Growth in application fields of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and an increase in their total number are followed by higher and higher expectations imposed on improvements in UAV propulsion and energy management systems. Most commercial vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) UAVs employ a constant pitch propeller that forces a mission execution tradeoff in the majority of cases. An alternative solution, presented here, consists of the use of a variable pitch propeller. The paper summarizes experimental measurements of the propulsion system equipped with an innovative variable pitch rotor. The investigations incorporated characteristics of the rotor for no wind conditions and a new approach to optimize pitch settings in hover flight as a function of UAV weight and energy consumption. As UAV battery capacity is always limited, efficient energy management is the only way to increase UAV mission performance. The study shows that use of a variable pitch propeller can increase the maximal takeoff weight of the aircraft and improve power efficiency in hover, especially if load varies for different missions. The maximal thrust measured was 31% higher with respect to the original blade settings. The coefficient of thrust during hover showed an increase of 2.6% up to 7.5% for various pitch angles with respect to the original fixed propeller.

Diagnostics of a hand requires measurements of kinematics and joint limits. The standard tools for this purpose are manual devices such as goniometers which allow measuring only one joint simultaneously, making the diagnostics time-consuming. The paper presents a system for automatic measurement and computer presentation of essential parameters of a hand. Constructed software uses an integrated vision system, a haptic device for measurement, and has a web-based user interface. The system provides a simplified way to obtain hand parameters, such as hand size, wrist, and finger range of motions, using the homogeneous-matrix-based notation. The haptic device allows for active measurement of the wrist’s range of motion and additional force measurement. A study was conducted to determine the accuracy and repeatability of measurements compared to the gold standard. The system functionality was confirmed on five healthy participants, with results showing comparable results to manual measurements regarding fingers’ lengths. The study showed that the finger’s basic kinematic structure could be measured by a vision system with a mean difference to caliper measurement of 4.5 mm and repeatability with the Standard Deviations up to 0.7 mm. Joint angle limits measurement achieved poorer results with a mean difference to goniometer of 23.6º. Force measurements taken by the haptic device showed the repeatability with a Standard Deviation of 0.7 N. The presented system allows for a unified measurement and a collection of important parameters of a human hand with therapist interface visualization and control with potential use for post-stroke patients’ precise rehabilitation.

The paper presents an innovative construction of Pneumatic Artificial Muscles. Due to transverse deformation of the muscle, it allows obtaining a linear displacement by changing a diameter of a muscle. The new type of drive, which is represented by this solution, can be used in a robot designed for exploration of a human intestine. On the basis of investigation, there are presented results of a research, differences between traditional and transversal pneumatic muscles and profits of the new construction.

Diagnostics of the digestive system carried out properly is becoming more and more important where patients' health status and lives are concerned. Current diagnostic methods include but are not limited to the following: radiodiagnostics, endoscopy, enteroscopy and capsule endoscopy. This article contains a brief presentation of these methods and it describes their main advantages and disadvantages. One of the main conclusions summarizing the description of diagnostic methods is to indicate any “blank spots” in the diagnosis and treatment of the digestive system. This article also presents studies of new devices that will eventually fill in the blank spots in the diagnosis of the digestive system. In the conclusions this article characterizes the most important parameter requirements that a device should possess to meet the expectations of physicians and allow for comprehensive diagnostic assessment of the intestines and taking of samples for further tests.

Pneumatic Artificial Muscles are under investigation for many years. Most of them are units of large dimensions, impossible to use in medical robotics. However, low emittance of heat of working medium is one of the most important advantages of this drive and crucial in medical robotics. Problem of combination of advantages of this drive and preferable for medical use size found solution at Lodz University of Technology, where transversal pneumatic muscles were developed. Thanks to the innovative structure, designed muscles characterize much smaller dimensions and high strength relative to the total volume change. Therefore, they may be successfully used in drive of the robot which is moving inside the human body. The article presents the results of static and dynamic tests of Transversal Pneumatic Muscles.