Belt Speed Research Articles

A comprehensive dataset on biomechanics and motor control during human walking with discrete mechanical perturbations.

Humans have a remarkable capability to maintain balance while walking. There is, however, a lack of publicly available research data on reactive responses to destabilizing perturbations during gait. Here, we share a comprehensive dataset collected from 10 participants who experienced random perturbations while walking on an instrumented treadmill. Each participant performed six 5-min walking trials at a rate of 1.2 m/s, during which rapid belt speed perturbations could occur during the participant's stance phase. Each gait cycle had a 17% probability of being perturbed. The perturbations consisted of an increase of belt speed by 0.75 m/s, delivered with equal probability at 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, or 80% of the stance phase. Data were recorded using motion capture with 25 markers, eight inertial measurement units (IMUs), and electromyography (EMG) from the tibialis anterior (TA), soleus (SOL), lateral gastrocnemius (LG), rectus femoris (RF), vastus lateralis (VL), vastus medialis (VM), biceps femoris (BF), and gluteus maximus (GM). The full protocol is described in detail. We provide marker trajectories, force plate data, EMG data, and belt speed information for all trials and participants. IMU data is provided for most participants. This data can be useful for identifying neural feedback control in human gait, biologically inspired control systems for robots, and the development of clinical applications.

Impact of standing perturbation intensities on fall and stability outcomes in healthy young adults

Motorized treadmills have been extensively used in investigating reactive balance control and developing perturbation-based interventions for fall prevention. However, the relationship between perturbation intensity and its outcome has not been quantified. The primary purpose of this study was to quantitatively analyze how the treadmill belt’s peak velocity affects the perturbation outcome and other metrics related to the reactive balance in young adults while the total belt displacement is controlled at 0.36 m. Thirty-one healthy young adults were randomly assigned into three groups with different peak belt speeds: low (0.9 m/s), medium (1.2 m/s), and high (1.8 m/s). Protected by a safety harness, participants were exposed to a forward support surface translation while standing at an unexpected timing on an ActiveStep treadmill. The primary (perturbation outcome: fall vs. recovery) and secondary (dynamic stability, hip descent, belt distance at liftoff, and recovery step latency) outcome measures were compared among groups. Results revealed that a higher perturbation intensity is correlated with a greater faller rate (p < 0.001). Compared to the low- and medium-intensity groups, the high-intensity group was less stable (p < 0.001) with a larger hip descent (p < 0.001) and a longer belt distance (p < 0.001) at the recovery step liftoff. The results suggest that the increased perturbation intensity raises the risk of falling with larger instability and poorer reactive performance after a support surface translation-induced perturbation in healthy young adults. The findings could furnish preliminary guidance for us to design and select the optimal perturbation intensity that can maximize the effects of perturbation-based training protocols.

Airguard Ai: Revolutionizing Air Cargo Inspection through Pygame and YOLOv8 Simulation

The objective of this project is to create a simulation for air cargo inspection using artificial intelligence (AI). This will be achieved by combining Pygame for simulating conveyor belts and YOLOv8 for detecting hazardous items. The simulation replicates a conveyor belt system that transports air cargo for inspection. Pygame, a robust game development package, is used to build a graphically interactive environment where users may view and examine the cargo inspection process in a simulated context. The primary element of the project entails using YOLOv8, an advanced object detection model, to precisely locate dangerous things within the shipment. The real-time detection capabilities of YOLOv8 allow for quick and efficient examination of the cargo, ensuring the timely identification of any hazards. The simulation serves as a platform to assess and verify the effectiveness of the AI-driven cargo inspection system across different scenarios. Users have the ability to engage with the simulation by modifying factors like the speed of the conveyor belt, the types of cargo, and the criteria for inspection. This allows them to assess the effectiveness of the system in identifying dangerous objects. This project functions as an instructional tool to comprehend the incorporation of AI in cargo inspection, while also having practical implications for improving real-world air cargo security. Pygame and YOLOv8, when combined, offer a flexible and robust framework for simulating and evaluating AI-based inspection systems. This contributes to the progress of air cargo safety and security measures.

Apple mechanical damage mechanism and harvesting test platform design

Abstract Apple is easily damaged in the process of the mechanical harvesting, which reduces the fruit’s quality. It is of great significance to study the damage principle of apple in the transport process of picking platform. In this study, the apple compression test was carried out. The compression and drop process of the fruit was analyzed by the finite element analysis (FEA). The experimental platform of apple harvesting was designed, the conveying process of apple was analyzed. The results of compression finite element analysis showed that when the compression force is greater than 15.0 N, both radial compression and axial compression will be damaged. The results of drop finite element analysis showed that when the drop direction is axial, the maximum contact stress of the peel and kernel decreases with the increase of drop angle, the maximum contact stress of the pulp increases first and then decreases. When the drop direction is radial, the maximum contact stress between pulp and kernel decreases with the increase of drop angle, the maximum contact stress of the peel first decreases and then increases. The simulation results of the harvesting platform transportation showed that the damage rate of apples is less than 10 % when the sub-conveyor belt speed is 0.02 m–0.04 m/s. This study can provide theoretical guidance for the design of the harvesting test platform and the reduction of the damage of apples during transportation.

Data-driven intelligent prediction of TBM surrounding rock and personalized evaluation of disaster-inducing factors

With the widespread application of tunnel boring machines (TBM) in underground tunnel construction, the accurate and real-time identification of geological indicators has become a key factor for ensuring construction safety. In this study, we introduced the nomogram method into the field of civil engineering for the first time to predict surrounding rock grades. Against the backdrop of a major water conservancy project in China, an in-depth analysis of construction data from the ascending phase was conducted to establish the relationship between surrounding rock grade predictions and key construction parameters. Compared with traditional models, the nomogram method has shown advantages in terms of prediction accuracy. Furthermore, by providing a personalized scoring mechanism for specific construction data, the nomogram method not only achieves the real-time prediction of rock grades but also clearly reveals the dynamic relationships between input parameters and rock grades, clarifying the entire prediction process. We identified the main factors related to rock grade prediction among TBM construction parameters, including the slurry conveyor belt speed, jacking pressure, cutterhead torque, cutterhead thrust, thrust pressure, and actual rotation speed. The training process revealed that the nomogram prediction model achieved optimal performance with seven input parameters, balancing accuracy and training time. According to the prediction results, the nomogram model’s area under the curve index is 0.92, providing greater accuracy than the traditional random forest model (0.89). Therefore, this study enhances the transparency and interpretability of model predictions by providing personalized assessments of construction parameters for predicting surrounding rock grades, overcoming the black-box issue of existing prediction methods and offering a novel and effective tool for rock grade prediction.

Effect of blunging process on purification of halloysite ore from ferrous impurities by dry magnetic separation

The objective of this research is to study the effects of feed particle size, splitter angle, and washing process on Fe&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; removal efficiency in the separation of ferrous impurities from halloysite ore by dry magnetic separation in order to increase the purity of halloysite sample after crushing and blunging processes separately. Firstly, after crushing ore in a jaw crusher and sizing to -2+1 mm, -1+0.5 mm, and -0.5+0.212 mm fractions, the sized materials were fed to REMS-type dry magnetic separator at a constant belt speed of 300 rpm with the splitter angles of 0, 15, 30º separately. Maximum Fe&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; removal efficiency (FRE) (97.1%) was obtained in the nonmagnetic product at -0.5+0.212 mm size fraction and 0º splitter angle. The minimum Fe&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; content (1.3%) was reached in the nonmagnetic product obtained in the experiment with the feed size of -2+1 mm and a splitter angle of 0º. Secondly, dry magnetic separation was applied to the washed -2+0.212 mm size fraction after drying at room temperature to evaluate the coarse particle-sized halloysite ore that was gained by mechanical dispersion in the aqueous medium towards sodium hexametaphosphate (SHMP), while a significant part of the clay minerals went into fine size after the dispersion process. In the experiment performed with a 0º splitter angle after washing, it was determined that halloysite concentrate of 0.4% Fe&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; content could be obtained with 98.8% Fe&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; removal efficiency. As a result of dry magnetic separation experiments, it was seen that Fe&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; removal efficiency decreased as the splitter angle increased, while Fe&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; content in magnetic and nonmagnetic products increased. It was determined that washing and cleaning of fine-sized minerals plastered on particle surfaces after mechanical dispersion and particle release of minerals with different magnetic properties increased the dry magnetic separation efficiency, and nonmagnetic products with very low Fe&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; (0.4%) and high Al&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; (31.9%) content was obtained. The blunging process in the presence of dispersant caused the dispersion of clay minerals and allowed to liberating of the ferrous minerals from the halloysite ore, hence the increase in the FRE for the magnetic separation.

ТЕОРЕТИЧЕСКОЕ ОБОСНОВАНИЕ ТРАНСПОРТЕРА ДЛЯ ВЫГРУЗКИ КОРНЕПЛОДОВ ОВОЩНЫХ КУЛЬТУР И КЛУБНЕЙ КАРТОФЕЛЯ ИЗ ХРАНИЛИЩА

The need to develop specialized machines and equipment for laboratory and field research on potato breeding is due to the fact that the methodology of breeding processes and the first stages of seed production involves comparing many plants of different origins and selecting the best for further work up to the creation of a new variety or transfer of seeds for propagation in production conditions. The large variability of machines for unloading vegetables and potatoes does not adequately prevent damage to vegetable and potato products, which is due to the imperfect design of such machines, including the imperfection or absence of patterns of automated control of the technological process of work and justification of the parameters of their working parts. The purpose of the study is to substantiate the parameters of the conveyor for unloading vegetable crops and potatoes into storage and to determine the patterns of formation of the control signal of the transfer function of automatic control of operation. The power required to move the pick-up depends on the maximum pressure force of introducing the intake element into the embankment, the mass of the pick-up and the rolling resistance coefficients of the running wheels of the pick-up and transport sections. The length of the unloading conveyor of the machine is determined by the reserve zone to prevent wheels from hitting the tubers, their maximum difference in the embankment, the height of the layer, as well as the angle of inclination of the unloading conveyor. The width of the conveyor belt for unloading products from storage is determined by the values of the coefficient of friction of root crops on the surface of the belt, the coefficient of working time utilization and the forward speed of the conveyor belt. After removing the collapsed mass of tubers, the line of crumbling slopes and the limiting equilibrium are a straight line, characterized by an empirical equation for determining the coordinates of the tuber collapse point, the height of the tuber layer and the embankment collapse coefficient. When the feeder tubers are introduced into the surface of the embankment, the formation of slopes occurs in four stages: the formation of a natural slope, a limiting equilibrium slope, a shedding slope and a product collapse slope.

Research and Design of a Chicken Wing Testing and Weight Grading Device

This thesis introduces a nondestructive inspection and weight grading device for chicken wings to replace the traditional manual grading operation. A two-sided quality nondestructive inspection model of chicken wings based on the YOLO v7-tiny target detection algorithm is designed and deployed in a Jetson Xavier NX embedded platform. An STM32 microcontroller is used as the main control platform, and a wing turning device adapting to the conveyor belt speed, dynamic weighing, and a high-efficiency intelligent grading unit are developed, and the prototype is optimized and verified in experiments. Experiments show that the device can grade four chicken wings per second, with a comprehensive accuracy rate of 98.4%, which is better than the traditional grading methods in terms of efficiency and accuracy.

Simulation and Identification of Multiscale Falling Morphology of Fresh Tea Leaves at Different Transport Speeds Based on Discrete Element Method

To explore the falling morphology of multiscale fresh tea leaves at different speeds, this study evaluated the multiscale fresh tea leaves (one bud with two leaves, one bud with one leaf, single leaf, and damaged leaf) at different heights (0.7 m, 0.5 m, 0.3 m, and 0.1 m from the ground) during the process of dropping on the conveyor belt at different speeds (0.6 m/s and 1.2 m/s). The motion morphology of fresh tea leaves on multiple scales was analyzed by discrete element simulation, the results showed that the movement patterns of multiscale fresh tea leaves at different positions from the ground were different when the conveyor was dropping at different speeds, and that the multiscale fresh tea leaves all rotated around the long axis, short axis, and root of the fresh tea leaves. When the conveying speed of the conveyor belt was 0.6 m/s, the movement patterns of one bud with two leaves and of one bud with one leaf of fresh tea were near the ground, and the movement patterns of the fresh tea leaves were mostly oriented toward the ground. The leaf tips of the fresh tea leaves were mostly on the side near the ground, the damaged leaves were near the ground, and the movement patterns of the fresh tea leaves were mostly parallel to the ground. When the conveyor belt throwing speed was 1.2 m/s, the roots of one bud with two leaves moved toward the ground when they were close to the ground. When one bud with one leaf was close to the ground, the leaf tip moved toward the ground, and the single leaf and damaged leaf rotated around the root because of the inertia of the conveyor belt throwing.

Optimization Method for Robot Moving Object Recognition and Grasping Strategy Based on Binocular Vision

&lt;p&gt;This article proposes a more accurate grasping strategy for the recognition and grasping of moving targets based on binocular vision cameras. Firstly, the front and back scene separation algorithm is used to identify the moving target grabbing object in the production line. Then, by setting an appropriate threshold, the SiamMask target tracking algorithm is improved to achieve dynamic target tracking. Finally, the conveyor belt speed is detected and the real-time position of the object is obtained. Then, the Cartesian strategy is used to achieve path planning and optimization methods for the robotic arm during movement. Through experimental simulation, the effectiveness and stability of the proposed method in this paper have been demonstrated.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;

A warm-up strategy with or without voluntary contraction on athletic performance, lower-leg temperature, and blood lactate concentration.

It is unclear whether temperature-related warm-up effects can be accomplished by passive warm-up (e.g., by external heat). Therefore, this study compared the effects of two different warm-up protocols with and without voluntary contraction on subsequent sprinting and jumping performance. Eighteen healthy male collegiate students (23.3 ± 2.4 years, 173.8 ± 7.2 cm, 70.5 ± 9.3 kg) randomly experienced 10 min of active (jogging on a treadmill; belt speed: 9.0 km/h at a 1% incline) and passive warm-up (lying down in the warm-up chamber; inner ambient temperature set at 35°C) protocols, followed by ten sets of intermittent exercises in two separate sessions. Athletic performance, lower-leg muscle temperature, and blood lactate concentration were statistically compared using analysis of variance with Tukey-Kramer post-hoc comparisons. Cohen's d effect sizes (ES) were also calculated. There was no warm-up protocol effect over time on 20 m sprint times (condition × time: F9,323 = 1.26, p = 0.25). Maximal vertical jump heights were different (condition × time: F9,323 = 2.0, p = 0.04) such that subjects who performed the active warm-up protocol jumped higher (51.4 cm) than those who did the passive warm-up (49.2 cm, p = 0.04). There was a warm-up protocol effect over time on lower-leg muscle temperature (condition × time: F12,425 = 13.99, p<0.0001) in that there was a 5.5% and 5.8% increase after active (32.8 to 34.6°C, ES = 2.91) and passive (32.9 to 34.9°C, ES = 3.28) warm-up protocols, respectively. Blood lactate concentration was different (condition × time: F2,85 = 3.61, p = 0.03) since the values at the post-warm-up measurements were different between warm-up conditions (active: 4.1 mmol/L; passive: 1.5 mmol/L, p = 0.004, ES = 1.69). Subsequent sprint and jump performance did not differ between the duration- and muscle temperature-matched active and passive warm-up protocols. Non-thermal effects from the warm-up activity may be minimal for sprinting and jumping performance in recreationally active males.

Research on Coal Volume Detection and Energy-Saving Optimization Intelligent Control Method of Belt Conveyor Based on Laser and Binocular Visual Fusion

Real-time coal flow monitoring is crucial for efficient coal mine transportation. Traditional vision acquisition devices generate two-dimensional images that are not accurately identified in the complex underground coal mine environment, such as dust, water mist, and low light. In this paper, we propose a conveyor belt coal flow detection method that integrates laser scanning and binocular vision to address this problem. Our proposed method has several advantages over traditional approaches. Firstly, we calibrate the binocular camera using Zhang’s calibration method to enhance the accuracy of the system. Secondly, we extract the centerline of the laser stripe using the grayscale center of gravity method, which improves the system’s performance in complex environments. Thirdly, we calculate the cross-sectional area of the material accurately using the trapezoidal area accumulation method, and visualize it in two dimensions based on a single frame, while the point cloud data from multiple consecutive frames are visualized in a 3D model at a realistic scale. Finally, we use the continuous multi-frame cross-sectional area to calculate the current conveyor flow, and apply the BP neural network to establish an energy-saving optimization model for the belt conveyor. We also design a PLC fuzzy controller based on fuzzy control algorithms to adjust the belt’s operating speed intelligently according to the coal flow size, achieving energy-saving operation and intelligent control of the belt conveyor. Our experiments show that our method can accurately obtain coal volume and control the belt speed of the conveyor in real-time, making it an innovative and practical solution for coal flow detection and energy-saving operation in underground coal mines.

Responce Surface of Drying Parameters on Some Physical Properties Related to Floatability of Extruded Fish Feeds

Fish feeds drying plays a major role in the aquaculture industry by ensuring preservation and quality of feed for effective growth and development of farmed fish. Optimization the drying parameters such as drying temperature, drying air velocity and relative humidity plays a crucial role in achieving Response Surface Methodology is a useful to optimized variables/factors more practically as compared to just the statistically significant test for a particular point. The aim of this research to optimize the drying process of an extruded fish feeds which affect the floatability of the feeds. 2000 g of the extruded feeds was dried in a continuous flow belt dryer. The experiments were performed at air temperature of 60, 70, 80, 90 and 100°C, air velocities of 0.7, 0.8, 0.9, 1.0 and 1.2 m s-1 and drying belt linear speeds of 50, 55, 60, 65 and 70 rpm. The dried extruded fish feed was subjected to extensive physical properties which are: unit density (kg m-3), water stability (%), sinking velocity and relative absorption ratio. The surface response of each of this physical property of the dried extrudates’ were determined. The result shows that the operational parameter can optimally explain about 90.45%, 93.72%, 95.98% and 70.77% change in the density, water stability, sinking velocity and the relative absorption ratio respectively of the extrudate via quadratic function. The optimum predicted values for air temperature of 97.49°C, conveyor belt speed of 50 rpm and air velocity of 1.10 m s-1 were obtained for the dryer within the range of the input parameters.

Precise Fabrication of Ocular Inserts Using an Innovative Laser-Driven CaliCut Technology: In Vitro and in Vivo Evaluation

Ocular inserts offer distinct advantages, including a preservative-free drug delivery system, the ability to provide tailored drug release, and ease of administration. The present research paper delves into the development of an innovative ocular insert using CaliCut technology. Complementing the hot melt extrusion (HME) process, CaliCut, an advanced technology in ocular insert development, employs precision laser gauging to achieve impeccable cutting of inserts with desired dimensions. Its intelligent control over the stretching process through auto feedback-based belt speed adjustment ensures unparalleled accuracy and consistency in dosage form manufacturing. Dry eye disease (DED) poses a significant challenge to ocular health, necessitating innovative approaches to alleviate its symptoms. In this pursuit, castor oil has emerged as a promising therapeutic agent, offering beneficial effects by increasing the thickness of the lipid layer in the tear film, thus improving tear film stability, and reducing tear evaporation. To harness these advantages, this study focuses on the development and comprehensive characterization of castor oil-based ocular inserts. Additionally, in-vivo irritancy evaluation in rabbits has been undertaken to assess the inserts' safety and biocompatibility. By harnessing the HME and CaliCut techniques in the formulation process, the study demonstrates their instrumental role in facilitating the successful development of ocular inserts.

Effects of backward-directed resistance on propulsive force generation during split-belt treadmill walking in non-impaired individuals.

Backward-directed resistance is the resistance applied in the opposite direction of the individual's walking motion. Progressive application of backward-directed resistance during walking at a target speed engages adaptive motor control to maintain that speed. During split-belt walking, a motor control strategy must be applied that allows the person to keep up with the two belts to maintain their position on the treadmill. This situation becomes more challenging when progressive resistance is applied since each limb needs to adapt to the greater resistance to maintain the position. We propose that strategies aimed at changing relative propulsion forces with each limb may explain the motor control strategy used. This study aimed to identify the changes in propulsive force dynamics that allow individuals to maintain their position while walking on an instrumented split-belt treadmill with progressively increasing backward-directed resistance. We utilized an instrumented split-belt treadmill while users had to overcome a set of increasing backward-directed resistance through the center of mass. Eighteen non-impaired participants (mean age = 25.2 ± 2.51) walked against five levels of backward resistance (0, 5, 10, 15, and 20% of participant's body weight) in two different modalities: single-belt vs. split-belt treadmill. On the single-belt mode, the treadmill's pace was the participant's comfortable walking speed (CWS). In split-belt mode, the dominant limb's belt pace was half of the CWS, and the non-dominant limb's belt speed was at the CWS. We assessed differences between single-belt vs. split-belt conditions in the slope of the linear relationship between change in propulsive impulse relative to change of backward resistance amount. In split-belt conditions, the slower limb showed a significantly steeper increase in propulsion generation compared to the fast limb across resistance levels. As a possible explanation, the slow limb also exhibited a significantly increased slope of the change in trailing limb angle (TLA), which was strongly correlated to the propulsive impulse slope values. We conclude that the motor control strategy used to maintain position on a split-belt treadmill when challenged with backward-directed resistance is to increase the propulsive forces of the slow limb relative to the fast limb by progressively increasing the TLA. ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier NCT04877249.

Effect of firing process on electrical properties and efficiency of n-TOPCon solar cells

In the large-scale production of solar cells, metallization is a very important process, which directly affects the opening-circuit voltage, short-cut current, shunt resistance, and fill factor, thus affecting the efficiency of the solar cell. In this paper, the n-TOPCon process is matched by changing the firing temperature and belt speed of each zone to change the peak temperature and the width of the firing curve. After low-temperature slow firing (A1), the front contact resistance of the solar cell is the largest, and the Uoc and the Eff are the highest. However, after the electric injection, the Uoc and the FF increase are small, and the Eff is low, with an average value of 24.23 % and an increase of 0.04 %. After higher temperature and faster firing (AB2), the front-specific contact resistance of the solar cell is the smallest. Affected by the specific contact resistance, the solar cell has the highest FF, the lowest Uoc, and the lowest Eff. However, the electrical injection significantly increases the Uoc. The Eff after electric injection is the highest, with an average of 24.42 %, an increase of 0.36 %. The H ions in SiNx have different effects of passivation on the wafer under different firing conditions, but the difference is narrowed by the electrical carrier injection of H ions on the surface into the wafer. Therefore, solar cells with excellent electrical performance can be obtained by firing at appropriate peak temperature and firing width, obtaining low contact resistance first, and then increasing the Uoc and Jsc by electric injection.

Studying of the Amount of Energy Required to Operate the Nursery Tray Planting Machine

A study was conducted at the University of Baghdad-College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences - Department of Agricultural Machinery and Equipment for the agricultural season 2023 with the aim of designing, manufacturing and testing a machine used to planting agricultural nursery tray with different types of vegetable or horticultural seeds or forest seeds of various forms, and using different agricultural media where they are conducted The planting process is by pulling the seeds with a negative pressure vacuum system, and then they are feding to the dishes in their right place to complete the planting process. The study included three factors: The speed of the main belt in three levels: 0.43, 0.66 and 0.90 m.sec−1 and three types of agricultural media: Petmus, mix of Petmos and silt 1:1 and silt, and three types of seeds that were planted. A factorial experiment was carried out using a design (CRD) with three replications using the least significant difference and a probability level (LSD = 0.05) to compare the mean of the coefficients. Some performance indicators of the machine were studied, including: Consumed electrical power, electric power, the productivity of the machine, and the efficiency of the machine in picking seeds. The results indicated The peat moss medium excelled in recording the least consumed electric power, which amounted to 2075.8 watts, and the lowest electric power, which amounted to 0.007751 kWh. And the third speed of the conveyor belt excelled in achieving the highest productivity of dishes per hour, amounting to 105.08 dishes.hour−1, and the first speed achieved the least consumed power, amounting to 2047.3 watts, and the least consumed electrical energy at the third speed, which amounted to 0.007703 kWh.

Single-Belt Versus Split-Belt: Intelligent Treadmill Control via Microphase Gait Capture for Poststroke Rehabilitation.

Stroke is the leading long-term disability and causes a significant financial burden associated with rehabilitation. In poststroke rehabilitation, individuals with hemiparesis have a specialized demand for coordinated movement between the paretic and the nonparetic legs. The split-belt treadmill can effectively facilitate the paretic leg by slowing down the belt speed for that leg while the patient is walking on a split-belt treadmill. Although studies have found that split-belt treadmills can produce better gait recovery outcomes than traditional single-belt treadmills, the high cost of split-belt treadmills is a significant barrier to stroke rehabilitation in clinics. In this article, we design an AI-based system for the single-belt treadmill to make it act like a split-belt by adjusting the belt speed instantaneously according to the patient's microgait phases. This system only requires a low-cost RGB camera to capture human gait patterns. A novel microgait classification pipeline model is used to detect gait phases in real time. The pipeline is based on self-supervised learning that can calibrate the anchor video with the real-time video. We then use a ResNet-LSTM module to handle temporal information and increase accuracy. A real-time filtering algorithm is used to smoothen the treadmill control. We have tested the developed system with 34 healthy individuals and four stroke patients. The results show that our system is able to detect the gait microphase accurately and requires less human annotation in training, compared to the ResNet50 classifier. Our system "Splicer" is boosted by AI modules and performs comparably as a split-belt system, in terms of timely varying left/right foot speed, creating a hemiparetic gait in healthy individuals, and promoting paretic side symmetry in force exertion for stroke patients. This innovative design can potentially provide cost-effective rehabilitation treatment for hemiparetic patients.

Real-time laser scanning for conditioned coarse-grained soil monitoring on conveyor belt in earth pressure balance shield

To address the hysteresis in assessing the workability of conditioned soils and the inefficiency in estimating the soil volume flow rate in tunnelling practice, a novel real-time assessment and monitoring approach was proposed. Based on laser scanning technology and point cloud data analysis, the approach can monitor the workability and the volume flow rate of conditioned soils on the horizontal conveyor belt of an earth pressure balance (EPB) shield in real-time. Firstly, the accuracy of laser scanning measurements was verified by comparing manually measured slump and spread values with laser scanning results. Then, a series of model tests for scanning the coarse-grained soils with different conditioning parameters and belt speeds on the horizontal conveyor belt were performed. The appropriate ranges of secant angle and unevenness of soil cross-sectional profile were obtained for assessing the workability of conditioned soils. The volume flow rate was calculated by integrating the cross-sectional areas of conditioned soils. Finally, the proposed approach was successfully applied in identifying the workability of conditioned soil and its discharge rate in the EPB shield tunnelling project. This study contributes to the real-time monitoring of conditioned soils on the horizontal conveyor belt and provides practical insights for the optimal management of EPB shield tunnelling.

Enhanced motor learning and motor savings after acute intermittent hypoxia are associated with a reduction in metabolic cost.

Breathing mild bouts of low oxygen air (i.e. acute intermittent hypoxia, AIH) has been shown to improve locomotor function in humans after a spinal cord injury. How AIH-induced gains in motor performance are achieved remains unclear. We examined the hypothesis that AIH augments motor learning and motor retention during a locomotor adaptation task. We further hypothesized that gains in motor learning and retention will be associated with reductions in net metabolic power, consistent with the acquisition of energetically favourable mechanics. Thirty healthy individuals were randomly allocated into either a control group or an AIH group. We utilized a split-belt treadmill to characterize adaptations to an unexpected belt speed perturbation of equal magnitude during an initial exposure and a second exposure. Adaptation was characterized by changes in spatiotemporal step asymmetry, anterior-posterior force asymmetry, and net metabolic power. While both groups adapted by reducing spatial asymmetry, only the AIH group achieved significant reductions in double support time asymmetry and propulsive force asymmetry during both the initial and the second exposures to the belt speed perturbation. Net metabolic power was also significantly lower in the AIH group, with significant reductions from the initial perturbation exposure to the second. These results provide the first evidence that AIH mediates improvements in both motor learning and retention. Further, our results suggest that reductions in net metabolic power continue to be optimized upon subsequent learning and are driven by more energetically favourable temporal coordination strategies. Our observation that AIH facilitates motor learning and retention can be leveraged to design rehabilitation interventions that promote functional recovery. KEY POINTS: Brief exposures to low oxygen air, known as acute intermittent hypoxia (AIH), improves locomotor function in humans after a spinal cord injury, but it remains unclear how gains in motor performance are achieved. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that AIH induces enhancements in motor learning and retention by quantifying changes in interlimb coordination, anterior-posterior force symmetry and metabolic cost during a locomotor adaptation task. We show the first evidence that AIH improves both motor learning and savings of newly learned temporal interlimb coordination strategies and force asymmetry compared to untreated individuals. We further demonstrate that AIH elicits greater reductions in metabolic cost during motor learning that continues to be optimized upon subsequent learning. Our findings suggest that AIH-induced gains in locomotor performance are facilitated by enhancements in motor learning and retention of more energetically favourable coordination strategies.