"Some Recent Research Results in Air Bearings and Pneumatic Components at Italian Universities"

Prof. Terenziano RAPARELLI, Italy

Professor, Politecnico di Torino

Prof. Terenziano Raparelli is full professor in Applied Mechanics and Fluid Automation at the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (DIMEAS) of the Politecnico di Torino, Italy, where he received his MS degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1981 and, since that time he worked first as a researcher an then as professor, with a parenthesis, 1994-1999, at the University of L’Aquila, Italy. He is currently Head of the Gas Bearings Laboratory at DIMEAS. He was Coordinator of the Board of Mechanical, Aerospace, Automotive and Production Engineering of the Politecnico di Torino and he is fellow member of the following scientific associations: International Federation for the Theory of Machines and Mechanisms (IFToMM), Italian Association of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (AIMETA), Italian Association of Tribology (AIT).
His major research areas of interest are pneumatics, tribology, robotics, bioengineering, gas bearings. Relatively to these areas he has written several papers and, moreover, textbooks on Applied Mechanics and Pneumatics.

Abstract: In various industrial sectors there are increasingly frequent signs of support for eco-sustainable technologies. Air bearing technology is one of these technologies, as it combines the eco-compatibility needs of the components with the technical needs to be able to operate at very high rotation speed, or with high handling precision. Both of these needs can be met thanks to the low viscosity of the air used as a lubricant between the moving surfaces.
As regards rotary applications, air bearings are used in high-speed compressors, small-sized turbomachines and electrospindles. As regards precision applications, air bearings are used in the metrology sector and in general in micro positioning.
Another interesting and growing sector is the collaborative robotics, that was born to increase human–machine collaboration in industrial and other environments. Hence, safety is the first requirement for human–robot interaction. Soft graspers and actuators reduce the risk of hazards and injuries. In order to handle objects of different shapes, sizes and needs, pneumatic soft graspers and actuators, also inspired by the biological world, have been developed. Their common characteristic of being made of soft material whose stiffness is not uniformly distributed.
This lecture presents some prototypes of air bearings, for high-speed applications and in the metrology sector, developed at the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering of the Politecnico di Torino. Some prototypes of pneumatic soft graspers and actuators, in some cases inspired by the animal world, designed and developed at the University of L’Aquila, are also presented in this lecture.

"Design of Data-Driven PID Controllers and Their Applications for a Hydraulic Excavator"

Prof. Toru Yamamoto

Toru Yamamoto is currently a Professor with the Control Systems Engineering, Hiroshima University, Japan, and a leader of the National Project on Regional Industry Innovation with support from the Cabinet Office, Goverment of Japan. He was an Overseas Research Fellow of the Japan Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS) with the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta for six months in 2006. His current research interests are in area of self-tuning & learning control, data-driven control, and their implementation for industrial systems. Dr. Yamamoto was a General Chair of SICE (Society of Instrument and Control Engineers in Japan) Annual Conference 2019 held in Hiroshima. He received the Commendation for Science and Technology by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, as well as the Technology Achievement Award from the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers(JSME) and the Performance Award from the Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan(IEEJ).

Abstract: In the industrial words, intensified international competition has led to increased emphasis on enhancing productivity, energy conservation, labor-saving measures, and improving product quality while reducing production costs. To address these issues, there is a growing demand for constructing advanced control systems. Particularly, recent advancements in computer technology enable rapid processing of vast amounts of data. This situation facilitates relatively straightforward accumulation, processing of operating data, and programming, leading to intensified efforts to enhance control performance. This trend has gradually altered the framework of control system design, with a recent focus on data-driven design methods that directly utilize operating data for control system design without describing mathematical models of the system.
Meanwhile, PID control methods are widely applied in the industries, reportedly constituting over 80% of all control loops. Given this current situation, methods for designing data-driven PID controllers are introduced in this talk. One method involves adjusting PID parameters directly from pre-collected operating data for linear systems, known as Fictitious Reference Iterative Tuning (FRIT). Another is the database-driven PID (DD-PID) control method which has been proposed for nonlinear systems. Initially proposed for online adjustment of PID parameters, this method has been extended to offline adjustment, in which databases is trained by using the FRIT. This extension significantly contributes to the societal implementation of the DD-PID method. Finally, the application results employing these methods to a hydraulic excavator are discussed.

"Fluid Power Pioneering New Robotics"

Prof. Koichi Suzumori

Koichi Suzumori received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from Yokohama National University, Japan, in 1982, 1984, and 1990, respectively. He had worked for Toshiba R&D Center from 1984 to 2001, and worked for Micro-Machine Center, Tokyo, from 1999 to 2001. He had been a professor in Division of Industrial Innovation Sciences, Okayama University, Japan from 2001 to 2014. Since 2014 till present, he has been a professor in Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology. He is mainly engaging in the research fields of new actuators and their applications. He is a fellow member of the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers and of the Robotics Society of Japan.

Abstract: Robotics started with fluid actuators in year 1960’s where most of the robotic systems apply hydraulic actuators including the first industrial robots, Unimate and Versatran from USA in year 1962. The first humanoid robot developed by Waseda University in the year 1970 was also driven by hydraulic actuators. Apparently, the first wearable robot was developed and driven by pneumatic McKibben muscles in year 1960. From there, development of robots using hydraulic and pneumatic were expanding significantly until 1980’s where high performance electrical motors were introduced. Consequently, since then, the fluid power actuators are categorized as conventional actuators and seldom used in robotics today.
However, fluid powered actuators are NOT too old to be used in current robots because it has a great potential for pioneering a new world of robotics. I will talk about it and show the following examples of fluid actuators and their applications in new concept of robotics. One of them is the "Pneumatic thin artificial muscle" which opens a new area of Musculoskeletal robotics, Giacometti robotics, Soft robotics, Power-assist wears, and deep biomimetic robotics. Our "Next-generation hydraulic actuator” with advantage of lightness, compactness, and fine controllability is possible for tough robotics to work in hazard conditions, rescue robotics, and soft high power robotics. I want to share these great potentials of the new fluid power systems in robotics with all participants.

Banquet

HIROSHIMA 2024 offers a special occasion for the participants to join a banquet at Hiroshima Gokoku Shrine on the grounds of Hiroshima Castle on the evening of October 24th. This exceptional experience has been made possible by the special support of the Japan Tourism Agency. Don’t miss it!

For more information, please visit here.

Technical tour

Two technical tours are parallelly scheduled for October 25th. A participant can apply for either one or the other. Participating fee will be charged. Note that the tour will be canceled if there are 24 or fewer participants.

You can find a tour itinerary here.