Search

High-copper alloy/nickel-based high-temperature alloy bimetallic structures are widely utilized in critical components, such as thrust chambers of liquid rocket engines, water cooling circuits for fusion reactor deflectors, and electromagnetic railguns. Among various methods for fabricating Cu/Ni bimetallic structures, laser directed energy deposition (LDED) is considered one of the most promising techniques for depositing nickel-based high-temperature alloys onto high-copper alloy surfaces. In the LDED fabrication process, substrates with uneven thicknesses are a common. The process is characterized by its multi-parameter, high-sensitivity, and non-equilibrium solidification characteristics. Consequently, variations in substrate size can significantly affect molten pool morphology and fabrication stability. This study examines the size effect of a single track of LDED Inconel 718 (In718) on a CuCr0.8 high-copper alloy substrate. The results indicate a pronounced size effect when using a high thermal conductivity CuCr0.8 substrate, particularly regarding substrate thickness. By reducing the thermal conductivity of the CuCr0.8 substrate, the size effect is mitigated, improving the process adaptability of LDED. These findings provide valuable data for the laser processing of surfaces with uneven thickness and high thermal conductivity. They are expected to support the fabrication of variable thrust liquid rocket engines and advance the field of interplanetary exploration.

Na3Zr2Si2PO12(NZSP) is regarded as a promising solid-state electrolyte (SSE) for solid-state sodium–metal batteries (SSSMBs) due to its high ionic conductivity and stable mechanical properties. However, the poor solid–solid contact between sodium (Na) and NZSP results in a high interfacial resistance and a reduced output capacity of the SSSMBs, thus restricting its practical application. To address this issue, a SnF2coating layer is introduced onto the surface of the NZSP with a simple drop-casting method. Then, through the in situ reaction of SnF2and molten Na metal, a composite conductive interfacial layer can be formed with its composition analyzed by CT and XPS. This composite layer facilitates intimate contact and decreases the interfacial resistance to 2.5 Ω cm2. The critical current density is enhanced about 26 times, rising to 1.3 mA cm–2. The symmetric cell displays a stable cycle life of 2500 h at 0.2 mA cm–2due to the advantageous interface. Moreover, the Na/SnF2@NZSP/NaNi1/3Fe1/3Mn1/3O2full cell exhibits an excellent cycle performance.

The main aim of the current article is to explore the influence of buildings on flow field structure in the surrounding area and analyze the dispersion of pollutants using the large eddy simulation (LES) model with varying Richardson numbers (Rib). The research findings indicate that the LES model effectively replicates the effect of buildings on flow field structures and pollutant dispersion, closely aligning with wind tunnel experiments (WTE) results. The impact of various Ribvalues on the flow field structure is not immediately evident within recirculation zone on building sheltered (x/H<1.0). However, the impact of thermal stratification becomes more pronounced farther downwind. In the Rib range of 0.22–0.47, significant changes occur in the vortex center position and length of the cavity region, with Rib=0.3 exhibiting a maximum cavity length of approximately 1.9 H, suggesting a potential critical Rib between 0.22 and 0.3. As Rib increases, the energy fluctuation in the high-frequency range rises, while low-frequency energy fluctuation remains comparatively smaller. Moreover, higher Rib values lead to increased pollutant concentration near the ground on building downwind side, making it more prone to pollutant accumulation at ground level.

Despite being heralded as the “holy grail” of anodes for their high theoretical specific capacity, lithium (Li) metal anodes still face practical challenges due to difficulties in fabricating ultrathin Li with controllable thickness and suppressing Li dendrites growth. Herein, we introduce a simple and cost-effective dip-coating method to fabricate ultrathin lithium–tin (LiSn) anode with adjustable thicknesses ranging from 4.5 to 45 μm. The in situ formation of Li22Sn5alloy improves the wettability of the molten Li, enabling the casting of ultrathin Li metal layers on different substrates. More importantly, the abundant Li22Sn5lithiophilic sites significantly lower the nucleation overpotential, inducing uniform Li deposition and accelerating the electrochemical reaction at the interface. As a result, the symmetric cell assembled with LiSn–Cu electrodes can cycle stably for more than 120 h with a charge/discharge depth of 50%, which is 1.5 times longer than the lifespan of the pure Li anode. In the full cells paired with NCM cathode, the discharge specific capacity is improved from 13.84 to 70.31 mA h g–1with the LiSn–Cu anode at 8 C. The LiSn–Cu||NCM full cell realized a high energy density of 724.9 Wh kg–1at the active material level with an N/Pratio of 1.4.

High-conducting single-molecule junctions have attracted a great deal of attention, but insulating single-molecule junctions, which are critical in molecular circuits, have been less investigated due to the long-standing challenges. Herein, the in situ formation of a Au–C linker via electrical-potential-mediated sp2C–H bond metalation of polyfluoroarenes with the assistance of scanning tunneling microscope-based break junction technique is reported. This metalation process is bias-dependent and occurs with an electropositive electrode, and the formed junction is highly oriented. Surprisingly, these polyfluoroarenes exhibit unexpected low conductance even under short molecular lengths and are superior molecular insulators. Flicker noise analysis and DFT calculations confirm that the insulating properties of polyfluoroarenes are ascribed to their multiple fluorine substituents. Our results pave a way for constructing oriented asymmetric molecular junctions and provide an efficient strategy to suppress the single-molecule conductance, which will aid in the design of molecular insulators and advance the development of self-integrating functional molecular circuits.

The hospitality and tourism industries are increasingly employing service robots to deliver services to travelers. However, there is scant research on how robot anthropomorphism and perceived intelligence affect travelers’ intention to use robots in hotels. Drawing on the heuristic–systematic model and the perspective of consumption value, this study investigates the impact of the heuristic factor (robot anthropomorphism) and the systematic factor (perceived intelligence) on travelers’ continuance usage intention through utilitarian and hedonic values in the hotel context. This study also examines the moderating role of perceived control. The research model was assessed by partial least squares structural equation modeling using online survey data collected in China. The results indicate that perceived intelligence directly and positively affects hotel guests’ intention to continue using robots. Utilitarian and hedonic values mediate the positive effects of robot anthropomorphism and perceived intelligence on hotel guests’ continuance usage intention. Furthermore, the results reveal that perceived control positively moderates the direct effects of robot anthropomorphism and perceived intelligence on hotel guests’ continuance usage intention. Theoretical and practical implications are provided.

Back-contact silicon solar cells, valued for their aesthetic appeal because they have no grid lines on the sunny side, find applications in buildings, vehicles and aircraft and enable self-power generation without compromising appearance1–3. Patterning techniques arrange contacts on the shaded side of the silicon wafer, which offers benefits for light incidence as well. However, the patterning process complicates production and results in power loss. We employed lasers to streamline the fabrication of back-contact solar cells and enhance the power-conversion efficiency. Using this approach, we produced a silicon solar cell that exceeded 27% efficiency. Hydrogenated amorphous silicon layers were deposited onto the wafer for surface passivation and to collect light-generated carriers. A dense passivating contact, which differs from conventional technology practice, was developed. Pulsed picosecond lasers operating at different wavelengths were used to create the back-contact patterns. The approach developed is a streamlined process for producing high-performance back-contact silicon solar cells, with a total effective processing time of about one-third that of the emerging mainstream technology. To meet the terawatt demand, we developed indium-less cells at 26.5% efficiency and precious silver-free cells at 26.2% efficiency. Thus, the integration of solar solutions into buildings and transportation is poised to expand with these technological advances.

We present a new strategy to produce high performance flexible transparent electrode based on broadband induced transmission. The mechanism allows metal layer to achieve broadband transparency while maintaining high conductivity simultaneously, overcoming the drawback of low infrared transmittance in conventional transparent conductors. To demonstrate this concept, a simple tri-layer structure has been fabricated to produce a short-wave infrared (SWIR) transparent electrode with high transmittance and conductivity simultaneously. The experimental results show that the SWIR transparent electrode has average transmittance of 80% and sheet resistance as low as 8.5 Ω/sq, with huge advantage in terms of transmittance bandwidth. The typical infrared imaging result shows that the Michelson contrast is 1.6 times better than that of ITO. Such an infrared transparent electrode can be produced on large scale by using mature technology. It paves a way for the design of high performance infrared transparent electrode and has significant application potentials for infrared optoelectronics devices, including near infrared solar cells, flexible smart display screen and micro spectrometers.

The pretreatment of flue-gas desulfurization (FGD) wastewater directly affects the subsequent treatment effect of water. Liquid ferrate(VI) was used for the first time in the pretreatment of FGD wastewater. Influential factors including ferrate(VI) dosage and dosing method were investigated by batch tests. The results show that when the dosage of Na2FeO4is 1.0 g/L, the removal rate of Mg2+, Ca2+, SO42–, NH4+and chemical oxygen demand were 99.80%, 83.09%, 7.24%, 28.72% and 26.46%, respectively. The strong oxidizing property of the liquid ferrate, the alkali therein, and the co-precipitation of the product promote the removal of these substances. Morphologic and element analysis confirmed that the composition of precipitates were Fe16O16(SO4)2(OH)12·nH2O, FeO(OH), CaSO4and Mg(OH)2. This paper provides a demonstration and theoretical guidance for the application of ferrate(VI) in FGD wastewater pretreatment.

This study proposes a novel AC vector magnetometer developed using a low-resource magneto-impedance sensor for China’s Feng-Yun meteorological satellite (FY-3E). It was calibrated and characterized to determine its performance parameters. The total weight of the AC vector magnetometer is 51 g (the aluminum box excluded), while the total power consumption is 310 mW. The proposed AC vector magnetometer can detect magnetic field variations in the range of ±1000 nT and noise power spectral density of ⩽ 50 pT/Hz1/2@ 1 Hz. Furthermore, the proposed device has a maximum nonlinearity of ⩽ 0.71‰ over the entire range and a nonorthogonality error of 3.07 nT or 0.15% (root mean square). The total dose hardness of the sensor is ⩾ 30 krad (Si). Furthermore, we propose the first survey results of a magnetometer equipped aboard a Chinese FY-3E satellite in a Sun-synchronous orbit. The data revealed that the AC vector magnetometer can detect transient physical signals such as quasistatic field-aligned currents (~50 nT) and waves at the auroral latitudes. These features render the proposed AC vector magnetometer suitable for space-based applications, particularly those involving the study of geomagnetic activity.

Garnet-type Li7La3Zr2O12(LLZO) is regarded as one of the most promising solid-state electrolytes due to its good thermal stability, high mechanical strength, wide electrochemical window, and good stability against Li metal. However, Li and LLZO have poor physical contact, leading to a large interfacial resistance and poor electrochemical performance. It is recognized that LLZO is intrinsic lithiophilic. But LLZO easily reacts with H2O and CO2in air and generates Li2CO3and other inevitable surface contaminants. The contaminated surface results in poor interfacial wettability against Li metal. Herein, an air-stable surface layer is introduced to Li6.4La3Zr1.4Ta0.6O12(LLZTO) by simply reacting LLZTO with a LiPF6-based liquid electrolyte. During the reacting process, Li2CO3is removed and a lithiophilic and ion-conductive modified layer is formed. The layer helps to build a uniform and intimate contact between Li and LLZTO. The interfacial resistance is reduced to 15.675 Ω cm2, less than one fifth of that between bare LLZTO and Li. Benefiting from the favorable interface, stable Li plating and stripping can be conducted for over 1000 h at a current density of 0.22 mA cm–2. Even after being exposed to air for 3 days, the interfacial resistance of surface-modified LLZTO against Li remains as low as 36.29 Ω cm2and performs stable Li plating and stripping for 1000 h. Moreover, the quasi-solid-state Li metal batteries of Li/LLZTO/LiCoO2, Li/LLZTO/LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2,and Li/LLZTO/LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4exhibit excellent cycling performances, which confirms the feasibility of the strategy in the practical manufacture.

The addition of organic matter viagreen manure rotation with rice is considered a smart agricultural practice to maintain soil productivity and support environmental sustainability. However, few studies have quantitatively assessed the impact of green manure rotation and application on the interactions between agronomic management practice, soil fertility, and crop production. In this study, 800 pairs of data from 108 studies conducted in the agricultural region of the Yangtze River, China were assessed, and random forest (RF) modeling was performed to evaluate the effect of green manure rotation and application on rice yield and soil properties. Compared to a winter fallow system, rotation and application of green manure significantly increased rice yield and soil organic carbon (SOC) by 8.1% and 8.4%, respectively. According to the RF models, rice type, green manure application rate and duration, mineral and organic nitrogen application rates, and initial SOC content and soil pH were identified as the main drivers for rice yield and SOC changes. Marginal benefit analysis revealed that green manure application rates for early rice in double cropping system and the rice in single cropping system were approximately 20 and 261 ha–1(fresh weight), respectively. Further, the optimum green manure application rate was approximately 25 t ha–1(fresh weight) for carbon sequestration. However, it should be noted that green manure application to soils with high SOC level might result in the soils becoming a net carbon source. Our study contributed scientific and quantitative indicators for achieving the greatest benefits in rice yield and increasing SOC upon application of green manure.

Otindag Sandy Land in China is an important ecological barrier to Beijing; the changes in its ecological quality are major concerns for sustainable development and planning of this area. Based on principal component analysis and path analysis, we first generated a modified remote sensing ecological index (MRSEI) coupled with satellite and ground observational data during 2001–2020 that integrated four local indicators (greenness, wetness, and heatness that reflect vegetation status, water, and heat conditions, respectively, as well as soil erosion). Then, we assessed the ecological quality in Otindag Sandy Land during 2001–2020 based on the MRSEI at different time scales (i.e., the whole year, growing season, and non-growing season). MRSEI generally increased with an upward rate of 0.006/a during 2001–2020, with clear seasonal and spatial variations. Ecological quality was significantly improved in most regions of Otindag Sandy Land but degraded in the southern part. Regions with ecological degradation expanded to 18.64% of the total area in the non-growing season. The area with the worst grade of MRSEI shrunk by 15.83% of the total area from 2001 to 2020, while the area with the best grade of MRSEI increased by 9.77% of the total area. The temporal heterogeneity of ecological conditions indicated that the improvement process of ecological quality in the growing season may be interrupted or deteriorated in the following non-growing season. The implementation of ecological restoration measures in Otindag Sandy Land should not ignore the seasonal characteristics and spatial heterogeneity of local ecological quality. The results can explore the effectiveness of ecological restoration and provide scientific guides on sustainable development measures for drylands.

The effect of the ZrO2doping amounts on the corrosion properties and mechanical properties of the molybdenum alloys in molten zinc was investigated. Among them, the Mo-1.5 wt% ZrO2alloy has good corrosion resistance (at 460 °C) and excellent mechanical properties. Compared with that of pure molybdenum, the tensile strength of the Mo-1.5 wt%ZrO2increased by 16.69% in the rotary forged state and 58.26% in the 1200 °C annealed states, and the compressive strength increased by 16.53% and 84.46%, respectively. At a corrosion temperature of 460 °C, a MoZn7corrosion layer was formed, which isolates the molybdenum matrix from direct contact with the molten zinc. The distribution of ZrO2particles in the corrosion layer, which changes the diffusion path of zinc and molybdenum atoms, thus slowing down the corrosion process. The thickness of the corrosion layer gradually decreases with increasing doping amount, where the corrosion layer thickness of the Mo-2.0 wt% ZrO2is 45.21% lower than that of the pure molybdenum. At a corrosion temperature of 560 °C, the molybdenum matrix is exposed to molten zinc and the grains peel off. As the bond between Mo grains is better than the bond between Mo grains and zirconia, the grain spalling of the zirconia-doped molybdenum alloys is severer than that of pure molybdenum.

This paper is concerned with the problems of mapless navigation for unmanned aerial vehicles in the scenarios with limited sensor accuracy and computing capability. A novel learning-based algorithm called soft actor-critic from demonstrations (SACfD) is proposed, integrating reinforcement learning with imitation learning. Specifically, the maximum entropy reinforcement learning framework is introduced to enhance the exploration capability of the algorithm, upon which the paper explores a way to sufficiently leverage demonstration data to significantly accelerate the convergence rate while improving policy performance reliably. Further, the proposed algorithm enables an implementation of mapless navigation for unmanned aerial vehicles and experimental results show that it outperforms the existing algorithms.

Approaches based on near infrared hyperspectral imaging (NIR-HSI) technology combined with machine learning have been developed to classify the leaves of hybrid cherry tomatoes and then identify the species of hybrid cherry tomato plants. The near infrared (NIR) hyperspectral images of 400 cherry tomato leaves (100 per species) were collected in the wavelength range of 900–1700 nm. Machine learning algorithms such as linear discriminant analysis (LDA), random forest (RF), and support vector machine (SVM) were employed to construct leaf classification models with the hyperspectral data preprocessed by Savitzky-Golay (SG) smoothing filter, first derivative (first Der) and standard normal variate (SNV). Principle of Component Analysis (PCA) was also used to reduce the data dimension and extract spectral features. It is revealed that the LDA model reaches the highest classification accuracy among the three machine learning algorithms and SNV can lead to higher improvement in model accuracy than other preprocessing methods of SG smoothing and first Der. Analysis based on PCA spectral feature extraction demonstrates that differences occur in internal material content in the leaves of cherry tomato plants with different species, which renders the models being able to distinguish between the species. Another important work was performed to reveal the different effects of the mesophyll and vein regions (VR) on the accuracy of the leaf classification model. It is demonstrated that the classification accuracy is improved by a value of 0.033 or 0.042 when mesophyll substitutes vein or whole leaf as regions of interest (ROI) to extract reflectance spectra for modeling. As a result, the accuracy of the training and test set respectively reached a high value of 0.998 and 0.973 for the LDA classification model combined with the SNV preprocessing method. The results propose that the use of mesophyll region (MR) as ROI can improve the performance of the leaf classification model, which provides a new strategy for efficient and non-destructive classification of different hybrid cherry tomato plants.

In the past, the selection of the number of empty holes between blast holes heavily relied on the subjective experience of practitioners, leading to unsatisfactory blasting results. The number of empty holes between blast holes is particularly important for the perforation of explosive cracks. In order to determine the optimum number of empty holes for inducing the propagation of explosive cracks, a two-dimensional numerical model of two-hole blasting was established based on the continuous-discontinuous element method (CDEM) using polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) as the medium, and numerical simulation of various working conditions was conducted; the simulation results are basically consistent with the PMMA model test. Through the analysis of blasting parameters, the optimal number of empty holes with a certain hole spacing is fitted. The following conclusions are drawn: (1) There is a threshold for variable x. When xexceeds 50, the presence of empty holes cannot lead to the perforation of explosive cracks between the blast holes. (2) When xis below 50, the optimal number of empty holes inducing the propagation of explosive cracks can be determined through fitting an empirical formula. By adjusting the number of empty holes between blast holes, a significant spacing between adjacent blast holes was achieved, allowing for effective penetration, so as to effectively “induce” the direction of the fracture zone and make full use of the energy of explosives. The research results of this paper are conducive to the research of directional blasting technology and provide certain references for the optimization of precision blasting parameters.

Flue gas desulfurization (FGD) wastewater is a terminal wastewater in power plant which seriously restricts the realization of zero-liquid discharge. Bipolar membrane electrodialysis (BMED) is a sustainable and eco-friendly technology widely applied in wastewater treatment. In this study, response surface methodology is employed to optimize the three key independent operating parameters: feed concentration, current density and initial acid and base concentration in order to increase desalination rate and by-product yield. The optimum condition was obtained as feed concentration 0.675 mol/L, current density 25 mA/cm2and initial acid and base concentration 0 mol/L. In this optimum condition, the mean value of alkali conversion rate could be higher than 89.99%. The process cost for the regeneration of 1 kg NaOH from the FGD wastewater was $0.84. Increasing current density is an effective method to enhance by-product yield and shorten operation time, but it can cause a higher energy consumption, which means that the performance of the BMED system should be improved by optimizing operational conditions. Therefore, BMED is a new technology to realize the resource utilization and reuse of FGD wastewater.

Due to the high efficiency, low light-induced degradation and high bifaciality, n-type tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) solar cell is widely researched and currently being implemented in mass production. In this article, three different TOPCon cell production routes are tested and compared, two routes with phosphorus (P) diffusion first, followed by boron (B) diffusion (Routes 1 and 2) and one route with B diffusion first, followed by P diffusion (Route 3). The differences in process control, manufacturing difficulty, front and rear side passivation, shunting, mass production efficiency, and yield are analyzed. In this article, the results demonstrate that Route 3, with 23.37% efficiency, has the highest cell efficiency and potential to further improve the yield, likely the most suitable TOPCon manufacturing route for industrialization. However, Route 2 also has the opportunity to obtain high efficiency and yield after further optimization.

The Ge-film-based photon-counting imaging detector is a key component of optical payload in space weather observation. It's important to study the space temperature adaptability of Ge film since the performances of Ge film are extremely sensitive to the temperature. Herein, the in-situ tests are proposed to measure the resistance and stress of the Ge film at the operating temperature. It is demonstrated that the resistance decreases from 520 MΩ/□ to 124 MΩ/□ linearly between −20 °C and 80 °C, which can meet the requirement of the imaging system well. And the stress gradually releases in the thermal cycle. The ex-situ test is adopted to investigate the limited temperature adaptability and the intrinsic mechanism of performance variations. When the temperature increased to 600 °C, Ge film failed and cracked because of resistance reducing to 30 KΩ/□ and stress increasing to 504 Mpa. Meanwhile, methods were proposed to enhance the temperature adaptability of Ge film by analyzing crystal phase and optical band gap. Thus, the resistance and stress changes of Ge film in space have little effect on the performances of imaging system. The Ge film with high temperature adaptability and low stress we prepared is promising in the space observation.

Photovoltaic energy as one of the important alternatives to traditional fossil fuels has always been a research hot spot in the field of renewable and clean solar energy. Very recently, the anomalous ferroelectric photovoltaic effect in multiferroic bismuth ferrite (BiFeO3) has attracted much attention due to the above-bandgap photovoltage and switchable photocurrent. However, its photocurrent density mostly in the magnitudes of μA/cm2resulted in a poor power conversion efficiency, which severely hampered its practical application as a photovoltaic device. In this case, a novel approach was designed to improve the photocurrent density of BiFeO3through the cooperative effect of the gradient distribution of oxygen vacancies and consequently induced the flexoelectric effect realized in the (La, Co) gradient-doped BiFeO3multilayers. Subsequent results and analysis indicated that the photocurrent density of the gradient-doped multilayer BiFeO3sample was nearly 3 times as much as that of the conventional doped single-layer sample. Furthermore, a possible mechanism was proposed herein to demonstrate roles of band engineering and the flexoelectric effect on the photovoltaic performance of the gradient-doped BiFeO3film.

To meet the requirements of automatic production, a new type of green BAl88Si cored solder was developed. The lap brazing experiments were carried out with copper and aluminum as brazing substrates. The microstructure, phase composition, and corrosion behavior of solder joint interface were studied by field emission scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, electron backscattering diffraction, tensile testing machine, and electrochemical workstation. The results show that the brazing joint of Cu/BAl88Si/Al is metallurgical bonding, and the brazing joint of Cu/BAl88Si/Al is composed of Cu9Al4, CuAl2, a-Al, (CuAl2+ a-Al + Si) ternary eutectic. In addition, there is no obvious preference for each grain in the brazing joint, and there are S texture {123}<634>, Copper texture {112}<111>, and Brass texture {110}<112>. The interface of Cu9Al4/CuAl2is a non-coherent crystal plane and does not have good lattice matching. The average particle size of CuAl2is 11.95 µm and that of Al is 28.3 µm. However, the kernel average misorientation (KAM) value at the brazed joint interface is obviously higher than that at the brazed joint interface copper, so the defect density at the brazed joint interface aluminum is higher than that at the brazed joint interface copper. At the same time, due to poor corrosion resistance at the interface on the aluminum side of the brazed joint, serious corrosion spots and corrosion cracks occur at the same time, which leads to the shear performance of the brazed joint decreasing by about 75% after salt spray test for 240 h.

ABSTRACTSurgical robots rely on robust and efficient computer vision algorithms to be able to intervene in real-time. The main problem, however, is that the training or testing of such algorithms, especially when using deep learning techniques, requires large endoscopic datasets which are challenging to obtain, since they require expensive hardware, ethical approvals, patient consent and access to hospitals. This paper presents VisionBlender, a solution to efficiently generate large and accurate endoscopic datasets for validating surgical vision algorithms. VisionBlender is a synthetic dataset generator that adds a user interface to Blender, allowing users to generate realistic video sequences with ground truth maps of depth, disparity, segmentation masks, surface normals, optical flow, object pose, and camera parameters. VisionBlender was built with special focus on robotic surgery, and examples of endoscopic data that can be generated using this tool are presented. Possible applications are also discussed, and here we present one of those applications where the generated data has been used to train and evaluate state-of-the-art 3D reconstruction algorithms. Being able to generate realistic endoscopic datasets efficiently, VisionBlender promises an exciting step forward in robotic surgery.