A robot body is not a shield from discrimination in John Scalzi's science fiction novel Head On.

Robotics history is still HIS story, but Women in Robotics is working hard to include HER story in the future of robotics.

Robotics research is rooted in a diversity of ideas, so roboticists should embrace a diverse set of people.

Swarm robots offer fascinating opportunities to perform complex tasks beyond the capabilities of individual machines. Just as a swarm of ants collectively moves large objects, similar functions can emerge within a group of robots through individual strategies based on local sensing. However, realizing collective functions with individually controlled microrobots is particularly challenging because

Haptic devices typically rely on rigid actuators and bulky power supply systems, limiting wearability. Soft materials improve comfort, but careful distribution of stiffness is required to ground actuation forces and enable load transfer to the skin. We present Haptiknit, an approach in which soft, wearable, knit textiles with embedded pneumatic actuators enable programmable haptic display. By integrating

The article presents a multiaxial fatigue criterion in the frequency domain. The criterion uses the power spectral density of the hydrostatic stress, the stress consistent with the von Mises criterion and determines the equivalent power spectral density as the sum of these quantities for further use in fatigue analyses. The methodology for deriving the criterion weights in two cases of determining

Interfacial debonding defects in rectangular steel–concrete composite structures (RSCCS) can significantly diminish the confinement effect of the steel on the concrete core and reduce load transfer efficiency, potentially impacting the overall performance of the structure. Detection of these defects in RSCCS is therefore considered critical. This study investigates the complexities of stress wave propagation

This paper explores the application of tri-stable energy harvesting technology in tire rotation and proposes an innovative approach of optimizing the output of energy harvester by adjusting the centrifugal distance of the magnet at the free end of a cantilever beam. By leveraging the tunable linear stiffness in the electromechanical coupling equations of the rotating tri-stable state, this study derives

This research introduces an innovative method for real-time monitoring thin film growth and surface roughness using a single mode optical fiber without any additional treatment. The cleaved end of the fiber was installed within the deposition chamber, allowing the thin film to be deposited directly onto the fiber tip. During the deposition process, a Fabry-Pérot interferometer was formed with its cavity

The existing reconstruction methods for dam monitoring data have the problems of being unable to reconstruct in the non-complete dataset and the reconstruction accuracy is not high enough. Therefore, this paper proposes the dam monitoring data reconstruction method (DSVD) to realize the accurate reconstruction of dam monitoring data in non-complete datasets. The method first adopts the sorting method

The objective of this research is to predict the solder joint’s fillet profile before its formation. Solder joints are crucial for the structural and operational reliability of electronic assemblies, yet their integrity can be compromised by defects such as cold joints, voids, or insufficient solder. Traditional physics-based simulations attempt to model these phenomena but often fall short due to

Additive manufacturing (AM) technologies have undergone significant advancements through the integration of cooperative robotics additive manufacturing (C-RAAM) platforms. By deploying AM processes on the end effectors of multiple robotic arms, not only are traditional constraints such as limited build volumes circumvented, but systems also achieve accelerated fabrication speeds, cooperative sensing

The aerostatic bearing-rotor system plays a critical role in ensuring the stable operation of high-speed, high-precision rotating machinery. Despite its importance, the system is often affected by nonlinear sub-synchronous vibration instabilities, which limit its performance and development. To address this issue, this study proposes a novel tangentially supplied (TS) bearing. Modified gas lubrication

Ultrasonic sensing, for instance for damage or fouling detection, is commonly carried out using rigid transducer collars, carefully placed for monitoring a well-defined local area of a structure. A distributed sensing network consisting of individually placed transducers offers significant opportunities for monitoring larger areas or more complex geometries. For analyzing the signals of such a distributed

Gear wear is an inevitable consequence of friction and load during operation. However, the nonlinear and non-stationary nature of the vibration signals under variable speed conditions and their complex interaction with gear wear make it extremely challenging to extract wear-related features from them. Since the gear wear area visually indicates the severity of wear under varying speed conditions, we

Enhancing anomaly detection performance is essential for effective gas turbine condition monitoring and health maintenance. However, in industrial applications, gas turbine operating conditions frequently change, and fault data are scarce or even unavailable. Therefore, identifying anomalies in unknown conditions with training based only on normal data is challenging. Inspired by human communication

In the demanding sectors of shipbuilding and aerospace, the assembly of large thin-walled components is a pivotal process, challenged by the need to minimize part deformation and assembly gaps. This study introduces an innovative flexible fixture system designed to enhance assembly accuracy by optimizing fixture layouts using the Tabu Search Algorithm (TSA). The proposed system not only adapts to various

Quasi-zero-stiffness (QZS) mechanism is widely exploited in tailoring vibration isolators for balancing the load capacity and low/ultra-low frequency isolation performance. For these isolators, broadening QZS region, improving manufacturability, and enhancing tunability are relentless design pursuits. We here propose a cutting-edge tensegrity-based quasi-zero-stiffness (TQZS) isolator for torsional

Digital hydraulic systems are composed of parallel fast switching valves (FSVs) and have unique fault tolerance characteristics, while fault identification and localization are the premise of fault tolerance. However, due to the similar fault features, it is difficult to accurately diagnose the faulty valve in an equal-coded digital hydraulic system (EDHS) without its additional sensors. Aiming at

Clamp-on ultrasonic flowmeters suffer from crosstalk—i.e., measurement errors due to the interference of signals generated in solid regions and solid–fluid interfaces with the required signal from the fluid. Although several approaches have been proposed to alleviate crosstalk, they only work in specific ranges of flow rates and pipe diameters, and some also introduce additional issues. We propose

This study proposes a novel VFM on a fiber scale to capture the ballistic behavior of 3DOWF. The model effectively reveals yarn deformation during the weaving process of fabric, and yarn pull-out, interfiber friction and yarn interactions during the ballistic response. The results revealed that the VFM exhibited a ballistic response consistent with high-speed photography observations and successfully

Black in Robotics, a nonprofit organization, has had recent success, but it is the ongoing community participation that will sustain its efforts.

Humans use their dexterous fingers and adaptable palm in various multiobject grasping strategies to efficiently move multiple objects together in various situations. Advanced manipulation skills, such as finger-to-palm translation and palm-to-finger translation, enhance the dexterity in multiobject grasping. These translational movements allow the fingers to transfer the grasped objects to the palm

Micro- and nanorobots excel in navigating the intricate and often inaccessible areas of the human body, offering immense potential for applications such as disease diagnosis, precision drug delivery, detoxification, and minimally invasive surgery. Despite their promise, practical deployment faces hurdles, including achieving stable propulsion in complex in vivo biological environments, real-time imaging

Diverse and inclusive teams are not merely a moral imperative but also a catalyst for scientific excellence in robotics. Drawing from literature, a comprehensive citation analysis, and expert interviews, we derive seven main benefits of diversity and inclusion and propose a leadership guide for roboticists to reap these benefits.

Chatter detection is crucial for both micro- and macro-milling, as chatter can cause detrimental damage on machining process and machined surface. Compared to macro-milling, micro-milling is more susceptible to external non-Gaussian noise interference, making it extremely difficult to extract chatter features and identify chatter modes at the micrometer scale due to the lower chatter component which

It has been observed experimentally that flow-induced ambient noise propagated in an icy thin-plate structure decays quickly. The attenuation rate is sensitive to the ice thickness and is thus potentially an important feature for passive ice detection. The main goal of the present paper is to develop a theoretical model to explain this damping behavior qualitatively and quantitatively. The wave propagation

In limited visibility human-machine environments, there has been little discussion on hand motion parameter extraction, behavioral intention data analysis, and the effectiveness of 3D assembly instructions. To address this issue, we developed a mixed reality system for fully occluded gesture recognition (Fog-MR), which supports the extraction of complete hand motion models, the determination of a directional

Aerostatic spindle utilizes gas as the lubricating and supporting medium, enabling it to exhibit outstanding characteristics such as high precision, low temperature rise, and environmental friendliness during operation, thereby fulfilling the requirements of high-speed machining applications. However, during the operation of the aerostatic spindle, the increase in spindle speed induces velocity effects

The quest for low-frequency and broadband underwater sound absorption materials with lightweight and pressure-resistant properties is constantly pursued in engineering applications. However, existing underwater absorbers are restricted by conventional design concepts and struggle to strike a balance among these requirements. Notably, the acoustic performance of these absorbers tends to deteriorate

Bayesian inference has been demonstrated as a rigorous tool for updating models and predicting responses in structural dynamics. Most often, the likelihood function within the Bayesian framework is formulated based on a point-to-point probabilistic description of the discrepancy between the measurements and model predictions. This description results in an underestimation of uncertainties due to the

Thin-sheet components are widely used in many industrial applications. Structural integrity of these components largely depends on the strength of the joints. Ensuring the durability of these joints is essential, and therefore, routine inspection is critical to maintain the safety and performance of these components. However, most traditional Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) techniques fall short for

Reliability analysis of dynamic structural systems and its implications for structural design have garnered increasing attention. Sample-based methods prove insensitive to the dimension of the probability integral. Nontheless, a substantial number of realizations is necessary for estimating small failure probabilities, resulting in time-consuming computations. Recently, the Directional Importance Sampling