Touch sensing is among the most important sensing capabilities of a human, and the same is true for smart robotics. Current research on tactile sensors is mainly concentrated on electronic skin (e-skin), but e-skin is prone to be easily dirtied, damaged, and disturbed after repeated usage, which greatly limits its practical applications in robotics. Here, by mimicking the way that animals explore the environment using hair-based sensors, a bendable biomimetic whisker mechanoreceptor (BWMR) is designed for robotic tactile sensing. Owing to the advantages of triboelectric nanogenerator technology, the BWMR can convert external mechanical stimuli into electrical signals without a power supply, which is conducive to its widespread applications in robots. Because of the leverage effect of the whisker, the BWMR can distinguish an exciting force of 1.129 μN by amplifying external weak signals, which can be further improved by increasing the whisker length. Real-time sensing is demonstrated using a BWMR, exhibiting its potential for robotic tactile systems.

Biomimetic Hairy Whiskers for Robotic Skin Tactility.

Review of snake robots in constrained environments

VFH*TDT (VFH* with Time Dependent Tree)

Purpose – The purpose of the following work was to work out the dependency to allow for the determination of the repeatability positioning error value of the robot at any given point in its workspace, without the necessity of conducting time-consuming measurements while routing a precise surface of repeatability positioning. Design/methodology/approach – The presented dependency permits for the possibility to determine, even at the planning phase, the optimal connection point in the workspace, ensuring the best parameters for the process of machine assembly, without needless overestimation of precision of the utilized equipment. To solve the task the sequential quadratic programming (SQP) method implemented in the MATLAB(R) environment was used. To verify the hypothesis of the compatibility of the empirical distribution with the hypothetical distribution of the robot’s positioning error, the Kolmogorov test was used. Findings – In this paper, it has been demonstrated theoretically and experimentally that ...

The repeatability positioning analysis of the industrial robot arm

Adaptation of Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems for Industrial Assembly – Review of Flexibility Paradigms, Concepts, and Outlook☆

The article deal about the development in the field of robotic research. The introduction suggests and summarizes actual development in robotics, which is heavily focused on the service and humanoid field in many applications. Next section of contribution is dealed to the development and is referred to its fundamental properties, which has current industrial robots.

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The View to the Current State of Robotics

The article describes the concept of a locomotive construction for a robot moving along an urbanized or unstructured natural terrain. The most suitable variant was the development of a hybrid leg-w...

Conceptual design of a leg-wheel chassis for rescue operations:

The paper is focused on the determination of the number of robots for multi robotic cells that can be part of the line, respectively as an individual, for example sub-assemblies welding of car bodies. This paper describes general process steps of the methodology of design of multi robotic systems with a more detailed description of the determination of number of robots in the workplace. Some methodological steps are illustrated by specific examples.

Proposal of Multi Robotic Cells for Production Lines

The paper clarifies the reasons leading to the creation of a new class of manufacturing system from a global perspective, focusing on the market environment. It describes the needs for reconfigurable manufacturing systems, which allows coping with market requirements and changes quickly and costing effectively. The article provides the approach to the design of the reconfigurable manufacturing systems from system, machine and control level point of view.

Manufacturing Systems Suitable for Globalized Market

The paper describes the state of the development, production and utilization of industrial and service robots. It shows the fields of highest deployment of robots. The year 2010 was a break-through and since that year the production of industrial robots has increased each year and the estimated number of produced robots in 2015 is 200 000. The paper also points out the increasing trend of use of service robots as well as mentions main producers and countries with high potential deployment of robots.

Lucia Koukolová

Papers

The View to the Current State of Robotics

Conceptual design of a leg-wheel chassis for rescue operations:

Proposal of Multi Robotic Cells for Production Lines

Manufacturing Systems Suitable for Globalized Market

Trends in Industrial and Service Robot Application