Advances in Robotics & Automation

Primary fallopian tube carcinoma is an uncommon gynecological malignancy. Management of primary fallopian tube carcinoma using a robotic-assisted approach is also rare. We have described here two cases of adenocarcinoma located in the fallopian tubes that were managed using robotic-assisted staging surgery, followed by subsequent serial chemotherapy. The surgical procedure consisted of a total hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, bilateral pelvi lymph node dissection, para-aortic lymph node dissection, appendectomy, omentectomy, peritoneal biopsies, and ascites cytology. After surgery, a test for CA-125 level and a computed tomography (CT) evaluation were conducted every 3 and 6 months, respectively. In Case I, the patient received 6 cycles of chemotherapy consisting of cisplatin and paclitaxel after surgery, and CA-125 level decreased from 55.9 U/mL to 9.5 U/mL over 6 months. At 16 months after surgery, a follow-up CT scan revealed no evidence of local recurrence. In Case II, the patient received 11 cycles of chemotherapy including cisplatin and paclitaxel, and CA-125 level decreased from 52.1 U/mL to 11.1 U/mL over 12 months. At 20 months after surgery, a follow-up CT scan revealed no evidence of local recurrence. In conclusion, robotic-assisted staging surgery is a feasible approach for treating incidentally located tumors in the fallopian tubes.

Industrial robots are found increasingly in the workplace. They can cause severe and fatal injuries to workers during interventions such as maintenance, unjamming, adjustments and set-up. This paper summarises some of the causes of accidents linked to robots. It presents risk assessment as described in international standards as a method to make workplaces involving robots safe. The operating modes in terms of safety aspects and strategies around collaborative robots are also presented. A case study involving safety of an industrial robot used as auxiliary equipment to a horizontal injection molding machine is described. Risk analysis and risk reduction measures for the case study are then summarised.

Today in the 21st century, the uses of automated guided vehicles (AGVs) are becomingly more common in the manufacturing industries especially in larger manufacturing companies. The ease of the manufacturing companies to handle materials is due to the implementation of AGVs in their manufacturing system especially in the production lines and inventories. The usages of AGVs are becomingly more important not just to handle material but also for multi-tasking other jobs related to the manufacturing industry. This paper reviews the issues related to automated guided vehicles (AGVs) in the automated manufacturing industry when dealing with AGVs in the industries.

Automation is a technique of automatically controlled operation of an apparatus, process or system by mechanical or electronic devices that takes place of human organs of observation, efforts and decision. To complete the transition, support its new equipment and prepare for new market demands and opportunities, the company needed to re-engineer its process infrastructure to support the additional challenges of Just in time delivery, integrated client support services and competitive price pressures. Central Electronic Fabrication Section is the nodal agency responsible for the fabrication of various electronics packages. Various agencies like Design groups, System Reliability Group, Project, Components Group, PCB Fabrication Facility and Online Quality check etc. interact with this facility for the realization of the electronic hardware. This paper presents the automation in fabrication technique of printed circuit boards. The company’s goal is to manufacture 12 satellites per year, but they are currently manufacturing 4 to 6 satellites per year. Main reason for this less is unable to manufacture enough printed circuit boards. Hence it is proposed to implement the automated workflow system in Central Electronic Fabrication Section to expedite various activities, optimize the effort by means of HMI, less human intervention and reduce the paperwork. An automated workflow system is a computer system that is used to manage a series of tasks within an organization/process to produce a final outcome. At each stage in the flow, one individual or a group is responsible for a specific task. Workflow software ensures that the individuals responsible for the next task are notified and receive the data to execute their stage of the process.

Over the years, all parts of a commercial refrigerator, such as the compressor, heat exchangers, refrigerant, and packaging, have been improved considerably due to the extensive research and development efforts carried out by academia and industry. However, the achieved and anticipated improvement in conventional refrigeration technology are incremental since this technology is already nearing its fundamentals limit of energy efficiency is described is ‘magnetic refrigeration’ which is an evolving cooling technology. The word ‘green’ designates more than a colour. It is a way of life, one that is becoming more and more common throughout the world. An interesting topic on ‘sustainable technologies for a greener world’ details about what each technology is and how it achieves green goals. Recently, conventional chillers using absorption technology consume energy for hot water generator but absorption chillers carry no energy saving. With the aim of providing a single point solution for this dual purpose application, a product is launched but can provide simultaneous chilling and heating using its vapour absorption technology with 40% saving in heating energy. Using energy efficiency and managing customer energy use has become an integral and valuable exercise. The reason for this is green technology helps to sustain life on earth. This not only applies to humans but to plants, animals and the rest of the ecosystem. Energy prices and consumption will always be on an upward trajectory. In fact, energy costs have steadily risen over last decade and are expected to carry on doing so as consumption grows.

This paper explores a number of questions regarding optimal strategies evolved by viruses upon entry into a vertebrate host. The infected cell life cycle consists of a non-productively infected stage in which it is producing virions but not releasing them and of a productively infected stage in which it is just releasing virions. The study explores why the infected cell cycle should be so delineated, something which is akin to a classic “bang-bang control” or all-or-none principle. The times spent in each of these stages represent a viral strategy to optimize peak viral load. Increasing the time spent in the non-productively infected phase (τ1) would lead to a concomitant increase in peak viremia. However increasing this time would also invite a more vigorous response from Cytotoxic TLymphocytes (CTLs). Simultaneously, if there is a vigorous antibody response, then we might expect τ1 to be high, in order that the virus builds up its population and conversely if there is a weak antibody response, τ1 might be small. These tradeoffs are explored using a mathematical model of virus propagation using Ordinary Differential Equations (ODEs). The study raises questions about whether common viruses have actually settled into an optimum, the role for reliability and whether experimental infections of hosts with non-endemic strains could help elicit answers about viral progression.

This paper addresses the problem of low contrast in the images. Acquiring image from low illumination source or due to some other problems the image may have low contrast which results the poor visual effect. In these type of images the different object present cannot be distinguished clearly and may not be effectively used for the desired purpose. For these images there is a need to improve the contrast for a better visual effect. This paper proposed an algorithm that can improve the contrast of the images and preserve the details of the image. This algorithm preserves the details as well as the colors of the object to a larger extent. The algorithm is tested on various images and the result of the test is given.

A new age of industrial robotics is here which includes safety rated human friendly robots. These types of robots are more suitable in high volume and small scale industries. The operations in these areas can be fully automated. There are other industries which have specialty for low volume and high variability. High variety means there are less chances of fully automation as one product will be varying from other and in this complete automation is not viable option. The industrial robots which deal with high volume and can adopt variability through programming. There are plenty of manual operations which can be semi-automated. To address this human robot collaboration is a complete fit. The experiment has been undertaken to make one of these medium scale robot to collaborate with human to perform a task together. The contactless leap motion device has been used for controlling robot motions.