Flexible zinc-air batteries have many merits, including low cost, high safety, environmentally friendliness applicability, etc. One of the key factors to improve the performance of flexible zinc-air batteries is to use a gel electrolyte. In this study, gel electrolytes were synthesized from potato, sweet potato, and corn starch. In a comparison of each starch, the corn starch-based gel electrolyte showed the highest discharge capacity of 12.41 mAh/cm2 in 20 mA and 6.47 mAh/cm2 in 30 mA. It also delivered a higher specific discharge capacity of 7.06 mAh/cm2 than the other materials after 100° bending. In addition, the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was analyzed to calculate the ionic conductivity. The potato, sweet potato, and corn starch-based gel electrolytes showed electrolyte resistances (Re) of 0.306, 0.298, and 0.207 Ω, respectively. In addition, the corn starch-based gel electrolyte delivered the highest ionic conductivity of 0.121 S cm-1 among the other gel electrolytes. Thus, the corn starch-based gel electrolyte was verified to improve the performance of flexible zinc-air batteries

최근 지속가능한 농업을 모태로 한 친환경농업(무농약·유기농)에 대한 관심과 지원이 증대되고 있으나, 대부분의 농가에서는 해충 방제를 위하여 제충국제등의 독성물질을 무작위로 사용함으로 해충은 물론 천적까지 그 수가 감소하고 있다. 유 기농의 4대 원칙 중 생태의 원칙에 모순되는 방법을 적용하고 있는 것이다. 이에, 외 부투입에 의한 무작위적인 해충방제에서 천적을 활용할 수 있는 지역순환에 기초 한 물리적 방제의 일환으로 먹이트랩을 활용하여 지속가능한 농업을 구현하고자, 농가에서 자체제작이 가능한 먹이트랩의 활용방안을 검토하게 되었다. 트랩의 외부 골격은 펫트병을 활용하였고, 충진 내용물은 황설탕 : 물 = 1:3과 열 대과일 카다멈(소두구)을 12~15개를 투입하여 먹이트랩을 만들었고, 실험사과원 은 예천군 감천면 벌방리 149번지외 4개필지에 효과검증을 위하여 1차로 10a에 자 체제작 먹이트랩 10개를 4월 1일에 설치하여, 10일 후에 전체 포획수를 조사하였 고, 2차로 4월 11일에 10개를 설치하여 10일 후에 전체 포획수를 조사하였다. 조사 결과 1차 설치구는 복숭아 순나방 54마리가, 2차 설치구에는 복숭아 순나방 20마 리가 포획이 되었고, 먹이트랩의 암컷 비율은 36~66%이고, 복숭아순나방 포획에 효과가 있는 것으로 판단이 되며, 복숭아 순나방외 사과에 직접피해를 주는 풍뎅이 등도 포획됨으로 활용도가 높은 것으로 판명 되었다. 다만, 위 실험결과의 효과극대화를 위하여 교미교란제 설치와 병용하여 사용한 다면, 무농약·유기농 농가에서의 무분별한 독성있는 천연자재의 살포를 경감할 수 있을 뿐 만 아니라, 천적의 생태순환을 보호함으로 지속가능한 농업실현에 이바지 할 것으로 사료 된다.

This paper deals with the development and application of control algorithms for series elastic relief robots for rescue operations in harsh environment like disasters or battlefield. The joint controller applied in this paper has a cascade structure combining inner loop for torque control and outer loop for position control. The torque loop contains feedforward and feedback controller and disturbance observer for independent, decentralized joint control. The effect of the elastic component and motor dynamics are treated as the nonlinear disturbance and compensated with the disturbance observer of torque controller. For the collision detection, Band Designed Disturbance Observer is configured to recognize/respond to external disturbance robustly in the continuously changing environment. The controller is applied to a 7-dof series elastic manipulator to evaluate the torque tracking and collision detection/response performance.

In this paper, we propose a new collision detection algorithm for human-robot collaboration. We use an IMU sensor located at the tip of the manipulator and the kinematic behavior of the manipulator to detect the unexpected collision between the robotic manipulator and environment. Unlike other method, the developed algorithm uses only the kinematic relationship between the manipulator joint and the end effector. Therefore, the collision estimation signal is not affected by the error of the dynamics model. The proposed collision detection algorithm detects the collision by comparing the estimated acceleration of the end effector derived from the position, velocity and acceleration trajectories of the robot joints with the actual acceleration measured by the sensor. In simulation, we compare the performance of our method with the conventional Residual Observer (ROB). Our method is less sensitive to the load variation because of the independency on the dynamic modeling of the manipulator.

A design methodology for parametric design optimization of washing machine door is presented. We develop a motion simulator and a robotic door to simulate the various motion of washing machine doors. The motion of the washing machine door is related to hinge parameters. Springs and dampers are usually used in the hinge of washing machine door for controlling motion of the door. A physical simulator of the door motion is used for finding candidate parameters of the hinge and a robotic door whose motion is controlled algorithmically is used for consumer tests. Through the consumer evaluation on the robotic motion, the optimized parameters are determined. We find the optimal parameters as a function of angle and angular velocity of the door.