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TORVEastro robot design is presented with a built prototype in LARM2 (Laboratory of Robot Mechatronics) for testing and characterizing its functionality for service in space stations. Several robot astronauts are designed with bulky human-like structures that cannot be convenient for outdoor space service in monitoring and maintenance of the external structures of orbital stations. The design features of TORVEastro robot are discussed with its peculiar mechanical design with 3 arm-legs as agile service robot astronaut. A lab prototype is used to test the operation performance and the feasibility of its peculiar design. The robot weighs 1 kg, and consists of a central torso, three identical three-degree of freedom (DoF) arm&ndash, legs and one vision system. Test results are reported to discuss the operation efficiency in terms of motion characteristics and power consumption during lab experiments that nevertheless show the feasibility of the robot for outdoor space applications.

Locomotion over different terrain types, whether flat or uneven, is very important for a wide range of service operations in robotics. Potential applications range from surveillance, rescue, or hospital assistance. Wheeled-legged hexapod robots have been designed to solve these locomotion tasks. Given the wide range of feasible operations, one of the key operation planning issues is related to the robot balancing during motion tasks. Usually this problem is related with the pose of the robot&rsquo, s center of mass, which can be addressed using different mathematical techniques. This paper proposes a new practical technique for balancing wheeled-legged hexapod robots, where a Biodex Balance System model SD (for static &amp, dynamic) is used to obtain the effective position of the center of mass, thus it can be recalculated to its optimal position. Experimental tests are carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of this technique and modify and improve the position of hexapod robots&rsquo, center of mass.

International audience; This paper deals with the identification of upper limb motion specifications for robot assisted exercising. Motion capture system has been used to track the upper limb motion of a subject with a specific protocol. Two movements have been investigated based on the procedure done by the medical specialists on patients. The experimental analysis focused on the shoulder, leading to range of motion, has been presented and used to reconstruct the upper limb kinematic model. The ability of a cable-driven robot LAWEX, which has been designed and built at LARM to replicate the upper limb motion is discussed.

2nd International Symposium on the Education in Mechanism and Machine Science (ISEMMS); NOV 23-24, 2017; Madrid, Spain, This paper describes an example of internship experience at LARM, Laboratory of Robotics and Mechatronics, at University of Cassino and South Latium. In particular, the main focus of this paper is the learning process as basis of a proper internship. Namely, a specific experiential learning approach is proposed as referring to a low-cost servo motor operation task. The learning task is further defined and developed as referring to a real application with a cable-driven robot for rehabilitation tasks, which has been designed and built at LARM in Cassino and under further investigation within Agewell project.

An artificial torso is a fundamental part of a humanoid robot for imitating human actions. In this paper, a prototype of CAUTO (CAssino hUmanoid TOrso) is presented. Its design is characterized by artificial vertebras actuated by cable-driven parallel manipulators. The design was conceived by looking at the complex system and functioning of the human torso, in order to develop a solution for basic human-like behavior. The requirements and kinematic structure are introduced to explain the peculiarities of the proposed mechanical design. A prototype is presented, and built with low-cost and high-performance features. Tests results are reported to show the feasibility and the characteristics in replicating human torso motions. In addition, the power consumption has been measured during the tests to prove the efficiency of the Li-Po battery supply, employed for a fully portable solution of the designed torso.

This paper describes an experimental procedure consisting of impact tests that simulate a collision of a human head with an industrial robot with the aim to validate a safety index named as New Index for Robots (NIR) and its outputs. The experiments in this paper are based on lab tests. It is an attempt to characterize the NIR index underlying the main parameters that are involved in crash interaction and to highlight limitations and weakness of suggested impact tests.

This paper presents results on the modelling, simulation and experimental tests of a cable-based parallel manipulator to be used as an aiding or guiding system for people with motion disabilities. There is a high level of motivation for people with a motion disability or the elderly to perform basic daily-living activities independently. Therefore, it is of great interest to design and implement safe and reliable motion assisting and guiding devices that are able to help end-users. In general, a robot for a medical application should be able to interact with a patient in safety conditions, i.e. it must not damage people or surroundings; it must be designed to guarantee high accuracy and low acceleration during the operation. Furthermore, it should not be too bulky and it should exert limited wrenches after close interaction with people. It can be advisable to have a portable system which can be easily brought into and assembled in a hospital or a domestic environment. Cable-based robotic structures can fulfil those requirements because of their main characteristics that make them light and intrinsically safe. In this paper, a reconfigurable four-cable-based parallel manipulator has been proposed as a motion assisting and guiding device to help people to accomplish a number of tasks, such as an aiding or guiding system to move the upper and lower limbs or the whole body. Modelling and simulation are presented in the ADAMS environment. Moreover, experimental tests are reported as based on an available laboratory prototype.

In this study, cable-based manipulators are proposed for application in rehabilitation therapies. Cable-based manipulators show good features that are very useful when the system has to interact with humans. In particular, they can be used to aid motion or as monitoring/training systems in rehabilitation therapies. Modelling and simulation of both active and passive cable-based parallel manipulators are presented for an application to help older people, patients or disabled people in the sit-to-stand transfer and as a monitoring/training system. Experimental results are presented by using built prototypes.

In this paper a 4-4 cable-based system is presented for an application of aiding elderly people or patients with disabilities at lower limbs, in standing up and sitting operations. Cable-based manipulators have very good kinematic and dynamic characteristics, and they also show other properties such as good transportability and low-cost construction, which make them also suitable for medical applications and rehabilitation. The proposed application is analyzed through a kinetostatic analysis and simulation of the manipulator. An experimental validation of the proposed application is presented by means of an existent prototype, which is called CALOWI (CAssino LOw-cost WIre robot) that is available at LARM in Cassino. A low-cost system for tension monitoring has been used to monitor the forces in the cables during the experimental tests.