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The field of robot-assisted physical rehabilitation and robotics technology for providing support to the elderly population is rapidly evolving. Lower limb robot aided rehabilitation and assistive technology have been a focus for the engineering community during the last three decades as several robotic lower limb exoskeletons have been proposed in the literature as well as some being commercially available. Numerous manufacturing techniques and materials have been developed for lower limb exoskeletons during the last two decades, resulting in the design of a variety of robot exoskeletons for gait assistance for elderly and disabled people. One of the most important aspects of developing exoskeletons is the selection of the most appropriate proper material. The material selection strongly influences the overall weight and performance of the exoskeleton robot. The most suitable fabrication method for material is also an important parameter for the development of lower limb robot exoskeletons. In addition to the materials and manufacturing methods, the actuation method plays a vital role in the development of these robot exoskeletons. Even though various materials, manufacturing methods and actuators are reported in the literature for these lower limb robot exoskeletons, there are still avenues of improvement in these three domains. In this review, we have examined various lower limb robotic exoskeletons, concentrating on the three main aspects of material, manufacturing, and actuation. We have focused on the advantages and drawbacks of various materials and manufacturing practices as well as actuation methods. A discussion on future directions of research is provided for the engineering community covering the material, manufacturing and actuation methods.

The World Wide Web has added an abundance of data and information to the complexity of information for disseminators and users alike. With this complexity has come the problem of finding useful and relevant information. There is a need for improved and intelligent search and retrieval engines. Current search engines are primarily passive tools. To improve the results returned by searches, intelligent agents and other technology have the potential, when used with existing search and retrieval engines, to provide a more comprehensive search with an improved performance. This research provides the building blocks for integrating intelligent agents with current search engines. It shows how an intelligent system can be constructed to assist in better information filtering, gathering and retrieval. The research is unique in the way the intelligent agents are directed and in how computational intelligence techniques (such as evolutionary computing and fuzzy logic) and intelligent agents are combined to improve information filtering and retrieval. Fuzzy logic is used to access the performance of the system and provide evolutionary computing with the necessary information to carry out its search.

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Hierarchical fuzzy logic systems are increasingly applied to solve complex problems. There is a need for a structured and methodological approach for the design and development of hierarchical fuzzy logic systems. In this paper a review of a method developed by the author for design and development of hierarchical fuzzy logic systems is considered. The proposed method is based on the integration of genetic algorithms and fuzzy logic to provide an integrated knowledge base for modelling, control and prediction. Issues related to the design and construction of hierarchical fuzzy logic systems using several applications are considered and methods for the decomposition of complex systems into hierarchical fuzzy logic systems are proposed. Decomposition and conversion of systems into hierarchical fuzzy logic systems reduces the number of fuzzy rules and improves the learning speed for such systems. Application areas considered are: the prediction of interest rate and hierarchical robotic control. The aim of this manuscript is to review and highlight the research work completed in the area of hierarchical fuzzy logic system by the author. The paper can benefit researchers interested in the application of hierarchical fuzzy logic systems in modelling, control and prediction.