Artificial Insemination System by Male and Female Micro Robots
In the biomedical field, the precise operation is required to achieve cell injection and genome analysis. To enhance these technologies, the special instrument with higher accuracy can provide the solution to these requirement. Several sophisticated instruments have been developed and some of them are equipped with the advanced sensor and actuator. In the meantime, the micro robotics has the potential application to many fields such the biomedical engineering as well as micro-engineering. For these years, our group have developed many small robots for the application to the precision engineering. In this report, the unique artificial insemination system operated by male and female micro robots is proposed and the successful experimental results are described. The small robot, which is approximately 1 cubic inch, is composed of piezo element and electromagnet to move precisely with the manner of an inch worm. And one small robot has the micro pipette actuated by the micro pump while another one has the special micro capillary which can incubate the fertilized egg. In the exper iment , the egg and the spermatozoon of fish are implemented into the micro injector and the micro incubator on these small robots. Two small robots can navigate each other to inseminate by using acoustic, optical and mechanical touch trigger switch sensors and reactive based sequential manner. And the fertilized egg in the micro incubator was successfully hatched after two weeks later under the temperature and water condition control instrument. Artificial Insemination System by Male and Female Micro Robots
Automatic Surface Damage Exploring and Repairing System by Precise Micro Robots
In recent years, many types of micro robots and locomotion mechanisms have been developed as high precision positioning tools and opened new application in the filed of not only precision engineering but biochemical one. Particularly the piezo driven mechanisms can allow the excellent positioning resolution of nanometer level within an infinite workspace although the feedback properties with external sensors are required to improve the coordinate accuracy over the working area1). Also the micro robot has the potential performance for the application in the special environment such inpipe and in-chamber where it is difficult for the conventional mechanism to extend its arm. Surface investigation of the product and the facility with complex curved surface, in which small mechanical defect should cause the serious problem, needs much of efforts to do. Our group have developed many small robots with micro tools and sensors on the precise locomotion platform which is composed of piezo elements and electromagnets. Basic structure and performance were reported in the previous papers2). In this report, the newly developed micro robots which can explore on the target surface in order to find out the mechanical damages such as crack and defect, and propagate the acoustic signal in order to indicate the damage location by the passive resonator are described. And another one which has dual microphones to detect the acoustic signal and maneuver itself automatically to repair the crack automatically is also explained. As illustrated in Fig.1, these small robots can collaborate each other on the target to perform this unique task. This system can allow the low cost precise inspection and automatic repairing over night without any expensive facilities. 2. MICRO ROBOTS FOR SURFACE DAMAGE INSPECTION AND REPARATION 2.1 Micro robot with stylus on U type micro fork and acoustic resonator The micro robot which can explore on the target sample and detect the mechanical crack, and then propagate its acoustic signal by the Automatic Surface Damage Exploring and Repairing System by Precise Micro Robots
Natural Radioactivity of Intrusive-Metamorphic and Sedimentary Rocks of the Balkan Mountain Range (Serbia, Stara Planina)
Stara Planina (also known as the Balkan mountain range) is known for numerous occurrences and deposits of uranium and associated radionuclides. It is also famous for its geodiversity. The geologic framework is highly complex. The mountain is situated between the latitudes of 43° and 44° N and the longitudes from 22°16′ to 23°00′ E. Uranium exploration and radioactivity testing on Stara Planina began back in 1948. Uranium has also been mined in the zone of Kalna, within the Janja granite intrusive. The naturally radioactive geologic units of Stara Planina are presented in detail in this paper. The main sources of radioactivity on Stara Planina can be classified as: 1. Granitic endogenous—syngenetic–epigenetic deposits and occurrences; 2. Metamorphogenic—syngenetic; and 3. Sedimentary, including occurrences of uranium deposition and fluctuation caused by water in different types of sedimentary rocks formed in a continental setting, which could be classified under epigenetic types. The area of Stara Planina with increased radioactivity (higher than 200 cps), measured by airborne gamma spectrometry, is about 380 square kilometers. The highest values of measured radioactivity and uranium grade were obtained from a sample taken from the Mezdreja uranium mine tailing dump, where 226Ra measures 2600 ± 100 Bq/kg and the uranium grade is from 76.54 to 77.65 ppm U. The highest uranium (and lead) concentration, among all samples, is measured in graphitic schist with high concentrations of organic (graphitic) material from the Inovska Series—99.47 ppm U and 107.69 ppm Pb. Thorium related radioactivity is the highest in granite samples from the Janja granite in the vicinity of the Mezdreja granite mine and the Gabrovnica granite mine tailing dump, and it is the same—250 ± 10 Bq/kg for 232Th, while the thorium grade varies from 30.82 to 60.27 ppm Th. In gray siltstones with a small amount of organic material, the highest radioactivity is related to potassium—2080 ± 90 Bq/kg for 40K.