T. Tiankov

New Exoskeleton Arm Concept Design And Actuation For Haptic Interaction With Virtual Objects

Abstract In the work presented in this paper the conceptual design and actuation of one new exoskeleton of the upper limb is presented. The device is designed for application where both motion tracking and force feedback are required, such as human interaction with virtual environment or rehabilitation tasks. The choice is presented of mechanical structure kinematical equivalent to the structure of the human arm. An actuation system is selected based on braided pneumatic muscle actuators. Antagonistic drive system for each joint is shown, using pulley and cable transmissions. Force/displacement diagrams are presented of two antagonistic acting muscles. Kinematics and dynamic estimations are performed of the system exoskeleton and upper limb. Selected parameters ensure in the antagonistic scheme joint torque regulation and human arm range of motion.

Optomechatronic System For Automated Intra Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection

Abstract This paper presents a complex optomechatronic system for In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF), offering almost complete automation of the Intra Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) procedure. The compound parts and sub-systems, as well as some of the computer vision algorithms, are described below. System capabilities for ICSI have been demonstrated on infertile oocyte cells.

A Robot for Cell Injection: Modeling, Design and Experimental Validation

This work deals with modelling and experimenting of a compliant serial-parallel robot. Using Pseudo-Rigid-Body Modelling PRBM of elastic structures, a kinematics and stiffness model of a serial-parallel structure has been built. Several approaches for pre-tensioning of a parallel structure with elastic joints were developed in order to eliminate backlashes and improve the performance of its actuators. In this work a robot is designed to inject biological cells with size in the range of 10-30µm. The approaches used for pre-tensioning of the robot have been analysed and subjected to numerical evaluation. Assessing the mechanical parameters of the tensed manipulator has been performed using the following methods: PRBM and Finite Element Analysis FEA. An experimental set-up for testing a robot prototype has been developed, using an optical system and correlation technique for digital image processing. The experimental results obtained are compared to data received from the numerical experiment.