In the high-stakes world of nuclear decommissioning and precision surgery, every millisecond and millimeter counts. A breakthrough in robotic control technology, developed by Xinrui Chi at the School of Engineering, Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University, is set to revolutionize these fields and potentially reshape the energy sector. Published in the *Journal of Alexandria Engineering*, Chi’s research introduces a novel approach to bimanual robot control that could significantly enhance safety and efficiency in delicate operations.
The master-slave robot systems currently in use often rely on single-modal tactile perception, which can lead to delays in collision detection, force estimation errors, and sensor conflicts. These issues have resulted in a 37% failure rate in nuclear decommissioning scenarios and a 19.2% risk of excessive tissue compression in laparoscopic surgery. Chi’s solution addresses these challenges head-on with a multimodal tactile perception fusion control method based on a probabilistic neural network (PNN).
“Our approach synchronously collects pressure, vibration, and temperature signals through bionic artificial skin,” Chi explains. “This allows us to achieve a level of precision and adaptability that was previously unattainable.” The system employs a hierarchical heterogeneous feature alignment (HHFA) module to solve the spatio-temporal asynchrony of multi-source signals, ensuring that data is processed in real-time with minimal error. Additionally, a dynamic Bayesian fusion layer (DBFL) is developed to achieve adaptive weighting based on the entropy-variance coupling index, effectively suppressing noise interference and modal conflicts.
The dual-channel PNN encodes the fused sensory information into a Gaussian mixture model, generating high-precision control instructions by maximizing the posterior probability. The results are impressive: in grasping and fine operation tasks, the positioning error is reduced to 0.15 mm, the operation success rate is increased by 19.6% (reaching 96.4%), and the signal-to-noise ratio remains stable at 40.2±1.5dB under varying humidity and mechanical strain conditions.
The implications for the energy sector are profound. In nuclear decommissioning, where precision and safety are paramount, this technology could dramatically reduce the risk of accidents and improve the efficiency of operations. “The potential applications extend beyond nuclear energy,” Chi notes. “This technology could also be applied in renewable energy sectors, such as the maintenance of wind turbines and solar panels, where precision and adaptability are equally critical.”
The commercial impact of this research is significant. As the demand for safer and more efficient robotic systems grows, companies that adopt this technology could gain a competitive edge. The energy sector, in particular, stands to benefit from the enhanced precision and reliability offered by Chi’s multimodal tactile perception fusion control method.
As the world continues to grapple with the challenges of nuclear decommissioning and the need for more efficient energy solutions, innovations like Chi’s offer a glimmer of hope. By pushing the boundaries of what is possible in robotic control, this research could pave the way for a safer, more efficient future in the energy sector and beyond.