FEA TURE ST OR Y


Conquering New Frontiers continued


a factory.The new robotic arm has seven joints and seven degrees of freedom, in contrast to the six joints typically found in industrial robots. Because Shimada’s robotic arm mimics the kinematic redun- dancy of a human arm, it has much greater flexibility and control— making it well suited for tasks in confined spaces such as the fac- tory assembly line, the cargo space of trucks, and operating rooms. The team has also developed software for motion simulation and path planning of kinematically redundant robots.


“For certain tasks in a factory, like quality inspection of an


engine block, our robotic motion planner has achieved over 30 percent reductions in cycle time over human operators,” says Shimada. “We have also designed this technology to perform the same tasks as human operators, but in a manner that maximizes energy efficiency. For many robotic tasks in manufacturing, energy efficiency has not been studied much, and we are excited to work on this important new challenge.” Shimada and his team are also developing other kinematically


redundant arms, including a snake-like arm with eight joints and eight degrees of freedom.This arm, originally designed as a motion- teaching device for fac- tory automation, was also applied to the generation of a three-dimensional rendering of ultrasound images for medical applications. This hard-working MechE professor is also developing robotics tech- nologies for other medical applications, including a


three-dimensional motion tracker for surgical instruments for mini- mally invasive arthroscopic hip surgery. “While diverse, all of our robotics projects are focused on a common goal: maximizing the practical impact of our robotic technologies by combining innovative hardware and software,” says Shimada.


Collins: Overcoming Disabilities and Improving Health The Department recently welcomed a new robotics expert, Assistant Professor Steven Collins, as a full-time faculty member. With his focus on designing biomechatronic devices for human rehabilitation and assistance, Collins is sure to bring recognition to the Department as a growing robotics center. His innovations enable persons with disabilities to enhance their daily lives and overall health.


Collins’ recent design of an energy-saving prosthetic foot is


representative of his unique approach, which combines mathematical models, experimental robots, and biomechanics experiments. First, Collins built a dynamical model which was used to gain insight into the basic energetics of walking. An experimental robot was then built to illustrate these concepts, demonstrating the most energy-efficient gait to date.An artificial foot was then designed to perform the same function as the robotic ankle, but with novel actuation that required a lower order of magnitude of electricity. Finally, the effects of the device were tested in controlled biome- chanics experiments, showing that metabolic energy costs could be reduced with this “energy recycling” prosthesis. Other recent projects include the design of a power- enhancing exoskeleton, and studies of the dynamics that result from gait impairments such as cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, and stroke. Collins has received significant media attention, most recently


regarding his studies on why people swing their arms when they walk. He has designed the most energy-efficient walking robot to date, which was the subject of an article he recently co-authored for the journal Science.


Other Robotics Efforts at MechE Several other faculty members and graduate students within MechE also focus on robotics-related research. For example, Professor William C. Messner has worked on a number of groundbreaking robotics projects, including control systems for both unmanned helicopters and the unmanned ground vehicles developed by Carnegie Mellon for the DARPA Grand Challenge.


4 I C ARNEGIE M ECH


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