The aim of this paper is to present the design of a new long-range robotic arm based on an inflatable structure. Inflatable robotics has potential for improved large payload-to-weight ratios, safe collision, and inspection in areas inaccessible to human beings as in nuclear plants. The robot presented here is intended to operate inspection or maintenance missions in critical installation taking care to not collide with its environment. It is made with innovative inflatable joints and an original actuation system. Prototypes of this inflatable manipulator were constructed using two different manufacturing procedures. Using ls-dyna nonlinear dynamic finite element modeling we have numerically analyzed the specific geometry and dynamical behavior of the resulting joints. The simulations have given insight into understanding the joint bending process and have revealed guidance for optimizing the conception.

The urgency for sustainable changes in product performance and around the processes of the different organizational areas highlights the potential of eco-innovation as a management strategy. However, this holistic approach to eco-innovation is still a challenge for businesses. In this sense, this research was structured on two central premises, which justify the central problem of the study. The first is that companies face organizational barriers to the implementation of eco-innovation in a holistic manner. The second is that companies face operational barriers to the implementation and global integration of eco-innovation, such as lack of models, methods, and support tools. This operational barrier mainly includes the lack of maturity approaches and prescriptive methods of eco-innovation evaluation. In order to overcome these barriers, this research proposes an Eco-innovation Maturity Model (Eco-Mi), a framework to support eco-innovation integration and evolution of organizational maturity. Based on a review of the literature, it was possible to develop a first version of the Eco-innovation Maturity Model, consisting of the eco-innovation maturity levels and a guide to eco-innovation practices. The model has been improved through expert evaluation with the use of the Delphi Method, which contributed to increase its validity and reliability. The results confirm the research hypothesis and, therefore, the validity of the Eco-Mi model as support for the integration and evolution of eco-innovation in organizations and as a reference for the field of knowledge.

Facing current biomimetics impediments, recent studies have supported the integration within biomimetic teams of a new actor having biological knowledge and know-how. This actor is referred to as the “biomimetician” in this article. However, whereas biology is often considered a homogenous whole in the methodological literature targeting biomimetics, it actually gathers fundamentally different fields. Each of these fields is structured around specific practices, tools, and reasoning. Based on this observation, we wondered which knowledge and know-how, and so biological fields, should characterize biomimeticians. Following the design research methodology, this article thus investigates the operational integration of two biological fields, namely ecology and phylogenetics, as a starting point in the establishment of the biomimetician’s biological tools and practices. After a descriptive phase identifying specific needs and potential conceptual bridges, we presented various ways of applying biological expertise during biomimetic processes in the prescriptive phase of the study. Finally, we discussed current limitations and future research axes.

The combination of LiDAR with other technologies for numerisation is increasingly applied in the field of building, design, and geoscience, as it often brings time and cost advantages in 3D data survey processes. In this paper, the reconstruction of 3D point cloud datasets is studied, through an experimental protocol evaluation of new LiDAR sensors on smartphones. To evaluate and analyse the 3D point cloud datasets, different experimental conditions are considered depending on the acquisition mode and the type of object or surface being scanned. The conditions allowing us to obtain the most accurate data are identified and used to propose which acquisition protocol to use. This protocol seems to be the most adapted when using these LiDAR sensors to digitise complex interior buildings such as railway stations. This paper aims to propose: (i) a methodology to suggest the adaptation of an experimental protocol based on factors (distance, luminosity, surface, time, and incidence) to assess the precision and accuracy of the smartphone LiDAR sensor in a controlled environment; (ii) a comparison, both qualitative and quantitative, of smartphone LiDAR data with other traditional 3D scanner alternatives (Faro X130, VLX, and Vz400i) while considering three representative building interior environments; and (iii) a discussion of the results obtained in a controlled and a field environment, making it possible to propose recommendations for the use of the LiDAR smartphone at the end of the numerisation of the interior space of a building.

The validation of a cosmetic product is performed by physical analyses and sensory assessment. However, the recruitment of panelists takes a long time and is expensive. Moreover, to apply the product on the skin, microbiology analyses and safety are required but may not be not enough to avoid inflammatory reaction on the skin. The solution could be the substitution of sensory evaluation by instrumental measurement to predict the sensory profile before the panel. For the study, thirteen different skin care emulsions based on their composition and texture were carried out simultaneously by 12 expert panelists with a quantitative descriptive sensory evaluation profile and by rheological and textural methods. A statistical methodology was the applied to find correlation trends between both data sets. The methodology confirmed that the correlation between sensory assessment and instrumental parameters is a good solution to save time. The multiple factor analysis (MFA) showed the correlation between firmness with no visual residue attribute and the cohesion with sticky 1 min, which are evident but this methodology could be used for finding more complex correlations not found in literature.

Biomimetic practice requires a diverse set of knowledge from both biology and engineering. Several researchers have been supporting the integration of biologists within biomimetic design teams in order to meet those biological requirements and improve the effectiveness of biomimetic processes. However, interdisciplinarity practices create well-known communication challenges. Based on functional representations (like SAPPhIRE or function behavior structure (FBS)), several approaches to model biological information have been investigated in the literature. Nonetheless, actual communication processes within interdisciplinary biomimetic design teams are yet to be studied. Following this research axis, this publication focuses on communication noises and wonders if a shared framework of reference can be defined to improve communication between biologists and engineers? Through the comparison of processes and graphic representations between biology and engineering design, a set of guidelines is defined to structure a shared framework of reference. Within this framework, a new tool referred to as LINKAGE is then proposed to assist interdisciplinary communication during the biomimetic process.