scholarly journals Energy Efficiency of a Quadruped Robot with Neuro-Inspired Control in Complex Environments

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 433
Author(s):  
Paolo Arena ◽  
Luca Patanè ◽  
Salvatore Taffara

This paper proposes an analysis of the energy efficiency of a small quadruped robotic structure, designed based on the MIT Mini Cheetah, controlled using a central pattern generator based on the FitzHugh–Nagumo neuron. The robot’s performance evaluated on structurally complex terrain in a dynamic simulation environment is compared with other robotic structures on wheels and with hybrid architectures. The energy cost involved in carrying out an assigned task involving the need to traverse uneven terrain is calculated as a relevant index to be taken into account. In particular, simple control strategies impacting the leg trajectories are taken into account as the main factors affecting the energy efficiency in different terrain configurations. The adaptation of the leg trajectories is evaluated depending on the terrain characteristics, improving the locomotion performance.

Management ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-104
Author(s):  
Оlena Nifatova

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES. Energy efficiency and energy saving are the priority direction of science, technology and engineering development in Ukraine. The policy of energy saving, carried out all over the world, is directed to all branches and scientific researches in all spheres. The big consumer of energy resources is the higher school. Updating of normative-legal and technical base aimed at design and operation of buildings with low energy consumption and high energy efficiency class shows the necessity of short-term solution of the problem. At the same time, there is a lack of a systemic view of energy efficiency, which does not allow evaluating the level of energy costs throughout the life cycle of higher education institutions, which shows the need to find effective solutions to the problem.METHODS. Multiple regression equation was used to assess the influence of factors on electricity consumption and energy efficiency of Kyiv National University of Technologies and Design, statistical analysis of the obtained data was performed.FINDINGS. As a result it was found out that the data of electricity consumption do not obey the law of normal distribution, so it is difficult to build an accurate prediction of electricity consumption. The use of HAB knowledge on energy efficiency allowed a more qualitative analysis and highlighted the main factors affecting electricity consumption. The university has unregulated central heating, individual air conditioning systems, and central and individual lighting. In this regard, we selected the following main factors: average outdoor air temperature, average duration of daylight hours, heating period, average number of people working per day, during the month to conduct energy monitoring and energy audit of university buildings.CONCLUSION. Implementation of suggested scheme of structural organization of typical system of automatic accounting of university energy consumption on the basis of university HUB of energy efficiency knowledge: server, allowing to collect, store and process data; routers by means of various wire and wireless communication technologies; hubs, installed on the objects of energy consumption; workstations, which are personal computers with installed software of used HUB will allow to optimize energy consumption.


2012 ◽  
Vol 479-481 ◽  
pp. 2403-2406
Author(s):  
Hui Wei ◽  
Mei Shuai ◽  
Zhong Yu Wang

In this paper, a novel design of humanoid robot foot is proposed for uneven terrain walking. The proposed foot occupies 8-DOF, 4-DOF for pitch motions and 4-DOF for roll motions. To adapt to complex terrain with high energy efficiency, passive springs are placed at passive joints. The designed 8-DOF robot foot can absorb the influence of irregularities on the ground and unexpected disturbances. Through walking experiments, we confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed foot that maintained locomotion on uneven terrain with bump.


2010 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarzyna J. Chwedorzewska

ABSTRACTThe geographic position, astronomic factors (e.g. the Earth’s maximum distance from the Sun during winter), ice cover and altitude are the main factors affecting the climate of the Antarctic, which is the coldest place on Earth. Parts of Antarctica are facing the most rapid rates of anthropogenic climate change currently seen on the planet. Climate changes are occurring throughout Antarctica, affecting three major groups of environmental variables of considerable biological significance: temperature, water, UV-B radiation.Low diversity ecosystems are expected to be more vulnerable to global changes than high diversity ecosystems


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu-Wei Cui ◽  
Liang-Yu Chen ◽  
Xin-Xin Liu

Abstract:: Thanks to their excellent corrosion resistance, superior mechanical properties and good biocompatibility, titanium (Ti) and Ti alloys are extensively applied in biomedical fields. Pitting corrosion is a critical consideration for the reliability of Ti and Ti alloys used in the human body. Therefore, this article focuses on the pitting corrosion of Ti and Ti alloys, which introduces the growth stages of pitting corrosion and its main influencing factors. Three stages, i.e. (1) breakdown of passive film, (1) metastable pitting, and (3) propagation of pitting, are roughly divided to introduce the pitting corrosion. As reviewed, corrosive environment, applied potential, temperature and alloy compositions are the main factors affecting the pitting corrosion of Ti and Ti alloys. Moreover, the pitting corrosion of different types Ti alloys are also reviewed to correlate the types of Ti alloys and the main factors of pitting corrosion. Roughly speaking, β-type Ti alloys have the best pitting corrosion resistance among the three types of Ti alloys.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (13) ◽  
pp. 3852
Author(s):  
Daniel Plörer ◽  
Sascha Hammes ◽  
Martin Hauer ◽  
Vincent van Karsbergen ◽  
Rainer Pfluger

A significant proportion of the total energy consumption in office buildings is attributable to lighting. Enhancements in energy efficiency are currently achieved through strategies to reduce artificial lighting by intelligent daylight utilization. Control strategies in the field of daylighting and artificial lighting are mostly rule-based and focus either on comfort aspects or energy objectives. This paper aims to provide an overview of published scientific literature on enhanced control strategies, in which new control approaches are critically analysed regarding the fulfilment of energy efficiency targets and comfort criteria simultaneously. For this purpose, subject-specific review articles from the period between 2015 and 2020 and their research sources from as far back as 1978 are analysed. Results show clearly that building controls increasingly need to address multiple trades to achieve a maximum improvement in user comfort and energy efficiency. User acceptance can be highlighted as a decisive factor in achieving targeted system efficiencies, which are highly determined by the ability of active user interaction in the automatic control system. The future trend is moving towards decentralized control concepts including appropriate occupancy detection and space zoning. Simulation-based controls and learning systems are identified as appropriate methods that can play a decisive role in reducing building energy demand through integral control concepts.


SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 215824402198925
Author(s):  
Isidoro Guzmán-Raja ◽  
Manuela Guzmán-Raja

Professional football clubs have a special characteristic not shared by other types of companies: their sport performance (on the field) is important, in addition to their financial performance (off the field). The aim of this paper is to calculate an efficiency measure using a model that combines performance (sport and economic) based on data envelopment analysis (DEA). The main factors affecting teams’ efficiency levels are investigated using cluster analysis. For a sample of Spanish football clubs, the findings indicate that clubs achieved a relatively high efficiency level for the period studied, and that the oldest teams with the most assets had the highest efficiency scores. These results could help club managers to improve the performance of their teams.


Processes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 741
Author(s):  
Doinita-Roxana Cioroiu Tirpan ◽  
Ancaelena Eliza Sterpu ◽  
Claudia Irina Koncsag ◽  
Alina Georgiana Ciufu ◽  
Tănase Dobre

The aim of this study is to evaluate the potential of dried Cystoseira barbata alga for ethanol production through alcoholic fermentation. The influence of the main factors affecting the fermentation are studied in the frame of a 23 factorial experimental plan. The main factors influencing the process are the fermentation temperature (t from 25 °C to 35 °C), the solid to liquid ratio (S/L from 0.040 g/g to 0.080 g/g), and the cellulase ratio (R from 8 U/g d.m to 16 U/g d.m.). The maximum volatile compounds yield of 0.2808 g/g d.m and ethanol yield of 0.0158 g/g d.m were favored by the following experimental conditions: process temperature of 35 °C, solid to liquid ratio of 0.0415, and enzyme ratio of 16 U/g d.m. A statistical model was used to correlate the product yield with the process factors. Additionally, 19 interesting bioactive compounds were found in the enzymatic hydrolysis and alcoholic fermentation broths which seem likely to maintain natural defence mechanisms against diseases and physical disorders.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Gong ◽  
Aikmu Bilixzi ◽  
Xinmei Wang ◽  
Yanli Lu ◽  
Li Wan ◽  
...  

Abstract Background It’s necessary to investigate the serum β-trophin and endostatin (ES) level and its influencing factors in patients with newly diagnosed polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Methods Newly diagnosed PCOS patients treated in our hospital were selected, and healthy women who took physical examination during the same period as healthy controls. We detected and compared the related serum indicators between two groups, Pearson correlation were conducted to identify the factors associated with β-trophin and ES, and the influencing factors of β-trophin and ES were analyzed by logistic regression. Results A total of 62 PCOS patients and 65 healthy controls were included. The BMI, WHI, LH, FSH, TT, FAI, FBG, FINS, HOMA-IR, TC, TG, LDL, ES in PCOS patients were significantly higher than that of healthy controls, while the SHBG and HDL in PCOS patients were significantly lower than that of healthy controls (all p < 0.05). β-trophin was closely associated with BMI (r = 0.427), WHR (r = 0.504), FBG (r = 0.385), TG (r = 0.405) and LDL (r = 0.302, all p < 0.05), and ES was closely associated with BMI (r = 0.358), WHR (r = 0.421), FBG (r = 0.343), TC (r = 0.319), TG (r = 0.404, all p < 0.05). TG, BMI, WHR and FBG were the main factors affecting the serum β-trophin levels (all p < 0.05). FBG, TC and BMI were the main factors affecting the serum ES levels (all p < 0.05). The TG, β-trophin, ES level in PCOS patients with insulin resistance (IR) were significantly higher than that of those without IR (all p < 0.05). Conclusion Increased β-trophin is closely associated with increased ES in patients with PCOS, which may be the useful indicators for the management of PCOS.


2012 ◽  
Vol 170-173 ◽  
pp. 706-709
Author(s):  
Zhao Lin Jia ◽  
Shu Wang Yan ◽  
Zhi Liang Huo

By means of laboratory tests and theoretical calculation, the physical, mechanical properties and compaction mechanism of the wind-blown sand are studied to deal with the problem of how to use the wind-blown sand as roadbed materials. It is revealed that water content doesn’t affect the compressibility and the shear strength of the wind-blown sand obviously and the wind-blown sand can be compacted both in dry and wet conditions. The compaction curve of the ordinary fine sand is consistent with that of wind-blown sand and the main factors affecting the compaction properties are the grain composition, water content and compaction work.


2011 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 420-431 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula Vera ◽  
Margarita Aznar ◽  
Peter Mercea ◽  
Cristina Nerín

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document