Industrial Upper-Limb Exoskeleton Characterization: Paving the Way to New Standards for Benchmarking

Exoskeletons have been introduced in industrial environments to prevent overload or repetitive stress injuries in workers. However, due to the lack of public detailed information about most of the commercial exoskeletons, it is necessary to further assess their load capacity and evolution over time, as their performance may change with use. We present the design and construction of a controlled device to measure the torque of industrial exoskeletons, along with the results of static and dynamic testing of an exoskeleton model. A step motor in the test bench moves the exoskeleton arm in a pre-defined path at a prescribed speed. The force measured with a beam load cell located at the interface between the exoskeleton arm and the test bench is used to derive the torque. The proposed test bench can be easily modified to allow different exoskeleton models to be tested under the same conditions.

Application of Step Motor Servo Control Technology in Integrated Thermal Management of Advanced Fighter System

The integrated thermal management of advanced fighter jets directly affects the combat performance of the aircraft. This paper develops a set of multi-cycle integrated thermal management control system, based on the stepper motor drive servo valve. The stepper motor control system is integrated in the aircraft Remote Execution Unit (REU). The controlled information, such as flow, pressure, temperature, is collected and combined through the Remote Interface Unit (RIU). Through the IEEE-1394 bus, feedback achieves deterministic transmission between control-action-response, and through inverse time protection, the high reliable power drive can be achieved. The open-loop vector micro-stepping driving strategy of the stepper motor is designed, simplifying software and hardware designs. The experimental results show that the strategy developed in this paper can better realize the characteristics of two-phase current sine wave, have better acceleration performance, improve the controllability of the opening and closing angle of the stepping motor servo valve, and satisfy the comprehensive thermal management of advanced fighters.

MINIMUM DETECTABLE DIFFERENCE OF CT ANGIOGRAPHY SCANS AT VARIOUS CARDIAC BEATS: EVALUATION VIA A CUSTOMIZED OBLIQUE V-SHAPED LINE GAUGE AND PMMA PHANTOM

The minimum detectable difference (MDD) at various beats/min (BPM) of CT angiography (CTA) was evaluated using an oblique V-shape line gauge and poly methyl methacrylate (PMMA) phantom in this study. The customized phantom with the size of [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]cm3 was made from a 1[Formula: see text]cm-thick PMMA. The reciprocating mechanism in the phantom was run by a step motor with an eccentric gear connected to a crank rod to provide a stable harmonic motion, simulating the cardiac beats. The MDD has a unique feature in defining the quality characteristic of CT-scanned images and provides more information than simple line pair/cm in the previous studies. The derived MDD was quantified according to various BPM, and the CTA factor combination was preset following either the conventional recommendation or the optimal one. In doing so, the performance was substantiated by the Taguchi-based signal-to-noise ratio and integrated by another index, namely, figure of merit (FOM). The MDD and corresponding [Formula: see text] (dB) changed from [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]mm to [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]mm and from 16.7[Formula: see text]dB to 14.2[Formula: see text]dB, respectively, for conventional settings; while those obtained for the optimal preset changed from [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]mm to [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]mm and from 12.2 dB to 16.4 dB, respectively of CTA at 0–90 BPM. The integrated FOM values for conventional or optimal cases were 1240 and 1337, respectively. The MDD proved to be a useful technique in justifying the CTA-scanned images. For compliance with previous studies, MDD results can be converted to the line pair/cm results, but it is more informative than the quantized number of line pairs.

Design of Low-Cost Endoscope Based On Novel Wire-Driven Rotary Valve and Water-Jet Mechanism

To improve the prevalence of screening for gastric cancer in low-income areas, a low-cost endoscope based on a novel wire-driven rotary valve and water-jet mechanism is proposed. The primary component of this endoscope is a rotary valve whose core is driven by a step motor through a flexible wire, which controls the direction of the water jet. This enables it to reach any point in the workspace by controlling the valve core angle and water jet intensity. The envelope surface of the endoscope tip trajectory is likely a hemisphere. The horizontal diameter of the working space projection is approximately 350 mm, which is sufficient to observe most parts of the greater curvature of the stomach. The image-acquisition performance of the designed endoscope was satisfactory in a phantom experiment. The introduction of the novel rotary valve greatly simplifies the structure and reduces the cost of the proposed endoscope. With low cost and high portability, this endoscope provides a good alternative for early gastric cancer screening in low- and middle-income areas.

Heart Attack Prediction Using Arduino

Nowadays several folks are mislaying their lives because of coronary heart assault and absence of clinical interest to affected person at accurate level. Hence, on this mission we're imposing coronary heart assault prediction device with the use of Arduino. The first level of coronary heart assault is surprising change in coronary heart beat. Suddenly it is going too excessive or too low. At this level we predict the coronary heart assault by the means of an Arduino and a coronary heart beat sensor, then will inject drug into the body, by means of controlling vale or pump which can be positioned at the center of drug hose. Now controlling coronary heart assault is quicker less difficult and predictable. In this mission coronary heart beat sensor can be connected to affected person's body and ship the coronary heart beat to the Arduino. Now it assesses the values and if the values aren’t always regular then the step motor that manage the drug will rotate and will increase the drug flow. For controlling the quantity of drug to be injected to an affected person's body, we use a step motor.

Integrating Step Motor Movement Half-Step and Full-Step by Labview

This paper represents the performance of placement control of step motor (Brushless DC electric motor) using LabVIEW. Step motors are Applicable in many industries and factories where accurate control of motor position is necessary. In this work, half step and full step manner of step motor control is implemented. The experiment outcome show that half step manner makes an angle of 0.6 degree per step (300 steps), considering full step makes 1.2 degree per step (150 steps). With LabVIEW the arrangement has friendly communication, better control result and uncomplicated control in both ways.

Development of an exoskeleton for the rehabilitation of the flexo-extensor movement of the elbow

In this research work, the development of an electro-mechanical device for the rehabilitation of the flexor-extensor movement of the elbow with rehabilitative potential is presented. For the development of this prototype, an elbow joint was designed and built which allows movements from 0 ° to 120 °. The design of the gear system was carried out using Solid Edge software from a previous selection of the step motor that offered enough torque to achieve flexion and extension of the elbow, then for the construction of this system a 3D printing was used in PLA. This system was coupled to a hinged arm stabilizer system. The prototype is operated from a software application on Android using the IDE MITapp inventor, which sends the desired angulation to an Arduino device which implements a digital control system. To improve the perception of exoskeleton therapy, a telerehabilitation software application was developed using IDE processing and a Kinect body recognition device, which guides the patient in an interactive therapy where they perform the rehabilitation of flexion and extension movement by guiding a virtual object from one angle to another.

Fast Fabrication of Nanostructured Films Using Nanocolloid Lithography and UV Soft Mold Roller Embossing: Effects of Processing Parameters

We report the fabrication of nanofeatured polymeric films using nanosphere lithography and ultraviolet (UV) soft-mold roller embossing and show an illuminative example of their application to solar cells. To prepare the nanofeatured template, polystyrene nanocolloids of two distinct sizes (900 and 300 nm) were overlaid on silicon substrates using a spin coater. A lab-made soft-mold roller embossing device equipped with a UV light source was adopted. A casting method was employed to replicate the nanofeatured template onto polydimethylsiloxane, which was used as the soft mold. During the embossing procedure, the roller was driven by a step motor and compressed the UV-curable resin against the glass substrate to form the nanofeatured layer, which was subsequently cured by UV radiation. Polymer films with nanoscaled features were thus obtained. The influence of distinct processing variables on the reproducibility of the nanofeatured films was explored. The empirical outcomes demonstrate that UV soft-mold roller embossing offers a simple yet potent way of producing nanofeatured films.