scholarly journals Wearable Actuators: An Overview

Author(s):  
Yu Chen ◽  
Yiduo Yang ◽  
Mengjiao Li ◽  
Erdong Chen ◽  
Weilei Mu ◽  
...  

The booming wearable market and recent advances in material science has led to the rapid development of the various wearable sensors, actuators, and devices that can be worn, embedded in fabric or accessories, or tattoos directly onto the skin. Wearable actuators, a subcategory of wearable technology, have attracted enormous interest from researchers in various disciplines and many wearable actuators and devices have been developed in the past few decades to assist and improve people's everyday lives. In this paper, we review the actuation mechanisms, structures, applications, and limitations of recently developed wearable actuators including pneumatic and hydraulic actuators, shape memory alloys and polymers, thermal and hygroscopic materials, dielectric elastomers, ionic and conducting polymers, piezoelectric actuators, electromagnetic actuators, liquid crystal elastomers, etc. Examples of the recent applications such as wearable soft robots, haptic devices, and personal thermal regulation textiles are highlighted. Finally, we point out the current bottleneck and suggest the prospective future research directions for wearable actuators.

Textiles ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 283-321
Author(s):  
Yu Chen ◽  
Yiduo Yang ◽  
Mengjiao Li ◽  
Erdong Chen ◽  
Weilei Mu ◽  
...  

The booming wearable market and recent advances in material science has led to the rapid development of the various wearable sensors, actuators, and devices that can be worn, embedded in fabric, accessorized, or tattooed directly onto the skin. Wearable actuators, a subcategory of wearable technology, have attracted enormous interest from researchers in various disciplines and many wearable actuators and devices have been developed in the past few decades to assist and improve people’s everyday lives. In this paper, we review the actuation mechanisms, structures, applications, and limitations of recently developed wearable actuators including pneumatic and hydraulic actuators, shape memory alloys and polymers, thermal and hygroscopic materials, dielectric elastomers, ionic and conducting polymers, piezoelectric actuators, electromagnetic actuators, liquid crystal elastomers, etc. Examples of recent applications such as wearable soft robots, haptic devices, and personal thermal regulation textiles are highlighted. Finally, we point out the current bottleneck and suggest the prospective future research directions for wearable actuators.


Author(s):  
Fei Tao ◽  
Lin Zhang ◽  
Yongkui Liu ◽  
Ying Cheng ◽  
Lihui Wang ◽  
...  

As a new service-oriented manufacturing paradigm, cloud manufacturing (CMfg) has experienced rapid development in the past five years. The research on its theories, key technologies, developments, and applications still keeps attracting attentions from more and more researchers. One of the most important issues to its improvements and quality of service (QoS) is the manufacturing service management (MSM). CMfg aims to realize the full-scale sharing, free circulation and transaction, and on-demand use of various manufacturing resource and capabilities in the form of manufacturing service. Without the effective operation and technical support of MSM, the implementation of CMfg and its aim cannot be achieved. It is therefore necessary to summarize the existing works and technologies on MSM in CMfg. This paper first provides a brief overview of CMfg and then focuses on the problem of MSM in CMfg from the service lifecycle perspective. The advances on MSM technology from eleven aspects are investigated and summarized. Finally, future research directions are identified and discussed. It is evident that the future MSM in CMfg is closely related to Internet of things (IoT), big data, and cloud computing.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Yan ◽  
Wenfeng Zeng ◽  
Zhao Zhang ◽  
Xueqin Luo

With the rapid development of China's economy, the relationship between regional and international development and geographical factors has attracted increasing attention from scholars. This article combs through the literature of China's economic geography in the past three years, trying to summarize the economic geography under the background of China's new economic normal. The development context in each direction provides a reference for possible future research directions.


Author(s):  
Xiaochen Zhang ◽  
Lanxin Hui ◽  
Linchao Wei ◽  
Fuchuan Song ◽  
Fei Hu

Electric power wheelchairs (EPWs) enhance the mobility capability of the elderly and the disabled, while the human-machine interaction (HMI) determines how well the human intention will be precisely delivered and how human-machine system cooperation will be efficiently conducted. A bibliometric quantitative analysis of 1154 publications related to this research field, published between 1998 and 2020, was conducted. We identified the development status, contributors, hot topics, and potential future research directions of this field. We believe that the combination of intelligence and humanization of an EPW HMI system based on human-machine collaboration is an emerging trend in EPW HMI methodology research. Particular attention should be paid to evaluating the applicability and benefits of the EPW HMI methodology for the users, as well as how much it contributes to society. This study offers researchers a comprehensive understanding of EPW HMI studies in the past 22 years and latest trends from the evolutionary footprints and forward-thinking insights regarding future research.


Author(s):  
Mi Jeong Kim ◽  
Xiangyu Wang ◽  
Xingquan Zhu ◽  
Shih-Chung Kang

A growing body of research has shown that Augmented Reality (AR) has the potential to contribute to interaction and visualization for architecture and design. While this emerging technology has only been developed for the past decade, numerous journals and conferences in architecture and design have published articles related to AR. This chapter reviews 44 articles on AR especially related to the architecture and design area that were published from 2005 to 2011. Further, this chapter discusses the representative AR research works in terms of four aspects: AR concept, AR implementation, AR evaluation, and AR industry adoption. The chapter draws conclusions about major findings, research issues, and future research directions through the review results. This chapter will be a basis for future research of AR in architecture and design areas.


Author(s):  
Robert S. Friedman ◽  
Desiree M. Roberts ◽  
Jonathan D. Linton

Although the goal of this book is to provide foundational knowledge through indepth consideration of the seminal literature in the technology innovation management field, we now offer some thoughts on integrating the past, present, and future research directions in this field. The underlying theme that holds together the research considered in this book is the tension between the old (current routine) and the new (innovation). Mainstream business and management theory, like economic theory, focuses on the assumption of equilibrium. The study of technology innovation management at its core considers how to manage in the face of dynamics caused by the novelty and uncertainty associated with innovation. The nature of these dynamics can differ depending on a variety of factors. In some cases, the innovation causes smaller disruptions, due either to the magnitude or the nature of its effects. Such changes are often associated with terminology such as continuous, evolutionary, incremental, or sustaining. At other times, the disruptions are quite large, either due to a greater magnitude of change or a substantial difference in the change. These changes are often associated with terms such as discontinuous, disruptive, radical, or revolutionary. A major challenge to technology innovation management research is that the assumption of equilibrium is needed in many cases to allow for sufficient simplification of phenomena to produce generalizable theory and solutions that are tractable and close formed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 425-448
Author(s):  
Valerie Dawn Caines ◽  
Monique F Crane ◽  
Jack Noone ◽  
Barbara Griffin ◽  
Shiksha Datta ◽  
...  

In this article, we focus on the ever-growing numbers of older workers and considerations for workplace practices and policies that make the most from the qualities older workers bring. To begin, we explore the socio-political context examining employment trends for older workers and highlight policies and trends that inform workforce planning. We then extend the discussion of older workers from the perspective of person–environment (P-E) fit, entrepreneurship, resilience and cognitive functioning. Each of these perspectives have received increased research and practitioner attention over the past two decades. They present opportunities to increase our understanding of older people in a workplace context and how to support older workers in a socio-political environment focused on career longevity. We argue that a new national strategy is needed to guide future initiatives and policy development. We propose future research directions and practitioner intervention prospects. JEL Classification: M54


2002 ◽  
Vol 27 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 137-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony H. Winefield

Research on unemployment, underemployment and organisational stress have become major social issues over the past 20 years and have attracted considerable research interest on the part of organisational psychologists both in Australia and overseas. Globalisation has led to restructuring and downsizing in many industrialised societies and a shift, for many workers, from the prospect of secure, long-term employment, to unemployment or inadequate or insecure employment. This paper reviews the research on these topics, discusses their theoretical implications and suggests future research directions.


Author(s):  
Miri Scharf

Relatively little research has examined the grandparent–adult grandchild relationship, although these relationships might play a more significant role than in the past, possibly impacting grandchildren’s development and the adjustment of both parties. This chapter reviews different theoretical perspectives related to this bond and presents the special flavor of this bond during emerging adulthood resulting from the different developmental trajectories of grandparents and grandchildren that mutually influence one another. Empirical findings demonstrating large variation both within and between families regarding frequency of contact and quality of the relations are presented, as well as various contextual and demographic variables that might mediate and moderate these variations. Finally, the importance of studying this bond, future research directions, and possible implications are discussed.


Author(s):  
JC Noble

Semi-arid woodlands are an important part of the Australian landscape and they have been the focus for scientific research by CSIRO since the 1960s. This book reviews that research and sets it in a historical perspective. It examines the development of pastoral science, with particular reference to the farming frontier in western New South Wales, as well as research conducted by CSIRO over the past thirty years aimed at helping manage increasing shrub densities while improving productivity. The author discusses past, current and future research directions and looks at how management perceptions and approaches continue to change as understanding of ecological processes and new strategies evolve.


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