Designing for usability: development and evaluation of a portable minimally-actuated haptic hand and forearm trainer for unsupervised stroke rehabilitation

In stroke rehabilitation, simple robotic devices hold the potential to increase the training dosage in group therapies and to enable continued therapy at home after hospital discharge. However, we identified a lack of portable and cost-effective devices that not only focus on improving motor functions but also address sensory deficits. Thus, we...

Transforming Engineering Education in Learning Ecosystems for Resilient Engineers

TU Delft education system is transformed on three levels: 1) new courses and projects in existing B.Sc. and M.Sc. programs for multidisciplinary and reflective learning; 2) new M.Sc. programs focusing on multi and interdisciplinarity, personal development, and professional skills; and 3) central Interdisciplinary Projects for Master Students...

Mechanically-Inflatable Bio-Inspired Locomotion for Robotic Pipeline Inspection

Pipelines, vital for fluid transport, pose an important yet challenging inspection task, particularly in small, flexible biological systems, that robots have yet to master. In this study, we explored the development of an innovative robot inspired by the ovipositor of parasitic wasps to navigate and inspect pipelines. The robot features a...

Sequential Neural Network Model with Spatial-Temporal Attention Mechanism for Robust Lane Detection Using Multi Continuous Image Frames

Lane detection serves as a fundamental task for automated vehicles and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems. However, current lane detection methods can not deliver the versatility of accurate, robust, and realtime compatible lane detection in real-world scenarios especially under challenging driving scenes. Available vision-based methods in the...

Conceiving, designing and implementing the mechanics teachers social club

As part of the Delft University of Technology's (TU Delft) bachelor programmes, mechanics courses are provided across 7 out of its 8 faculties by more than 70 mechanics lecturers. Yet, mechanics is considered a difficult subject to teach, with lecturers reporting that they have limited time and resources to assess and improve their teaching...

Response times in drivers' gap acceptance decisions during overtaking

Overtaking on two-lane roads can lead to increased collision risks due to drivers' errors in evaluating whether or not to accept the gap to the vehicle in the opposite lane. Understanding these gap acceptance decisions can help mitigate the risks associated with overtaking. Previous research on overtaking has focused on the factors...

Development and Validation of a Kinematically Accurate Upper-Limb Exoskeleton Digital Twin for Stroke Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation robotics combined with virtual reality using head-mounted displays enable naturalistic, immersive, and motivating therapy for people after stroke. There is growing interest in employing digital twins in robotic neurore-habilitation, e.g., in telerehabilitation for virtual coaching and monitoring, as well as in immersive virtual...

From fear to forecast: The role of simulators, accompanied driving, age, gender, and information-processing style in driver training and beyond

Background: Even though accompanied driving and simulator training are common, clarity on their usage trends and effectiveness is lacking. This research aimed to deepen the understanding of the relationships between personal characteristics, pre-licence accompanied driving, self-reported post-licence driving behaviour, and driving performance...

Development of professional capabilities in a challenge based learning environment

Often industry expects university graduates to hit the ground running. One way to deal with this expectation is to offer our graduates opportunities to collaborate with the industry - a collaboration to acquire theoretical skills and acumen in engineering practices and how a business works. Challenge-based learning environments intimated by...

Modelling Individual Driver Trajectories to Personalise Haptic Shared Steering Control in Curves

Road safety is still a challenging issue. In 2020, 1.35 million people have died as a result of traffic accidents, where the number one cause of death for young adults between the age of 5 and 29 is car accidents. In an attempt to improve road safety, the automotive industry has developed numerous types of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems ...

Linear simulation of large scale regional electricity distribution networks and its applications: Towards a controllable electricity network

The volatility of renewable energy sources pose a significant challenge for Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) as it makes planning and maintaining a reliable electricity grid more complex. An essential tool in dealing with the uncertain behavior of renewable energy resources is the load flow simulation, i.e., the standard electricity network...

Control of a Scaled Vehicle in and beyond Stable Limit Handling

In this research a controller is developed that can control path-tracking both within and beyond stable limit handling. The controller is based on the equations of motion of the nonlinear bicycle model. The performance of the controller is evaluated in simulation, a sensitivity analysis is performed and the controller is implemented on a 1/10...

Analysis of energy transition impact on the low-voltage network using stochastic load and generation models

The energy transition poses a challenge for the electricity distribution network design as new energy technologies cause increasing and uncertain network loads. Traditional static load models cannot cope with the stochastic nature of this new technology adoption. Furthermore, traditional nonlinear power methods have difficulty evaluating very...

Low voltage power grid congestion reduction using a community battery: Design principles, control and experimental validation

By installing a battery storage system in the power grid, Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) can solve congestion problems caused by decentralized renewable generation. This paper provides the necessary theory to use such a community battery for grid congestion reduction, backed up by experimental results. A simple network model was...

Combined Medium Voltage and Low Voltage simulation to accurately determine the location of voltage problems in large grids

Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) traditionally treat Low Voltage (LV) and Medium Voltage (MV) networks as two separate entities. Both voltage levels have their own set of assumptions and design policies. This paper proposes a fast load flow algorithm suitable to simulate both the LV and MV network in a single simulation. The algorithm is...

Educate for technological innovation

At Polytechnics design & engineering students are taught about state-of-the-art technical knowledge. Students become qualified engineers and learn to innovate artifacts related to their domain. Not taught is how to develop new engineering knowledge within a multidisciplinary context of stakeholders, companies and regulations. In short,...

Control of a Scaled Vehicle in and Beyond Stable Limit Handling

In this research a controller is developed that can control path-tracking both within and beyond stable limit handling. A controller is developed, based on the equations of motion of the nonlinear bicycle model. The performance of the controller is evaluated in both simulation and on a 1/10 scale radio controlled car. The controller is able...