Robotic Dreams, Robotic Realities [From the Editor's Desk]

Musings from the Editors' Desk

From Robotic Juggling to Robotic Parts Feeding

This paper describes our recent work on robotic manipulation using a robot with just one motor. The drift field provided by gravity can serve as an uncontrolled motor to allow a single-motor robot to throw objects to itself, a simple type of robotic juggling. Similarly, the drift field provided by a conveyor belt can serve as an uncontrolled motor to allow a single-motor robot to feed parts in ...

On a Moving Base Robotic Manipulator Dynamics

There are many occasions where the base of a robotic manipulator is attached to a moving platform, such as on a moving ship, terrain or space shuttle. In this paper a dynamic model of a robotic manipulator mounted on a moving base is derived using both Newton-Euler and Lagrange-Euler methods. The presented models are simulated for a Mitsubishi PA10-6CE robotic manipulator characteristics mounte...

Discrete-time repetitive optimal control: Robotic manipulators

This paper proposes a discrete-time repetitive optimal control of electrically driven robotic manipulators using an uncertainty estimator. The proposed control method can be used for performing repetitive motion, which covers many industrial applications of robotic manipulators. This kind of control law is in the class of torque-based control in which the joint torques are generated by permanen...

History of Industrial Biotransformations – Dreams and Realities

Throughout the history of mankind, microorganisms have been of enormous social and economic importance. Without even being aware of their existence, very early on in history man was using them in the production of food and beverages. The Sumerians and Babylonians were practising the brewing of beer before 6000BC, references to wine making can be found in the Book of Genesis and the Egyptians us...