Waste tank Cleanup is a current application area for robotics in the United States. As a result of tank access restrictions, (e.g., limited number and size of manholes), designs for several current waste Cleanup manipulator systems have long links with small cross-sections and variable lengths. In addition, as a result of anticipated payload capacity, these manipulator designs are hydraulically...

Establishing a persistent presence in the ocean with an AUV to observe temporal variability of large-scale ocean processes requires a unique sensor platform. In this paper, we propose a strategy that utilizes ocean model predictions to increase the autonomy and control of Lagrangian or profiling floats for precisely this purpose. An A* planner is applied to a local controllability map generated...

We present the design, fabrication and characterization of a novel microvalve realized by combining micro and fine machining techniques. The design is for high flow rates at high pressure difference between inlet and outlet, burst pressure of up to 15 bars, there is no power consumption required for the valve to maintain its position during operation in any intermediate state and the process ga...

In this paper, we propose a novel type of serial robot with minimal actuation. The robot is a serial rigid structure consisting of multiple links connected by passive joints and of movable actuators. The novelty of this robot is that the actuators travel over the links to a given joint and adjust the relative angle between the two adjacent links. The joints passively preserve their angles until...

Coordinated actuated traffic signal systems have been widely deployed in urban and suburban areas as they provide progression along the major corridors. However, it has been often observed that uncoordinated cross street movements experience higher delay under the coordinated actuated signal systems due to their inability to adjust maximum green times (or force-off points). A few studies mentio...

This article presents recent developments in actuated musical instruments created by the authors, who also describe an ecosystemic model of actuated performance activities that blur traditional boundaries between the physical and virtual elements of musical interfaces. Actuated musical instruments are physical instruments that have been endowed with virtual qualities controlled by a computer in...

A Furuta pendulum is a serial connection of two thin, rigid links, where the first link is actuated by a vertical control torque while it is constrained to rotate in a horizontal plane; the second link is not actuated. The second link of the conventional Furuta pendulum is constrained to rotate in a vertical plane orthogonal to the first link, under the influence of gravity. Methods of geometri...

The direct position analysis (DPA) of a manipulator is the computation of the end-effector poses (positions and orientations) compatible with assigned values of the actuated-joint variables. Assigning the actuated-joint variables corresponds to considering the actuated joints locked, which makes the manipulator a structure. The solutions of the DPA of a manipulator one to one correspond to the ...