Dr Ing. Michael A. Saliba - research

The formal name for this project since 2005 is Development of a dexterous robotic hand for manufacturing, prosthetic, and general research applications, and it is funded through an internal UoM Research Grant. Work in this area however has been ongoing in the UoM Industrial Automation Laboratory since 1999, funded through a previous UoM Research Grant and through Departmental funds. The objective of this research activity is to make contributions to the general area of dexterous robot hand development. Since 1999 we have developed three versatile, remotely actuated robot hands, the last two of anthropomorphic design. The second hand was tele-operated via a whole-hand input device, also developed in-house. We have also worked on the development of a robot finger with inbuilt actuation. We have also carried out the conceptual development of a new device to sense incipient slip during robotic grasping. Other work involves the optimisation of robot hand design through constrained human dexterity testing, and continuing work on the development of a force feedback glove. Current work involves the development of a new anthropomorphic robot hand that is endoskeletal and that utilises non-conventional actuators, on the development of a new touch and force sensor for robot hands, on the further development of a whole-hand input device with force feedback, and on extended dexterity studies.

This project is entitled A rationalisation of industrial automation requirements in Malta, with a focus on the development of new modular reconfigurable industrial automation systems, and it is funded through the Malta Council for Science and Technology under the 2006 national research and innovation programme. General R&D work in this area however has been ongoing since 1998, in the UoM Industrial Automation Laboratory and mainly in collaboration with the local industry. The objective of this research activity is to improve the performance of the local manufacturing industry, and also to make key specific contributions in the area of reconfigurable automation. Since 1998 we have developed solid partnerships with a number of leading companies in the local manufacturing sector, and have carried out numerous R&D projects with our partners mainly in the area of manufacturing automation. Since the formal start of the AUTOMATE project in late 2007, we have carried out a detailed study of the state of automation in the Maltese manufacturing industry, and have made substantial progress in the concept generation, detailed design, and development of a highly versatile and reconfigurable industrial automation testbed within the RIAL, capable of developing automation solutions to companies working in a wide and diverse range of manufacturing sub-sectors. We are also working on the development of a new model for the application of reconfigurable automation within companies that have wide product variety. Further information on this work can be found in the AUTOMATE web site.