Some models of marine radars are light-weight enough and thus are attractive for potential applications when arranged on UAVs. Elevating a marine radar to high altitudes provides a much wider field of view, however, this could lead to a higher radio interference level. The practical estimation of the radio interferences affecting the solid-state FMCW marine radar at altitudes up to 120 m was the main objective of this contribution. A rotary-wing octocopter UAV was developed and built for the experiments. Two different kinds of interferences were observed at higher altitudes. Ray-like interferences were caused by signals, which are received by the radar’s antenna. Circle-like interferences appear due to the low frequency interfering signal directly penetrating the detector due to insufficient receiver screening.

Walking robots are considered as a promising solution for locomotion across irregular or rough terrain. While wheeled or tracked robots require flat surface like roads or driveways, walking robots can adapt to almost any terrain type. However, overcoming diverse terrain obstacles still remains a challenging task even for multi-legged robots with a high number of degrees of freedom. Here, we present a novel method for obstacle overcoming for walking robots based on the use of tactile sensors and generative recurrent neural network for positional error prediction. By using tactile sensors positioned on the front side of the legs, we demonstrate that a robot is able to successfully overcome obstacles close to robots height in the terrains of different complexity. The proposed method can be used by any type of a legged machine and can be considered as a step toward more advanced walking robot locomotion in unstructured terrain and uncertain environment.

Due to the prospect of using walking robots in an impassable environment for tracked or wheeled vehicles, walking locomotion is one of the most remarkable accomplishments in robotic history. Walking robots, however, are still being deeply researched and created. Locomotion over irregular terrain and energy consumption are among the major problems. Walking robots require many actuators to cross different terrains, leading to substantial consumption of energy. A robot must be carefully designed to solve this problem, and movement parameters must be correctly chosen. We present a minimization of the hexapod robot’s energy consumption in this paper. Secondly, we investigate the reliance on power consumption in robot movement speed and gaits along with the Cost of Transport (CoT). To perform optimization of the hexapod robot energy consumption, we propose two algorithms. The heuristic algorithm performs gait switching based on the current speed of the robot to ensure minimum energy consumption. The Red Fox Optimization (RFO) algorithm performs a nature-inspired search of robot gait variable space to minimize CoT as a target function. The algorithms are tested to assess the efficiency of the hexapod robot walking through real-life experiments. We show that it is possible to save approximately 7.7–21% by choosing proper gaits at certain speeds. Finally, we demonstrate that our hexapod robot is one of the most energy-efficient hexapods by comparing the CoT values of various walking robots.

In this study the direct torque control of the induction drive with a fuzzy controller was investigated. The objective of this research was the reduction of the stator current and electromagnetic torque pulsations. The principles of the fuzzy controller development for the induction drive with a direct torque control and the obtained computer model were presented, and the simulation results were compared to the results of the induction drive under the traditional direct torque control. The implementation of the applied fuzzy controller allowed us to achieve the pulsations of the torque twice lower, the stator current, flux and the maximum overshoots were lowered.

Magnetorheological (MR) dampers are currently used in various areas, such as: human prosthetics, seismic protection, active suspensions, safety systems, amongst other. This paper deals with the proper design of a MR damper in the innovative field for vibration control. A methodology for calculation some principal characteristics of the damper such as: electromagnet’s magnetic field value, emitted heat and damping force is presented. The methodology is based on analytic calculations of the characteristics and finite element method analysis. The obtained theoretical results were confirmed by performed experimental tests, thanks to a specially designed and realised MR damper. Two main geometrical characteristics of the damper, namely: piston thickness and electromagnet width were optimally chosen, thus allowing to reach maximum damping force.