Mechanical Design Research Articles (Page 1)

Purpose The paper aims to explore the concept of resilience during the extraordinary challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted semi-structured interviews with 26 expatriate entrepreneurs in Dubai, and explored the challenges faced by small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Findings The findings highlight the critical role of resilience in business survival during the pandemic. This study emphasizes action-oriented crisis management strategies—such as leadership roles, readiness for change, organizational culture and financial stability—that expatriate entrepreneurs implement to overcome the crisis. Research limitations/implications This study contributes to international business and international human resource management by introducing the Wheel of Change framework, highlighting how expatriate entrepreneurs in Dubai develop resilience through behavioral and operational strategies. It bridges strategic agility with human-centered adaptability, emphasizing the role of cultural intelligence and leadership during crises. The model addresses a key gap by linking personal resilience with institutional adaptation, offering a dynamic lens to understand entrepreneurial behavior in globalized, high-risk environments. Practical implications The insights derived from how expat-preneurs navigate and rebound from crises can inform the design of policies and support mechanisms for global businesses confronting unforeseen disruptions. The framework offers actionable strategies for cultivating organizational resilience and ensuring long-term sustainability, particularly for SMEs operating in volatile or multicultural contexts. Originality/value This study introduces the Wheel of Change framework, developed from the lived experiences of expat-preneurs during COVID-19. The model captures both reactive and forward-looking strategies across crisis phases, integrating behavioral and operational resilience. It offers a novel lens to understand adaptability, stakeholder engagement and strategic agility. The understanding of how expat entrepreneurs experience rebound from the crisis offers insights to inform policies and strategies for supporting global business during unexpected crises and offers practical strategies to cultivate resilience and long-term sustainability.

Abstract Curvy conformal electronics offer broad application potential by integrating diverse multilayered structural components onto target curvy surfaces. The layout design of multilayered structures is crucial for ensuring mechanical reliability. However, there are relatively few studies have addressed the mechanical layout design for curvy conformal electronics. Here, a theoretical model of multilayered structure with extremely different elastic properties is established under bending deformation. Theoretical predictions of strain distribution show good agreement with finite element analysis (FEA) results. Furthermore, a mechanical layout optimization guideline is developed for curvy conformal electronics to minimize the stress in ultra-thin chips. The proposed mechanical layout optimization strategy is implemented to various target curvy surfaces to demonstrate its feasibility. This work provides practical insights into the layout design of curvy conformal electronics for enhanced mechanical reliability.

Waste products recycling mechanism design considering CSR and government subsidy

Abstract Percutaneous interventions, including biopsies, thermal ablations, and regional anesthesia, involve the insertion of an instrument into the patient’s body to remove tissue or manage pain. In this context, the use of a robotic assistant is suitable to guide the medical gestures, leading to a more time-effective intervention and better patient care. For this purpose, this article introduces a novel URRR-URR parallel mechanism. The constraint and mobility analysis of the mechanism is performed using screw theory. A methodology for determining the solution to its direct and inverse geometric models is presented. The forward and inverse kinematic Jacobian matrices of the mechanism are then expressed. Some singularities of the mechanism are identified and illustrated. Additionally, the design problem of the parallel manipulator (PM) under study is formulated as a bi-objective optimization problem. The first objective function is expressed in terms of the condition number of the forward and inverse Jacobian matrices. The second objective function deals with the mechanism size. Lastly, the nondominated Pareto-optimal solutions are obtained and three Pareto-optimal solutions are detailed.

In the context of a lack of educational tools for learning space technologies and satellite development, CanSats were created as an educational tool. This article proposes the mechanical, electrical and software design of a CanSat with an autogyro descent system where the novelty is the implementation of AWS IoT services and Node-RED to store, manipulate and display in real-time the collected weather data. This picosatellite design is capable of safeguarding the integrity of the CanSat's payload where a chicken egg will be placed during the flight and landing phases. Often, other designs of CanSats use local servers implemented on the computer or laptop of the team for storage and display of the data. This makes it more difficult to share the information to people without access to the computer where the server was specifically deployed. The use of AWS services for the Internet of Things is very useful in sharing and displaying the collected information to the public interested in the collected weather data. One of the AWS services implemented allows data subscription through Gmail. The findings made in this paper hold implications for applications involving the transportation and safe landing of delicate payloads in space exploration missions. As a result of the implementation of this design, the separation between the secondary and primary load was successfully achieved and the weather data was transmitted.

In winter, ice is prone to forming on the surface of stay cables in cable-stayed bridges, posing a threat to their structural safety. As temperatures rise, the risk of ice shedding increases, posing a potential hazard to pedestrians and vehicular traffic. At present, de-icing relies mainly on manual operations, which are associated with high safety risks and low efficiency. As a result, the application of robotic systems for stay cable de-icing has become an emerging research focus. A key challenge in robotic de-icing operations lies in the complex and variable surface conditions of ice-covered stay cables, which frequently hinder stable climbing performance. To address this issue, a climbing mechanism was designed, integrating a grooved-track drive and a spring-assisted lead screw clamping system. A fuzzy PID control strategy was implemented to achieve adaptive coordination between the clamping force and climbing speed. Simulink simulations and indoor climbing experiments were performed to verify its effectiveness. The results show that compared with traditional PID control, the fuzzy PID controller reduces the response time by approximately 50%, exhibits better adaptability in icy environments, maintains a climbing speed error within ±1.5%, and improves overall climbing performance.

This special issue of the International Journal of Automation Technology brings together research advancing the field of precision engineering in the context of next-generation automation systems. Precision engineering has long served as the foundation of industrial innovation, enabling the construction of systems with high precision, efficiency, and reliability under demanding conditions. As automation becomes increasingly intelligent and interconnected, the role of precision is becoming increasingly important, affecting not only the performance but also the reliability, sustainability, and adaptability to complex environments. The contributions reported in this issue cover diverse yet complementary research areas. Specifically, advanced mechanism design, improved uncertainty quantification in early-stage design processes, and development of state-of-the-art measurement techniques based on imaging are covered. Structural optimization approaches aimed at reducing the errors resulting from geometric distortions and misalignments are also explored. By integrating theoretical innovations with practical applications, these studies provide practical insights that engineers and researchers can employ to enhance the capabilities and reliability of automation technologies. Synergies between precision engineering and emerging fields, such as artificial intelligence, robotics, and cyber-physical systems, are expected to lead to transformative advances. We hope that this special issue will encourage continued collaboration across disciplines and foster technologies that not only meet current industry demands, but also anticipate future needs. The editors would like to thank all contributors and reviewers for their efforts to make this special issue a valuable resource for researchers, practitioners, and innovators in the global automation community.

This study aims to develop a novel method for analyzing the complex dissemination patterns of online media news using a social network hypergraph model, addressing the limitations of traditional graph models in capturing many-to-many relationships in news dissemination. The author integrates news content, user nodes, and topic tags into a multi-dimensional hypergraph structure. The approach includes detailed analysis of key elements of news dissemination across four dimensions (subject, content, channel, and effect), construction of the hypergraph model, and design of mechanisms for extracting dissemination paths and evaluating influencing factors. Experiments were conducted on real-world data from multiple social platforms to validate the method's effectiveness. The results demonstrate that the proposed hypergraph model outperforms traditional models (GCN, GAT, and RF) in terms of accuracy, F1 value, and error control. The model effectively reflects the complex structure and dynamic evolution of news dissemination, revealing significant factors such as user activity, topic sensitivity, and structural entropy. This research offers a new perspective on understanding and optimizing online news dissemination by leveraging the hypergraph model's ability to capture multi-dimensional interactions. It provides a more comprehensive and accurate analysis framework, laying a theoretical foundation for constructing efficient information dissemination models.

Purpose Drawing on mechanism design theory (MDT) and the structure-conduct-performance (SCP) paradigm, this study developed a cross-level model to examine the double-edged sword effect of supply chain decentralization (SCDece) on supply chain efficiency (SCEffi) and reveal the underlying mechanism. Design/methodology/approach This study collected 78 sets of supply-chain-level data and 372 sets of enterprise-level data through a newly designed multi-time point and multi-source survey. Multi-level structural equation modelling was adopted to verify the hypotheses. Findings The results demonstrated that SCDece had dual effects on SCEffi. On the one hand, it encouraged supply chain enterprises to adopt consistent group decision-making, thereby enhancing overall efficiency. On the other hand, it prompted solipsistic individual decision-making, which diminished SCEffi. Supply chain maturity (SCMatu) moderated these opposing mediation paths: for high SCMatu, the positive mediation effect of group decision-making of enterprises in supply chain was strengthened, while the negative effect of individual decision-making of enterprises in the supply chain (IDESC) was attenuated. Practical implications To optimize SCEffi, managers should strategically align SCDece with SCMatu. Additionally, enterprise supervisors should adopt the principle of “extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits” to strengthen collaborative decision-making and mitigate individual decision-making. Originality/value From a cross-level perspective, this study examined the double-edged sword effect of SCDece on SCEffi and uncovered its underlying mechanisms through differential decision-making behaviours among supply chain enterprises. These findings extend the literature on decentralization and integration development of the MDT and SCP paradigms. It also provides new insights for a supply chain to reduce the negative effects of IDESC.

Abstract. To address constrained optimization problems in mechanical design, this study proposes an enhanced gray wolf optimization (GWO) algorithm. First, a novel individual memory optimization strategy is developed to expand the population's exploration scope and mitigate the risk of individuals pursuing misguided search trajectories. Second, a position update strategy incorporating differential variation is proposed to balance the local and global search capabilities of individual populations. Lastly, a discrete crossover strategy is proposed to promote information diversity across individual dimensions within the population. By integrating these three improvement strategies with the GWO, a novel improved gray wolf optimization (IGWO) algorithm is developed, which not only preserves robust global and local search capabilities but also demonstrates accelerated convergence performance. To validate the effectiveness, feasibility, and generalizability of the proposed algorithms, three representative mechanical design optimization cases and the Z3 parallel mechanism scale parameter optimization case were employed. Empirical findings reveal that the IGWO algorithm effectively resolves the targeted optimization problem, demonstrating superior performance relative to other benchmark algorithms in comparative analyses.

Social energy games for smart and connected residential communities: Mechanism design

Root-inspired ground anchors are an emergent bio-inspired geotechnical ground anchoring technology leveraging the pullout resistance efficiency of fibrous plant root systems. These anchors are a technologically feasible means to construct root-like anchor geometries in-situ using conventional ground anchor construction techniques and equipment: a ferrous linkage mechanism alters its configuration in-situ from cylindrical to root-like and remains fixed in the latter configuration by cured cement grout. This technology currently lacks a means to estimate forces on the linkage mechanism during in-situ actuation, and thus, mechanism design and size limitations are poorly understood. A reliability-based design procedure and Monte-Carlo simulation software are presented which implement an analytical estimate of the forces on root-inspired ground anchors during actuation in-situ and an analytical pullout capacity prediction method. Design examples are presented along with software outputs and discussion of the assumptions and limitations of the methodology.

A generalized approach for topological design of parallel mechanisms featuring symbolic forward kinematics and motion decoupling using motion-decoupling branches

On the design of truthful mechanisms for the capacitated facility location problem with two and more facilities

Aligning organ-specific toxicities with formulation strategies: a rational design approach to chemotherapy optimization.

Mechanical behavior and design of HSC-filled steel tube strengthened by angles and CFRP sheet under eccentrical compression

Mechanical Design of the MARCO Solenoid Detector Magnet

The Price of Forgetting: Incentive Mechanism Design for Machine Unlearning

Mechanical Design and Analysis of a Modular, Portable, and Expandable Scaffold for Civil Engineering Applications

This study presents the design, modeling, and multi-platform simulation of NEPTUNE-R, a solar-powered autonomous hydro-robot developed for sustainable water purification and oxygenation. Mechanical design was performed in Fusion 360, trajectory optimization in MATLAB R2024a, and dynamic motion analysis in Roblox Studio, creating a reproducible digital twin environment. The proposed path-planning strategies—Boustrophedon and Archimedean spiral—achieved full surface coverage across various lake geometries, with an average efficiency of 97.4% ± 1.2% and a 12% reduction in energy consumption compared to conventional linear patterns. The integrated Euler-based force model ensured stability and maneuverability under ideal hydrodynamic conditions. The modular architecture of NEPTUNE-R enables scalable implementation of photovoltaic panels and microbubble-based oxygenation systems. The results confirm the feasibility of an accessible, zero-emission platform for aquatic ecosystem restoration and contribute directly to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 6, 7, and 14 by promoting clean water, renewable energy, and life below water. Future work will involve prototype testing and experimental calibration to validate the numerical findings under real environmental conditions.