Hybrid bus powered by BAE Systems enters London transit fleet

Transport for London and Metrobus have taken delivery of a red London bus with a difference – this version features a BAE Systems hybrid electric drive train designed to cut carbon emissions.

The HybriDrive system is currently used by transit agencies in America and Canada. The system reduces emissions and fuel consumption while meeting the durability requirements of demanding urban transit operations. It consists of a generator, an electric motor, and an energy storage system managed by computerised controls. A diesel engine that turns the generator operates independently of the electric motor, allowing it to run at nearly consistent speed for optimum efficiency.

Continue reading…

Software developed by the University of Bristol is putting expressions on the face of Jules

Software developed by robotics engineers from the University of Bristol is putting a smile, frown, and many other expressions on the face of Jules, an animatronic head.

Human face movements are picked up by a video camera and mapped onto the 34 tiny electronic servo motors in Jules’ flexible rubber skin. The Bristol team developed its own software to transfer expressions recorded by the video camera into commands to make those servos produce similarly realistic facial movements.

However, because the robot’s motors are not identical to human facial muscles, some artistic licence was required. After filming an actor making a variety of expressions indicating, for instance, ‘happiness’, an expert animator selected 10 frames showing different variations of the expression and manually set the servos in Jules’s face to match.

Fraunhofer scientists are developing a high-performance battery for use in hybrid vehicles.

Hybrid technology combines the advantages of combustion engines and electric motors. A hybrid propulsion system switches over to generator operation when the brakes go on, producing electric current that is temporarily stored in a battery. The electric motor uses the current when starting up. While this yields savings, particularly in urban traffic, hybrid technology has always had a storage problem.

The aim of the ‘Electromobility Fleet Test’ project, which was launched by Volkswagen and Germany’s federal Ministry for the Environment BMU, along with several other partners, is to develop an energy storage device based on lithium-polymer accumulator technology suitable for use in vehicles.

ISIT scientist Dr. Gerold Neumann, explained: “This module has to be able to withstand the harsh environmental conditions it will encounter in a hybrid vehicle and above all it must guarantee high operational reliability and a long service life.”

Continue reading…

A plastic motor powered completely by light has been developed by the Tokyo Institute of Technology.

Unlike solar-powered motors that use photovoltaic cells to convert light to electric power (this also requires wires and batteries to deliver and store the power), this motor converts light directly into mechanical energy using a belt made of a special elastomer, with a molecular structure that expands or contracts when illuminated, depending on the wavelength of light.

Tomiki Ikeda, leader of the research team at Tokyo Institute of Technology, discovered a plastic compound containing azobenzene would contract when exposed to ultraviolet light, and resume its original shape when exposed to visible light.

Since this discovery in 2003, Ikeda and his team have been working on improving the shape-shifting properties of the material, and have been looking at ways to incorporate the material in a motor to convert light directly into motion.

Continue reading…

Based on its micromechatronics technology, Epson has developed the uFR, Micro Flying Robot, claimed to be the world’s smallest flying prototype microbot. 

The uFR causes levitation by use of contra-rotating propellers powered by an ultra-thin, ultrasonic motor with a high power-weight ratio. It can be balanced in mid-air by means with a stabilising mechanism using a linear actuator. Furthermore, the essence of micromechatronics has been brought together in high-density mounting technology to minimise the size and weight of the circuitry’s control unit.

By developing the uFR, Epson has demonstrated the possibility of expanding the activity range of microrobots from two-dimensional space (the ground) to three-dimensional space (the air). The company now plans to test any problems related to the functional use of space by microrobots, and further concentrate its efforts on advancing its original micromechatronics technology and cultivating applications to meet future needs.

A motorised quasi robotic suit could soon be helping disabled people to sit down, stand up, walk about, and even climb stairs.

ReWalk, developed at by Israel-based Argo Medical Technologies, provides user-initiated mobility - using advanced motion sensors, sophisticated robotic control algorithms, on-board computers, real-time software, actuation motors, tailored rechargeable batteries and composite materials.

Users walk with the assistance of crutches, controlling suit movement through subtle changes in centre of gravity and upper-body movements. In addition to simplifying suit control, this user participation in mobility brings tangible health benefits.

Problems with the urinary, respiratory, cardiovascular and digestive systems, as well as osteoporosis, pressure sores are all common side affects of prolonged wheelchair use. By keeping users upright on a daily basis, and exercising even paralysed limbs, ReWalk alleviates many of the health-related problems associated with long-term wheelchair use.

A robot with the ability to walk like a human has been developed by a researcher at TU Delft.

Although walking robots have been around since the seventies, they can be divided into two types. The first derives from industrial robots – where everything is fixed in routines, the second, adopted by researcher Daan Hobbelen took the other approach, which examines the way humans walk. This is very similar to falling forward in a controlled way. Adopting this method replaces the cautious, rigid way in which robots walk, with the more fluid, energy efficient movement used by humans.

With his ‘Flame’ robot, Hobbelen has demonstrated that a robot can be both energy-efficient and highly stable. Flame contains seven motors, an organ of balance, and various algorithms which provide stability. For example, Flame can use the information provided by its organ of balance to place its feet slightly further apart in order to prevent a fall.

Continue reading…

A grasshopper-inspired jumping robot weighing 7g which has the ability to jump 1.4m, or 27 times its body size, has been unveiled at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics in California.

Small jumping animals such as fleas, locusts, grasshoppers and frogs use elastic storage mechanisms to slowly charge and quickly release their jumping energy. In this way, they can achieve very powerful jumps and very high accelerations. As seen in the video, this jumping robot uses the exact same principle, charging two torsion springs via a small 0.6-gram pager motor and a cam. In order to be able to optimise the jumping performance, the legs can be adjusted for jumping force, take-off angle and force profile during the acceleration phase.  The tiny battery on board allows it to make up to 320 jumps at intervals of 3 seconds.

Continue reading…

Glasgow could reduce it’s carbon footprint with the implementation of an award-winning solar power concept.

Glasgow-based developer, ZM Architecture, proposes to float large lily-shaped discs on the River Clyde to stimulate river activity, using the surface to harness solar power on a large scale.

The energy created would then be transformed and exported to the National Grid. The firm said the design of the lilypads was ‘inspired by nature’, and that they could be tethered to the river bed. Integrated motors would rotate the discs to follow the sun for maximum output.