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Subject: search.filters.subject.400708 Mechatronics hardware design and architecture

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    Developing an instrumented scrum machine to measure strength and stability performance : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering in Mechatronics at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2023) Jones, Euan Patrick
    Over the last two decades, there has been plenty of research involving an instrumented scrum machine to understand the forces and biomechanics during the scrum. A lot of the research was aimed at understanding and reducing the risk of injury, which led to significant changes to the scrum and its rules. There was a clear gap in understanding the relationship between the forces in the vertical and horizontal planes of motion during a scrum sustained push. There was also a gap in the research on measuring a player’s ability to control force in the vertical plane of motion to indicate stability. A new, prototype, a single-man scrum machine was developed to examine these gaps in the research and provide new measurements of strength and stability performance. Two experiments were carried out on the new scrum machine to provide enough data from four participants. From the resulting data, the conclusion was made that there is a strong positive linear relationship between the vertical and horizontal forces produced in the scrum. There was also enough evidence to conclude that the new scrum machine could measure a player’s ability to control the vertical force as they pushed. While also completing the aims of this research, the work completed in this project has opened new opportunities for further development around this topic.
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    MsBot : an open-source plug-and-play distributed robotic framework for education : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering in Mechatronics at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2022) Chow, Siow Lim
    Educational robots are inherently vertically integrated and stand-alone in nature. Despite, by comparison, being cost-effective and easy to use, the vertically integrated robots suffer greatly in terms of technology disagreement amongst manufacturers and limited choices for users. User choices are locked into the manufacturers' resolutions, including product maintenance, updates, etc., resulting in reduced competition among robotic manufacturers. In contrast, horizontally integrated robotics encourages technology openness resulting in interoperability amongst robot manufacturers and empowering users to make the best decision that suits them the most, be it quality, pricing, or both. The fast-paced learning environment and increasingly complex robotic curriculum have prompted the need for resolutions that improve the quality of educational robotic systems, which can improve robotic interoperability by reducing human intervention, enabling easy components replacement and new component construction and testing, leaving teachers and students more time focusing on teaching and studying. One potential solution for robotic interoperability is the plug-and-play (PnP) capability facilitating auto-detection in the presence of a part and auto-configuration of the part accordingly without human intervention. However, the PnP must be compliant with an integrative standard agreeable to robotic manufacturers and communities. A PnP that does not support a de-facto standard is another form of vertical integration. This thesis implements a PnP system that uses CAN-Bus as the transport protocol for connecting micro-ROS clients and agents. This contrasts with usual TCP/UDP transports but gets inspiration from automotive sectors where CAN-Bus is reliably used in almost all modern vehicles. The implemented system is called MsBOT (Massey Robot). MsBOT aims to rectify the weaknesses of the inherent vertically integrated educational robotic systems and aspires to create a PnP framework for the education industry, if not robotic industries, and produce a functional PnP education robot for others to refer to. In MsBOT components, the CAN-Bus is established through the ISR routines and the circular buffers. The MsBOT PnP leverages the open-source Micro-ROS robotics technology that provides the PnP feature of the micro XRCE-DDS agent and the APIs to implement micro XRCE-DDS Clients. The implementation is called MsBOT 2-step piggyback PnP operation, where another PnP feature is built on top of the other PnP. The outcomes of the thesis are: 1) An understanding and identification of the weaknesses and strengths of the currently available educational robotic systems based on a comprehensive literature review on the currently available robotics technologies, 2) Comprehension and matching up the robotics technologies for accomplishing the MsBOT, 3) Identification of the potential robotics technology gaps and outline the research interest for the MsBOT, 4) Development of the MsBOT, 5) Test, verification and reflection, and 6) MsBOT reflection and discussion, and conclusion.
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    Automated 3D weaving continuous natural fibre and optimising harakeke fibre characterisation : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering in Mechatronics at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2019) Lin, Junyi
    This research investigated the design and implementation of a continuous natural fibre filament winding robot for modern artistic and structural architectural design. The idea of a new architectural construction technique based on Arduino integration was inspired by the underwater nesting structure of water spiders. It consists of the motion component, a 3-axis sliding table with limit switches, the construction of the machine, the programming and testing of the resulting microcomputer software through to a robot manufacturing process. This was based on Arduino’s new integrated development environment. In addition, the intelligent programming mode forms the preconceived pattern through winding, producing a model with unique architectural quality, and at the same time, making a structure with superior material efficiency. In terms of hardware design, the first conceptual model focused on using an open-source integrated development environment (IDE) that could be easily configured. Arduino hardware was the primary microcontroller of choice for simplicity and ease of hardware integration and software development. Stepper motor drivers are used to control the three stepper motors to accurately move the fibre feeding mechanism on the sliding table into position. The path of the sliding table is controlled by the controller, and the machine can make forward, backward, wire feed and other movements according to the programmed commands. The developed system automatically weaves and feeds natural fibre into the desired structure. The resulting lightweight natural fibre material forms a model with unique architectural quality. The results show that the model is of great value and significance, and it can be used to make the required structure with the desired natural fibre. Additionally, to establish the feasibility of future work focusing on harakeke fibre development in design and construction, the tensile strength of native New Zealand flax fibre (harakeke fibre) was evaluated with a view for use in these load bearing and architectural design applications. Single filament fibres were selected in batches and tensile tested. The longitudinal strength of specimens was established, and the mechanical properties of the fibres were summarised. Comparison of these attributes with existing data was used to determine if the harakeke fibre can be applied usefully in the construction industry. This research is based on the novel concept of architectural design in the construction industry using 3D weaving with natural fibres, in particular harakeke fibres. To achieve this, several related topics are under investigation, such as the need to design an improved feeding system (including hardware and software control), impregnation of fibre and resin (epoxy and polyester) to make preimpregnated (prepreg) fibre/resin filament, adaptive controlled programme and hardware for the required architecture and structure, and properties testing and characterisation. This project is one of the first attempts to develop an automated robot arm system combined with new material, in this case harakeke fibre, and has made a valuable contribution to this field of research.