Design and analysis of a hexagonal mechanism with cam mechanism for rolling locomotion

Design in Mainland China

A pedagogically effective teaching strategy that integrates computer‐aided design and programming into a course on mechanism analysis and design is presented. Mechanism analysis is enhanced when coupled with computer programming that allows students to find solutions to more complex systems than would otherwise be possible. Web‐based distance learning is part of the class and students also learn how to create these kinds of materials themselves. Students can better understand the course material through an integrated computing environment. By solving mechanism design problems in C/C++, the programming skills gained in the course are widely applicable in other areas of engineering. Ch, a C/C++ interpreter, is used to incorporate programming and mechanism design because of its high‐level numerical and graphical plotting capabilities, scripting capability, and a mechanism toolkit with easy and quick animation. A student project is presented as an example to show how computer programming is integrated for effective learning. This teaching strategy has been actively used at the University of California, Davis for several years in an undergraduate course in computer‐aided mechanism design and has been adopted by other universities as well. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ 15: 277–288, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com); DOI 10.1002/cae.20156

An effective teaching strategy that integrates computer aided design and programming into a course on mechanism analysis and design is presented. Mechanism analysis is enhanced when coupled with basic programming that allows students to find solutions to more complex systems than would otherwise be possible. Web-based distance learning is part of the class and students also learn how to create these kinds of materials themselves. Students can better understand the course material through an integrated computing environment. By solving mechanism design problems in C/C++, the programming skills gained in the course are widely applicable in other areas of engineering. Ch, a C/C++ interpreter, is used to incorporate programming and mechanism design because of its high-level numerical and graphical plotting capabilities, scripting capability, and a mechanism toolkit with easy and quick animation. A student project is given as an example to show how computers are integrated for effective learning. This teaching strategy has been actively used at UC Davis for several years in an undergraduate course in computer-aided mechanism design.

Although different locomotion mechanisms are available, the use of only one locomotion system in a mobile robot restricts its application scenarios. Hybrid locomotion improves the maneuverability and flexibility of a robot. This paper introduces a hybrid locomotion mobile robot, a combination of quadruped and quadrotor system. The robot has a unique expediency to fly to remote places, then walk to perform close range operations in the field. The prime intention is to use the quadrotor to tackle large objects by flying over it. The four legs provide easy movements in uneven terrain. Thus, this robot can be used in erratic and dynamic environments where stability, maneuverability and flexibility are required. This system can be used as first responders in search and rescue missions, where it responds before human responders gets to the site and get the entire information of the area in detail (like spotting trapped ones, getting detailed 3D mapping etc.). This platform offers unique capabilities suited for search and rescue, disaster zone assistance and surveillances. This paper elucidates the mechanical design and analysis of a hybrid locomotion robot. The solid model of the robot was made using CATIA and further analysis like static analysis, computational fluid dynamics analysis and drop test analysis were performed in ANSYS.

Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has developed the Southwest LEO EXplorer (SLX-6), a standard 6U CubeSat in a 2U × 3U form factor intended to carry a payload into a variety of Low Earth Orbits. SLX-6 also serves as the basis for the Southwest Deep-Space Explorer (SDX-6) that SwRI is developing for the CubeSat mission to study Solar Particles (CuSP) mission (Figure 2). The SLX-6 is built to a tailored NPR-7120 approach adapted from SwRI's experience in Class B, C, and D missions. Program execution will include bus component selection, testing, and analysis; mechanical design and analysis (structural and thermal); bus and Attitude Determination and Control Subsystem (ADCS) flight software (FSW) definition and tailoring; bus Electrical Ground Support Equipment (which transitions into the ground data system); Assembly Integration and Testing (AIT and NASA operations support. The SLX-6 is novel in three distinct ways when compared to other off-the-shelf CubeSat solutions: the SLX-6 is a high reliability bus; it is robust to all space environments, including radiation; and SwRI offers a one-stop-shop for all portions of a satellite mission. The SLX-6 is designed with a robust parts program that is derived and tailored from EEE-INST-002 to be cost competitive. This same parts program is invoked when selecting radiation tolerant components. Analysis is performed in-house to ensure that the mechanical design of the observatory is compatible with environments in GEVS (GSFC-STDF-7000A). SwRI has extensive experience with all portions of satellite design and test: electrical analysis, design, and test; mechanical analysis, design, and test; flight software analysis, design, and test; component- and bus-level integration, testing, and qualification. SwRI is also presently evaluating quotes a 13meter multi-band ground station on campus. This paper will address the CubeSat description, subsystems, analysis and testing philosophies, and integration and testing approach.

The working environment of the inspection robot is a high altitude flexible cable environment. The robot navigating process must be stable and reliable. The robot mechanism grips the line though locomotion mechanism when navigating obstacles. The locomotion mechanism needs to have a strong clamping capacity and stability. According to the environmental characteristics of transmission lines, a novel locomotion mechanism of inspection robot is presented. The locomotion mechanism adopting differential mechanism can grip different diameter lines. The Tri-Step reducer design to ensure that the various model lines of rapid firmly clamped. The locomotion mechanism is introduced, and the gripper force is analyzed. The experiment results demonstrate that the mechanism has such characteristics as strong grip ability, good motion stability, and different diameter lines gripping capability.

Robots are widely used nowadays in industries, commercial and domestic purpose for the completion of task in shortest time interval and accurate operation. In the design of a mobile robot, the main mechanical area on focus is the locomotion mechanism. The locomotion mechanism consideration would include the mobile robot flexibility, versatility and efficiency to complete the multi tasks in different environments, indoor and outdoor. This comparative study was focused on the mobile robot mobility systems between wheeled and tracked. This paper highlights the effects on mechanical design, velocity, energy and flexibility of each mobility system. A hybrid system was suggested depending on mechanical design, energy consumption and flexibility.

As we move into the second decade of the 21st century, we can identify three research trends that we can expect to persist into the future. They are the analysis and synthesis of (i) spatial mechanisms and robotic systems, (ii) compliant linkage systems, and (iii) tensegrity and cable-driven systems. In each case, we find that researchers are formulating and solving polynomial systems of total degrees that dwarf those associated with major kinematics problems of the previous century.

Theory of Mechanisms by John J. Uicker, Gordon R. Pennock and Joseph E. Shigley, 3rd Edition. Oxford Press, 2003The scholarship of the late Joseph Shigley continues to influence mechanical design education almost a decade after his death in 1994 through the publication of new editions of his books Theory of Machines and Mechanisms (Oxford Press) with Profs. Uicker and Pennock, and his Mechanical Engineering Design (McGraw-Hill) with Prof. Mischke. The Theory of Machines and Mechanisms traces itself to the integration of Prof. Shigley’s Kinematic Analysis of Mechanisms and Dynamic Analysis of Machines into the single book Theory of Machines in 1961. John Uicker worked with Prof. Shigley on the 1995 second edition that included the analysis of spatial mechanisms and robots using vector formulations adapted for numerical computation. For this third edition, Gordon Pennock joins Prof. Uicker to provide an impressive new look to this classic text. The book is divided into three basic parts: kinematics and mechanisms, the design of mechanisms, and dynamics of machines. In the first part, the focus is on the analysis of mechanical movement, and I like the vector and matrix formulation that includes kinematic coefficients because it provides a convenient transition to the analysis of spatial mechanisms and robots. The graphical and complex vector approaches, which are well adapted to the study of planar mechanisms, are carefully presented as well. The second part is a survey of cams, gearing and linkages, and robot kinematics. The third part presents the force analysis, vibration and balancing of a range of machine systems including engines, flywheels, governors and gyroscopes. My primary concern with this book is that machine theory of the past necessarily focused on the velocity, acceleration and forces in a device at one particular configuration, while it is the value of these parameters throughout the movement that is of interest. Prof. Uicker’s Integrated Mechanisms Program (IMP), which dates back to 1964, was among the first software systems for machine simulation, and Prof. Pennock is a leading researcher in robot and spatial linkage analysis. I hope that their future editions move in the direction of showing students how to analyze and simulate the movement of machine systems using the computers that are available to most all engineers. In any case, this book provides an excellent presentation of machine theory with a depth and breadth that can find use in courses ranging from an undergraduate survey of machine theory to an advanced undergraduate or even graduate level course on machine kinematics and dynamics. Practicing engineers will find this book to be a valuable reference on the principles of machine theory.

Many recent designs of soft robots and nano-robots feature locomotion mechanisms that cleverly exploit slipping and sticking phenomena. These mechanisms have many features in common with peristaltic locomotion found in the animal world. The purpose of the present paper is to examine the energy efficiency of a locomotion mechanism that exploits friction. With the help of a model that captures most of the salient features of locomotion, we show how locomotion featuring stick-slip friction is more efficient than a counterpart that only features slipping. Our analysis also provides a framework to establish how optimal locomotion mechanisms can be selected.

Recently, diseases in gastro-intestinal tract have drastically increased. As a result, endoscopic technologies are being developed to diagnose and treat these diseases. Bio-material property is essential information to develop endoscopic devices especially capsule type endoscope. Because the capsule endoscope is moved by the peristaltic motion, it has some limitations to get the image of the digestive organ. Therefore, locomotive mechanism for capsule is necessary. In order to develop the locomotive mechanism, the information of bio material property is required. Especially, the friction force between capsule endoscope and the tissues of the gastro-intestinal tract is very important information. In this paper, we propose the bio-material property measuring system which can supply the information for the design of the locomotive mechanism. By using the proposed measuring system, we evaluate the effects of design parameters such as velocity, diameter size and shape of capsule endoscope that influence the friction force to the capsule endoscope to get the dominant parameters. As a result, we can offer the useful information to design the locomotive mechanism of the capsule endoscope.

Flexing into motion: A locomotion mechanism for soft robots

This paper presents the description of an integrated software package titled DAMP (Design and Analysis of Mechanisms Program) that has been developed for the purposes of modeling, analysis, and synthesis of planar linkage mechanisms. DAMP is a comprehensive computer-aided design tool with the ability to design complex planar mechanisms including higher order mechanisms with multiple loops and multiple degrees of freedom. It is also capable of addressing a wide range of design objectives such as the position, velocity, acceleration, and force requirements. DAMP employs matrix methods for the modeling and analysis of mechanisms, and the method of nonlinear goal programming in the determination of the optimal mechanism solutions. Two mechanism design examples are presented to illustrate the various capabilities of this software package.

Automating of mechanical engineering design, drafting, structural modelling and analyses is being implemented at EOSC with interactive graphic time share terminals. It was recognized that for reducing costs in mechanical engineering tasks and to stay competitive in the industry, these tasks had to be automated. Previously these tasks used labor intensive manual design and drafting methods, and structural modelling with batch processing. Trade-off evaluations and vendor surveys were conducted of several automated drafting and structural modelling systems. The decisions made after the evaluations was to use currently available soft-ware and Tektronix terminal equipment for inter-active communications with host computers. This paper discusses how mechanical design, and structural modelling and analyses have been automated at EOSC using inter-active graphics and time-share terminals.

IN MEMORIAM: Dr. An Tzu Yang (1923–2003)