Direct-drive robot arms, often utilized in manipulators and humanoid robots, face challenges related to increased distal mass and reduced backdrivability due to motors being placed at each joint. This paper presents a 4-DOF elbow-wrist mechanism for a robot arm driven by wires. The design includes the upper arm, elbow, upper forearm, lower forearm, and wrist, with all actuators concentrated in the upper arm to minimize distal mass. To achieve this, the mechanism employs rolling-contact joints, forearm rotator idlers, and agonist-antagonist wire pairs. Additionally, a differential mechanism is integrated at the wrist, allowing for yaw rotation at the forearm while enabling roll and pitch rotations at a single point, thereby eliminating inter-axis offset and mimicking human wrist motion. A prototype was fabricated and evaluated, achieving an elbow flexion of 107°, forearm yaw exceeding 90° in both directions, wrist roll of 63° and 50° in each direction, and wrist pitch of 33° in both directions. The independence of each degree of freedom was validated, and torque efficiency from the upper arm to the wrist tip was measured and analyzed.

Chemical Mechanical Polishing (CMP) is a crucial process in advanced semiconductor manufacturing, essential for achieving global planarization of the wafer surface, which directly impacts device performance and yield. Uniform material removal across the wafer is vital; however, non-uniformity frequently occurs, even with nominally uniform applied pressure. A prevalent issue is the edge effect, where the removal rate at the wafer edge significantly differs from that at the center, resulting in reduced uniformity and compromised device reliability. To tackle this challenge, this study explores the effectiveness of a multi-zone pressure-controlled carrier in enhancing polishing uniformity. Conventional single-zone carriers can only influence a narrow region of approximately 5–7 mm at the wafer edge, leading to limited improvements in nonuniformity of about 3%. In contrast, the multi-zone carrier allows for precise pressure control over a broader range, extending from 3 mm to 20 mm from the wafer edge. Experimental results show that this approach reduces non-uniformity to below 3% while effectively addressing edge removal deficiencies. These findings underscore the significant potential of multi-zone carriers to improve CMP process precision. Consequently, the proposed method is anticipated to enhance both productivity and quality in semiconductor fabrication.

Wearable sensors are susceptible to degradation from physical wear, moisture, and desiccation, which can result in signal attenuation and unreliable data. This pilot study, conducted in a controlled single-participant setting, introduces a framework to quantify and characterize sensor degradation while restoring corrupted electromyography (EMG) signals. Four types of sensors—polyethylene terephthalate film, parylene film, 3M bioelectrode pads, and microneedle patches—were affixed to the left forearm in a three-electrode EMG configuration. Impedance at 100 Hz was monitored as an indicator of sensor aging, while a one-dimensional convolutional autoencoder was employed to reconstruct degraded EMG signals using a loss function that incorporated both time-domain and frequency-domain error terms. The reconstruction loss showed a correlation with impedance changes, providing a practical metric for assessing sensor health. These findings highlight the feasibility of real-time signal recovery and its potential to extend the lifespan of sensors.

Inertial navigation technology originally designed for precise guidance of missiles is widely used in weapon systems. Guided missiles have become supersonic and high maneuverability with advancement of science and technology. Antivibration performance against high vibration and shock energy is accordingly required. Sensors of an Inertial Navigation System (INS) have a high sensitivity. Conversion coefficients for acceleration values and bias errors in signals must be minimized. A vibration isolator is generally applied to protect INS by attenuating the vibration and shock energy transmitted from dynamic disturbances. The stiffness and damping are changed using highly damped materials such as elastomers that must be protected from disturbances. A vibration isolator is widely used in various fields. However, it is important to understand characteristics of a vibration isolator composed of elastomer because it has nonlinearities such as hyperelasticity and viscoelastic as well as damping characteristics. In this study, a COTS vibration isolator suitable for INS was selected through theoretical approach. Response characteristics of the system in a vibration and shock environment were analyzed through FEM analysis and vibration and shock test. In addition, through repeated excitation test, reproducibility and structural stability were confirmed when the vibration isolator was installed in the system.

With the advancement of microstructure manufacturing technology, an array of functional surfaces based on micro/nano structures have been developed. Recently, there has been active research in the development of functional surfaces using composite materials that combine the properties of two different materials. One notable area of research is the creation of functional surfaces that utilize magnetic force to actuate microstructures. Typically, these surfaces are produced using a composite material that blends a flexible, easily deformable material with iron particles that respond to magnetic force. However, the inclusion of iron particles in the flexible material can increase its Young’s modulus, making it more challenging to effectively actuate the microstructures. To address this issue, our paper presents a fabrication method that allows for the effective actuation of microstructures by removing the residual layer of the composite material. This method enables the arrangement of iron particles at the end of the microstructure, maximizing the bending of the microstructure when magnetic force is applied. Furthermore, we conducted experiments to actuate microstructures with varying ratios of iron particles, confirming the effectiveness of this fabrication method.

The Technical Specification for Interoperability (TSI) legally mandates the prediction and verification process of the Reliability, Availability, Maintainability and Safety (RAMS) in signaling and communication systems. Recently, domestic regulations, including the Railroad Safety Act, have been strengthened in order to better meet the requirements for participating in international projects. To comply with these regulatory requirements, manufacturers and development organizations must prepare verification data pertaining to the reliability and safety of railway components and related systems. This paper aims to analyze the requirements of Failure Mode, Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA) through international laws and standards, and subsequently propose a compliant FMECA system for the domestic railway industry. The proposed FMECA system is then compared with the analysis results of actual failure data to determine its suitability for establishing a Reliability, Availability, Maintainability (RAM) verification standard for railway products in relation to conformity assessment.

Hybrid mobile robot is the system that will practically combine legged walking and skated driving in the same system. Therefore, this robot has own problems of inverse kinematics that are not considered in typical walking robots. In this paper, I fully categorized the inverse kinematics problems for hybrid mobile robot with general motion by walking and driving on an inclined plane, including switching end-effectors between foots and blades. I also solved the inverse kinematics for each case of problems. I here actively adopted the coordinate transformation derived from the inclined plane to cope with the random motion of foots and blades on the plane. I then presented several examples of the inverse kinematics problems with specific situations, and verified the validity of the analysis method from the results.

In general, rotor inertia has an inversely proportional relationship with proportional gain and bandwidth in a turret speed control system of machine tools; thus, this system has a disadvantage, such as weak disturbance caused by a decrease in the damping ratio and an increase in bandwidth due to low rotor inertia. This paper proposes a damping compensator that is resistance to disturbances in order to improve the above problems. The proposed damping compensator reduces the residual vibration induced in the transient state by using a digital high-pass filter. The experimental results showed that the overshoot was reduced by about 5.5% in the speed response and by about 20% in the torque response in the no-load condition. Under the load condition of 4.8 N.m, the torque response showed that the undershoot was reduced by about 26%.

Energy devices in modern society require high efficiency, carbon neutrality, and the capability of distributed power generation. A fuel cell is an energy conversion device, that satisfies all of these requirements. However, most fuel cells use hydrogen as a fuel, and more than half of hydrogen is currently produced through hydrocarbon reforming, resulting in significant energy loss. Additionally, the storage and supply of hydrogen require costly systems, and a large amount of energy is consumed during compression or liquidation processes. This paper develops a solid oxide fuel cell, that uses hydrocarbon directly as fuel to resolve this problem. A small amount of Ru is mixed with the Ni-based electrode, for the effective internal reforming of hydrocarbons. For rapid deposition of YSZ electrolytes, we developed a reactive sputtering process, using a DC power source. The developed thin-film solid oxide fuel cell, showed a performance of 76 mW/cm² at 500℃ using methane as fuel.

Interest in the use of thin film of Ruthenium-Samaria doped ceria cermet (Ru-SDC) as anode in solid oxide fuel cells is increasing due to its high oxygen storage capacity and high chemical and thermal stability. To have enough structural integrity between sputtered Ru-SDC films and underlying substrates, good adhesion property is required. In this work, scratch resistance and failure mode for Ru-SDC films with various SDC composition were investigated using a scratch test method employing linearly increasing load from 1 to 50 N using a 200 μm radius Rockwell C indenter. Scratched surfaces were examined with a field emission scanning electron microscope. Chemical compositions in scratch tracks were analyzed by energy dispersive X-Ray spectroscopy. Critical loads for films with different SDC ratios were assessed and associated failure modes were identified. The highest scratch resistance among tested film compositions was the one that contained 50% of SDC. Failure modes of tested films regardless of the ratio of SDC were identified to be the initiation of tensile cracks with rapid increase of friction coefficient followed by chipping, and eventually the generation of a severe crack network.

Recently, instrument stages using flexure guide mechanisms and piezo actuators have been widely used for an ultra-precision positioning system in various industries. Research into ultra-precision position control aiming at nanoscale position errors during stage driving is being actively conducted, as well as various studies on the motion profile adjusting the reference input. In this study, we suggested a motion profile with snap and feedforward for use with a high speed nano scanning system, as compared and analyzed with the position tracking error through feedback control, and also compared to the related feed with the forward control noted as minimized at the position error to 14.19 nm. As a result, a tracking error when applying the fourth profile with snaps to the piezoelectric stage, is obtained with an error reduction effect of about 15%, as compared to when the second profile is applied.

Sound waves propagate in a manner in which energy is transmitted by adjacent molecules in the medium. These adjacent molecules exhibit inherent sound wave characteristics, such as height and wavelength, depending on the sound frequency. The Helmholtz resonator, one of the well-known acoustic elements, comprises a neck and a cavity, and features a resonance at a specific frequency related to structural dimensions. The acoustic characteristics of the Helmholtz resonator can be explained by a lumped spring-mass system in mechanical engineering; the resonant frequency can be calculated with the same analysis. The Helmholtz resonator is widely used as an acoustic filter as it can re-radiate sound waves with the opposite phase and significantly attenuate the original sound wave in the resonance frequency range. In this study, we fabricated a Helmholtz resonator-inspired film-type acoustic absorber (FAA), comprising a microscale resonator array made with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Through acoustic attenuation experiments, the FAA revealed that the novel attenuation values reached up to 36.3 dB mm-1. Additionally, a continuous fabrication of the FAA was achieved via a custom-built roll-type equipment.

Majority of deformation and ruptures as a result of severe deformation of mechanical structures are due to the existence of cracks or cracks generated through specific situations. These cracks causes stress concentration and eventually ruptures under lower load conditions than they are designed to withstand. In this study, simulation tensile analysis was done by designing compact tension specimen models with the number of holes that existed inside and the materials of the test specimens by focusing on the effects of the cracks. The study results from all the analysis (deformations, equivalent stress and strain energy) confirmed that the specimen models having two holes had better strength characteristics than those with only one hole. Additionally, the durability and strength characteristics of specific mechanical structures against the load improved through appropriate arrangement of holes thereby reducing stress generation. As such the results of this study could be utilized as the basic data for future researches on composite materials and sandwich type homogenous materials. Furthermore, the study results can assist in designing more durable products.