EUROPA (External Use of Robotics for Payload Automation) is a robotic experiment formerly designed to fly on the International Space Station (ISS) and to perform a realistic end-to-end robotic technology demonstration in exposed environment. The overall scenario is depicted in Figure 1. The robotic workcell design includes: • the robotic arm, based on the existing ASI 7 dof SPIDER arm, used to ...

Many space applications require robotic manipulators which have large workspace and are capable of precise motion. Micro-macro manipulators are considered as the best solution to this demand. Such systems consist of a long flexible arm and a short rigid arm. Kinematic redundancy and presence of unactuated flexible degrees of freedom, makes it difficult to control micro-macro manipulators. This ...

AIM To report on our experience with a voice-directed robotic arm for scope management in different procedures for "solo-surgery" and in complex laparoscopic operations. METHODS A chip card with orders for the robotic arm is individually manufactured for every user. A surgeon gives order through a microphone and the optic field is thus under direct command of the surgeon. RESULTS We analyze...

Recent studies have suggested that physical rehabilitation performed with robotic devices can enhance arm movement recovery following stroke. In these studies, the robotic devices mechanically assisted arm movement as the patient attempted to move. Although this “robotic active assist” technique has shown promise, a key question remains unanswered: is the mechanical assistance provided by the r...

–Mechatronics is one of the promising trends in the era of computing in today’s system automation industry and control. The proposed project is one such attempt of designing an accelerometer based system to communicate with an industrial robotic arm wirelessly. This project comprises of design and implementation of the robotic arm powered with Cortex–M3 based LPC1768 core. The core has to be in...

INTRODUCTION Robotic partial nephrectomy is an effective alternative to laparoscopic partial nephrectomy. The 3-arm and 4-arm transperitoneal robotic approaches are well described in the literature. However, a retroperitoneal robotic technique has yet to be fully described. We report our technique and initial experience with robotic retroperitoneal partial nephrectomy with a novel 4-arm approac...

Continuum robotic arms that are inspired from nature, have many advantages compared to traditional robots, which motivate researchers in this field. Dynamic modeling and controlling these robots are challenging subjects due to complicated nonlinearities and considerable uncertainties existing in these structures. In this paper, first a dynamic three-dimensional model of the continuum robotic ar...