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, Yoshida 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
