Ota-quadrotor: An Object-tracking Autonomous Quadrotor for Real-time Detection and Recognition (open access)

Ota-quadrotor: An Object-tracking Autonomous Quadrotor for Real-time Detection and Recognition

The field of robotics and mechatronics is advancing at an ever-increasing rate and we are starting to see robots making the transition from the factories to the workplace and homes as cost is reduced and they become more useful. In recent years quadrotors have become a popular unmanned air vehicle (UAV) platform. These UAVs or micro air vehicles (MAV) are being used for many new and exciting applications such as aerial monitoring of wildlife, disaster sites, riots and protests. They are also being used in the film industry, as they are significantly cheaper means of getting aerial footage. While quadrotors are not extremely expensive a good system can cost in the range of $3000 - $8000 and thus too costly as a research platform for many. There are a number of cheaper open source platforms. The ArduCopter is under constant development, has the largest community and is inexpensive making it an ideal platform to work with. The goal of this thesis was to implement video processing on a ground control station allowing for the ArduCopter to track moving objects. This was achieved by using the OpenCV video-processing library to implement object tracking and the MAVLink communication protocol, available on the …
Date: May 2012
Creator: Coelho, Gavin
System: The UNT Digital Library
Mechanical Characterization of A2 and D2 Tool Steels By Nanoindentation (open access)

Mechanical Characterization of A2 and D2 Tool Steels By Nanoindentation

Nanoindentation technique was used to investigate the surface properties of A2 and D2 tool steel subjected to different heat treatments. the mechanical characteristics of these two easily available tool steels were studied based on microstructural images obtained from SEM, the grain growth after heat treatment using X-ray diffraction method and nanoindentation technique. the investigation showed that a single nanoindentation result can explain how heat treatment influences reliability and failure in A2 and D2 tool steels. in this work, the causes and effects of these variations were studied to explain how they influence reliability and failure in A2 and D2 tool steel. Finally, a cube-corner indenter tip was used to determine the fracture toughness of silicon wafer. the emphasis of this research is on how nanoindentation technique is more extensive in material characterization.
Date: May 2012
Creator: Okafor, Uzochukwu Chimezie
System: The UNT Digital Library
Mist Characterization in Drilling 1018 Steel (open access)

Mist Characterization in Drilling 1018 Steel

Minimum quantity lubrication replaces the traditional method of flood cooling with small amounts of high-efficient lubrication. Limited studies have been performed to determine the characteristics of mist produced during MQL. This study investigated the mist concentration levels produced while drilling 1018 steel using a vegetable based lubricant. ANOVA was performed to determine whether speed and feed rates or their interactions have a significant effect on mist concentration levels and particle diameter. It was observed that the concentration levels obtained under all four speed and feed rate combinations studied exceeded the current OSHA and NIOSH standards.
Date: August 2012
Creator: Cole, Ian
System: The UNT Digital Library
Effects of Minimum Quantity Lubrication (Mql) on Tool Life in Drilling Aisi 1018 Steel (open access)

Effects of Minimum Quantity Lubrication (Mql) on Tool Life in Drilling Aisi 1018 Steel

It has been reported that minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) provides better tool life compared to flood cooling under some drilling conditions. In this study, I evaluate the performance of uncoated HSS twist drill when machining AISI 1018 steel using a newly developed lubricant designed for MQL (EQO-Kut 718 by QualiChem Inc.). A randomized factorial design was used in the experiment. The results show that a tool life of 1110 holes with a corresponding flank wear of 0.058 mm was realized.
Date: August 2012
Creator: Maru, Tejas
System: The UNT Digital Library