This paper proposes a low-cost infrared (IR) LED system with a novel arrangement that enables the self-localization of an indoor mobile robot. The proposed system uses only low-cost IR LED emitters installed o...
This article reports on a newly designed thermal walker that can walk on a hot horizontal surface without any motor or battery. The walker converts heat energy from the hot surface into mechanical motion by us...
In the current study, we tested a prototype of an isokinetic exercise device for the lower limbs, named the ERIK. The ERIK enables a type of single-limb squat exercise with a translational load on the swing le...
This study presents a novel approach for processing motion data from a six-degree-of-freedom inertial measurement unit (IMU). Trajectory estimation through double integration of acceleration measurements resul...
In recent years, the total number of physical therapists is increasing in Japan. However, it is not sufficient to nurse of patients requiring long-term care. In order to cope with the shortage of manpower, it ...
Authors: Yudai Kitano, Tsutomu Tanzawa and Kazutaka Yokota
In this paper, we aimed to establish a novel method for surface condition measurement for the indoor floor. To measure the surface condition, we proposed wiping motion that to stroke the target surface with chang...
Authors: Koichiro Matsumoto and Kimitoshi Yamazaki
Baseball has been enjoyed by many generations and there are many people who play the game. Swing speed increases are generally required to develop ideal batting skill; nevertheless, no study has proposed a sys...
Authors: Teppei Onishi, Kazuhiro Yasuda, Suguru Kawata and Hiroyasu Iwata
Surpassing the world record in athletic performance requires extensive use of kinematic and dynamic motion analyses to develop novel body usage skills and training methods. Performance beyond the current world...
Authors: Akihiko Murai, Hiroaki Hobara, Satoru Hashizume, Yoshiyuki Kobayashi and Mitsunori Tada
Following publication of the original article [1], the authors reported that one of the authors’ name is spelled incorrectly. In this Correction the incorrect and correct author name are shown. The original pu...
Authors: Abu Ubaidah Shamsudin, Kazunori Ohno, Ryunosuke Hamada, Shotaro Kojima, Thomas Westfechtel, Takahiro Suzuki, Yoshito Okada, Satoshi Tadokoro, Jun Fujita and Hisanori Amano
For household humanoid robots, reaching as much workspace as possible with their hands is an important issue because the locations of target objects may range from the floor to above the robot’s head. At the s...
Authors: Satoki Tsuichihara, Yuya Hakamata, Gustavo Alfonso Garcia Ricardez, Jun Takamatsu and Tsukasa Ogasawara
The objective of this study was to achieve simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) of firefighter robots for petrochemical complexes. Consistency of the SLAM map is important because human operators compa...
Authors: Abu Ubaidah Shamsudin, Kazunori Ohno, Ryunosuke Hamada, Shotaro Kojima, Thomas Westfechtel, Takahiro Suzuki, Yoshito Okada, Satoshi Tadokoro, Jun Fujita and Hisanori Amano
A visual assistance system has become attractive as a technique to improve the efficiency and stability of remote control. While an operator controls a working robot, another autonomous monitoring robot evalua...
Authors: Shota Samejima, Khusniddin Fozilov and Kosuke Sekiyama
Laparoscopic surgery is a minimally invasive surgery that accelerates postoperative recovery, but it can only be performed by surgeons with advanced surgical skills. One of the main difficulties in laparoscopi...
This paper presents an occlusion-handling method for a target-tracking robot with a stereo camera. One of the main challenges with the robot is to continue tracking when the illumination changes and occlusion ...
Authors: Yuzuka Isobe, Gakuto Masuyama and Kazunori Umeda
How to improve task performance and how to control a robot in extreme environments when just a few sensors can be used to obtain environmental information are two of the problems for disaster response robots (...
Authors: Kui Chen, Mitsuhiro Kamezaki, Takahiro Katano, Taisei Kaneko, Kohga Azuma, Tatsuzo Ishida, Masatoshi Seki, Ken Ichiryu and Shigeki Sugano
In recent years, there has been great interest in the possibility of using artificial limbs as an extension of the human body as well as replacement of lost limbs. In this paper, we develop a sixth finger syst...
This paper describes a method to pick up a folded cloth product by a single-armed robot. We focus on a problem on picking up a folded cloth, and organize tasks to attack it. Then, we propose methods of grasp p...
Authors: Yusuke Moriya, Daisuke Tanaka, Kimitoshi Yamazaki and Keisuke Takeshita
The control method based on the time-state control form has been proposed to stabilize the chained system, which is a canonical-form nonlinear system. In this study, the control method is used for controlling ...
In this paper, a concept of frame-by-frame intermittent tracking to achieve motion-blur-free and high-brightness images when video shooting fast moving scenes is proposed. In our tracking concept, two control ...
Odometry is widely used to localize wheeled and tracked vehicles because of its simplicity and continuity. Odometric calculations integrate the wheel or track’s rotation speed. The accuracy of position thus ca...
Authors: Genki Yamauchi, Keiji Nagatani, Takeshi Hashimoto and Kenichi Fujino
Weight-shift training during stroke rehabilitation requires patient effort, potentially causing leg spasticity and anxiety, which disturb motor learning. The purpose of this study was (1) to devise an implicit...
This paper reports an improvement of the particle-excitation flow control valve. The valve that we have designed in previous reports can control air flow, using particle excitation by piezoelectric resonance, ...
Authors: Daisuke Hirooka, Tomomi Yamaguchi, Naomichi Furushiro, Koichi Suzumori and Takefumi Kanda
A human detection and tracking method using a stereo camera is presented in this paper. Two human detection methods are independently implemented, and the results are combined to reduce misdetection and nondet...
Authors: Gakuto Masuyama, Takehiro Kawashita and Kazunori Umeda
Surface wettability is one of most important indexes for understanding the interfacial characteristics between a solid surface and a liquid, especially such physico-chemical properties as hydrophilicity and wa...
Authors: Nobuyuki Tanaka, Yoshihide Haruzono, Hiromitsu Nasu, Yuki Nakanishi, Junko Takahara, Akane Awazu and Yo Tanaka
This paper presents a remote radioactive seed-loading device for permanent brachytherapy of oral cancer with Au-198 grains to reduce the exposure dose to the doctors. Permanent brachytherapy is a treatment whi...
3D visual mapping of the seafloor has found applications ranging from environment monitoring and survey of marine minerals to underwater archaeology and inspection of modern artificial structures. However, the...
Authors: Adrian Bodenmann, Blair Thornton, Ryota Nakajima and Tamaki Ura
This paper proposes a new framework for planning assembly tasks involving elastic parts. As an example of these kind of assembly tasks, we deal with the insertion of ring-shaped objects into a cylinder by a du...
Authors: Ixchel G. Ramirez-Alpizar, Kensuke Harada and Eiichi Yoshida
In this study, we set out to develop a method for estimating the fine and fast shear deformation of a finger pad, that is, the palm side of a fingertip, as it scans the surface of a material. Using a miniature...
Authors: Shunsuke Sato, Shogo Okamoto, Yoichiro Matsuura and Yoji Yamada
In this paper, a new model for electroadhesion between two surface-insulated plates under DC electric field is presented and control of dynamic responses of electroadhesion force is discussed. Under DC electri...
In this study, we propose a force sensor using a shape-memory polymer (SMP) whose stiffness varies according to the temperature. An SMP can be deformed above its glass transition temperature (T
...
Authors: Kazuto Takashima, Hiroki Kamizono, Makoto Takenaka and Toshiharu Mukai
This paper introduces a novel gear–clutch mechanism that takes advantage of the difference between the directions in the reaction forces that occur during meshing and jamming to ensure jam-free engagement of t...
Essential tremor is a disorder that causes involuntary oscillations in patients both while they are engaged in actions and when maintaining a posture. Such patients face serious difficulties in performing dail...
Authors: Yuya Matsumoto, Masatoshi Seki, Yasutaka Nakashima, Takeshi Ando, Yo Kobayashi, Hiroshi Iijima, Masanori Nagaoka and Masakatsu G. Fujie
It is known that the work efficiency of teleoperated construction machinery is lower than that of directly operated machinery. Assistance via automatic control is expected to improve the work efficiency. Howev...
Authors: Takanobu Tanimoto, Kei Shinohara and Hiroshi Yoshinada
In this paper we present an online unsupervised method based on clustering to find defects in concrete structures using hammering. First, the initial dataset of sound samples is roughly clustered using the k-m...
Authors: Jun Younes Louhi Kasahara, Hiromitsu Fujii, Atsushi Yamashita and Hajime Asama
When a human rubs a contactor that is vibrating laterally at 3–10 Hz with an amplitude of ~1 mm, the friction is perceived as being greater than that sensed when touching a stationary contactor. This phenomeno...
Authors: Akihiro Imaizumi, Shogo Okamoto and Yoji Yamada
Arc-shaped forceps are important in pharyngeal cancer surgery, endoscopic sinus surgery, and single port surgery. Rotating the gripper of an arc-shaped forceps with respect to its shaft axis can improve the ma...
Authors: Satsuya Noda, Toshio Takayama and Toru Omata
The purpose of this research is the development of a robot partner system based on modular cognitive model for human support. In order to implement information support of daily life to human, smooth human–robo...
Authors: Jinseok Woo, János Botzheim and Naoyuki Kubota
An effective strategy for walking over rough terrain, flat plane, and wreckage includes transitioning from quadrupedal to bipedal locomotion. In this study, we designed a trunk mechanism that provides successf...
Most of the long-reach inspection devices developed so far have a limitation in the reduction of their diameter when their length is increased. This limitation is due to the technology used to provide the actu...
Authors: Jose A. Silva Rico, Gen Endo, Shigeo Hirose and Hiroya Yamada
We discuss about safe tree felling methods. In previous work, tree felling robots that were equipped with cutting instruments have been investigated in order to keep workers’ safety. However, these robots may ...
Authors: Chyon Hae Kim, Hiroaki Abe, Akio Numakura, Jyunpei Koyama and Yukio Takahashi
It was cleared that transportability of emergency response robots system had been very important. Therefore, RESQ series robots, which were developed by Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (present, Japan A...
Authors: Shinji Kawatsuma, Ryuji Mimura and Hajime Asama
This paper presents a non-contact manipulation method using rotational flow generated by high speed motion of a glass needle. In order to generate an applicable motion that can precisely control the speed and ...
Authors: Eunhye Kim, Masaru Kojima, Liu Xiaoming, Takayuki Hattori, Kazuto Kamiyama, Yasushi Mae and Tatsuo Arai
For elderly and physically disabled people, support systems that assist their active daily life are as important as appropriate rehabilitation. We have designed a rotational meshing actuator for a life support...
Authors: Mai Endo, Mitsuru Endo and Takao Kakizaki
This paper describes a skill assist method for sinusoidal motions using a semi-active assist mechanism through an energy control method. In a previous study, we had developed and verified the effectiveness of ...
Authors: Takashi Kusaka, Takayuki Tanaka and Hidekazu Kajiwara
We propose a position and inclination controlling method for a passive object using an active plate. Previously, we proposed a novel manipulation scheme that can control a passive object’s orientation using an...
Authors: Tadayoshi Aoyama, Qingyi Gu, Takeshi Takaki and Idaku Ishii
Hydraulic actuators have high power-to-weight ratios, making them suitable for high-power robotic applications such as in walking robots and construction machines. However, large frictional forces in hydraulic...
Recently, researches on electric vehicle are focused on motion control and state estimation. These works require a model that imitate a real vehicle as close as possible. We propose in this paper a signal hard...
A mechanism that allows a robotic arm to quickly grip various forms of objects at disaster sites will enhance the mobility of rescue robots by keeping their bodies stable and maintaining manipulability for tar...
Authors: Eri Takane, Kenjiro Tadakuma, Tomonari Yamamoto, Masashi Konyo and Satoshi Tadokoro
In this paper, we have dealt with the problem to transport large heavy objects using a group of small mobile robots. Generally, payload of the robot, the maximum weight of the object that the robot can operate...
Authors: Fusao Ohashi, Kohei Kaminishi, Jorge David Figueroa Heredia, Hiroki Kato, Taiki Ogata, Tatsunori Hara and Jun Ota
Service robots are common sights in everyday life. The service robots are expected to provide useful services with a high degree of usability, and a high degree of user experience (UX) to users and other perso...
Authors: Yoshinobu Akimoto, Eri Sato-Shimokawara, Yasunari Fujimoto and Toru Yamaguchi
