Abstract
Actuators based on electroactive polymers are increasingly used in applications including microelectronic devices and artificial muscles, demanding low voltage operation and controllable switching response. This work reports on the preparation of electroactive actuators based on poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) composites with 10, 25, and 40 wt% N,N,N-trimethyl-N-(2-hydroxyethyl) ammonium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([N-1 1 1 2(OH)][NTf2]) and 1-Ethyl-3-methylimidazolium Ethylsulfate ([C(2)mim][C2SO4]) ionic liquids (ILs) prepared by solvent casting. Independent of the IL type, its presence leads to the crystallization of PVDF in the piezoelectric beta-phase. The degree of crystallinity and electrical conductivity of the samples strongly depends on ILs type and content. The highest electrical conductivity was found for PVDF/IL composites with 40 wt% of [N-1 1 1 2(OH)][NTf2]. The strain displacement and bending of the PVDF/IL composites were evaluated as a function of IL type and content under applied peak voltages of 2.0, 5.0, and 10.0 V at a frequency of 10 mHz. Strain displacement of the actuators depends more on IL content than on IL type, and the best strain bending response was found for the PVDF/IL composite with 25 wt% of [N-1 1 1 2(OH)][NTf2] at 5.0 V. Further, it is shown that [C(2)mim] [C2SO4]/PVDF composites do not show cytotoxic behavior, being suitable for biomedical applications.

Abstract
Low voltage actuators based on poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) with 10, 25 and 40% 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([C(6)mim][Cl]) and 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([C(6)mim][NTf2]) are prepared by solvent casting in order to evaluate the effect of anion size in the bending properties. Independently of the ionic liquid type and content, its presence leads to the crystallization of PVDF in the beta-phase. The addition of ionic liquid into the polymer matrix decreases significantly its degree of crystallinity and the elastic modulus. It is also confirmed the good miscibility between PVDF and IL, determined by the interaction of the CF2 groups from the PVDF chains with the imidazolium ring in the ionic liquid (IL). The AC conductivity of the composites depends both on the amount of ionic liquid content and anion size. The bending movement of the IL/PVDF composites is correlated to their degree of crystallinity, mechanical properties and ionic conductivity value and the best value of bending response (0.53%) being found for IL/PVDF composite with 40 wt of [C(6)min][Cl] at an applied voltage of 10 V square signal.

Abstract

Abstract
Solving complex optimization problems with genetic algorithms (GAs) with custom computing architectures is a way to improve the execution time of this metaheuristic, which is known to consume considerable amounts of time to converge to final solutions. In this work, we present a scalable computing array architecture to accelerate the execution of cellular GAs (cGAs), a variant of genetic algorithms which can conveniently exploit the coarse- grain parallelism afforded by custom parallel processing. The proposed architecture targets Xilinx FPGAs and is used as an auxiliary processor of an embedded CPU (MicroBlaze). To handle different optimization problems, a high- level synthesis (HLS) design flow is proposed where the problem- dependent operations are specified in C++ and synthesised to custom hardware, thus requiring a minimum knowledge of digital design for FPGAs. The minimum energy broadcast (MEB) problem in wireless ad hoc networks is used as a case study. An existing software implementation of a GA to solve this problem is ported to the proposed computing array to demonstrate its effectiveness and the HLS- based design flow. Implementation results in a Virtex- 6 FPGA show significant speedups, while finding solutions with improved quality.

Abstract
Today there are different teams specializing in different areas such as shipwrecked rescue, searching for mines, environmental monitoring, border surveillance, traffic control, search and rescue and harbor protecting. Robotic systems and unmanned vehicles can provide additional capabilities and new innovative solutions that contribute to these applications. This paper presents the Robotic Exercises 2014 (REX'14) and the lessons learned with various field experiments performed with multiple unnamed systems in the context of the Portuguese Navy concept of operations. During the REX'2014 multiple experiments and systems were operated. Autonomy and environment characterization and assessment missions were performed with autonomous surface vehicles such as the ROAZ autonomous surface vehicle or with autonomous underwater vehicle MARES. Autonomy and system validation was performed for fast water jet propelled surface systems such as the SWIFT autonomous surface vehicle and the ICARUS unmanned rescue capsule, wind propulsion tests were also performed with unnamed surface vehicles and new maritime wireless communication protocols were tested.

Abstract