Corrugated Diaphragm Actuator for Soft Robotic and Exoskeleton Applications

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veysel Erel ◽  
Alexandra R. Lindsay ◽  
Inderjeet Singh ◽  
Muthu B. J. Wijesundara
Keyword(s):  
Human Performance ◽  
Linear Displacement ◽  
Repetitive Motion ◽  
Actuator Arrays ◽  
Corrugated Diaphragm ◽  
Robotic Joints ◽  
Displacement Force ◽  
End Effectors ◽  
The Military ◽  
Application Specific

Abstract Soft robotics is projected to have a significant impact on healthcare, industry, and the military to deliver assistance in rehabilitation, daily living activities, repetitive motion tasks, and human performance augmentation. Many attempts have been made for application-specific robotic joints, robots, and exoskeletons using various actuator types, materials, and designs. The progress of creating soft robotic systems can be accelerated if a set of actuators with defined characteristics were developed, similar to conventional robotic actuators, which can be assembled to create desired systems including exoskeletons and end effectors. This work presents such an attempt by designing a modular corrugated diaphragm actuator that can apply linear displacement, force, and bending motion. This modular actuator approach allows for creating various robotic joints by arranging them into different configurations. Numerical simulation, fabrication, and testing were carried out to evaluate the displacement, force, and bending characteristics of the corrugated diaphragm actuator as a single unit and in multi-unit arrays to understand their applicability for different scenarios. Actuator arrays that are configured in a serial and parallel manner were investigated. The results will be presented in terms of using this modular actuator concept to create single and multi-DOF joints, which will demonstrate the versatility of this modular actuator approach.

Corrugated Diaphragm Actuator for Soft Robotic Applications

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Veysel Erel ◽  
Alexandra Lindsay ◽  
Inderjeet Singh ◽  
Muthu Wijesundara
Keyword(s):  
Human Performance ◽  
Angular Displacement ◽  
Linear Displacement ◽  
Repetitive Motion ◽  
Corrugated Diaphragm ◽  
Robotic Joints ◽  
End Effectors ◽  
The Military ◽  
Application Specific ◽  
Testing Linear

Abstract Soft robotics is projected to have a significant impact on healthcare, industry, and the military to deliver assistance in rehabilitation, daily living activities, repetitive motion tasks, and human performance augmentation. Many attempts have been made for application-specific robotic joints, robots, and exoskeletons using various actuator types, materials, and designs. The progress of creating soft robotic systems can be accelerated if a set of actuators with defined characteristics were developed, similar to conventional robotic actuators, which can be assembled to create desired systems including exoskeletons and end effectors. This work presents the design methodology of such a modular actuator, created with a novel corrugated diaphragm that can apply linear displacement, angular displacement, and force. This modular actuator approach allows for creating various robotic joints by arranging them into different configurations. The modular corrugated diaphragm actuator concept was validated through numerical simulation, fabrication, and testing. Linear displacement, angular displacement, and force characteristics were shown for a single module and in multi-module assemblies. Actuator assemblies that are configured in a serial and parallel manner were investigated to demonstrate the applicability and versatility of the concept of the modular corrugated diaphragm actuator for creating single and multi-DOF joints.

Human Performance Optimization

Head Strong ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 78-98
Author(s):  
Michael D. Matthews
Keyword(s):  
Human Physiology ◽  
Performance Optimization ◽  
Human Performance ◽  
Substantial Reduction ◽  
Leader Development ◽  
Us Army ◽  
Military Forces ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Military ◽  
Near Future

Budgetary constraints and emerging advances in weapons technology have resulted in a substantial reduction in the sizes of contemporary military forces. The US Army, at less than 500,000 soldiers, is a fraction of its size of a generation ago, yet the demands for it to deploy in a variety of missions around the globe have only increased. This chapter reviews current and emerging strategies that may aid in optimizing soldier performance. Developments in human physiology, genetics, nutrition, neurotechnology, sleep, noncognitive amplifiers, and leader development are described. Currently available strategies are identified, as are approaches to human performance optimization that are likely to emerge in the near future. Extrapolations of human performance optimization protocols to other contexts beyond the military are considered.

A Fuzzy-Based Approach to Support Decision Making in Complex Military Environments

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy P. Hanratty ◽  
E. Allison Newcomb ◽  
Robert J. Hammell II ◽  
John T. Richardson ◽  
Mark R. Mittrick
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Cyber Security ◽  
Human Performance ◽  
Performance Model ◽  
Military Intelligence ◽  
Conceptual Information ◽  
System Architectures ◽  
Cyber Intelligence ◽  
Soft Computing Techniques ◽  
The Military

Data for military intelligence operations are increasing at astronomical rates. As a result, significant cognitive and temporal resources are required to determine which information is relevant to a particular situation. Soft computing techniques, such as fuzzy logic, have recently been applied toward decision support systems to support military intelligence analysts in selecting relevant and reliable data within the military decision making process. This article examines the development of one such system and its evaluation using a constructive simulation and human performance model to provided critical understanding of how this conceptual information system might interact with personnel, organizational, and system architectures. In addition, similarities between military intelligence analysts and cyber intelligence analysts are detailed along with a plan for transitioning the current fuzzy-based system to the cyber security domain.

scholarly journals Viewpoint: When Will AI Exceed Human Performance? Evidence from AI Experts

2018 ◽  
Vol 62 ◽  
pp. 729-754 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katja Grace ◽  
John Salvatier ◽  
Allan Dafoe ◽  
Baobao Zhang ◽  
Owain Evans
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Machine Learning ◽  
High School ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Human Performance ◽  
Health Science ◽  
Modern Life ◽  
North Americans ◽  
Large Survey ◽  
The Military

Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) will transform modern life by reshaping transportation, health, science, finance, and the military. To adapt public policy, we need to better anticipate these advances. Here we report the results from a large survey of machine learning researchers on their beliefs about progress in AI. Researchers predict AI will outperform humans in many activities in the next ten years, such as translating languages (by 2024), writing high-school essays (by 2026), driving a truck (by 2027), working in retail (by 2031), writing a bestselling book (by 2049), and working as a surgeon (by 2053). Researchers believe there is a 50% chance of AI outperforming humans in all tasks in 45 years and of automating all human jobs in 120 years, with Asian respondents expecting these dates much sooner than North Americans. These results will inform discussion amongst researchers and policymakers about anticipating and managing trends in AI. This article is part of the special track on AI and Society.

scholarly journals Human Performance Envelope Model Study Using Pilot’s Measured Parameters

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 49-61
Author(s):  
Alina-Ioana CHIRA ◽  
Anamaria DUMITRESCU ◽  
Catalin Sever MOISOIU ◽  
Cristian-Alexandru TANASE
Keyword(s):  
Standardized Tests ◽  
Human Performance ◽  
Human Factor ◽  
Aerospace Industry ◽  
High Impact ◽  
Model Study ◽  
Envelope Model ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Application Specific ◽  
Performance Envelope

Taking into consideration that nowadays the aerospace industry focuses a lot on safety, more durable and stable systems are developed. While the system itself is safer, there is another element that can have a high impact on the overall safety of a flight, namely the human factor. Pilot physiological parameters were measured during a full flight in a fixed cockpit environment using application-specific equipment. The recorded or calculated parameters are used to compute a performance envelope model with the scope of determining the degradation of the pilot’s condition during different flight phases or events. Several standardized tests were realized/performed on subjects who were given flight instructions before the test, without knowing beforehand the scenario and events that will occur/take place. This study helps in identifying the limits of pilots in different flight scenarios and the impact on their presumed performance.

EMERGING RECOMMENDATIONS FOR INITIAL AUTOMATED TARGET RECOGNITION (ATR) DISPLAY CONSIDERATIONS: Implications for Concept Development and Evaluation

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriella Brick Larkin ◽  
Michael Geuss ◽  
Alfred Brian Yu ◽  
Joe Rexwinkle ◽  
Chloe Callahan-Flintoft ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Performance ◽  
Intelligent System ◽  
Target Recognition ◽  
Automatic Target Recognition ◽  
Performance Evaluations ◽  
Target Class ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Information Display ◽  
The Military ◽  
Relevant Domain

In light of the Army’s intent to leverage advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) for augmenting dismounted Soldier Lethality through the development of in-scope and Heads-Up Display (HUD)-based Automatic Target Recognition (ATR) systems, the Combat Capabilities Development Command U. S. Army Research Laboratory’s Human Research and Engineering Directorate (CCDC-ARL/HRED) has identified several critical gaps that must be addressed in order to effectively team the Soldier with ATR for the desired augmented Lethality. One of these areas pertains to the way in which ATR is displayed and requires a thorough understanding and leveraging of relevant cognitive processes that will enable use of this technology. Additionally, insufficient consideration of perceptual, attentional, and cognitive capabilities increases the risk of burdening the Soldier with excessive, unnecessary, or distracting representations of information, which may impede Lethality rather than augment it. HRED’s planned and ongoing research is intended to develop novel mechanisms through which Soldiers teamed with ATR will perform more adaptively and effectively than either the Soldier or the intelligent system could accomplish individually. Based on HRED’s significant expertise in the cognitive sciences, coupled with familiarity with the military-relevant domain spaces, the following initial recommendations for ATR information display requirements are made:1.ATR highlighting should leverage a non-binary display schema to continuously encode threat information (e.g., target class/identity, uncertainty, and prioritization).2.ATR highlighting should be integrated with the target itself instead of functioning as a discrete feature of the display (i.e., highlight the target rather than highlighting a region with the target inside).3.Information about threat certainty or classification confidence (which can also include priority) should be embedded into ATR highlighting.4.Yellow highlights may offer advantages for display5.Changing information (e.g., target certainty) should be accomplished through formation or modification of highlight gradients rather than sudden changes in the display.6.Human performance evaluations of ATR should consider the incorporation of changing threat states and contexts into scenarios for more relevant findings.7.Human performance evaluations of ATR should consider the incorporation of uncued (non-highlighted) targets and miscued targets (false identifications; e.g. ATR identifies non-threat as threat) for more relevant findings.

Head Strong

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael D. Matthews
Keyword(s):  
Performance Optimization ◽  
Human Performance ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
First Century ◽  
Military Psychology ◽  
Military Leaders ◽  
Sports Teams ◽  
Breaking News ◽  
New Material ◽  
The Military

Since the publication of the first edition of Head Strong: How Psychology Is Revolutionizing War in 2014, developments in military psychology have been rapid and important—so much so that this revised edition is necessary to accurately capture the vital role that psychology continues to play in twenty-first-century military success. The ideas contained in the first edition influenced emerging doctrine in the Army’s Human Dimension and informed military leaders around the globe of ways that psychological science and practice may be leveraged to improve combat effectiveness. Many of the predictions made in the first edition have come true, and new and exciting products of military psychology now offer novel ways of impacting military outcomes. This revised edition of Head Strong updates the 13 chapters included in the first edition with breaking news in military psychology and adds new material to augment those chapters. Two entirely new chapters are included in this edition. The first focuses on human performance optimization. It captures rapid developments in psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and other disciplines that may help the military optimize soldier and unit performance. The second dives deeply into character and discusses how to measure it, how to develop it, and how character plays a vital role in the performance of individual soldiers and their units. Like the other topics in Head Strong, these two new chapters have significant applicability to nonmilitary organizations including schools, corporations, and sports teams.

Optimizing Human Performance

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Michael D. Matthews ◽  
David M. Schnyer
Keyword(s):  
Performance Optimization ◽  
Financial Constraints ◽  
Human Performance ◽  
Employee Performance ◽  
Initial Study ◽  
Training Requirements ◽  
Mission Success ◽  
Worker Performance ◽  
Civilian Employees ◽  
The Military

In an increasingly complex and fast-paced world, organizations must develop strategies to enhance or optimize worker performance in order to achieve their goals. This is especially true, for example, in the military, where highly skilled and competent personnel are needed, and where, because of lengthy training requirements and financial constraints, getting the most out of its existing soldiers and civilian employees is critical to mission success. Therefore, in many ways the military serves as the best model to understand how humans, when required to go well beyond common capabilities, can optimally function in extreme circumstances. This chapter describes the origins of an Army study to investigate human performance optimization (HPO), the results of that initial study, and introduces the topics included in the current volume that speak to scientifically grounded strategies that may enable the Army and other organizations to optimize the cognitive, physical, and social aspects of employee performance. The topics included in this book are relevant to organizations and individuals that seek to remain competitive by achieving HPO.

Risk Assessment In The Military: A Work/Rest Schedule-Based Tool For The Usn Surface Fleet

2021 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 1588-1592
Author(s):  
Ana Veronica Y. Badua ◽  
Nita Lewis Shattuck ◽  
Panagiotis Matsangas
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Human Performance ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Long Working Hours ◽  
Performance Risk ◽  
Safety Risks ◽  
The Military ◽  
Scheduling Management

Long working hours, 24/7 shift work, restricted sleep opportunities, and circadian misalignment all lead to degraded human performance and impairments in decision making. After several mishaps involving U.S. Navy warships in 2017, renewed attention was devoted to optimizing warfighter performance and reducing safety risks associated with crew endurance and fatigue issues. This paper summarizes the development and initial evaluation of the Scheduling Management Aid for Risk Tracking (SMART) prototype. SMART is a human performance risk assessment tool designed to help the U.S. Navy systematically assess and mitigate risk due to crew fatigue during in port and at-sea operations. The heuristics underlying the prototype are selected to identify and quantify human performance risk based on a Sailor’s work and rest patterns. The results are designed to enable data-driven crew resource management decisions, take targeted fatigue mitigation actions, and rapidly calculate human performance risks.

A Current Review of Human Factors and Ergonomic Intervention With Exoskeletons

2018 ◽  
pp. 217-246
Author(s):  
Thomas M. Schnieders ◽  
Richard T. Stone
Keyword(s):  
Human Performance ◽  
Emergency Services ◽  
Upper Body ◽  
Space Applications ◽  
Current Trends ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Military ◽  
And Training ◽  
A Current

Research and development of exoskeletons began as early as the 1960s. Recent advancement in technology has spurred a further research into the field specifically at rehabilitation and human performance augmentation. Human performance augmenting exoskeletons find use in the military, emergency services, industrial and space applications, and training. Rehabilitation exoskeletons assist in posture support and replacing lost function. Exoskeleton research is broadly broken up in this chapter by anthropometry: lower body, upper body, and extremities. The development for various anthropometry has their own unique set of challenges. This chapter provides a brief history, discusses current trends in research, looks at some of the technology involved in development, the potential benefits of using exoskeletons, and looks at the possible future improvements in research.

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