The omnipresent tendency to &ldquo / live easy&rdquo / is a sign of our need for automatization. To enable for such a &ldquo / comfortable and safe&rdquo / world, the automatic systems have to be developed that satisfies the necessities of life. Biologically inspired robots, especially the humanoids, are thus the key, and research in this area focuses on the improvement of such systems. Lately, it has been shown by high dexterity examples that the humanoid robots achieved to a mature level even if there are still open issues to be improved, especially in the control and stability of the bipeds. The purpose of this thesis is to study biped locomotion in different floor conditions, such as stairs and obstacles / to improve the research done in this area / to contribute to the development of autonomous biped robots, dynamic modeling, gait planning, supervisory and guidence control, stability analysis of biped robots / and to implement new control algorithms for biped locomotion, especially by using optimization and high level intelligent control techniques. The locomotion aimed to be realized results from complex, high-dimensional, nonlinear and dynamically related interactions between the robot and its environment. The mathematical modeling of the physical system is realized based on a 5-link 7 DOF biped robot model walking on a 3D planar surface and the dynamic simulation is performed using MATLAB. In terms of control, several different methods applied, comparison and the performance of each method are given. The 3D dynamic simulation software is developed, which allows the user to operate the biped systems within a 3D virtual environment.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:01:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 AntonioVM.pdf: 2399503 bytes, checksum: 76297289a2893faac828155c2d164169 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-12-22 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient?fico e Tecnol?gico / This work aims to study the drying of cashew-nut pulp with different lay-out of dryers using conventional and solar energy. It concerns with the use of exceeding of the regional raw material and the suitable knowledge for the applicability of the drying systems as pathway for food conservation. Besides, it used renewable sources as solar energy to dry these agroindustrial products. Runs were carried out using a conventional tray-dryer with temperature, air velocity control and cashew slice thickness of 55?C, 65?C, 75?C; 3.0; 4.5, 6.0 m s-1; 1.0; 1.5 and 2.0 cm, respectively, in order to compare the studied systems. To evaluate the conventional tray-dryer, it was used a diffusional model of 2nd Fick?s law, where the drying curves were quite well fitted to an infinite flat plate design. For the drying runs where the room temperature had no control, it was developed a phenomenological-mathematical model for the solar dryer with indirect radiation under natural and forced convection based on material and energy balances of the system. Besides, it was carried out assays in the in natura as well as dehydrated, statistic analysis of the experimental drying data, sensorial analysis of the final dry product and a simplified economical analysis of the systems studied / Este trabalho tem como objetivo estudar a secagem do ped?nculo do caju com diferentes configura??es de secadores utilizando energia convencional e solar. O prop?sito principal diz respeito ao aproveitamento do excedente de mat?ria prima regional e o conhecimento adequado para a aplicabilidade dos sistemas de secagem como rota de conserva??o dos alimentos. Buscou-se tamb?m, o aproveitamento de fontes de energia renov?veis como a solar, que atende satisfatoriamente no processo de secagem de produtos agroindustriais. Foram realizados experimentos de secagem em secador convencional de bandejas com controle de temperatura e velocidade do ar de secagem nas condi??es de 55?C, 65?C e 75?C, de 3,0; 4,5 e 6,0 m/s e espessuras das fatias de caju de 1,0; 1,5 e 2,0 cm. Tamb?m foram realizados experimentos com os secadores solar sob convec??o natural e convec??o for?ada nas velocidades de 3,0, 4,5 e 6,0 m/s, com espessuras do material de 1 e 2 cm, de modo a realizar uma compara??o entre os sistemas em estudo. Para avaliar o secador convencional de bandejas foi utilizado o modelo difusional da 2a lei de Fick, onde as curvas de secagem foram bem ajustadas na configura??o de placa plana infinita. Nos experimentos de secagem onde a temperatura ambiente n?o ? controlada, foi desenvolvido um modelo matem?tico fenomenol?gico, para o secador solar de radia??o indireta sob convec??o natural e for?ada, fundamentado nos balan?os de massa e de energia do sistema. Adicionalmente, foram realizadas analises f?sico-qu?micas do material "in natura" e desidratado, an?lises estat?sticas dos dados experimentais da secagem, an?lise sensorial do produto seco obtido e uma avalia??o econ?mica simplificadas dos sistemas de secagem estudados nesta tese