response can go beyond the linear approximation. The analysis of the influence of external magnetic fields on the process...

With the rapid and wide implementation of adaptive cruise control system (ACC), the testing and evaluation method becomes an important question. Based on the human driver behavior characteristics extracted from naturalistic driving studies (NDS), thi...

The control valve is an important piece of equipment in the steam turbine, which frequently suffers from the fault of the dead zone. The graph model is a promising method for dead zone detection, yet establishing an accurate and completed graph topol...

Higher efficiency, predictability, and high-power density are the main advantages of a permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG)-based hydro turbine. However, the control of a PMSG is a nontrivial issue, because of its time-varying parameters and...

Road roughness is an important factor in road network maintenance and ride quality. This paper proposes a road-roughness estimation method using the frequency response function (FRF) of a vehicle. First, based on the motion equation of the vehicle an...

This paper presents a structural geometry for increasing piezoelectric deformation, which is suitable for both micro- and macro-scale applications. New and versatile microstructure geometries for actuators can improve device performance, and piezoele...

The need for reducing the cost of and space in Electrically Assisted Bicycles (EABs) has led the research to the development of solutions able to sense the applied pedalling torque and to provide a suitable electrical assistance avoiding the installa...

Gear reliability assessment of vehicle transmission has been a challenging issue of determining vehicle safety in the transmission industry due to a significant amount of classification errors with high-coupling gear parameters and insufficient high-...