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
Contractor Failure: Analysis
The possibility exists for any construction contractor to fail to filfill the contract requirements associated with a facility. Contractor failure occurs when a contractor is unable to perform his/her contractual duties, thus requiring the facility owner to invoke the contract's nonperformance clause. This paper provides aggregate contractor business failure statistics and outlines potential causes for failure. A framework to identify and quantify the associated costs is also introduced. Several case studies are presented to examine the cause and cost of failure and the means by which the facilities were completed. Alternatives available for project completion when contractor failure occurs are discussed. Recommendations to identify and monitor contractors at high risk for failure are outlined as well. This paper provides facility owners with a greater awareness of the possibility of contractor failure, how to quantify costs of contractor failure, and avoidance techniques.