In this paper, a micro/nano displacement sensor for PZT actuator which could measure the minute displacement in micron or nanometer level has been proposed. This paper focus on the whole process of this novel sensor from the working principle, parameter determination to the FEM simulation and so forth. This sensor can enlarge the displacement of the PZT by utilizing the lever principle and the strain gauges can perceive the variation without amplifying the noise. About this sensor, we also use the flexure hinges as the rotation joints to obtain the expansion. In addition, we provide the accurate model for this special kind of displacement sensor, and through that people could design and set every parameter freely. Whatever the simulation results in FEM or the experiment data, both of which show that the sensor can perceive the displacement of the PZT actuator in micro/nano scale. Also, the characteristic experiment shows that the proposed sensor has a better performance such as higher level linearity, resolution than its former two generations.

Micro displacement measurement of the PZT actuator is a micro sensor which could measure the minute displacement in micron or nanometer level. In general, the sensor is required to accommodate little space in order to save the room of measuring device. In this paper, a mechanical micro displacement sensor with smaller volume has been proposed. This paper focus on the whole process of this novel sensor from the working principle, parameter determine to the FEM simulation as well as the characteristic experiment and so on. This sensor can enlarge the displacement of the PZT by utilizing the lever principle and the strain gauges can perceive the variation without amplifying the noise. In this sensor, we use the flexure hinges as the rotation joints to obtain the expansion. Whatever the simulation results in FEM or the experiment data, both of which show that the sensor can perceive the displacement of the PZT actuator in micro/nano scale. Also, the characteristic experiment shows that the proposed sensor has a higher level linearity, resolution and lower error.

In this paper, we develop a novel robotic arm wrestling system integrated with mechanical arm, elbow/wrist force sensors, servo motor, encoder, 3-D MEMS accelerometer, and USB camera. The arm wrestling robot (AWR) is intended to play arm wrestling game with real human on a table for entertainment. The designing scenario of the prototype model's hardware is performed. Elbow/wrist force sensors, as a crucial device in the force sensing system, are described in details. Software is developed for device driven and interface. The surface electromyographic (EMG) signals from the upper limb are sampled when a real player competes with the force testing system. By using the method of wavelet packet transformation (WPT), the high-frequency noises can be eliminated effectively and the characteristics of EMG signals can be extracted. Artificial neural network is adopted to estimate the elbow joint torque. The effectiveness of the humanoid algorithm using torque control estimated via WRT and neural network is confirmed by experiments

The unconventional air frames used by many small fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) pose difficulties in determining their dynamic models accurately. This is further complicated by the low Reynolds numbers flight regimes encountered by these aircraft. This paper studies the attitude flight dynamics identification of an unconventional model-scale UAV which has only two independently actuated elevon surfaces (no rudder or elevators). The study presents the first steps towards the development of autopilots for this kind of UAV. Utilizing the real-time flight data collected from a human-controlled test flight, the standard identification approaches were applied to obtain a MIMO linear model with given configuration deduced from a theoretical study. The simulation-based validation of a simplified model was undertaken which shows acceptable modelling accuracy. Further flight tests controlled by an autopilot tuned according to the model are currently being undertaken

External force at the end-effector is often required for the force control of robotic manipulator. In some cases, the force information measured by wrist force sensor consists of the external force and the undesired inertial force arising from the acceleration of the end-effector. Up to now, it is still difficult to extract the external force exactly for the insufficiency of acceleration information. A novel six-axis accelerometer in the type of dual annular membranes structure is presented in this paper. It can simultaneously measure all three linear acceleration components ax, ay, az and three angular acceleration components αx, αy, αz, which can be used to extract the external forces. The sensor structure and its sensing principle are described. The rated strains and interference strains obtained from Finite Element Method (FEM) simulations indicate that the accelerometer has a low level cross-sensitivity. The characteristic experiments reveal that the experimental sensitivities are in good correspondence with the results of the FEM simulations. It also shows that this accelerometer has a good linearity and minor interference errors as well as principle errors.