Agile and versatile climbing on ferromagnetic surfaces with a quadrupedal robot.

A climbing robot that can rapidly move on diverse surfaces such as floors, walls, and ceilings will have an enlarged operational workspace compared with other terrestrial robots. However, the climbing skill of robots in such environments has been limited to low speeds or simple locomotion tasks. Here, we present an untethered quadrupedal climbing robot called MARVEL (magnetically adhesive robot for versatile and expeditious locomotion), capable of agile and versatile climbing locomotion in ferromagnetic environments. MARVEL excels over prior climbing robots in terms of climbing speed and ability to execute various motions. It demonstrates the fastest vertical and inverted walking speed, whereas its versatile locomotion ability enables the highest number of gaits and locomotion tasks. The key innovations are an integrated foot design using electropermanent magnets and magnetorheological elastomers that provide large adhesion and traction forces, torque control actuators, and a model predictive control framework adapted for stable climbing. In experiments, the robot achieved locomotion on ceilings and vertical walls up to 0.5 meter (1.51 body lengths) per second and 0.7 meter (2.12 body lengths) per second, respectively. Furthermore, the robot exhibited complex behaviors such as stepping over 10-centimeter-wide gaps; overcoming 5-centimeter-high obstacles; and making transitions between floors, walls, and ceilings. We also show that MARVEL could climb on a curved surface of a storage tank covered with up to 0.3-millimeter-thick paint with rust and dust.

Three New Records of Mortierella Species Isolated from Crop Field Soil in Korea.

Three new fungal species of the genus Mortierella, Mortierella zychae, Mortierella ambigua, and Mortierella indohii, have been reported in Korea. The fungi were encountered during a study on the fungal community of soil samples collected from different locations in Korea. The species were identified based on molecular and morphological analyses. This study presents detailed descriptions of the morphological observations and molecular phylogenetic analysis of these three fungi. All three species were found to be sensitive to triphenyltetrazolium chloride staining. M. zychae demonstrated the highest intensity of mycelial staining, indicating that this species has the highest potential to produce arachidonic acid of the three species. The staining results indicated that the newly recorded species could potentially be useful for arachidonic acid production.

A New Record of Gongronella butleri Isolated in Korea.

We report the isolation of a Gongronella butleri species and describe it based on the analysis of the internal transcribed spacer region of rDNA and morphological characteristics. G. butleri has been reported as a high chitosan producer in the literature. This is the first record of G. butleri isolated from crop field soil in Korea.

Discovery of Two New Talaromyces Species from Crop Field Soil in Korea.

Two new fungal species of the genus Talaromyces, Talaromyces purpurogenus and Talaromyces trachyspermus from the Trichocomaceae family, were recovered during an investigation of fungal communities in soil collected from the Gangwon-do and Jeollanam-do provinces of Korea. These two species have not been previously officially reported from Korea. In this study, detailed descriptions of internal transcribed spacer rDNA and beta-tubulin gene regions of these two fungi are presented. Morphological features of the two fungi in five agar media, potato dextrose, oatmeal, malt extract, czapek yeast extract, and yeast extract sucrose, are also reported. The species were identified on the basis of molecular and morphological analysis, and herein we present data with detailed descriptions and figures.

The re-design at the transformer portion of transcutaneous energy transmission system for all implantable devices.

All implantable devices, such as an artificial heart, an artificial lung, a pacemaker, a defibrillator, need electric power. So the electric power supply through the skin is requested. Then, it is transcutaneous energy transmission system (TETS) that has been studied and used a lot. TETS is the system which performs an electric power supply by non-contact transcutaneously using the electromagnetic induction phenomenon of an external primary side coil and a secondary side coil in human body. In this research, we are developing the core type TETS which applied for the implantable devices. In this paper, corresponding to various conditions, such as a difference in required electric power and transmission distance change, the core type transformer which can hold high transmission efficiency is designed.

The development of core-type Transcutaneous Energy Transmission System for artificial heart.

Recently, Artificial Heart (AH) is recognized as the alternate method of the heart graft. Though there are many problems and defect on AH, long term durability, miniaturization and weight saving interfaced with flow rate performance, efficiency of device. Considering rehabilitation into the society and advancement of QOL (Quality of Life), the construction of power source which supplies electric power to the device is important and has many problems. Especially, the electric feeder line restricts behavior of the transplant recipient and disturbs rehabilitation into the society. For solving these problems, Transcutaneous Energy Transmission System (TETS) is noticed and studied. This study proposes core-type TETS. It achieves high magnetic coupling compared with air-core-type TETS which is carried out on clinical study. Because core-type TETS has high magnetic coupling, it is possible to reduce the input current and to miniaturize transformer size. This paper mentions the characteristic of core-type TETS.