A common mobile robot design consists of three ‘omniwheels’ arranged at the vertices of an equilateral triangle, with wheel axles aligned with the rays from the center of the triangle to each wheel. Omniwheels, like standard wheels, are driven by the motors in a direction perpendicular to the wheel axle, but unlike standard wheels, can slip in a direction parallel to the axle. Unlike a steered ...

BACKGROUND While cyclists and pedestrians are known to be at significant risk for severe injuries when exposed to road traffic accidents (RTA) involving trucks, little is known about RTA injury risk for truck drivers. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to analyze the injury severity in truck drivers following RTAs. PATIENTS AND METHODS Our local accident research unit prospectively docume...

BACKGROUND Concerns were raised about the possibility of a high prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms in a truck assembly plant. AIM The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms in a group of truck assembly workers. METHOD A cross-sectional study of 461 truck assembly workers was carried out using a modified version of the Nordic questionnaire and the...

Abstract: Each year more than 40,000 people die as a result of highway crashes, and 1 in 8 of those fatalities involve commercial motor vehicles. USDOT has set an ambitious goal of a 50 percent reduction in truck-related facilities by the end of this decade. Meeting that goal will involve finding ways of improving the performance of all elements of the system – the driver, the roadway, and the ...

freight service is reinvested in passenger service improvements. The freight carrier, in shifting goods from trucks to rail, can potentially benefit from (a) more reliable travel times for goods, particularly during periods of nonrecurrent congestion, (b) cheaper transport costs, and (c) fewer truck accidents. Society may benefit from reduced truck traffic through reductions in (a) harmful gree...

An analysis of Victorian truck rollover crashes using data from the VicRoads Road Crash Information System database and National Transport Insurance (NTI) was undertaken for 2003 to 2007. Recommendations for reducing the frequency and severity of truck rollover crashes were made based on the analyses and supported by relevant literature. The Victorian crash data indicated that of all truck cras...

The US coal mining industry consumes approximately 142 billion kWh per year of energy. The US Department of Energy estimates that the industry‟s annual energy consumption can be reduced by 49% (24.6 billion kWh/year by using currently available best practices and a further 44.8 billion kWh/year with more research). This constitutes nearly $3.7 billion of potential savings on coal production cos...

This paper is a survey about of the Truck and Trailer Routing Problem. The Truck and Trailer Routing Problem is an extension of the well-known Vehicle Routing Problem. Defined recently, this problem consists in designing the optimal set of routes for fleet of vehicles (trucks and trailers) in order to serve a given set of geographically dispersed customers. Since TTRP itself is a very difficult...

OBJECTIVE To analyze factors associated with the use of stimulants by truck drivers to stay awake. METHODS A survey with 854 drivers was carried out at eight truck stops (seven gas stations and one border patrol post) located at five cities in the State of Rio Grande do Sul (Southern Brazil) in 2006. The outcome "amphetamine use" was categorized as "yes" or "no". Poisson regression analysis w...

Trucking fleets and owners of commercial vehicles utilize both new and retread tires on their vehicles in the United States. Retread tires are used primarily for the cost advantage they provide over a similar new tire. Despite the advantages that retreaded tires may bring, public perception is that retread tires are less safe than new tires as evidenced by the amount of tire debris frequently f...