Three-Dimensional Unified Motion Control of a Robotic Standing Wheelchair for Rehabilitation Purposes

Technological advances in recent years have shown interest in the development of robots in the medical field. The integration of robotic systems in areas of assistance and rehabilitation improves the user’s quality of life. In this context, this article presents a proposal for the unified control of a robotic standing wheelchair. Considering primary and secondary tasks as control objectives, the system performs tasks autonomously and the change of position and orientation can be performed at any time. The development of the control scheme was divided in two parts: (i) kinematic controller to solve the desired motion problem; and (ii) dynamic compensation of the standing wheelchair–human system. The design of the two controllers considers the theory of linear algebra, proposing a low computational cost and an asymptotically stable algorithm, without disturbances. The stability and robustness analysis of the system is performed by analyzing the evolution of the control errors in each sampling period. Finally, real experiments of the performance of the developed controller are performed using a built and instrumented standing wheelchair.

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Control-Scheduling Codesign for NCS based Fuzzy Systems

International Journal of Computers Communications & Control ◽

10.15837/ijccc.2018.2.3243 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 13 (2) ◽

pp. 251-267 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Paul Erick Mendez-Monroy ◽

Israel Sanchez Dominguez ◽

Ali Bassam ◽

Oscar May Tzuc

Keyword(s):

Embedded System ◽

Fuzzy Controller ◽

Hybrid Control ◽

Computational Cost ◽

Sampling Period ◽

Networked Control System ◽

Fuzzy Scheduling ◽

The Stability ◽

Scheduler Design ◽

Low Computational Cost

In the present paper, a fuzzy codesign approach is proposed to deal with the controller and scheduler design for a networked control system which is physically distributed with a shared communication network. The proposed fuzzy controller is applied to generate the control with different sampling-actuation periods, the configuration supposes a strict actuation period disappears the jitter. The proposed fuzzy scheduling is designed to select the sampling-actuation period. So, the fuzzy codesign reduces the rate of transmission when the system is stable through the scheduler while the controller adjusts the control signal. The fuzzy codesign guarantees the stability of all the system if the network uncertainties do not exceed an upper bound and is a low computational cost method implemented with an embedded system. An unstable, nonlinear system is used to evaluate the proposed approach and compared to a hybrid control, the results show greater robustness to multiple lost packets and time delays much larger than the sampling period. (This paper is an extension of [20]. Reprinted (partial) and extended, with permission based on License Number 4275590998661 IEEE, from "Electrical Engineering, Computing Science and Automatic Control, 2017 14th International Conference on")

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Multirobot Heterogeneous Control Considering Secondary Objectives

Sensors ◽

10.3390/s19204367 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 19 (20) ◽

pp. 4367

Author(s):

Acosta ◽

Rivera ◽

Andaluz ◽

Garrido

Keyword(s):

Linear Algebra ◽

Computational Cost ◽

Experimental Results ◽

Robotic Systems ◽

Robotic Group ◽

Secondary Tasks ◽

Heterogeneous Robots ◽

High Scalability ◽

The Stability ◽

Low Computational Cost

Cooperative robotics has considered tasks that are executed frequently, maintaining the shape and orientation of robotic systems when they fulfill a common objective, without taking advantage of the redundancy that the robotic group could present. This paper presents a proposal for controlling a group of terrestrial robots with heterogeneous characteristics, considering primary and secondary tasks thus that the group complies with the following of a path while modifying its shape and orientation at any time. The development of the proposal is achieved through the use of controllers based on linear algebra, propounding a low computational cost and high scalability algorithm. Likewise, the stability of the controller is analyzed to know the required features that have to be met by the control constants, that is, the correct values. Finally, experimental results are shown with different configurations and heterogeneous robots, where the graphics corroborate the expected operation of the proposal.

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Experimental investigation and modeling study of the fiber orientation behavior

Engineering Computations ◽

10.1108/ec-12-2019-0571 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Maoyuan Li ◽

Yun Zhang ◽

Shi Zhang ◽

Binkui Hou ◽

Huamin Zhou

Keyword(s):

Fiber Orientation ◽

Integral Transformation ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Numerical Algorithms ◽

Tensile Specimen ◽

Transformation Method ◽

Orientation Behavior ◽

Stable Algorithm ◽

Content Type ◽

The Stability

Purpose The orientation behavior of fiber is of great significance in improving the performance of fiber-reinforced polymer products. Generally, the Folgar–Tucker equation can accurately describe the variation of orientation vector of fiber, whereas the stability of numerical algorithms was the major challenge. This paper aims to propose an accurate, stable algorithm to solve the Folgar–Tucker equation for the fiber orientation behavior. Design/methodology/approach First, the mismatch problem between the strain rate and the pressure field was solved by using the integral transformation method. Then, an accurate, stable algorithm to solve the Folgar–Tucker equation based on the invariant-based optimal fitting method was proposed. The equation was discretized by finite element/finite difference method, and the Lagrange multiplier method was applied to ensure stability. Findings The proposed algorithm is proven to accurately and steadily coincide with the experimental results for different cases, including the fiber orientation behaviors under combined flow field, rectangular sheet, three-dimensional computed tomography imaging of tensile specimen and box cases. Originality/value The fiber orientation behavior during the injection molding can be accurately predicted, which plays a significant role in determining the mechanical properties of products.

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Magneto-gravitational convection in a vertical layer of ferrofluid in a uniform oblique magnetic field

Journal of Fluid Mechanics ◽

10.1017/jfm.2016.231 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 795 ◽

pp. 847-875 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Habibur Rahman ◽

Sergey A. Suslov

Keyword(s):

Magnetic Field ◽

Computational Cost ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Vertical Layer ◽

Gravitational Convection ◽

Magnetic Parameters ◽

Instability Modes ◽

The Stability ◽

Dimensional Instability ◽

Oblique Magnetic Field

The stability of base gravitational convection in a layer of ferrofluid confined between two vertical wide and tall non-magnetic plates, heated from one side, cooled from the other and placed in a uniform oblique external magnetic field is studied. Two distinct mechanisms, thermo-gravitational and thermo-magnetic, are found to be responsible for the appearance of various stationary and wave-like instability modes. The characteristics of all instability modes are investigated as functions of the orientation angles of the applied magnetic field and its magnitude for various values of magnetic parameters when both the thermo-magnetic and gravitational buoyancy mechanisms are active. The original three-dimensional problem is cast in an equivalent two-dimensional form using generalised Squire’s transformations, which significantly reduces a computational cost. Subsequently, full three-dimensional instability patterns are recovered using the inverse Squire’s transformation, and the optimal field and pattern orientations are determined.

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Active attenuation of a trailing vortex inspired by a parabolized stability analysis

Journal of Fluid Mechanics ◽

10.1017/jfm.2018.701 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 855 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Adam M. Edstrand ◽

Yiyang Sun ◽

Peter J. Schmid ◽

Kunihiko Taira ◽

Louis N. Cattafesta

Keyword(s):

Stability Analysis ◽

Unstable Mode ◽

Control Strategies ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Suboptimal Control ◽

Effective Control ◽

Streamwise Vorticity ◽

Control Scheme ◽

Set Up ◽

The Stability

Designing effective control for complex three-dimensional flow fields proves to be non-trivial. Often, intuitive control strategies lead to suboptimal control. To navigate the control space, we use a linear parabolized stability analysis to guide the design of a control scheme for a trailing vortex flow field aft of a NACA0012 half-wing at an angle of attack $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}=5^{\circ }$ and a chord-based Reynolds number $Re=1000$ . The stability results show that the unstable mode with the smallest growth rate (fifth wake mode) provides a pathway to excite a vortex instability, whereas the principal unstable mode does not. Inspired by this finding, we perform direct numerical simulations that excite each mode with body forces matching the shape function from the stability analysis. Relative to the uncontrolled case, the controlled flows show increased attenuation of circulation and peak streamwise vorticity, with the fifth-mode-based control set-up outperforming the principal-mode-based set-up. From these results, we conclude that a rudimentary linear stability analysis can provide key insights into the underlying physics and help engineers design effective physics-based flow control strategies.

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A Liquid Metal Flow Between Two Coaxial Cylinders System

Acta Universitatis Sapientiae Electrical and Mechanical Engineering ◽

10.2478/auseme-2019-0007 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 79-86

Author(s):

Abdelkrim Merah ◽

Ridha Kelaiaia ◽

Faiza Mokhtari

Keyword(s):

Couette Flow ◽

Metal Flow ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Liquid Sodium ◽

Taylor Vortex ◽

Turbulent Regime ◽

Coaxial Cylinders ◽

Concentric Cylinders ◽

Ideal Tool ◽

The Stability

Abstract The Taylor-Couette flow between two rotating coaxial cylinders remains an ideal tool for understanding the mechanism of the transition from laminar to turbulent regime in rotating flow for the scientific community. We present for different Taylor numbers a set of three-dimensional numerical investigations of the stability and transition from Couette flow to Taylor vortex regime of a viscous incompressible fluid (liquid sodium) between two concentric cylinders with the inner one rotating and the outer one at rest. We seek the onset of the first instability and we compare the obtained results for different velocity rates. We calculate the corresponding Taylor number in order to show its effect on flow patterns and pressure field.

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Handheld Laser Scanner Research

Geodesy and Cartography ◽

10.22389/0016-7126-2019-952-10-47-54 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 952 (10) ◽

pp. 47-54

Author(s):

A.V. Komissarov ◽

A.V. Remizov ◽

M.M. Shlyakhova ◽

K.K. Yambaev

Keyword(s):

Point Cloud ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Laser Scanner ◽

Test Site ◽

Optical Systems ◽

Advantages And Disadvantages ◽

Site Survey ◽

Laser Scanners ◽

Three Dimensional Models ◽

The Stability

The authors consider hand-held laser scanners, as a new photogrammetric tool for obtaining three-dimensional models of objects. The principle of their work and the newest optical systems based on various sensors measuring the depth of space are described in detail. The method of simultaneous navigation and mapping (SLAM) used for combining single scans into point cloud is outlined. The formulated tasks and methods for performing studies of the DotProduct (USA) hand-held laser scanner DPI?8X based on a test site survey are presented. The accuracy requirements for determining the coordinates of polygon points are given. The essence of the performed experimental research of the DPI?8X scanner is described, including scanning of a test object at various scanner distances, shooting a test polygon from various scanner positions and building point cloud, repeatedly shooting the same area of the polygon to check the stability of the scanner. The data on the assessment of accuracy and analysis of research results are given. Fields of applying hand-held laser scanners, their advantages and disadvantages are identified.

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Gum Tragacanth (GT): A Versatile Biocompatible Material beyond Borders

Molecules ◽

10.3390/molecules26061510 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 26 (6) ◽

pp. 1510 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Mohammad Ehsan Taghavizadeh Yazdi ◽

Simin Nazarnezhad ◽

Seyed Hadi Mousavi ◽

Mohammad Sadegh Amiri ◽

Majid Darroudi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Tissue Engineering ◽

Food Packaging ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Great Promise ◽

Anionic Polymer ◽

Gum Tragacanth ◽

New Horizons ◽

Tissue Healing ◽

The Stability ◽

Therapeutic Substance

The use of naturally occurring materials in biomedicine has been increasingly attracting the researchers’ interest and, in this regard, gum tragacanth (GT) is recently showing great promise as a therapeutic substance in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. As a polysaccharide, GT can be easily extracted from the stems and branches of various species of Astragalus. This anionic polymer is known to be a biodegradable, non-allergenic, non-toxic, and non-carcinogenic material. The stability against microbial, heat and acid degradation has made GT an attractive material not only in industrial settings (e.g., food packaging) but also in biomedical approaches (e.g., drug delivery). Over time, GT has been shown to be a useful reagent in the formation and stabilization of metal nanoparticles in the context of green chemistry. With the advent of tissue engineering, GT has also been utilized for the fabrication of three-dimensional (3D) scaffolds applied for both hard and soft tissue healing strategies. However, more research is needed for defining GT applicability in the future of biomedical engineering. On this object, the present review aims to provide a state-of-the-art overview of GT in biomedicine and tries to open new horizons in the field based on its inherent characteristics.

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The ICON Single-Column Mode

Atmosphere ◽

10.3390/atmos12070906 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (7) ◽

pp. 906

Author(s):

Ivan Bašták Ďurán ◽

Martin Köhler ◽

Astrid Eichhorn-Müller ◽

Vera Maurer ◽

Juerg Schmidli ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Data Storage ◽

Model Development ◽

Computational Cost ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Shallow Convection ◽

Modeling Framework ◽

Additional Tool ◽

Eddy Simulation ◽

Single Column ◽

Stratocumulus Clouds

The single-column mode (SCM) of the ICON (ICOsahedral Nonhydrostatic) modeling framework is presented. The primary purpose of the ICON SCM is to use it as a tool for research, model evaluation and development. Thanks to the simplified geometry of the ICON SCM, various aspects of the ICON model, in particular the model physics, can be studied in a well-controlled environment. Additionally, the ICON SCM has a reduced computational cost and a low data storage demand. The ICON SCM can be utilized for idealized cases—several well-established cases are already included—or for semi-realistic cases based on analyses or model forecasts. As the case setup is defined by a single NetCDF file, new cases can be prepared easily by the modification of this file. We demonstrate the usage of the ICON SCM for different idealized cases such as shallow convection, stratocumulus clouds, and radiative transfer. Additionally, the ICON SCM is tested for a semi-realistic case together with an equivalent three-dimensional setup and the large eddy simulation mode of ICON. Such consistent comparisons across the hierarchy of ICON configurations are very helpful for model development. The ICON SCM will be implemented into the operational ICON model and will serve as an additional tool for advancing the development of the ICON model.

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Retinal vessel segmentation with constrained-based nonnegative matrix factorization and 3D modified attention U-Net

EURASIP Journal on Image and Video Processing ◽

10.1186/s13640-021-00546-6 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2021 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Yang Yu ◽

Hongqing Zhu

Keyword(s):

Matrix Factorization ◽

Nonnegative Matrix Factorization ◽

Computational Cost ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Nonnegative Matrix ◽

Retinal Vessel ◽

Classification Problem ◽

Image Resolution ◽

Retinal Vessels ◽

Segmentation Task

AbstractDue to the complex morphology and characteristic of retinal vessels, it remains challenging for most of the existing algorithms to accurately detect them. This paper proposes a supervised retinal vessels extraction scheme using constrained-based nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF) and three dimensional (3D) modified attention U-Net architecture. The proposed method detects the retinal vessels by three major steps. First, we perform Gaussian filter and gamma correction on the green channel of retinal images to suppress background noise and adjust the contrast of images. Then, the study develops a new within-class and between-class constrained NMF algorithm to extract neighborhood feature information of every pixel and reduce feature data dimension. By using these constraints, the method can effectively gather similar features within-class and discriminate features between-class to improve feature description ability for each pixel. Next, this study formulates segmentation task as a classification problem and solves it with a more contributing 3D modified attention U-Net as a two-label classifier for reducing computational cost. This proposed network contains an upsampling to raise image resolution before encoding and revert image to its original size with a downsampling after three max-pooling layers. Besides, the attention gate (AG) set in these layers contributes to more accurate segmentation by maintaining details while suppressing noises. Finally, the experimental results on three publicly available datasets DRIVE, STARE, and HRF demonstrate better performance than most existing methods.

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