1st International Electronic Conference on Actuator Technology: Materials, Devices and Applications

Materials, Actuators, Efficiency, Dynamics, Energy Consumption

Conference Closed

We are pleased to announce that IeCAT 2020 has been finished successfully. All comments and discussions on the manuscripts are closed now. We would like to thank all the participants, all the conference chairs, the committee members as well as our keynote and invited speakers for their excellent work.

The next edition of IeCAT is expected to be held on November 2022. We wish that you will continue to keep an eye on our next edition and welcome your participation in the year of 2022!

Important Announcement

Please note that the Submission of Full Conference Paper and Presentation has been extended to 19 November 2020, which means you have three more days extension to upload your full submission and presentation. This would be the very last time for you to submit your full papers and presentations. Look forward to receiving your full submissions and presentations!

Live Sessions Schedule:

Session: Soft and Biohybrid Actuation
Chair: Dr. Aslan Miriyev
Time: 23 November 2020 | 8:20-12:00 am (EST)
Registration link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/2016027713395/WN_1PVdSoUTRFaOkh9Skw5Bew

Session: Miniaturized and micro-actuators
Chairs: Prof. Dr. Manfred Kohl; Dr. Kirill Poletkin
Time: 24 November 2020 | 14:05-17:15 pm (CET)
Registration link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/6216027713936/WN_eDIyuiZ2Q_CAAztCX0fNdA

Session: Actuator Materials
Chair: Prof. Dr. Kenji Uchino
Time: 25 November 2020 | 8:30-10:30 am (EST)
Registration link: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/1816027714421/WN_rl3A93vnTOuTVGrRFkY0bg

Session: Actuator Applications
Chairs: Prof. Dr. Tatiana Minav; Prof. Dr. José Luis Sánchez Rojas
Time: 26 November 2020 | 9:05-11:35 am (CET)
Registration link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/6616027715059/WN_Ldc574RRTbanTXPgzWyCFw

Details are at Program of Online Sessions. Welcome to register and meet us at the live sessions.

Welcome from the Chairs

Dear Colleagues,

You are cordially invited to participate in the 1st International Electronic Conference on Actuator Technology: Materials, Devices and Applications (IeCAT), sponsored by the MDPI open access journal Actuators. The meeting is an opportunity for researchers in the field of actuator science and technology to present their research and exchange ideas with colleagues. This is an electronic conference, removing the need to travel and eliminating participation expenses.

The conference will be organized around the following general topics, although it may be open to other sessions or subject areas related to the aims and scope of the journal Actuators.

Actuators for robotics and autonomous applications
Actuators for biomedical applications
Actuator materials
Novel design and device concepts
Miniaturized and micro-actuators
Actuators for aircrafts and on- and off-road vehicles/machines
Assessment and precision measurements
Actuators for manufacturing
Actuators for hydraulic systems
Soft and biohybrid actuators
Cooperative micro-actuator systems

This will be a virtual conference held at www.sciforum.net, a platform developed and sponsored by MDPI to organize and provide technical support for electronic conferences.

The format of the conference is as follows: After abstract acceptance, the authors will submit a pre-recorded video presentation (within 20 minutes) or a series of narrated slides that will be accessible online, open for discussion, comments, and questions, during the entire conference and will remain available after the e-conference. Authors are requested to submit a full description of their work in a conference paper that will be peer-reviewed and, upon acceptance, published in Proceedings. Paper submission is not a requirement for active conference participation.

The participation is free of charge—both for authors and attendees. Accepted papers will be gathered in the proceedings of the conference and available online on the MDPI website. Selected extended versions of the papers will be published in a Special Issue of the journal Actuators with a discount of 20% on the article processing charge (ISSN 2076-0825; Actuators).

The best conference paper and presentation will receive an award of 500 CHF, as well as an offer to publish an extended paper, free of charge, in the Special Issue of the journal Actuators.

We look forward to engaging in exciting discussions and hearing new ideas and perspectives from experts in the field. All participants are welcome to join the online conference.

Kind regards,

Prof. Dr. José Luis Sánchez Rojas
Prof. Dr. Tatiana Minav

Conference Secretariat
Ms. Cynthia He
Ms. Christian Liang
Email：iecat2020@mdpi.com

Follow us on Twitter @Actuators_MDPI
Follow us on LinkedIn @Actuators MDPI

Important Dates

Abstract Submission Deadline: 1st September 2020 15 September 2020
Notification of Acceptance: 15th September 2020 30 September 2020
Submission of Full Conference Paper and Presentation: 16th November 2020 19th November 2020
Conference Open: 23-27 November 2020

Welcome Speech from the Chairs

Sessions

A. Actuators for robotics and autonomous applications
B. Actuator materials
C. Novel design and device concepts
D. Miniaturized and micro-actuators
E. Actuators for aircrafts and on- and off-road vehicles/machines
F. Actuators for manufacturing
H. Actuators for hydraulic systems
I. Soft and biohybrid actuators
J. Cooperative micro-actuator systems

List of accepted submissions (43)

Id	Title	Authors	Presentation Video	Poster PDF
sciforum-035309	Electromechanical actuators for large sized valves Tobias Vonderbank , Katharina Schmitz Submitted: 26 Aug 2020 Abstract: Show Abstract	Tobias Vonderbank , Katharina Schmitz			Show Abstract
In modern hydraulics, it is crucial to investigate possible enhancements for components, which lead to increased performance or new improved system designs. Previous research of the switching process of a large valve pointed out that electromechanical valve actuators can replace hydraulic pilot control systems. Especially in systems, which currently, depend on a separate pilot circuit electromechanical actuators can lead to a huge decrease in the system acquistion costs. Actuators for large valves have to fulfill varying requirements. For example they need to apply high forces over large strokes. In order to define these requirements conveniently and to develop new valve actuators a functional structure of the “valve and his actuation system” has been derived in this paper. Using this design tool, the main function of the component is devided into different elementary functions. The graphical presentation of the system helps to define the requierements by outlining the correlations and to develop a new system by adding or deleting elementary functions. Using the functional structure, all acting forces have been identified and a prototype of a new electromechanical actuator for large directional control vales. A Force of up to 500 N and a stroke larger than 10 mm is realizible. Due to the new actuator design, further friction, clamping and resistance forces occur. Therefore, possible improvements on the actuator are suggested. In conclusion the paper summarizes significant points during the design process of electromechanical valve actuators and is intended as a basis for the development of new valve actuators.
sciforum-035492	A method for smoothly disengaging the load-holding valves of energy-efficient electro-hydraulic systems Daniel Hagen , Damiano Padovani Submitted: 28 Aug 2020 Abstract: Show Abstract	Daniel Hagen , Damiano Padovani	N/A		Show Abstract
A novel self-contained, electro-hydraulic cylinder drive capable of passive load-holding, four-quadrant operations, and energy recovery was presented recently and implemented successfully. This solution improved greatly the energy efficiency and motion control in comparison to state-of-the-art, valve-controlled systems typically used in mobile or offshore applications. The passive load-holding function was realized by two pilot-operated check valves placed on the cylinder ports, where their pilot pressure is selected by a dedicated on/off electro valve. These valves can maintain the actuator position without consuming energy, as demonstrated on a single-boom crane. However, a reduced drop of about 1 mm was observed in the actuator position when the load-holding valves are disengaged to enable the piston motion using closed-loop position control. Such a sudden variation in the piston position that is triggered by switching the load-holding valves can increase up to 4 mm when open-loop position control is chosen. For these reasons, this research paper proposes an improved control strategy for disengaging the passive load-holding functionality smoothly (i.e., by removing this unwanted drop of the piston). A two-step pressure control strategy is used to switch the pilot-operated check valves. The proposed experimental validation of this method eliminates the piston position’s drop highlighted before and improves the motion control, mainly when operating the crane in open-loop. Theses outcomes benefit those systems where the kinematics amplifies the piston motion significantly (e.g., in aerial platforms) increasing, therefore, the operational safety.
sciforum-035708	Development of Control Circuit for Inductive Levitation Micro-Actuators Vitor Vlnieska , Achim Voigt , Sagar Wadhwa , Jan Korvink , Manfred Kohl , Kirill Poletkin Submitted: 31 Aug 2020 Abstract: Show Abstract	Vitor Vlnieska , Achim Voigt , Sagar Wadhwa , Jan Korvink , Manfred Kohl , Kirill Poletkin			Show Abstract
The control circuit for inductive levitation micro-actuators is developed in this research. The circuit performance and its electrical parameters are discussed. The developed control circuit was fabricated on a 4-layer PCB board having a size of 60 mm by 60 mm. It consists of a generator based on high-speed Flip-Flop components and a current amplifier build on a bridge configuration. The circuit is able to generate ac current with squared shape in a range of frequency from 8 to 43 MHz and with peak-to-peak amplitude up to 420 mA. To demonstrate the efficiency of the developed circuit and its compatibility with the micro-actuation system, an inductive levitation micro-actuator was fabricated by using 3D micro-coil technology. The device was composed of two solenoidal coil design, which consists of levitation and stabilization coil, having 2 mm and 3.8 mm in diameters, respectively. The levitation coil has 20 turns of a gold wire of a 25 µm diameter, while the stabilization one has 12 turns similar to the micro-structure presented previously by our group. Using the developed control circuit, the micro-actuator was successfully excited and it demonstrated the actuation of aluminum disc-shaped micro-objects having a diameter of 2.7 and 3.2 mm and, for the first time, an aluminum square shaped micro-object having a side-length of 3.4 mm at a frequency of 10 MHz. To characterize the actuation, the levitation height and the rms amplitude of current were measured. In particular, we showed that the square shaped micro-object can lift up on a height of 100 µm with rms current of 160 mA. The characterization is supported by the simulation using a 3D model based on the quasi-FEM approach.
sciforum-036765	Origami-Inspired Shape Memory Folding Microactuator Lena Seigner , Olha Bezsmertna , Sebastian Fähler , Georgino Tshikwand , Frank Wendler , Manfred Kohl Submitted: 11 Sep 2020 Abstract: Show Abstract	Lena Seigner , Olha Bezsmertna , Sebastian Fähler , Georgino Tshikwand , Frank Wendler , Manfred Kohl		N/A	Show Abstract
This paper presents the design, fabrication and performance of origami-based folding microactuators based on a cold-rolled NiTi foil of 20 µm thickness showing the one-way shape memory effect. Origami refers to a variety of techniques of transforming planar sheets into three-dimensional (3D) structures by folding, which has been introduced in science and engineering for, e.g., assembly and robotics. Here, NiTi microactuators are interconnected to rigid sections (tiles) forming an initial planar system that self-folds into a set of predetermined 3D shapes upon heating. While this concept has been demonstrated at the macro scale, we intend to transfer this concept into microtechnology by combining state-of-the art methods of micromachining. NiTi foils are micromachined by laser cutting or photolithography to achieve double-beam structures allowing for direct Joule heating with an electrical current. A thermo-mechanical treatment is used for shape setting of as-received specimens to reach a maximum folding angle of 180°. The bending moments, bending radii and load-dependent folding angles upon Joule heating are evaluated. The shape setting process is particularly effective for small bending radii, which, however generates residual plastic strain. After shape setting, unloaded beam structures show recoverable bending deflection between 0° and 140° for a maximum heating power of 900 mW. By introducing additional loads to account for the effect of the tiles, the smooth folding characteristic evolves into a sharp transition, whereby full deflection up to 180° is reached. The achieved results are an important step towards the development of cooperative multistable microactuator systems for 3D self-assembly.
sciforum-036839	Tracking Control for Piezoelectric Actuators with Advanced Feed-forward Compensation Combined with PI Control. Cristian Napole , Oscar Barambones , Mohamed Derbeli , Mohammed Yousri Silaa , Isidro Calvo , Javier Velasco Submitted: 14 Sep 2020 Abstract: Show Abstract	Cristian Napole , Oscar Barambones , Mohamed Derbeli , Mohammed Yousri Silaa , Isidro Calvo , Javier Velasco	N/A		Show Abstract
Piezoelectric actuators (PEA) are devices which can support large actuation forces compared to their small size and are widely used in high precision applications where micro- and nanopositioning is required. Nonetheless, these actuators have undeniable non-linearities were the well-known are creep, vibration dynamics and hysteresis. The latter mentioned is originated due to a combination of mechanical strain and electric field action; as a consequence, these can affect the PEA tracking performance and even reach instability. The scope of this paper is to reduce the hysteresis effect using and comparing different control strategies like feedback with feed-forward (FF) structure which is often used to compensate the non-linearities and diminish the errors due to uncertainties. In this research, black-box models were analysed; subsequently, a classic feedback control like proportional-integral (PI) was combined with the FF methods proposed separately and embedded into a dSpace platform to perform real-time experiments. Results were analysed in-depth in terms of the error, the control signal and the integral of the absolute error (IAE). It was found that with the proposed methods, the hysteresis effect could be diminished to acceptable ranges for high-precision tracking with a satisfactory control signal.

Full List

Invited Speech

Efficient SMA Actuation - Design & Control Concepts
Paul Motzki

Online unbalanced vibration suppression of a flexible rotor supported by active magnetic bearing
Huachun Wu

Program of Online Sessions

During the duration of the conference, a number of live online sessions will be programmed. Each session will consist on several speakers lecturing on a special topic, and will be moderated by a chair. During each session, the participants will have the possibility to ask questions during a Q&A session. Detailed information about the topics and dates will be shared soon.

The live sessions are free. The number of participants to the live session is limited but the recording will be made available on Sciforum shortly afterwards.

Session: Soft and Biohybrid Actuation (November 23^rd)
Chair: Dr. Aslan Miriyev
Session Details

Time (EST)

Speakers & Talks

8:20-8:30

Prof. Dr. José Luis Sánchez Rojas and Prof. Dr. Tatiana Minav

opening speech

8:30 – 9:10

Keynote talk

Prof. Dr. Carmel Majidi, Carnegie Mellon University, USA

Untethered soft robots with shape memory actuators

9:10 – 9:40

Invited talk 1

Dr. Ingrid Graz, Johannes Kepler Universität, Austria

Soft robotic systems inspired by plants

9:40 – 10:10

Invited talk 2

Dr. Victoria A. Webster-Wood, Carnegie Mellon University, USA

Aquatic invertebrate muscle as a farmable bioactuator for biohybrid robots

10:10 -10:20

Short break

10:20 – 10:50

Invited talk 3

Dr. Dorina Opris, Empa, Switzerland

Functional elastomers responsive to electrical and mechanical stress

10:50 – 11:20

Invited talk 4

Rebecca Kramer-Bottiglio, Yale University, USA

From Particles to Parts—Building Artificial Life from Multifunctional Materials

11:20 – 11:50

Invited talk 5

Dr. Stephan Rudykh, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA

Tailored design of soft materials through microstructures and buckling

11:50 – 12:00

Wrap up and concluding remarks, Session Chair, Dr. Aslan Miriyev

Please note that the time zone is EST(Eastern Standard Time).
Keynote talk time: 30 min. talk and 10 min. q&a.
Invited lectures talk time: 25 min. talk and 5 min. q&a.

Session:Miniaturized and micro-actuators (November 24^th)
Chair: Prof. Dr. Manfred Kohl; Dr. Kirill Poletkin
Session Details

Time (GMT+1)

Speakers & Talks

14:05-14:45

Keynote talk

Prof. Jürgen Rühe, University of Freiburg, Germany

working Hand in Hand: Cooperative (Micro-)Actuators and Actuator Fields

14:45-15:15

Invited talk 1

Dr. Christof Megnin, KIT, Germany

Commercialization of SMA microactuators

15:15-15:45

Invited talk 2

Prof. Igor Gaponov, Innopolis University, Russia

Twisted String Actuators in Robotics: Design, Control, and Applications

15:45-16:15

Invited talk 3

Dr. Victor Ruiz, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain

linear motors based on Piezoelectric MEMS

16:15-16:45

Invited talk 4

Dr. Zhi Li, Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Germany

MEMS Picoindenter with exchangeable AFM cantilever as an indenter for nanomechanical characterisation of micro- and nanomaterials

16:45 – 17:15

Wrap up and concluding remarks, Session Chairs

Please note that the time zone is CET time.
Keynote talk time: 30 min. talk and 10 min. q&a.
Invited lectures talk time: 25 min. talk and 5 min. q&a.

Session: Actuator Materials (November 25^th)
Chair: Prof. Dr. Kenji Uchino
Session Details

Time (EST)

Speakers & Talks

8:30 – 8:35

Start

Prof. Dr. Kenji Uchino, Penn State University, USA

Introduction of Session “Actuator Materials”

8:35 – 9:10

Keynote talk 1

Prof. Dr. Clive Randall, Penn State University, USA

Opportunities for Cold Sintering Materials for Capacitive and Piezoelectric Applications

9:10 – 9:45

Keynote talk 2

Prof. Dr. Isaku Kanno, Kobe University, Kobe, Japan

PZT thin films for Piezo MEMS: deposition, characterization, and application

9:45 – 10:20

Keynote talk 3

Prof. Dr. Jungho Ryu, Yeungnam University, Gyeongbuk, Korea

Piezoelectric Thick film fabrication by Aerosol Deposition; applications and advances

10:20 – 10:30

Keynote talk 4

Wrap up and concluding remarks, Session Chair Prof. Dr. Kenji Uchino

High Power Piezoelectrics – Future Trend

Please note that the time zone is EST (Eastern Standard Time).
Keynote talk time: 30 min. talk and 5min. q&a.

Session: Actuator Applications (November 26^th)
Chair: Prof. Dr. Tatiana Minav, Prof. Dr. José Luis Sánchez Rojas
Session Details

Time (GMT+1)

Speakers & Talks

9:05-9:45

Keynote talk 1

Prof. Dr. Elena Lomonova, Eindhoven University of Technology, The
Netherlands

New Paradigm in Electromechanics – Decoding the Physical Complexity of
High-Precision Positioning Systems

9:45-10:15

Keynote talk 2

Prof. Torben Ole Andersen, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark

Small Fluid Power Actuators for Digital Displacement Units, Linear Pump Controlled Drives and Exoskeletons

10:15-10:45

Invited talk 1

Dr. Marcel Schuck, Pioneer Fellow at ETH Zurich, Switzerland

Contactless Gripping – Paving the Way Towards Flexible Micromanipulation

10:45-11:15

Invited talk 2

Prof. Yongling Fu, Beihang University (BUAA), China

New actuation and transmission solutions for aerospace applications

11:15 – 11:35

Wrap up and concluding remarks, Session Chairs

Please note that the time zone is CET time.
Keynote talk time: 30 min. talk and 10 min. q&a.
Invited lectures talk time: 25 min. talk and 5 min. q&a.

Recordings of Online Sessions

Below you will find the recordings of all the online sessions held during the e-conference for you to watch, re-watch and share with your colleagues!

Session 1: Soft and Biohybrid Actuation

Session 2: Miniaturized and Micro-Actuators

Session 3: Actuator Materials

Session 4: Actuator Applications

Event Awards

To acknowledge the support of the conference esteemed authors and recognize their outstanding scientific accomplishments, Actuators would like to award the best papers and best presentations as elected by the members of the scientific committee. We look forward to posting your contributions.

The Awards

Best Paper Award

Number of Awards Available: 1

The Best Paper Award is given to the paper judged to make the most significant contribution to the conference. There will be one winners selected for this award, the winner will receive a certificate and 500 CHF and the winner will be offered an opportunity to publish a featured paper in Actuators for free.

Best Presentation Award

Number of Awards Available: 1

A presentation will be selected prior to the conference by the Scientific Committee. The winner will also be granted 500 CHF, a certificate and an offer to publish a free featured paper in Actuators.

Terms and Conditions:

Criteria for Evaluation of Best Paper Award:

Full paper must be submitted to IeCAT 2020;
Originality/novelty of the paper;
Significance of content;
Scientific soundness;
Interest to the readers;
English language and style.

Requirements for Best Presentation Award:

Presentation should have the following information.

Title (with authors and affiliations)
Introduction/Objectives/Aims
Methods
Results
Conclusion
References
Acknowledgements
Contact information
A video presentation within 20 minutes

Winner:

Multifunctional Smart Window based on Dielectric Elastomer Actuator (doi:10.3390/IeCAT2020-08509)

Milan Shrestha *, Gih-Keong Lau, Zhenbo Lu

Winner:

Electromechanical Actuators for Large Sized Valves (doi:10.3390/IeCAT2020-08477)

Tobias Vonderbank *, Katharina Schmitz

Conference Chairs

Professor José Luis Sánchez Rojas

Instituto de Nanociencia, Nanotecnología y Materiales Moleculares, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha

Professor Tatiana Minav

Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Tampere University

Conference Committee

Prof. Dr. Eugene Terentjev

Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Prof. Dr. He Tian

Institute of Microelectronics, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

Prof. Dr. Marcelo Dapino

NSF I/UCRC on Smart Vehicle Concepts, Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, The Ohio State University, E307 Scott Laboratory, 201 West 19th Avenue, Columbus, OH, USA

Prof. Dr. Balaji Panchapakesan

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA, USA

Prof. Dr. George Knopf

Department of Mechanical & Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada

Prof. Dr. Andrea Vacca

Maha Fluid Power Research Center, School of Mechanical Engineering, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Purdue University, 1500 Kepner Dr. Lafayette IN, USA

Prof. Dr. André Preumont

Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering and Robotics, Active Structures Laboratory, Department of Control Engineering and System Analysis, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium

Prof. Dr. Manfred Kohl

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute of Microstructure Technology, Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Karlsruhe, Germany

Prof. Dr. Jin Zhou

College of Mechanical & Electrical Engineering, NUAA, China

Dr. Giorgio Grioli

IIT Central Research Labs Genova (Website)

Dr. Navvab Kashiri

IIT Central Research Labs Genova (Website)

Prof. Dr. Kenji Uchino

Director of International Center for Actuators and Transducers Professor of Electrical Engineering, Professor of Materials (Website)

Prof. Dr. Weimin Huang

School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore City, Singapore

Dr. Damiano Padovani

University of Agder

Dr. Kirill Poletkin

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology Institute of Microstructure Technology Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen

Dr. Michał Bartyś

Institute of Automatic Control and Robotics, Warsaw University of Technology, plac Politechniki 1, 00-661 Warszawa, Poland

Dr. Heena Rathore

University of Texas, San Antonio, Austin, TX 78712, USA

Dr. Huachun Wu

School of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, China

Dr. Aslan Miriyev

Materials and Technology Center of Robotics, Empa- Swiss Federal Labs for Materials Science and Technology, Switzerland; Department of Aeronautics, Imperial College London, UK (Website)

Prof. Dr. Nicola Pio Belfiore

Department of Engineering, Roma Tre University, Via Vito Volterra, 62 - 00146 Rome, Italy

Dr. Luca Papini

Department of Energy, System, Territory and Construction, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy

Prof. Dr. Gianluca Rizzello

Department of Systems Engineering and Department of Material Science and Engineering, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany

Prof. Dr. Stefan Seelecke

Intelligent Material Systems Lab, Department of Materials Science & Engineering, Department of Systems Engineering, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany (www.imsl.uni-saarland.de)

Keynote Speakers

Prof. Dr. Clive A. Randall

Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA

Prof. Dr. Isaku Kanno

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kobe University, Kobe, Japan

Prof. Dr. Jungho Ryu

School of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE), Yeungnam University, Gyeongbuk, Korea

Prof. Dr. Kenji Uchino

School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA

Prof. Dr. Torben Ole Andersen

Department of Energy Technology, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark

Prof. Dr. Carmel Majidi

Clarence H. Adamson Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh USA 15213

Prof. Dr. Elena Lomonova

Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands

Prof. Dr. Jürgen Rühe

University of Freiburg

Invited Speakers

Dr. Victor Ruiz

University of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain

Prof. Dr. Yongling Fu

School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation of Beihang University (BUAA), China

Dr. Zhi Li

Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) in Braunschweig, the metrology institute of Germany

Dr. Ingrid Graz

School of Education, Department of STEM Education, Physics Johannes Kepler University Linz, Altenbergerstrasse 69, 4040 Linz, Austria

Dr. Vickie Webster-Wood

Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA

Dr. Dorina Opris

Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology Empa, Laboratory for Functional Polymers, Ueberlandstr. 129, CH-8600, Dübendorf, Switzerland

Dr. Rebecca Kramer-Bottiglio

Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA

Dr. Stephan Rudykh

Mechanics of Soft Materials Lab., Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin Madison, USA

Dr. Christof Megnin

Laboratory for Material Process Technology at the Department of Microsystem Engineering (Freiburg, Germany)

Dr. Marcel Schuck

ETH Zurich

Dr. Paul Motzki

Saarland University - Mechatronics

Prof. Dr. Igor Gaponov

Institute of Robotic Systems and Computer Vision, Innopolis University, Russia

Prof. Dr. Huachun WU

School of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering of Wuhan University of Technology (WHUT), Wuhan, China

Instructions for Authors

Submission

Submissions should be made online by registering with www.sciforum.net, and using the "New Submission" function once logged in to the system.

Scholars interested in participating in the conference can submit their abstract (about 200–300 words) on this website until 1st September 2020 15 September 2020 (Abstract deadline).
The Conference Committee will notify applicants of the acceptance of their abstract by 15th September 2020 30 September 2020 (Notification Deadline).
In case of acceptance, authors will be asked to submit their manuscript, along with a narrated presentation recorded with a voice-over at the same time (only PDF). Optionally, the presenting author can record the talk (within 20 minutes) so the viewer sees both the slides and the speaker delivering the presentation. For both manuscript and presentation, the submission deadline is 16th November 2020 19th November 2020 (full deadline).
The manuscripts and presentations will be available on https://sciforum.net/conference/IeCAT for discussion and rating during the time of the conference from 23–27 November 2020.
All accepted extended abstracts will be published as one dedicated volume in MDPI Proceedings series journals (ISSN: 2504-3900).
The open access journal Actuators will publish a Special Issue based on the conference proceedings papers (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/actuators/special_issues/IeCAT).
After the conference, the Conference Committee will recommend manuscripts that may be included for publication in this Special Issue. The editorial office requires at least a 40% extension if you intend to publish your conference paper in this Special Issue.

Proceedings Paper

Manuscripts for the Proceedings issue must have the following organization:

First pages:

Title
Full author names
Affiliations (including full postal address) and author e-mail addresses
Abstract
Keywords
Introduction
Methods
Results and Discussion
Conclusions
Acknowledgments
References

Manuscripts should be prepared in MS Word or any other word processor and should be converted to PDF format before submission. The publication format will be PDF. The manuscript should be at least three pages (incl. figures, tables, and references). There is no page limit on the length, although authors are asked to keep their papers as concise as possible.

Presentation Slides

Authors are encouraged to prepare a presentation using PowerPoint or similar software, to be displayed online along with the manuscript. Slides, if available, will be displayed directly on the website using the https://sciforum.net/conference/IeCAT proprietary slide viewer. Slides can be prepared in exactly the same way as any traditional conference where research results are presented. Slides should be converted to PDF format before submission so that our process can easily and automatically convert them for online display.

Video Presentations

Besides their active participation within the forum, authors are also encouraged to submit video presentations (within 20 minutes). If you are interested in submitting a video presentation, please contact the conference organizer at iecat2020@mdpi.com to find out more about the procedure. This is a unique way of presenting your paper and discussing it with peers from all over the world. Make a difference and join us for this project!

Submission of Manuscripts

Submission: Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.sciforum.net/login by registering and logging in.

Accepted File Formats

MS Word: Manuscripts prepared in MS Word must be converted into a single file before submission. When preparing manuscripts in MS Word, the 1st Electronic Conference on Actuator Technology: Materials, Devices and Applications (IeCAT) Microsoft Word template file (see download below) must be used. Please do not insert any graphics (schemes, figures, etc.) into a movable frame which can superimpose the text and make the layout very difficult。
LaTeX: Manuscripts prepared in LaTeX must be collated into one ZIP folder (include all source files and images, so that the Conference Secretariat can recompile the submitted PDF). When preparing manuscripts in LaTeX, please use the 1st Electronic Conference on Actuator Technology: Materials, Devices and Applications (IeCAT) Latex template files.

1st International Electronic Conference on Actuator Technology: Materials, Devices and Applications (IeCAT) Microsoft Word template file and LaTex template file

Microsoft Word template
LaTeX template

Manuscript Preparation

Paper Format: A4 paper format, where the printing area is 17.5 cm × 26.2 cm. The margins should be 1.75 cm on each side of the paper (top, bottom, left, and right sides).

Formatting/Style: Papers should be prepared following the style of Actuators. Full titles and cited papers must be given. Reference numbers should be placed in square brackets [ ], and placed before the punctuation; for example, [1,2], [3] or [1–3], and all the references should be listed separately as the last section at the end of the manuscript.

Author List and Affiliation Format: Authors' full first and last names must be given. Abbreviated middle names can be added. For papers that are written by various contributors, a corresponding author must be designated. All authors who contributed significantly to the manuscript (including writing a section) should be listed on the first page of the manuscript, below the title of the article. Other parties, who provided only minor contributions, should be listed under Acknowledgments only. A minor contribution might be a discussion with the author, reading through the draft of the manuscript, or performing English corrections.

Figures, Schemes, and Tables: Authors are encouraged to prepare figures and schemes in color. Full color graphics will be published free of charge. Figures and schemes must be numbered (Figure 1, Scheme I, Figure 2, Scheme II, etc.) and an explanatory title must be added. Tables should be inserted into the main text, and numbers and titles for all tables supplied. All table columns should have an explanatory heading. Please supply legends for all figures, schemes, and tables. The legends should be prepared as a separate paragraph of the main text and placed in the main text before a table, figure, or scheme.

For further inquiries please contact us at iecat2020@mdpi.com.

Potential Conflicts of Interest

It is the authors' responsibility to identify and declare any personal circumstances or interests that may be perceived as inappropriately influencing the representation or interpretation of clinical research. If there is no conflict, please state here "The authors declare no conflict of interest." This should be conveyed in a separate "Conflict of Interest" statement preceding the "Acknowledgments" and "References" sections at the end of the manuscript. Financial support for the study must be fully disclosed under the "Acknowledgments" section.

Copyright

MDPI, the publisher of the Sciforum.net platform, is an open access publisher. We believe that authors should retain the copyright to their scholarly works. Hence, by submitting a Communication paper to this conference, you retain the copyright of your paper, but you grant MDPI the non-exclusive right to publish this paper online on the Sciforum.net platform. This means you can easily submit your paper to any scientific journal at a later stage and transfer the copyright to its publisher (if required by that publisher).

1st International Electronic Conference on Actuator Technology: Materials, Devices and Applications

23–27 Nov 2020

Conference Closed

Important Announcement

Welcome from the Chairs

Sessions

List of accepted submissions (43)

Invited Speech

Program of Online Sessions

Recordings of Online Sessions

Session 1: Soft and Biohybrid Actuation

Session 2: Miniaturized and Micro-Actuators

Session 3: Actuator Materials

Session 4: Actuator Applications

Event Awards

The Awards

Terms and Conditions:

Conference Chairs

Conference Committee

Keynote Speakers

Invited Speakers

Instructions for Authors

Sponsors and Partners

Organizers

A. Actuators for robotics and autonomous applications

Submissions

B. Actuator materials

Submissions

C. Novel design and device concepts

Submissions

D. Miniaturized and micro-actuators

Submissions

E. Actuators for aircrafts and on- and off-road vehicles/machines

Submissions

F. Actuators for manufacturing

Submissions

H. Actuators for hydraulic systems

Submissions

I. Soft and biohybrid actuators

J. Cooperative micro-actuator systems

Submissions