Radar shows great potential for autonomous driving by accomplishing long-range sensing under diverse weather conditions. But radar is also a particularly challenging sensing modality due to the radar noises. Recent wo...
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Organic fertilizers have been used since the dawn of mankind to improve soil fertility and promote crop growth. However, the process of preparing organic fertilizers for use in agricultural activities is a labour-inte...
Organic fertilizers have been used since the dawn of mankind to improve soil fertility and promote crop growth. However, the process of preparing organic fertilizers for use in agricultural activities is a labour-intensive and time-consuming procedure. Thus, in order to reduce labour costs and improve the efficiency of organic fertilizer preparation, automated organic fertilizer mixers were developed. For this research work, an improved organic fertilizer mixer based on the Internet of Things (IoT) technology capable of monitoring the status of fertilizer production remotely and providing updates and alerts to workers was developed. The aim of this work was to further reduce labour workload and costs, thus increasing efficiency of the organic fertilizer mixing process. In order to accommodate the IoT monitoring system, several modifications and design changes were carried out on the prototype of an automated organic fertilizer mixer. Tests conducted on the prototype unit showed that it performs as required. The IoT monitoring system successfully captures and uploads information on the weight of agricultural waste mixture in the storage drum to the IoT platform. This information can then be used to alert workers on when to add more agricultural waste material to the mixture or remove the processed organic fertilizer. Furthermore, an overall operational cost comparison of different organic fertilizer production methods showed that the automated organic fertilizer prototype provides operational cost savings of over 5 times when compared to current automated systems. Future work includes further automation to the agricultural waste filling and organic fertilizer removal process.
Agricultural drones are Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) applied to farming in order to help increase crop production and improve farm efficiency. Crop-dusting drones are able to spray powdered fertilizer, pesticide, o...
Agricultural drones are Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) applied to farming in order to help increase crop production and improve farm efficiency. Crop-dusting drones are able to spray powdered fertilizer, pesticide, or insecticide on crops from the air, resulting in reduced costs and increased efficiency compared to traditional methods. The objective of this research work was to improve and enhance the performance of the crop-dusting process using agricultural drones. This research paper details the development of an improved storage container design and stabilized release mechanism for crop-dusting. To stabilise the release of payload when the drone is moving or swaying in the air, a gimbal mechanism was added to the release mechanism in which weights were used to produce constant downward force which balances the mechanism. Tests conducted on the prototype system showed that it performs as required. The stabilization tests show an improvement in accuracy of granule spread when using the stabilized release mechanism developed in this research work. As such, the wastage of fertilizers and pesticides can be reduced. The prototype system was also found to much more capable at carrying heavier loads for a longer period of time compared to current designs. Thus, using the prototype system developed for this research work, the size of storage container as well as the weight of fertilizer or pesticide granule payloads can be increased.
The agriculture industry is one that is highly resource- and labour-intensive. As such, farmers are increasingly turning to technology and automation to address this issue. However, agricultural robots are far too com...
The agriculture industry is one that is highly resource- and labour-intensive. As such, farmers are increasingly turning to technology and automation to address this issue. However, agricultural robots are far too complicated, slow, and costly to be made publicly available. As a result, the agriculture sector still lags behind in integrating modern technologies. This research paper details the development of a low-cost agricultural robot for spraying fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture fields as well as for general crop monitoring. The prototype system is a two-wheeled robot that consists of a mobile base, a spraying mechanism, a wireless controller for controlling the robot movement, and a camera for crop health and growth monitoring as well as detecting the presence of pests in the agriculture field. Tests conducted on the prototype system show that while the productivity of the robot in terms of crop coverage is slightly lower than a human worker, the labour cost savings afforded by the agricultural robot prototype is much greater as it functions completely in an autonomous mode and only requires the operator to control the robot when placing it at the start of the crop path. Furthermore, the prototype system also provides greater resource savings and reduction in the contamination of underground water sources due to leeching process, thus achieving precision agriculture goals. Lastly, the excellent battery life of the prototype system ensures that there will be no increase in the operation times and reduction in the efficiency of the fertilizer and pesticide spraying process due to the recharging times when replacing human workers. Future recommendations include making the agricultural robot fully autonomous, using either a rail- or line-following system, to further reduce the labour requirements and costs.
Crop seeding is a time-consuming and tedious activity for farmers and is only exacerbated in large agriculture fields. Manually sowing seeds by hand is a highly inefficient process that requires a lot of human effort ...
Crop seeding is a time-consuming and tedious activity for farmers and is only exacerbated in large agriculture fields. Manually sowing seeds by hand is a highly inefficient process that requires a lot of human effort and can lead to health concerns for farmers, while spreading seedlings using tractors results in a high wastage of seedlings. This research paper describes the development of a low-cost agricultural robot for crop seeding. The prototype system consists of two parts, namely a mobile base for robot movement and a seeding mechanism attached to the mobile base for crop seeding application. The mobile base has a four-wheel design to ease movement on uneven terrains, while the seeding mechanism uses the concept of a crank-slider to continuously inject seedlings into the ground. Crop seeding tests show that the robot is able to sow 138 seedlings in 5 min, with an accuracy of 92%, compared to 102 seedlings by human workers. This demonstrates an increase in the crop seeding efficiency of over 35%. As for the battery life test, it was determined that the robot can function for up to 4 h on a single charge. Thus, there will not be an increase in the operation time and reduction in the efficiency of the crop seeding process due to the recharging times when human workers are replaced with the prototype system. The recharging duration for the robot power supply is 1.5 h. While the prototype system has successfully achieved its objective of reducing human interference, labour requirement, and the overall operating costs in the field of agriculture for crop seeding process, by making the robot fully autonomous, using either a rail- or line-following system, labour costs can be further reduced as an operator is not required to manually steer the robot to each seeding path.
The next generation of surgical robotics is poised to disrupt healthcare systems worldwide, requiring new frameworks for evaluation. However, evaluation during a surgical robot’s development is challenging due to the...
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The next generation of surgical robotics is poised to disrupt healthcare systems worldwide, requiring new frameworks for evaluation. However, evaluation during a surgical robot’s development is challenging due to their complex evolving nature, potential for wider system disruption and integration with complementary technologies like artificial intelligence. Comparative clinical studies require attention to intervention context, learning curves and standardized outcomes. Long-term monitoring needs to transition toward collaborative, transparent and inclusive consortiums for real-world data collection. Here, the Idea, Development, Exploration, Assessment and Long-term monitoring (IDEAL) robotics Colloquium proposes recommendations for evaluation during development, comparative study and clinical monitoring of surgical robots—providing practical recommendations for developers, clinicians, patients and healthcare systems. Multiple perspectives are considered, including economics, surgical training, human factors, ethics, patient perspectives and sustainability. Further work is needed on standardized metrics, health economic assessment models and global applicability of recommendations.
This paper presents the results of the research stage focused on applications of composite materials in aviation, carried on by an international team of European Project Semester students at the National Institute for...
This paper presents the results of the research stage focused on applications of composite materials in aviation, carried on by an international team of European Project Semester students at the National Institute for Aerospace Research "Elie Carafoli" – INCAS, as Research Partner of the University POLTEHNICA of Bucharest, as Organizer and EUROPEAN PROJECT SEMESTER Provider. The study case is a light aircraft wheel cover. The objectives are set to the determination of the body geometry by reverse engineering techniques, modeling and numerical simulations for aerodynamics and structural analysis. A scale reduced demonstrator was obtained through 3D printing.
This paper presents the results of the research stage focused on applications of composite materials in aviation, carried on by an international team of European Project Semester students at the National Institute for...
This paper presents the results of the research stage focused on applications of composite materials in aviation, carried on by an international team of European Project Semester students at the National Institute for Aerospace Research "Elie Carafoli" – INCAS, as Research Partner of the University POLTEHNICA of Bucharest, as Organizer and EUROPEAN PROJECT SEMESTER Provider. The study case is a light aircraft wheel cover. The objectives are set to the laboratory experiments in case of a light aircraft composite wheel cover.
It was not sufficient to merely establish the amount of wear on friction surfaces in brake mechanisms for a certain period of time. The principal objective is to determine the intensity of wear on the friction mating ...
It was not sufficient to merely establish the amount of wear on friction surfaces in brake mechanisms for a certain period of time. The principal objective is to determine the intensity of wear on the friction mating surfaces in general, as this will enable us to evaluate the reliability of the braking systems in passenger vehicles under operating conditions. The main purpose of the paper is to substantiate a methodology for assessing the wear intensity in frictional interfaces specifically for disc brakes that are installed in passenger vehicles. The primary objectives of the research work were identified. Conducted, accordingly, is the analysis to determine the extent to which various parameters for braking vehicles influence the wear on friction surfaces in disc brakes. Our substantiation is based on observed patterns of friction surfaces wear for disc brake mechanisms. A mathematical method was developed for estimating the intensity of wear on friction surfaces in disc brake mechanisms. Devised, additionally, was a technique for experimental research involving cyclic emergency braking of a vehicle on a dry horizontal asphalt concrete road. An analytical-graphical method was adopted to simulate the wear process on the friction surfaces of disc brakes for such passenger vehicles as: Daewoo Lanos, Lada Priora, Chevrolet Aveo and Forza. Each braking cycle consists of 30 emergency braking sequences, with initial braking speeds ranging from 10 to 35 m / s. The vehicle used was fully loaded and the aerodynamic force of air resistance was taken into account. The wear intensity of the friction interface during the braking cycle was evaluated by a special criterion. This criterion was calculated as the average sum of the friction interface wear ratios (as the difference between the disc and the friction lining wear) and the corresponding braking distance at which the wear occurred. For clarity, all measurement results were presented in both graphical and tabular formats.
This paper presents an experimental validation of a new quadrotor-based aerial manipulator. A quadrotor is equipped with a 2-DOF robotic arm that is designed with a new topology to enable the end-effector of the whole...
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