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Applied Sciences
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Advances in Robotic Manipulators and Their Applications
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Advances in Robotic Manipulators and Their Applications

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Robotics and Automation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2024) | Viewed by 11572

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Vladan Papić

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, University of Split, 21000 Split, Croatia
Interests: computer vision; expert systems; robotics; motion analysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Josip Musić

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Electronics and Computer Science, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, University of Split, 21 000 Split, Croatia
Interests: mobile robotics; AI in robotics; data fusion; human-machine interaction
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The interaction of robotic manipulators with their environment has always been an active topic in robotics. Robotic grasping is one of the fundamental and most challenging skills of robots. It demands robotic perception of the environment, planning, and control.

The research focus for grasping and manipulation has evolved from rigid manipulators and specialized grippers to robotic arms and hands that can perform various tasks in unstructured environment and scenarios.

This Special Issue will be dedicated to new advances and findings in hardware and software solutions for robotic manipulators.

Subjects that will be discussed in this Special Issue will focus on robotic hand design, hand sensor and actuator design, force and tactile sensing, grasping force control, user interfaces, multimodal sensing, sensor-based control, grasping planning and contact modelling, as well as artificial neural networks in intelligent grasping and manipulation. We welcome papers presenting multidisciplinary and state-of-the-art research and applications of robotic manipulators in various fields, such as agriculture, industry, and human-robot interaction.

Prof. Dr. Vladan Papić
Dr. Josip Musić
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • grasping control
  • robotic hands
  • robotic hardware control
  • robotic manipulators
  • robotic perception

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 6710 KiB  
Article
The Influence of the Operator’s Perception on the Energy Demand for a Hydraulic Manipulator with a Large Working Area
by Karol Cieślik, Piotr Krogul, Marian Janusz Łopatka, Mirosław Przybysz and Rafał Typiak
Appl. Sci. 2024, 14(5), 1800; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app14051800 - 22 Feb 2024
Viewed by 453
Abstract
The efficient operation of hydraulic manipulators with expansive working areas is crucial in various applications such as the construction industry, the rescue service, and the military. These machines are characterized by having more capabilities than humans, and they perform tasks that are not [...] Read more.
The efficient operation of hydraulic manipulators with expansive working areas is crucial in various applications such as the construction industry, the rescue service, and the military. These machines are characterized by having more capabilities than humans, and they perform tasks that are not repeated in the same environment. For this reason, they are most often controlled by a human in a teleoperation system. This research investigates the influence of the operator’s perception on the energy demand of such manipulators. Specifically, the research focused on assessing how the intuitive control systems, such as primary–secondary solutions, impact the energy consumption. Understanding the relation between the operator’s perception and the energy demand is essential for optimizing manipulator design and operation. Experimental research was conducted to analyze the velocity and acceleration of the manipulator’s effector, which is controlled by human operators under different movement ranges and size ratios. The obtained test results allow for the assessment of the dynamic loads, velocity, and energy consumption of the movement of a manipulator with a large working area due to the limitations resulting from the operator’s perception. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Robotic Manipulators and Their Applications)
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15 pages, 2425 KiB  
Article
Strain Gauge Neural Network-Based Estimation as an Alternative for Force and Torque Sensor Measurements in Robot Manipulators
by Stanko Kružić, Josip Musić, Vladan Papić and Roman Kamnik
Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(18), 10217; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app131810217 - 11 Sep 2023
Viewed by 1020
Abstract
When a robotic manipulator interacts with its environment, the end-effector forces need to be measured to assess if a task has been completed successfully and for safety reasons. Traditionally, these forces are either measured directly by a 6-dimensional (6D) force–torque sensor (mounted on [...] Read more.
When a robotic manipulator interacts with its environment, the end-effector forces need to be measured to assess if a task has been completed successfully and for safety reasons. Traditionally, these forces are either measured directly by a 6-dimensional (6D) force–torque sensor (mounted on a robot’s wrist) or by estimation methods based on observers, which require knowledge of the robot’s exact model. Contrary to this, the proposed approach is based on using an array of low-cost 1-dimensional (1D) strain gauge sensors mounted beneath the robot’s base in conjunction with time series neural networks, to estimate both the end-effector 3-dimensional (3D) interaction forces as well as robot joint torques. The method does not require knowledge of robot dynamics. For comparison reasons, the same approach was used but with 6D force sensor measurements mounted beneath the robot’s base. The trained networks showed reasonably good performance, using the long-short term memory (LSTM) architecture, with a root mean squared error (RMSE) of 1.945 N (vs. 2.004 N; 6D force–torque sensor-based) for end-effector force estimation and 3.006 Nm (vs. 3.043 Nm; 6D force–torque sensor-based) for robot joint torque estimation. The obtained results for an array of 1D strain gauges were comparable with those obtained with a robot’s built-in sensor, demonstrating the validity of the proposed approach. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Robotic Manipulators and Their Applications)
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17 pages, 3496 KiB  
Article
Inverse Kinematics for Serial Robot Manipulators by Particle Swarm Optimization and POSIX Threads Implementation
by Hasan Danaci, Luong A. Nguyen, Thomas L. Harman and Miguel Pagan
Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(7), 4515; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app13074515 - 02 Apr 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1742
Abstract
Inverse kinematics is a fundamental problem in manipulator robotics: a set of joint angles must be calculated so that the robot arm can be manipulated to the corresponding desired end effector position and orientation (also known as “pose”). Traditional solution techniques include analytical [...] Read more.
Inverse kinematics is a fundamental problem in manipulator robotics: a set of joint angles must be calculated so that the robot arm can be manipulated to the corresponding desired end effector position and orientation (also known as “pose”). Traditional solution techniques include analytical kinematics solvers, which provide the closed-form expressions for the joint positions as functions of the end-effector pose. When analytical inverse kinematics solvers are not possible due to the manipulator structure, numerical methods such as Newton–Raphson or Jacobian inverse can be used to achieve the task, but at a much slower speed due, to the iterative nature of the computation. Recent swarm intelligence technology has also contributed to manipulator inverse kinematics solutions. In this paper, the use of the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) approach in solving the inverse kinematics problem is investigated for the general serial robotic manipulators. Many of the reviewed robotic manipulator inverse kinematics solvers using swarm intelligence only deal with end effector position and not its orientation. Our PSO approach provides the convergence of a complete end-effector pose and will be demonstrated using the Baxter Research Robot, which has two seven-joint arms, although the method is applicable to any general serial robotic manipulator. For computational efficiency, the inverse kinematic calculations were implemented in parallel using Portable Operating Interface (POSIX) threads to take advantage of the independent swarm particle dynamics. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Robotic Manipulators and Their Applications)
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26 pages, 5190 KiB  
Article
Novel Pointing and Stabilizing Manipulator for Optical Space Payloads
by Hui Zhang, Zhenbang Xu, Anpeng Xu and Enyang Zhang
Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(4), 2188; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app13042188 - 08 Feb 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1253
Abstract
Considering that the Line-Of-Sight (LOS) of a small optical payload is mainly connected with the angular motions while insensitive to linear motion, a novel pointing and stabilizing manipulator was proposed for small payloads on a large spacecraft. By integrating fine and coarse actuators [...] Read more.
Considering that the Line-Of-Sight (LOS) of a small optical payload is mainly connected with the angular motions while insensitive to linear motion, a novel pointing and stabilizing manipulator was proposed for small payloads on a large spacecraft. By integrating fine and coarse actuators in parallel, the proposed manipulator could isolate spacecraft vibration and independently adjust the LOS on a large scale at the same time. On this basis, the study revealed the key kinematic and dynamic characteristics and then designed an operation scheme, including the large-scale angular motion algorithm and the active isolation algorithm. Finally, the proposed pointing solution was comprehensively verified through simulation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Robotic Manipulators and Their Applications)
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22 pages, 11485 KiB  
Article
Workspace Analysis and Path Planning of a Novel Robot Configuration with a 9-DOF Serial-Parallel Hybrid Manipulator (SPHM)
by Mahmoud Elsamanty, Ehab M. Faidallah, Yehia H. Hossameldin, Saber Abd Rabbo, Shady A. Maged, Hongbo Yang and Kai Guo
Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(4), 2088; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app13042088 - 06 Feb 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1982
Abstract
The development of serial or parallel manipulator robots is constantly increasing due to the need for faster productivity and higher accuracy. Therefore, researchers have turned to combining both mechanisms, sharing the advantage from serial to parallel or vice versa. This paper proposes a [...] Read more.
The development of serial or parallel manipulator robots is constantly increasing due to the need for faster productivity and higher accuracy. Therefore, researchers have turned to combining both mechanisms, sharing the advantage from serial to parallel or vice versa. This paper proposes a new configuration design for a serial-parallel hybrid manipulator (SPHM) using the industrial robotic KUKA Kr6 R900 and 3-DOF parallel spherical mechanism. The Kr6 R900 has six degrees of freedom (6-DOF) divided into three joints for translation (x, y, z) and another three joints for orientation (A, B, C) of the end-effector and the 3-DOF parallel spherical mechanism with three paired links. On the contrary, each limb of the parallel spherical mechanism consists of revolute–revolute–spherical joints (3-RRS). This mechanism allows translation movement along the Z-axis and orientation movements about the X- and Y- axes. The new hybrid will enrich the serial manipulator in movement flexibility and expand the workspace for serial and parallel manipulator robots. In addition, a complete conceptual design is presented in detail for the new robot configuration with a schematic and experimental setup. Then, a comprehensive mathematical model was derived and solved. The forward, inverse kinematics, and workspace analyses were derived using the graphical solution. Additionally, the new hybrid manipulator was tested for path planning. Moreover, an experimental setup was prepared to test the selected path. Finally, the new robot configuration can enlarge the workspace of both manipulators and the selected path matched to the experimental test. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Robotic Manipulators and Their Applications)
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14 pages, 10575 KiB  
Article
A Comparative Study of Different Fingertips on the Object Pulling Forces in Robotic Gripper Jaws
by Marcin Białek and Dominik Rybarczyk
Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(3), 1247; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app13031247 - 17 Jan 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1733
Abstract
This paper presents a comparative study of the use of different fingertips in robotic gripper jaws with respect to measuring the pulling force of selected shaped objects from their grasp. The authors built a dedicated test stand and provided methodology to evaluate it. [...] Read more.
This paper presents a comparative study of the use of different fingertips in robotic gripper jaws with respect to measuring the pulling force of selected shaped objects from their grasp. The authors built a dedicated test stand and provided methodology to evaluate it. The authors’ innovative approach was to design accessory-controlled jaws for the base of the Robotiq 2F-140 gripper. For the study, rigid structures—flexible soft cushions filled with air and magnetorheological fluid (MRF)—were developed for the jaw. In this way, comparable measurement results were obtained in terms of the structure of the gripper set-up. The secondary purpose of the study was to demonstrate the potential of the soft cushions that are adaptable to the shape of a gripped object. As a result, an adaptive structure was obtained that allows object pulling forces that are comparable to rigid fingertips. In doing so, this does not damage the surface of any of the interacting components. The cushions were made of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) formed using 3D printing technology. The results obtained during the implementation of this research may be beneficial for comparing gripper capabilities; thus, they can contribute to advances in smart devices and many industrial fields, including robotics and bioengineering. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Robotic Manipulators and Their Applications)
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14 pages, 3181 KiB  
Article
Soft Gripper Design and Fabrication for Underwater Grasping
by David Herrero-Pérez and Humberto Martínez-Barberá
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(21), 10694; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app122110694 - 22 Oct 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2109
Abstract
Underwater manipulation with current robotics technology is a challenging task with significant limits in versatility and robustness terms. Such functionality has tremendous potential covering a broad spectrum of applications, mainly replacing divers performing hazardous jobs. Soft robotics provides an efficient solution for operating [...] Read more.
Underwater manipulation with current robotics technology is a challenging task with significant limits in versatility and robustness terms. Such functionality has tremendous potential covering a broad spectrum of applications, mainly replacing divers performing hazardous jobs. Soft robotics provides an efficient solution for operating in these scenarios and adapting to uncertain environmental conditions. This paper presents the design and fabrication of a simple, low-cost, and easily deployable soft gripper for underwater manipulation. We use modelling and simulation techniques for designing the soft fluidic elastomer actuators that compose the soft gripper and additive manufacturing techniques for rapid test cycles and validation. These techniques allow for a fast redesign depending on the application requirements. The proposal combines materials and fabrication techniques to take advantage of their strengths. We validate the feasibility and ability of the proposed soft gripper in a challenging underwater scenario using a subaquatic vehicle. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Robotic Manipulators and Their Applications)
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