Alessio Mondini

Flexible Three‐Axial Force Sensor for Soft and Highly Sensitive Artificial Touch

A soft tactile sensor able to detect both normal and tangential forces is fabricated with a simple method using conductive textile. Owing to the multi-layered architecture, the capacitive-based tactile sensor is highly sensitive (less than 10 mg and 8 μm, for minimal detectable weight and displacement, respectively) within a wide normal force range (potentially up to 27 N (400 kPa)) and natural touch-like tangential force ranges (from about 0.5 N to 1.8 N). Being flexible, soft, and low cost, this sensor represents an original approach in the emulation of natural touch.

Toward a New Generation of Electrically Controllable Hygromorphic Soft Actuators

An innovative processing strategy for fabricating soft structures that possess electric- and humidity-driven active/passive actuation capabilities along with touch- and humidity-sensing properties is reported. The intrinsically multifunctional material comprises an active thin layer of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly-(styrene sulfonate) in a double-layered structure with a silicone elastomer and provides an opportunity toward developing a new class of smart structures for soft robotics.

SPIRAL: A novel biologically-inspired algorithm for gas/odor source localization in an indoor environment with no strong airflow

This work describes the design and experimental results of an algorithm, designed to localize a gas source in an indoor environment with no strong airflow by using an autonomous agent. This condition exacerbates the patchiness and intermittency of odor distribution, typical of turbulent flows in the presence of strong mean flows. Furthermore, no information about the wind can be used to detect the position of the source. In the approach proposed here, the robot moves along spirals. A spiral can be reset and a new one started, based on the information acquired about gas distribution. This enables the robot to get close to the ejecting source, without relying on airflow measurements. Results from experiments are also described and discussed, to assess the efficiency of the proposed method.

Mapping multiple gas/odor sources in an uncontrolled indoor environment using a Bayesian occupancy grid mapping based method

In this paper we address the problem of autonomously localizing multiple gas/odor sources in an indoor environment without a strong airflow. To do this, a robot iteratively creates an occupancy grid map. The produced map shows the probability each discrete cell contains a source. Our approach is based on a recent adaptation (Jakuba, 2007) [16] to traditional Bayesian occupancy grid mapping for chemical source localization problems. The approach is less sensitive, in the considered scenario, to the choice of the algorithm parameters. We present experimental results with a robot in an indoor uncontrolled corridor in the presence of different ejecting sources proving the method is able to build reliable maps quickly (5.5 minutes in a 6 mx2.1 m area) and in real time.

The DustBot system : using mobile robots to monitor pollution in pedestrian area

The EU project DustBot addresses urban hygiene. Two types of robots were designed, the DustClean robot to autonomously clean pedestrian areas, and the DustCart robot for door-to-door garbage collection. Three prototype robots were built and equipped with electronic noses so as to enable them to collect environmental data while performing their urban hygiene tasks. Essentially, the robots act as a mobile, wireless node in a sensor network. In this paper we give an overview of the DustBot platform focusing on the Air Monitoring Module (AMM). We describe the data flow between the robots through the ubiquitous network to a gas distribution modelling server, where a gas distribution model is computed. We describe the Kernel DM+V algorithm, an approach to create statistical gas distribution models in the form of predictive mean and variance discretized onto a grid map. Finally we present and discuss results obtained with the DustBot AMM during experimental trials performed in outdoor public places: a courtyard in Pontedera, Italy and a pedestrian square in Orebro, Sweden.

A Universal Intelligent System-on-Chip Based Sensor Interface

The need for real-time/reliable/low-maintenance distributed monitoring systems, e.g., wireless sensor networks, has been becoming more and more evident in many applications in the environmental, agro-alimentary, medical, and industrial fields. The growing interest in technologies related to sensors is an important indicator of these new needs. The design and the realization of complex and/or distributed monitoring systems is often difficult due to the multitude of different electronic interfaces presented by the sensors available on the market. To address these issues the authors propose the concept of a Universal Intelligent Sensor Interface (UISI), a new low-cost system based on a single commercial chip able to convert a generic transducer into an intelligent sensor with multiple standardized interfaces. The device presented offers a flexible analog and/or digital front-end, able to interface different transducer typologies (such as conditioned, unconditioned, resistive, current output, capacitive and digital transducers). The device also provides enhanced processing and storage capabilities, as well as a configurable multi-standard output interface (including plug-and-play interface based on IEEE 1451.3). In this work the general concept of UISI and the design of reconfigurable hardware are presented, together with experimental test results validating the proposed device.

A Miniaturized Mechatronic System Inspired by Plant Roots for Soil Exploration

This paper describes the principles and theoretical investigations, supported by experimental measurements, aimed at designing and developing a novel mechatronic system for soil exploration, inspired by the apical part of the plant roots, named apex. Each single plant root has to move through the substrate, orienting itself along the gravity vector and locating water and nutrients. In the same way, the mechatronic apex can steer in all directions and it embeds a gravity sensor, a soil moisture gradient detector, as well as the electronics for sensory data acquisition and steering control. A bio-inspired algorithm reproducing the gravitropism and hydrotropism behaviors, typical of plants, was developed and tested on a purposive prototype of the mechatronic apex system, actuated by hydraulic pumps. Moreover, the design and testing of a novel bio-inspired osmotic actuator module, composed of three cells separated by couples of osmotic and ion-selective membranes, is also presented. Preliminary prototypes developed in acrylic material for testing the gravitropism and hydrotropism behaviors are shown.

Active Targeting of Sorafenib: Preparation, Characterization, and In Vitro Testing of Drug-Loaded Magnetic Solid Lipid Nanoparticles.

Sorafenib is an anticancer drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of hepatocellular and advanced renal carcinoma. The clinical application of sorafenib is promising, yet limited by its severe toxic side effects. The aim of this study is to develop sorafenib-loaded magnetic nanovectors able to enhance the drug delivery to the disease site with the help of a remote magnetic field, thus enabling cancer treatment while limiting negative effects on healthy tissues. Sorafenib and superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles are encapsulated in solid lipid nanoparticles by a hot homogenization technique using cetyl palmitate as lipid matrix. The obtained nanoparticles (Sor-Mag-SLNs) have a sorafenib loading efficiency of about 90% and are found to be very stable in an aqueous environment. Plain Mag-SLNs exhibit good cytocompatibility, whereas an antiproliferative effect against tumor cells (human hepatocarcinoma HepG2) is observed for drug-loaded Sor-Mag-SLNs. The obtained results show that it is possible to prepare stable Sor-Mag-SLNs able to inhibit cancer cell proliferation through the sorafenib cytotoxic action, and to enhance/localize this effect in a desired area thanks to a magnetically driven accumulation of the drug. Moreover, the relaxivity properties observed in water suspensions hold promise for Sor-Mag-SLN tracking through clinical magnetic resonance imaging.

A Biologically-Inspired Algorithm Implemented on a new Highly Flexible Multi-Agent Platform for Gas Source Localization

This paper presents the design of a biologically-inspired algorithm, as well as the design and development of a new highly flexible multi-agent platform for a cooperative robotic system, to be applied to the localization of a gas source in an indoor environment with no strong airflow. The platform consists of a central PC and a variable number of robots. The robots cooperate, can communicate with each other, even when exchanging complex messages, and present a swarm-like behavior, which optimizes the gas localization task. The inexpensive, multipurpose, scalable, highly flexible platform whose use is discussed in this paper investigates the efficiency of bio-inspired cooperative algorithms, to detect the odor source location

A plant-inspired robot with soft differential bending capabilities.

We present the design and development of a plant-inspired robot, named Plantoid, with sensorized robotic roots. Natural roots have a multi-sensing capability and show a soft bending behaviour to follow or escape from various environmental parameters (i.e., tropisms). Analogously, we implement soft bending capabilities in our robotic roots by designing and integrating soft spring-based actuation (SSBA) systems using helical springs to transmit the motor power in a compliant manner. Each robotic tip integrates four different sensors, including customised flexible touch and innovative humidity sensors together with commercial gravity and temperature sensors. We show how the embedded sensing capabilities together with a root-inspired control algorithm lead to the implementation of tropic behaviours. Future applications for such plant-inspired technologies include soil monitoring and exploration, useful for agriculture and environmental fields.