We propose a new method to determine tether lengths connected to a UAV to follow the movement of it without installing additional tension sensors and telemetry equipments which increase body mass. In this method, the tether length following the UAV will be determined by solving optimization problem to minimize tether tension which only needs a relative distance between the winch and flying UAV for calculation. We show the feasibility of this method by applying it to our inspection system and confirm the effectiveness of two-directional-hanging, one of the characteristics of our inspection system.

The plant equipment and infrastructure require periodic inspection work for early detection and repair of damaged area. Inspection by humans, however, is dangerous and takes a lot of time and money. Therefore, inspection robots are attracting attention. Magnetic wheels robot is one of the inspection robots and can run on surface of steel structures. The robot must have sufficiently run ability to break through various obstacles such as vertical walls, ceilings, and right-angled paths. The flange paths are the most difficult part to run. It turned out that the reaction force of the motor driving the wheels are pushing down the robot body to under the flange, and the reaction force is blocking the robot's running. Some previous studies have proposed driving methods and mechanisms to solve the problems. However, none of these methods led to a fundamental solution. We developed the magnetic wheels with a planetary gearset, that can reverse motor reaction forces. The robot with these wheels can use the motor reaction force to push up the body of the robot actively. We developed a robot SCPREM-I to demonstrate the effect of the running method using these wheels. Experiments found that it is possible to break through flange paths easily if the front and rear wheels with auxiliary legs are used properly.

In recent years, the development of VR technology and HMDs has led to the development of a variety of MPs. However, the evaluation of the sensation of floating and falling when using a small MP has not been sufficiently performed. In this study, we examined under what conditions it is possible to obtain a three-dimensional sensation of floating, falling, and turning using an electric wheelchair, a small MP with plane movement, while reducing the required area.

This study proposed a 3-motor 3-degree-of-freedom (3M3D) coupled tendon-driven humanoid waist, which has motion characteristics similar to the human. Based on the variability of balancing moment requirements due to differences in the range of motion (ROM) of each degree of freedom (DOF) of the waist, we designed a suitable motor-joint routing form for the waist. Accordingly, the structural design of the waist was conducted. Performance evaluation experiments were conducted, and the results of the maximum static torque experiment showed that the maximum static torque values of 22.2 [Nm], 87.0 [Nm], and 53.0 [Nm] for yaw, pitch, and roll, respectively. Repetition accuracy evaluation experiments and accuracy evaluation experiments at different velocities showed that the motion velocity has a certain effect on the accuracy, however, the waist has a good repetition accuracy.

This paper proposes a real-time high-speed 3D scanning system that combines high-speed 3D shape measurement at 1,000[fps] with high-speed 6DoF tracking. To achieve both high speed and stability, the drift correction was applied using short-term chunk data and model created by integrating corrected data. The compact high-speed 3D scanner that scans in real-time was developed by employing the time-invariant binary pattern to reduce the size of projector. The experimental results show that it is possible to measure and integrate the target geometry over the angle of view with a throughput of 1,000[fps] and a latency of 3[ms].

Ultrasound is used in many clinical fields, but learning this technique is difficult. Therefore, we developed an ultrasonography simulator to help beginners understand the 3D structures of organs and their US images. We designed a probe-type controller that uses IMU and rotary encoder to estimate position and posture, and reproduce the probe operation on the screen. The positional accuracy of 2[mm] was achieved, which is the required specification, and the impression of the simulator on physicians was highly evaluated.

In jig-less robotic assembly, robots often need to reorient a part into an orientation suitable for a desired assembly task. In our previous work, we proposed a reorientation strategy to make a transition to a desired orientation of a part with a parallel-jaw gripper by releasing it in an unstable orientation and making it topple under the gravity. However, possible interference between the part and the gripper jaw during the toppling, which may cause undesirable orientational transitions, was not considered. In this paper, targeting two-dimensional shaped parts, we propose an improved reorientation strategy allowing such interference as well as releasing in an unstable orientation, and verify the feasibility of the proposed strategy through experiments.