The Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics (JRM) is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary since its establishment in June 1989. As the founding Editorin-Chief, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all the people and organizations that have helped in making JRM a success.
Although founded in Japan, our primary objective was to provide a global platform for facilitating the publication of research work comprising outstanding results and novel information regarding robotics and mechatronics. Encouraged by the emphatic support received from several prominent researchers and engineers in numerous countries, including the United States of America and European countries, our team decided to launch JRM.
It is now our aim to develop JRM into a highly ranked international journal. I sincerely hope that more academicians and engineers will participate in JRM's development process by contributing their valuable feedback, research results, and technical information.

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As its first issue was published in 1989, the Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics (JRM) has been in existence for 30 years. Its entrance into its fourth decade this year coincides with the change in the name of the Japanese era, marking a joyous milestone. During the three decades since the JRM was founded, much progress has been made in the areas covered by it, and these areas have expanded to encompass very diverse fields.
It was around 1988, when I was at the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN), that I received a letter from Kazuo Yamafuji, later the first Editor-in-Chief of the editorial board, stressing the need for a journal such as the JRM. I gladly joined the committee to discuss its publication, and after attending a few meetings, I witnessed its successful launch. I served as the Deputy Editorin-Chief of the editorial board.
Prior to that time, robots had mainly inhabited the world of science fiction and were not recognized as a technological subject within an academic discipline, except in the field of factory automation. The robots that did exist were usually thought of in a recreational context. Meanwhile, the general trend in academic and engineering disciplines was toward specialization and segmentation, with engineering splitting into mechanical, electronic, and other branches, each becoming progressively isolated from the others. Yet, those working in areas related to product development and manufacturing were expected not only to have knowledge of several engineering disciplines but also to integrate them in applying them. These engineers/technicians were treated as unoriginal emulators existing outside of the conventional systematized and specialized fields, and they were regarded as heretics with no suitable field to represent in making presentations at professional or academic conferences. Even if they hoped to publicize their research findings, there were no professional/academic journals that could provide a proper peer review.
It was under these circumstances that the word "mechatronics" was coined in Japan, where it gained currency and also came to earn some recognition in the English-speaking world. Founded at just the right time, the JRM contributed to the spread and growth of mechatronics. Subsequently, the term came to denote, in addition to its original meaning of the integration of mechanics, electronics, and information science, the fusion of widely diverse technologies in human sciences, social sciences, and medicine. In this context, it is my ardent hope that the JRM, in its fourth decade, will increase its presence as a journal that remains unconstrained by conventional specialties and accepts papers and articles that deal with as-yet-unestablished areas that cross multiple fields, contributing to their dissemination.
At the time the JRM was founded, Keiji Hayashi was president of Fuji Technology Press Ltd., the organization that annually presents the JRM Best Paper Award. Unfortunately, he passed away at the age of 90 on March 19, 2017, before he could see the JRM's 30th anniversary. Some time before he passed, he telephoned me to say that he hoped the JRM would continue to widely encompass and nurture as-yet-unknown areas. On this occasion of the 30th anniversary of the JRM, I wish to pay my respects and express my deep gratitude to Mr. Hayashi, who provided his own funds to support its publication. I pray that his soul may rest in peace, and I sincerely hope that the JRM continues to make great strides in the coming decade.

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I congratulate the Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics (JRM) on the publication of its 30th anniversary issue. As one of JRM's past Editors-in-Chief, I am extremely pleased and proud of this great achievement. JRM was the first journal dealing with robotics and mechatronics in the world when it was launched thirty years ago. Since then, the journal has made a strong impact on the robotics and mechatronics field. It has been hard for the journal to provide high quality issues for so many years. I would like to sincerely express my great respect to Mr. Hayashi, founder and former president of Fuji Technology Press Ltd.; former Editors-in-Chief Prof. Yamafuji, Prof. Fukuda, and Prof. Kaneko; the current Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Takita; and our colleagues, including the editorial board and editorial staff, for their hard work. I would also like to express my great appreciation to all the authors, reviewers, and readers for their superb contributions. This grand thirty-year achievement could not have been attained without all their contributions.
I was Editor-in-Chief for seven years ‒ volumes 19 through 25 ‒ beginning in January 2007. I enjoyed my role as Editor-in-Chief, since many young, talented researchers and engineers took part in the editorial process, and I could discuss with them how we would achieve a high-quality journal. I remember clearly how hard they worked to edit superlative volumes by proposing and organizing special issues with up-to-date topics. During that period, we had the good fortune of collaborating with the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers (JSME). They supported us in providing committee members for our editorial board, and in collecting and reviewing the many excellent papers. I would also express my thanks to JSME for their abundant and generous support. Because of it, JRM achieved a high reputation and contributed to both academia and industry.
Today there are many relevant journals in the world. Competing with them and producing an even higher quality journal than ever before are the most critical issues in the next step of JRM's advancement. I applaud the current editorial board members and staff and expect JRM to become the very top journal in the field. In conclusion, I hope I can celebrate with you ten and twenty years from now, again and again!

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Congratulations to the Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics (JRM) on its 30th anniversary. I would like to thank all authors and readers who have contributed to the JRM through 30 years.
The JRM started as an English-language journal published to provide articles on robot technologies to the world from Japan. It has been jointly edited by the Robotics and Mechatronics Division (RMD) of the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers (JSME) and Fuji Technology Press Ltd. Five years ago, when the English-language journal of the JSME was reorganized, the JRM also underwent some changes, and it has since been issued under the editorial direction of Fuji Technology Press Ltd. Immediately after the reorganization, beginning with Vol.26, I was appointed Editor-in-Chief. Now, as five years have passed, the next Editor-in-Chief will take over from Vol.31. Over these five years, the number of submissions and their quality have been our major concern, as we have been seeking to register the JRM with the Science Citation Index (SCI). To achieve this goal, we have published special issues on the robot technologies required as the field has progressed as well as on the mechatronics technologies that underlie them.
The JRM plans to continue providing the world with information on robot technologies, so please keep reading it and submitting your articles to it on a regular basis.

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The presentation on SIGMA robot for assembly by A. d’Auria at the 7th International Symposium on Industrial Robots (ISIR) held in Tokyo in October 1977 made an immense impact on engineers studying assembly automation in Japan. The 1970s witnessed the shift from the mass production of a few types to limited production of a wide variety of products in Japan, and research started for a production system with a quick response to a given type of products and change in a quantity of production. Professor Hiroshi Makino of Yamanashi University was stimulated by SIGMA and got an idea for a robot with Selective Compliance Assembly Robot Arms (SCARA) and started working on the design for prototype 1 two months after the presentation. Further, he organized the SCARA Robot Consortium with Yamanashi University and thirteen domestic companies for three years, from April 1978 to March 1981, and had success in the development and spread of the SCARA robot in the assembly work. After the 1980s, the SCARA robot became one of the de facto standards of industrial robots in the world. In 2019, it is estimated that the SCARA robots will compromise 30% or more of industrial robots working all over the world. The author was one member of a research group as an associate professor, in Yamanashi University, and believes that it is extremely effective to discuss the needs for research and development of the SCARA robot and technological solutions thirty years after the establishment of JRM.

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Humanoid robot hands are expected to replace human hands in the dexterous manipulation of objects. This paper presents a review of humanoid robot hand research and development. Humanoid hands are also applied to multifingered haptic interfaces, hand rehabilitation support systems, sEMG prosthetic hands, telepalpation systems, etc. The developed application systems in our group are briefly introduced.

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This review introduces our developed robotic/prosthetic hands and explains the myoelectric control of the robotic hand with five fingers, which is based on muscle synergy and a motion generation model. To realize a “human-like” robotic hand, it is necessary to fully understand the inherent features of human as well as machine and take a complementary approach with hardware that incorporates advanced engineering technology and software that is compatible with a living body.

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The human brain has excellent plasticity in terms of recovery from a stroke. It is expected that neurorehabilitation using an apparatus that applies robotic and virtual reality technology has rehabilitation training effects on stroke patients. Rehabilitation of the upper limbs consists of rehabilitation for shoulders and elbows, and rehabilitation of the fingers and wrists. Both rehabilitations are necessary to improve activities of daily living. Many rehabilitation systems for shoulders and elbows have been effective thus far. In this review, we introduce rehabilitation systems for the shoulders, elbows, and wrists of the upper limbs “PLEMO” series using force presentation technology with brakes. Rehabilitation systems using brakes are essentially safe unlike rehabilitation systems using actuators.

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This paper presents an overview of the high-speed vision system that the authors have been developing, and its applications. First, examples of high-speed vision are presented, and image-related technologies are described. Next, we describe the use of vision systems to track flying objects at sonic speed. Finally, we present high-speed robotic systems that use high-speed vision for robotic control. Descriptions of the tasks that employ high-speed robots center on manipulation, bipedal running, and human-robot cooperation.

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To respond to needs that have greatly diversified since the 2000s, there has been dramatic development of industrial robots with advanced intelligence. The aim of this paper was to review studies and trends in applications of these technologies. In particular, it describes factory automation and warehouse automation, practical examples of which are notably plentiful; as well as pattern recognition, a key technology underlying such technological advancements. The recent trends in deep learning technologies and the future prospects of industrial robots regarding aspects of sensing and planning were also examined.

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The cement production process can be summarized into two grinding processes and one burning process. The two grinding processes refer to raw material and cement grinding. The burning process is the clinker calcination of a raw material. Such processes are complicated and continuous. The quality of the previous stage has an important influence on the latter. The raw meal preparation is the most important part in cement production. The composition of raw meal determines whether the three rate values are appropriate, ensuring stable production on the cement production line.

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A snoring recognition algorithm based on machine learning is proposed to effectively and precisely recognize snoring. To obtain a dataset, the speech endpoint detection algorithm and Mel frequency cepstrum coefficient feature extraction algorithm are applied to process speech signal samples. The dataset is classified into snoring and nonsnoring data (other speech signals) using support vector machines. Experimental results show that the algorithm recognizes snoring signals with a high accuracy rate of 97% and positively impacts subsequent research and related engineering applications.

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Inspection and maintenance of large industrial plants are important tasks expected of robots. Furthermore, it is expected that an autonomous robot will be able to climb various arbitrary columnar objects, such as pipes, pillars, and trees. These tasks would be very difficult for conventional robots, because most must first assess the shape of the object and control many bodily degrees of freedom in order to climb. In our previous work, we developed a flexible manipulator, inspired by an octopus, which could grasp various objects without sensors or controls. Its flexible body passively adapted to differences in the objects’ features. In this research, we apply that mechanism to a six-legged climbing robot, which can climb arbitrary columnar objects without first sensing their shapes.

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Currently, the proportion of elderly persons is increasing all over the world, and accidents involving falls have become a serious problem especially for those who live alone. In this paper, an enhancement to our algorithm to detect such falls in an elderly person’s living room is proposed. Our previous algorithm obtains a binary image by using a depth camera and obtains an outline of the binary image by Canny edge detection. This algorithm then calculates the tangent vector angles of each outline pixels and divide them into 15° range groups. If most of the tangent angles are below 45°, a fall is detected. Traditional fall detection systems cannot detect falls towards the camera so at least two cameras are necessary in related works. To detect falls towards the camera, this study proposes the addition of a three-states-transition method to distinguish a fall state from a sitting-down one. The proposed algorithm computes the different position states and divides these states into three groups to detect the person’s current state. Futhermore, transition speed is calculated in order to differentiate sit states from fall states. This study constructes a data set that includes over 1500 images, and the experimental evaluation of the images demonstrates that our enhanced algorithm is effective for detecting the falls with only a single camera.

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Owing to the presence of nonlinear elements of a vehicle, when the vehicle goes through a rough-road-surface, such as consecutive speed control humps (SCHs), unexpected vibrations will exist in vehicle suspension systems, such as chaos, bifurcation, and quasi-periodic so on. In this paper, we first study the possibility of chaotic vibration of the seven degree-of-freedom (7-DOF) full vehicle model under consecutive SCHs on the highway. Then, a non-chattering sliding mode control method is proposed. The effectiveness of the sliding mode control method for the nonlinear vibration control of the vehicle suspension model is verified by numerical simulation. By comparing the changes in the vibration amplitude of the vehicle in the same velocity region before and after the control, we determine whether the ride comfort is improved. The results show that not only is the system’s chaos vibration effectively controlled, but also the ride comfort is significantly improved. The results can be applied in the design of a vehicle and in pavement of road humps.

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In this paper, a robust nonlinear tracking control design for a bio-inspired robot arm with human-like motion mechanism is investigated, and the bio-inspired operator controller based on human multi-joint viscoelastic properties is designed by using operator-based robust right coprime factorization approach. The motion mechanism of human multi-joint arm is used, and the measurement uncertainties of human multi-joint arm viscoelasticity are considered in designing bio-inspired operator controller. Based on the proposed design scheme, the sufficient conditions for the robust stability are derived in considering the coupling effects and measurement uncertainties, and the output tracking performance is realized. The effectiveness of the proposed design scheme was confirmed by the simulation results based on experimental data, and the time-varying estimated experimental data of human multi-joint arm viscoelasticity is used in simulation.

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This paper proposes novel robot navigation methods that utilize strong interaction between a designed field and a robot controller. In recent years, several studies have demonstrated the importance of interactions between different subject types (e.g., human-robot interaction, robot-environment interaction) instead of just that between a robot controller and an isolated subject. This study explores the robot-field interaction design to realize autonomous robot navigation, and verifies the proposed methods experimentally. We prepare acoustic navigation trails from the start to the goal; one is generated from multiple sounds with identical frequencies, while the other is generated from multiple sounds with different frequencies. For each field controller, both the dynamic acoustic trail and the static acoustic trail, two types of static robot controllers are designed based only on the present sensor data, namely, gradient-following controller and sound-habituation controller. The former is a microphone-array based controller for robots equipped with multiple microphones, while the latter is designed for robots with a single microphone. Throughout the real-world demonstration, we show the validity of our proposed methods.

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This paper presents the mechanical design of a new three-fingered robot hand for a robot designed to handle tableware. The finger mechanism has three joints and consists of a pair of fourbar linkage mechanisms, one small gas spring, and one feed screw mechanism. As the feed screw moves, the finger mechanism performs flexion and extension operations with its joints interlocked. The gas spring generates gripping force, which is adjusted at the position of the moving part moved by the feed screw. Therefore, the three-fingered robot hand can open and close synchronously, powered by a single motor in the base of the hand. The hand grips with mechanical flexibility. In addition, it can maintain its grip with no power supply. Tests show that the hand can successfully perform the movements required to grasp various kinds of tableware.

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Gait assistance robots are used to improve gait performance ability or perform gait motion with an assistance for several articular motions. The sparing use of a gait assistance robot to decrease the duration of the robot’s assistance is important for keeping the ability to perform a movement when the robot assists walking. In previous research, methods of ensuring a compliance mechanism and control method have been studied, and assistance for articular motions has been conducted independently using actuators corresponding to each articular motion. In this paper, we propose a wire-driven gait assistance robot to aid both hip and knee articular flexion motions by applying just one force to assist motion in the swing phase. We focused on a force that assists hip and knee flexion motion, and designed a robot with a compensation mechanism for the wire length. We used an assistance timing detection method for the robot, conducting tensile force control based on information from the hip, knee, and ankle angles. We carried out an experiment to investigate the controlled performance of the proposed robot and the effect on hip and knee angular velocity. We confirmed that the proposed robotic system can aid both hip and knee articular motion with just one force application.

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The contribution of biarticular muscles to the control of robotic arms and legs has recently attracted great interest in the field of robotics. The advantages of using biarticular muscles under kinetic interaction with the external environment have been well studied; however, the contribution of the muscles to the motion control of articulated robot arms under no kinetic interaction appears to remain an unclear issue, especially for robot arms of which the muscles are directly anchored to their links, which induces a change in the moment arms to allow the muscles to generate joint torques and permit point-to-point motion control to their desired postures in a feedforward manner with constant muscular forces. This paper presents a case study in which the role of biarticular muscles in the motion control of an articulated robot arm was investigated, focusing on the feature of its redundancy actuation, which allows an arbitrary choice from infinite combinations of muscular forces, realizing motion control to a desired posture. The numerical analysis in this paper addresses three typical combination choices. Mappings from muscular forces to desired postures are calculated in the analysis of the three choices. The simulation results of motion control executed according to the three mappings are also analyzed. The analysis indicates the interesting results that biarticular muscles do not contribute to the desired postures and that a very weak dependence property of monoarticular muscles on the desired postures exists for a particular choice. The simulation results also demonstrate that the implementation of one choice results in a degraded motion control performance as compared with that of the two other choices.

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A revolute pair with a flexible translational constraint on a plane is proposed as simple mechanism for safe robots. The mechanism is composed of two pairing elements, one with a circular and one with a cam profile that are connected by a linear spring. Flexible translational constraint is generated by spring forces and the reaction force between the two pairing elements. Two methods for designing the cam profile are proposed in order to implement the specified non-linear stiffness in the flexible constraint. Design examples with various stiffness characteristics are shown. Some prototypes are fabricated, and it is confirmed that they perform as designed. As an application, a flexible, underactuated link mechanism with the proposed pairs is synthesized, and its flexibility and kinematic performance are investigated.

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