Search

To enrich legged robots with fast energy-efficient mobility on even terrain, wheeled-legged robots have emerged as a valued robot form in robotics research. This paper describes the complete development of a new wheeled-legged quadruped robot named Max, ranging from its mechanical design over system architecture to core algorithms implemented for it to realize various motion behaviors. Instead of attaching wheels to the distal ends of legs as in the existing wheeled-legged robot designs, this robot has wheels installed on the knees with a special switching mechanism to convert a leg between the legged and wheeled locomotion modes. This design keeps the wheeled leg lightweight, enabling the robot to preserve the motion agility as a quadruped robot while gaining the energy-efficiency as a four-wheel or even two-wheel mobile robot. An online locomotion generation method is proposed to compute the 6-D body trajectory of the robot in walking on the perceived terrain, while dynamic movements such as leaps and flips are generated by a unified trajectory optimizer, which is also used to generate the transition motions of the robot to transform into the wheeled mode. The diverse mobility of the proposed robot Max is verified with extensive experiments. Note to Practitioners—Empowering robots with all-terrain mobility is a fundamental open problem in developing a new generation of robots. To this end, combinations of wheels and legs have been explored for robots to possess both traversability on uneven terrains and efficiency on even terrains. This paper proposes a new wheeled-legged quadruped robot with focuses on the integrated design of wheeled legs, system architecture, and core algorithms implemented for various legged and wheeled locomotion behaviors. To embed wheels without adding additional motors and keep the light weight of original legs, a special switching mechanism is designed and integrated at the knee joints where wheels are installed. Algorithms for generating quadrupedal walk according to online perceived terrain information as well as other dynamic legged and wheeled motions are discussed and demonstrated. The system architecture for allocating all vision and motion algorithms is also presented. This work is intended to provide a whole picture of developing this new robot including both hardware and software aspects.

Polyvinyl butyral (PVB) boasts many applications, yet its synthesis often suffers from oversizing agglomeration, resulting in limited product purity and thus large energy consumption and waste emission for purification. This study for the first time demonstrates that incorporating NaNO3as an additive can prevent the oversizing agglomeration to offer high-purity and finely sized PVB products. NaNO3functions as a removable and recyclable dispersant to enable uniform acetalization of poly(vinyl alcohol) with n-butanal in acidic aqueous media at ambient temperatures. The salting-in effect of NaNO3diminishes the hydrophobic interaction of n-butanal and polymers, improving the media dispersion and preventing agglomeration runaway. In contrast to conventional systems, the NaNO3-assisted synthesis at ambient temperature offers multiple sustainable benefits, including suppression on byproducts, energy conservation, reduction on emission, and reusability of the postacetalization medium. This finding offers a valuable complementary strategy for PVB synthesis and deserves exploration in massive production.

The children of today will inherit a more complex domestic energy landscape than their parents. While children consume energy themselves and can meaningfully participate in energy saving, they are neglected by the current discourse on energy literacy. This research details the design, deployment, and evaluation of two serious game prototypes aiming to engage children between the ages of 6–11 years with energy savings in the home. Based on semi-formal interviews with 13 children and their parent(s), findings suggest serious games can positively influence children’s learning about household energy use. Parental involvement in gameplay or post-game discussions can respond to curiosities raised during the game, enhancing the learning potential of the game for children. Yet positive engagement in a game does not guarantee learning from it; children’s learning was hindered by a disconnection between game-world and home-world, and by simple usability factors. The design of serious games for children’s energy literacy should encourage—but not require- parental involvement, maximise scalability, customisation, and connection to context. The post-COVID landscape of re-organised family practices towards greater work and study from home presents many opportunities for designers in this space.

With increasing environmental awareness, the demand for bio-based lubricants is escalating, positioning vegetable oils as viable alternatives to traditional industrial lubricants. This study employs comprehensive factor scores to assess and rank the antiwear property and oxidation stability of 53 vegetable oils with diverse fatty acid compositions. Xanthoceras sorbifolia Bunge oil (XSBO), derived from woody oil plants renowned for their economic and environmental benefits, emerges as a standout candidate following the exclusion of previously reported lubricant types. Comparative evaluations via four-ball friction tests and pressurized differential scanning calorimeter (PDSC) analyses reveal that XSBO’s antioxidant property is slightly inferior to the mineral oil, poly-alpha-olefin, and synthetic ester. However, XSBO exhibits superior tribological property and viscosity characteristics. Supported by computational modeling and laboratory validation, XSBO demonstrates significant promise as a bio-based lubricant, advocating its potential as an ideal replacement for conventional base oils.

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) plays a crucial role in the cellular energy metabolism pathway. Nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase (NAMPT) is a rate-limiting enzyme involved in the biosynthesis of NAD+. Herein, a series of new NAMPT activators were designed to increase the NAD+levels and improve aging-associated dysfunctions. In particular, compound C8effectively activated NAMPT and promoted the biosynthesis of NAD+. Furthermore, we demonstrated that NAMPT activator C8possessed excellent antiaging effects both in vitroand in vivo. Activator C8showed potent activity in delaying aging in senescent HL-7702 cells and extended the lifespan of Caenorhabditis elegans. In a naturally aging mouse model, compound C8effectively alleviated age-related dysfunctions and markers. Therefore, NAMPT activator C8represented a promising lead compound for the treatment of age-related diseases.

Research Objective This study was aimed to determine the main ingredients of Huajie Xiaoliu Formula (HJF) and investigate the anti-colon cancer effect of its combination with Tegafur, Gimeracil, and Oteracil Potassium Capsules (S-1) in vivo as well as to preliminarily explore its possible mechanism.Materials and Methods The chemical composition of HJF was determined by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF-MS). The murine colon carcinoma cell (CT 26.WT) subcutaneous xenograft model of colon cancer mice was established to evaluate the in vivo anti-colon cancer effect of HJF. Evaluation of pathological changes in tumor tissue was evaluated by hematoxylin–eosin staining. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to measure the expressions of interleukin-1β (IL-1β), inflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in mice serum. Immunohistochemistry was used to evaluate B cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2), Bax, and Ki67 protein expression in tumor tissue.Results Twenty chemicals in HJF were identified by UPLC-QTOF-MS. In vivo experiments showed that HJF has obvious inhibitory effects on the subcutaneous xenograft model of colon cancer mice. Results of ELISA showed HJF is able to increase mice body weight, inhibit tumor growth, and reduce the serum levels of IL-1β and IL-6 along with TNF-α. Immunohistochemistry results demonstrated that HJF can significantly inhibit the levels of Bax, Bcl-2, and Ki67 in mice with colon cancer transplant tumors. Furthermore, the combination of HJF and S-1 demonstrated a more significant antitumor effect than any other group in vivo.Conclusions Huajie Xiaoliu Formula is effective in CT 26.WT subcutaneous xenograft model of colon cancer mice by inhibiting tumorigenesis, metastasis, and angiogenesis through the Bcl-2/Bax signaling pathway, resulting in anti-colorectal tumor effects. Huajie Xiaoliu Formula provides a strong theoretical basis for its clinical use and also provides a basis for further research.

A solar evaporator is regarded as a prospective approach to solve the problem of water shortage. Here, we report an aerogel-based solar evaporator with self-propulsion and self-healing behavior to achieve efficient desalination and enhanced heavy-metal removal. The aerogel solar evaporator is prepared from a Schiff-base hydrogel with an asymmetric Au deposition layer via a simple freeze-drying method. The hydrogel is composed of chitosan and dialdehyde starch, and the Au layer generates a thermal gradient to drive the self-propulsion of the aerogel solar evaporator. Also, the dynamic linkages involved in the Schiff-base hydrogel endow the aerogel solar evaporator with self-healing ability upon external damage. Meanwhile, the Schiff-base framework is used as the interaction site between the aerogel evaporator and water molecules to lower the water evaporation enthalpy. Moreover, the aerogel evaporators are designed into small elliptical spheres and a porous structure, which offer the aerogel evaporators excellent water evaporation behavior with an evaporation rate of 3.12 kg m–2h–1in natural seawater under 1-sun irradiation. The self-propulsion ability and self-healing property of such solar evaporators provide the advantages of enhanced purification efficiency, good durability, stability (maintain over 88.2% at the 10th day), and high salt resistance (maintain 80% at 200 g kg–1). More notably, heavy-metal ions in water have been removed effectively to a drinkable level after evaporation. These results prove that the self-propelled aerogel solar evaporator holds great promise for practical applications for on-site water desalination and purification.