In this paper, a novel omnidirectional vehicle with anisotropic friction wheels is presented. The proposed wheel has a series of bendable “nodes” on its circumference, each of which is made of two materials with differing friction properties: one material exhibits high friction, and the other exhibits low friction. The high friction section of the node generates a high traction force, while the...

Motivated by several open questions on triangulations and pseudotriangulations, we give closed form expressions for the number of triangulations and the number of minimum pseudo-triangulations of n points in wheel configurations, that is, with n − 1 in convex position. Although the numbers of triangulations and pseudotriangulations vary depending on the placement of the interior point, their di...

Direct Yaw moment Control systems (DYC) can maintain the vehicle in the driver’s desired path by distributing the asymmetric longitudinal forces and the generation of the Control Yaw Moment (CYM). In order to achieve the superior control performance, intelligent usage of lateral forces is also required. The lateral wheel forces have an indirect effect on the CYM and based upon their directio...

We define the notion of circular words, then consider on such words a constraint derived from the Fibonacci condition. We give several results on the structure of these circular words, then mention possible applications to various situations: periodic expansion of numbers in numeration systems, “gcd-property” of integer sequences, partition of the prefix of the fixed point of the Fibonacci subs...

Two model independent solutions to the problem of controlling wheel-based mobile platforms are proposed. These two algorithms are based on a so called virtual vehicle approach, where the motion of the reference point on the desired trajectory is governed by a differential equation containing error feedback. This, combined with the fact that the proven stable control algorithms are basically pro...

1.6L OHV “KENT” ENGINE Open-wheel racing enthusiasts associate this overhead valve design with the long-lived international Formula Ford series, the starting point for many professional drivers. Most of the combustion chamber is in a dished piston, where the mating cylinder head face is nearly flat. Production for European models (Cortina, Capri and Fiesta) is now phased out. Ford Racing sold n...

External perception based on vision plays a critical role in developing improved and robust localization algorithms, as well as gaining important information about the vehicle and the terrain it is traversing. This paper presents two novel methods for rough terrain-mobile robots, using visual input. The first method consists of a stereovision algorithm for real-time 6DoF ego-motion estimation. ...

Desiccant wheels are widely used in buildings to control humidity and reduce energy consumption. A model is presented based on transient coupled heat and mass transfer, to model, design and analyze the effects of geometrical characteristics of a honeycombed rotary desiccant wheel and its performance. Governing equations are solved numerically using finite volume method and the model is validate...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of obesity, alcoholic beverage consumption, unhealthy alcohol use and sudden sleep onset at the wheel among Italian truck drivers. In addition to prevalence rates, this study also aimed at investigating potential predictors for sudden-onset sleepiness and obesity. MATERIAL AND METHODS A sample of truck drivers was extracted fr...