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Resumen:
Robotic devices applied to a rehabilitation context require a deeper understanding of their actuators to delimit the device’s capabilities, improve the control strategies, and enhance the human–robot interaction. This way, experimental characterizations have allowed estimating these aspects, either employing test bench structures or involving the user during the process. In terms of pneumatic actuators, the goal of the experimental characterization is to find the required pressure that generates the full bending and the bending and blocked forces. On the other hand, for variable stiffness actuators, the goal is to measure the system response and the interaction forces concerning the variation in the device setup. In this context, this chapter presents the experimental characterization of two actuators aimed at assistive applications: (1) a variable stiffness ankle exoskeleton and (2) a pneumatic hand exoskeleton. Thus, different test bench structures were developed to integrate the device’s concepts, measure the device’s capabilities, and determine the system responses. Finally, some devices based on soft actuators applied to clinical scenarios are also presented in this chapter.

Autores


Resumen:
Variable stiffness actuators (VSAs) have emerged as a promising actuation principle for devices focused on physical interaction. Specifically, characteristics such as shock load absorbing, passive backdrivability, and variable device performance motivate the use of VSA in a rehabilitation context. Multiple studies have exhibited the advantages of applying VSA in gait assistance, improving the human–robot interaction, and preserving the device in complex interaction applications. This chapter presents an overview of VSAs and their potential applications in gait rehabilitation. The first part explains the VSA concepts, several configurations to accomplish this behavior, and some devices based on this principle. The second part shows the portable and wearable T-FLEX ankle exoskeleton, focusing on its mechanical and electronic design. Lastly, this chapter presents two experimental validations with healthy subjects in gait assistance and stationary therapy scenarios.

Autores
Gandolfo, D.; Rosales, C.; Salinas, L.; Gimenez, J.; Carelli, R.;

Resumen:
In recent years, multiple applications have emerged in the area of payload transport using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). This have attracted considerable interest among the scientific community, especially the cases involving one or several rotarywing UAVs. In this context, this work proposes a novel measurement system which can estimate the payload position and the force exerted by it on the UAV. This measurement system is low cost, easy to implement, and can be used either in indoor or outdoor environments (no sensorized laboratory is needed). The measurement system is validated statically and dynamically. In the first test, the estimations obtained by the system are compared with measurements produced by high-precision devices. In the second test, the system is used in real experiments to compare its performance with the ones obtained using known procedures. These experiments allowed to draw interesting conclusions on which future research can be based.

Autores
Aguirre Zapata, E.; MORALES, H.;Dagatti Carla ; Amicarelli, A.;

Resumen:
Lobesia botrana is a quarantine pest from Argentina and other countries in the world. It causes damage to the vine in its different growth stages leading to losses in wine production. To develop pest control strategies based on knowledge of the moth, different mathematical models can be found in specific literature to predict its biological cycle, establish its relationship with environmental variables, describe the voltinism of the pest, among others. Based on the proposed models, it is possible to establish a minimum temperature threshold considering the development of the moth and the number of degrees? days (DD) that must be accumulated for there to be a change of stage. Many of these models are empirical. They are limited because they do not consider some variables such as growth and mortality rates, also they lack a conceptual basis. This makes that professionals or institutions interested in the development of decision support systems (DSS) may not use them. This also prevents them from being easily extrapolated to other regions of the world. In this work, a semi-physical model based on first principles (FPBSM) is proposed to describe how the different growth stages of the vine moth change quantitatively throughout its normal development time under controlled and specific laboratory conditions for the Cuyo region in Argentina. The proposed model, based on a white box structure, considers important parameters in the development of the moth, such as growth and mortality rates. Opposite to the models reported in the literature, the proposed model is conceptually more simple, easy to calculate or adjust, and Its parameters are interpretable in the model?s application context. The previous characteristics facilitate the proposal model?s use by sectors interested in the development of DSS systems. The reported mathematical model has been validated with experimental data for three different temperature conditions.

Autores
, M.; , M.; Amicarelli, A.; Scaglia, G.;

Resumen:
In this work, a novel methodology for the dynamic optimization of thebiodiesel batch production is developed. Two problem statements are carriedout, one considering only the final biodiesel concentration, and the other, alsotaking into account the control signal size in the optimization criterion as anindirect way to contemplate the energy employed. The proposed strategy tosolve the optimal control problem is based on the Fourier series for the parameterization of the reactor temperature profile. The main advantage of thisFourier-based sequential approach over competing methods is that the obtainedprofiles are smooth and continuous, which is important since smoothing techniques are not required for implementation in real systems. Besides, a minimumnumber of parameters to optimize is required. The process is modeled and simulated in Matlab and Simulink. The results were compared with those reportedin the literature. An improvement of up to five percent in the production ofbiodiesel is achieved without energy contemplation and three percent with energy contemplation, in both cases employing only three parameters.

Autores
MORALES, H.; Aguirre Zapata, E.; di Sciascio, F.; Amicarelli, A.;

Resumen:
En este trabajo se estudian diferentes estrategias de control aplicadas al proceso de Cristalización C en la industria azucarera. Se desarrollaron dos estrategias de control que utilizan como nueva variable manipulada la sobresaturación, influyendo favorablemente en la operación segura del proceso. Los controladores presentados fueron un Proporcional-IntegralDerivativo (PID) y un control predictivo basado en modelo no lineal (NMPC). Estas estrategias muestran un buen desempeño en el control de la sobresaturación y garantizaron el crecimiento de la masa de cristales. Se comprobó que ambos controladores son robustos frente a perturbaciones en el flujo de vapor de alimentación.

Autores
Aguirre Zapata, E.;extern432; MORALES, H.; di Sciascio, F.; Amicarelli, A.;

Resumen:
En este trabajo, se propone el ajuste de los parámetros desconocidos de un modelo de crecimiento de L. botrana en condiciones de laboratorio, y particularizado para la región de Cuyo en Argentina. En esta contribución, se analiza la identificabilidad estructural del modelo matemático y posteriormente se ajustan sus parámetros desconocidos mediante el uso de un algoritmo de mínimos cuadrados no lineales. Los resultados obtenidos permitieron evidenciar una mejoría en el ajuste del modelo matemático a los datos experimentales con relación a los obtenidos en un trabajo previo. Además, se estableció el grado de afinidad de cada estadio de crecimiento por el factor limitante del mismo y se presento una nueva aproximación de los perfiles de mortalidad asociados a cada estadio de crecimiento de la polilla en condiciones de laboratorio.