Search results for "Drive"
showing 10 items of 543 documents
Simple learning rules to cope with changing environments
2008
10 pages; International audience; We consider an agent that must choose repeatedly among several actions. Each action has a certain probability of giving the agent an energy reward, and costs may be associated with switching between actions. The agent does not know which action has the highest reward probability, and the probabilities change randomly over time. We study two learning rules that have been widely used to model decision-making processes in animals-one deterministic and the other stochastic. In particular, we examine the influence of the rules' 'learning rate' on the agent's energy gain. We compare the performance of each rule with the best performance attainable when the agent …
Fundamental questions and applications of sclerochronology: Community-defined research priorities
2020
WOS:000582677500029; International audience; Horizon scanning is an increasingly common strategy to identify key research needs and frame future agendas in science. Here, we present the results of the first such exercise for the field of sclerochronology, thereby providing an overview of persistent and emergent research questions that should be addressed by future studies. Through online correspondence following the 5th International Sclerochronology Conference in 2019, participants submitted and rated questions that addressed either knowledge gaps or promising applications of sclerochronology. An initial list of 130 questions was compiled based on contributions of conference attendees and …
Climate and socio-economic factors explain differences between observed and expected naturalization patterns of European plants around the world
2021
Pouteau, R., et al.
Context-dependent coloration of prey and predator decision making in contrasting light environments
2022
A big question in behavioral ecology is what drives diversity of color signals. One possible explanation is that environmental conditions, such as light environment, may alter visual signaling of prey, which could affect predator decision-making. Here, we tested the context-dependent predator selection on prey coloration. In the first experiment, we tested detectability of artificial visual stimuli to blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) by manipulating stimulus luminance and chromatic context of the background. We expected the presence of the chromatic context to facilitate faster target detection. As expected, blue tits found targets on chromatic yellow background faster than on achromatic gre…
Decoupled nonlinear adaptive control of position and stiffness for pneumatic soft robots
2020
This article addresses the problem of simultaneous and robust closed-loop control of joint stiffness and position, for a class of antagonistically actuated pneumatic soft robots with rigid links and compliant joints. By introducing a first-order dynamic equation for the stiffness variable and using the additional control degree of freedom, embedded in the null space of the pneumatic actuator matrix, an innovative control approach is introduced comprising an adaptive compensator and a dynamic decoupler. The proposed solution builds upon existing adaptive control theory and provides a technique for closing the loop on joint stiffness in pneumatic variable stiffness actuators. Under a very mi…
Comparison of Model-Based Simultaneous Position and Stiffness Control Techniques for Pneumatic Soft Robots
2020
Soft robots have been extensively studied for their ability to provide both good performance and safe human-robot interaction. In this paper, we present and compare the performance of two model-based control techniques with the common aim to independently and simultaneously control position and stiffness of a pneumatic soft robot’s joint. The dynamic system of a robot arm with flexible joints actuated by a pneumatic antagonistic pair of actuators, so-called McKibben artificial muscles, will be regarded, while its dynamic parameters will be considered imprecise. Simulation results are provided to verify the performance of the algorithms.
Classification and Review of Pump-Controlled Differential Cylinder Drives
2019
Pump-controlled hydraulic cylinder drives may offer improved energy efficiency, compactness, and plug-and-play installation compared to conventional valve-controlled hydraulic systems and thus have the potential of replacing conventional hydraulic systems as well as electro-mechanical alternatives. Since the late 1980s, research into how to configure the hydraulic circuit of pump-controlled cylinder drives has been ongoing, especially in terms of compensating the uneven flow requirements required by a differential cylinder. Recently, research has also focused on other aspects such as replacing a vented oil tank with a small-volume pressurized accumulator including the consequences of this i…
Mitigation of Fatigue Damage and Vibration Severity of Electric Drivetrains by Systematic Selection of Motion Profiles
2016
The offshore drilling industry is among the most demanding markets for electrical equipment. Heave motion, irregular cyclic loads, harsh weather conditions, and vibrations are causing accelerated deterioration of drilling equipment. One of the most common solutions to these problems is to design actuation systems of such machinery overly conservative to gain additional safety, which results in too high initial investment and maintenance costs. To mitigate the fatigue damage and vibration severity of rotating elements of electric drivetrains operating offshore, this paper presents a comparative analysis of four popular input functions used in motion control of industrial systems. We evaluate…
Load Torque Estimation Method to Design Electric Drivetrains for Offshore Pipe Handling Equipment
2016
One of the main design objectives for electric drivetrains operating in offshore drilling equipment is to keep them as small, yet as effective, as possible, to minimize space they occupy on drill floor and maximize their performance. However, practical experience shows that typically choices made by design engineers are too conservative due to the lack of enough data characterizing load conditions. This results in too costly and too heavy selected components. Therefore, in the current paper we present a method to estimate required full-scale motor torque using a scaled down experimental setup and its computational model. A gripper arm of an offshore vertical pipe handling machine is selecte…
SHEAR COMPLIANCE AND SELF WEIGHT EFFECTS ON TRACTION BELT MECHANICS
2007
The transverse elastic deflection of a traction belt along the free span depends mainly on the flexural stiffness, but may be significantly influenced by the distributed weight and the shear compliance, which affect together the width of the arc of contact. In particular, the shear compliance yields a virtual decrease of the flexural stiffness, flattens the free span and increases the wound regions, to the advantage of the transmissible torque. Moreover, the tensioning of a given belt may be somewhat larger, in comparison with the ideal circular-straight path with the same centre distance, because of the increased length of the deflected belt trajectory due to gravity. The present paper ad…