Accurate motion control for multiaxis motion systems is an important issue for manufacturing industry. In this brief, an adaptive robust control scheme is implemented to synthesize the compensator for tracking and synchronization with the consideration of cross-coupling dynamics among different axes. By using the adaptive strategies, the asymptotic convergence of both tracking and synchronization errors are achieved. The robust control scheme also guarantees the transient performance, tracking errors, and synchronization errors. Experimental results of a three-axis motion system that include system uncertainties and nonlinearity are also illustrated to verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach for different scenarios. The results indicate excellent transient performance as well as both tracking and synchronization accuracies.

A new capacitive pressure sensor with very large dynamic range is introduced. The sensor is based on a new technique for substantially changing the surface area of the electrodes, rather than the inter-electrode spacing as commonly done at the present. The prototype device has demonstrated a change in capacitance of approximately 2500 pF over a pressure range of 10 kPa.

A new type of pressure sensors with extremely high sensitivity is introduced. Unlike piezoresistive, capacitive, and linear-variable-differential-transformer-based pressure sensors, the new sensor is based on a technique for substantially changing the inductance of a coil. The prototype device has demonstrated a change in inductance of approximately 34.5 mH over a pressure range of 10 kPa. The sensor offers a number of desirable features, including linearity, low temperature, and pressure hysteresis, in addition to small size.

A new microelectromechanical-systems capacitive pressure sensor with extremely high sensitivity (2.24 ¿F/kPa) is introduced. The sensor essentially consists of a small drop of mercury and a flat aluminum electrode that are separated by a 1 ¿m-thick layer of Barium Strontium Titanate (a high dielectric-constant ceramic). The assembly constitutes a parallel-plate capacitor where the surface area of the electrodes is variable to a high degree. The mercury drop is pressured by a small corrugated metal diaphragm. As the electrode area of the parallel-plate capacitor varies, a total change in capacitance of more than 6 ¿F is obtained.

This paper present a theoretical evaluation of the application of microelectromechanical technology to reduce banding artifacts in electrophotographic printing systems. The proposed system would consist of arrays of micro-mirrors and micro-lasers replacing conventional laser printing mechanisms. Several advantages of the new system include faster printing speeds, elimination of synchronization problems, improved image quality and lower production costs. Each micro-mirror can be a surface micro-machined piezoelectric cantilever beam with a reflective surface. An analytical model for the cantilever beam describing the dynamic relationship between scan line deflection and the applied voltage is derived. Using a closed-loop feedback control strategy, the effectiveness of the micro-mirror arrays in reducing banding was theoretically evaluated. Calculations show that each micro-mirror should be capable of deflecting the scan line a distance of 50 µm or approximately one 600 dots per inch (dpi) pixel by only using a 2 V voltage potential. Using an actual measured line spacing sequence, the operation of the system was simulated. The results demonstrated good tracking and significant reduction of the low-frequency banding components. Emulated images showed significant reduction in banding for a typical 600 dpi print resolution.

Robots have been deployed in workplaces to assist, work alongside, or collaborate with human workers on various tasks, which introduces new occupational safety and health hazards and requires research efforts to address these issues. This study investigated the research trends for robotic applications in occupational safety and health. The scientometric method was applied to quantitatively analyze the relationships between robotics applications in the literature. The keywords “robot”, “occupational safety and health”, and their variants were used to find relevant articles. A total of 137 relevant articles published during 2012–2022 were collected from the Scopus database for this analysis. Keyword co-occurrence, cluster, bibliographic coupling, and co-citation analyses were conducted using VOSviewer to determine the major research topics, keywords, co-authorship, and key publications. Robot safety, exoskeletons and work-related musculoskeletal disorders, human–robot collaboration, and monitoring were four popular research topics in the field. Finally, research gaps and future research directions were identified based on the analysis results, including additional efforts regarding warehousing, agriculture, mining, and construction robots research; personal protective equipment; and multi-robot collaboration. The major contributions of the study include identifying the current trends in the application of robotics in the occupational safety and health discipline and providing pathways for future research in this discipline.