Service design has attracted social attention as an innovative approach to solve the problems associated with commoditization of product/service. Moreover, design thinking advocated by IDEO is systematizing designer's mind which is necessary for practicing service design. In this theory, it is insisted on importance of exploring high quality insight through empathy based on mutual understanding among stakeholders. On the other hand, methods and tools developed for realizing empathy in existing research are limited to understanding user’s experience or activity from the designer's point of view. Therefore, there is still room for discussion on realization of mutual understanding. To address this issue, this study aims to realize empathy based on mutual understanding among stakeholders involving user, and to develop a practical method to support the design of high value-added product/service. To achieve this purpose, this paper proposes comprehensive design strategy to realize empathy in service design based on the requirements to be taken into account in empathy which is extracted from survey on existing service design researches.

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Car and ride sharing services are diffusing in recent years. However, there are few studies to quantify the environmental and economic aspects of these sharing services from a viewpoint of the whole product life cycle. This study analyzes the environmental effects of the transition from ownership to sharing services quantitatively using life cycle simulation. The following three steps were carried out: 1) Modeling the causal relationship between variables in the business models of ownership and sharing services, 2）Developing a life cycle simulation model of gasoline vehicles based on the causal relationship, and 3) Analyzing the transition scenarios. As the result, it is found that the environmental load decreases with the diffusion of sharing services.

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This paper proposes an evaluation method for adaptability of lifecycle options applied to components of multigenerational product. The purpose of this method is to provide a guideline to designer for designing multi-generational product that belongs Upgradable Product Service System: Up-PSS with consideration of multiple consumer segment’s intentions. In additon, proposed method consists of an evaluation indicator and its evaluation process. Usually, developing upgradable product needs to predict future market trend, procurement cost and so on in the early design phase. Therefore, a designer has to consider many uncertain design information. This study defines such information which is used as evaluation variables in proposal indicator as ranged value. By using these evaluation variables, proposed index comprehensively evaluates component-adaptability of lifecycle options from multiple perspectives which are categorized into consumer satisfaction, econimy, environment, and reliability. For representing intention of cosumer segment, this method derives priority of every evaluation variable which is corresponding to each segment. By exponentiating evluation variable by priority, this method derives adaptability of lifecycle options with consideration of multiple consumer segments. The authors evaluate laptop’s module-adaptabilities of lifecycle options (refurbish with upgrade, remanufacturing, and long life) by proposed index as a case study. From the result of this evaluation, proposal index is able to provide a guideline which is the decision-making of exchanging or upgrading components and selection of platform components for developing upgradable product service.

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Recently, wave-powered electrical generators, using double-cones moving on circular rails, have been proposed. Rotational motion of the generator’s hull, induced by waves, is changed into the rotational and translational movement of either a rigid magnetized double-cone, rolling on divergent-convergent circular rails, or a double-cone geared motorgenerator, rolling on concentric circular rails. However, if such generator is not directly floating on the water waves of random direction, period and height, but it is placed inside of the hull of a ship, the movement of the double-cone is one-directional and dictated by the rolling period and amplitude of the ship’s hull. In such case, divergent-convergent straight rails resembling an O letter might be more efficient than the circular rails. In this work, the optimal design conditions of such a mechanism are examined. Concretely, the O-rails are fixed on the hull of a ship, which is excited to roll along its longitudinal axis, by using a pendulum. Movies of the double-cone moving on the O-rails were shot, and the total travelling time was determined through the slow motion processing of the movies, for various values of the inclination angle of the hull, and energies introduced into the system by the pendulum. Optimal geometry of O-rails was decided in order to maximize the kinetic energy of translation of the double-cone. Spring constants and damping ratios for the oscillatory movement of the double-cone were experimentally found and validated by a theoretical model.

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Industrial electric motor has become large capacity and downsizing. Meanwhile, cooling efficiency is going down because of increase of internal heating and internal ventilation resistance caused by miniaturization of the body. We studied the airfoil shape of internal cooling fan to increase the flow rate up to the required cooling performance. To improve the optimized result, the combined method of 1DCAE and optimization tool was applied. As a result, CFD simulation showed an improvement of +24% in flow rate and +3% in efficiency compared to those of the original model.

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In this research, we propose a numerical method to design surface texture with a desired friction characteristic, which is arbitrarily given according to the design purpose. The surface texture is parameterized in advance, and the parameters are determined with the response surface method. Surface texture models are made based on the orthogonal array of Design of Experiment, and their friction characteristics between the surface texture model and the finger model with fingerprint are evaluated using the FE contact analysis. The parameters of the surface texture is determined by the optimization method based on the mathematical programming and response surfaces, where an objective and constraints are defined combining the desired friction characteristics, such as average friction coefficient, minimum friction coefficient, and average friction amplitude. A numerical example of embossed plate shows that the proposed method is effective for designing the three-dimensional surface texture.

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Fulfillment of reusable launch vehicle is essential as it is one of economic and efficient space transportation methods. In this research, the geometry optimization of TSTO flyback booster was performed based on the optimal trajectory result of WIRES of Kyushu Institute of Technology for three objectives: aerodynamics, aerodynamic heating, and structural weight. We assume a hybrid wing body as a 3D geometry of flyback booster. CFD analysis by FaSTAR is performed to evaluate the objective functions; multiobjective optimization is implemented using SPEA2 which is a kind of evolutionary computation. Moreover, data analysis is carried out on the optimization result; we revealed information in the objective space. Consequently, we have understood that there are differences how to raise lift to drag ratio at subsonic and supersonic, hypersonic. It is an efficient way to make nose of fuselage blunt and bottom flat for minimizing maximum temperature on the body surface.

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A method of three-dimensional reconstruction of trees from multiple images is studied. It is assumed that images or frames in moving images are acquired by a camera mounted in the drone. By using the OpenCV image processing library for captured images of the tree in outdoor orchards, feature points in images were extracted, and feature point matching data between images was obtained. It was found that it is possible to trace feature points in the tree between two images with close angles of view and shooting directions.

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We propose method of computer aided design using evolutionary multiple regression analysis in order to reduce weight of car body structure. It is difficult to save weight of car body structure due to trade-off problems between weight and vehicle performances. It is important to clarify a contribution of design variables to weight and multiple vehicle performances in order to solve these problems. As a method of calculation of the contribution, sensitivity analysis and multiple regression analysis are available. However, in these methods, when the number of design variables increases, it is pointed out that the accuracy deterioration due to over fitting. Therefore, we propose the contribution analysis method using a function based on p-value for model evaluation criterion and Genetic Algorithm (GA) for efficient exploration of optimal solution. By minimizing the function that is divided average of p-value by number of design variable, it is possible to select only the contributed variables. And, contribution obtained by this method is converted to mass ratio and standardized to intuitively conceive a structural specification idea from contribution obtained by this method. As a result of applying this method to next car body structure, new design knowledge for weight reduction is obtained.

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Structural optimization problems are often characterized as multiobjective problems. Among structural optimization, topology optimization has the most potential to explore high-performance designs, since it allows topological changes as well as changes in shapes during the optimization procedure. A multiobjective optimization problem usually offers a set of optimal solutions, called Pareto-optimal solutions, depending on the conflict of the objectives. In multiobjective topology optimization situations, decision makers face the challenging task of choosing a solution that best meets their needs, based on cumbersome comparisons and trial-and-error attempts among a set of Pareto-optimal solutions. One solution to solve this issue is the integration of data mining techniques with multiobjective optimization methods which can help decision makers get useful knowledge. In this paper, we propose a data mining technique in multiobjective topology optimization in which clustering and association rule analysis are sequentially applied to a Pareto-optimal solution set. First, clustering is applied in the design space, visualizing the results in the objective space. Detailed features in each cluster are then analyzed based on the concept of association rule analysis, so that characteristic substructures can be extracted from each cluster. Several numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed method.

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Recently, the roll of structural design in space engineering has been increasingly important to realize a lot of advanced performance requirements. Those requirements are formulated as constraint conditions of the design optimization. In addition, optimization techniques considering uncertainty should be included because deterministic optimal solution is quite affected by uncertainty. In our past study, an uncertainty quantification technique considering statistical uncertainty has been developed and applied to highly precise space structural design. On the other hand, a technique for modeling uncertainty should be improved. Then, this paper shows how to handle with modeling uncertainty in optimization problem. The deterministic constraint functions are converted into probabilistic constraint functions and the outputs of functions are regarded as random variables. Through a numerical example, the validity of proposed method is demonstrated.

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[in Japanese]

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This paper presents a topology optimisation for designing periodic composite materials which control elastic wave scattering. First, we explain the model of the periodic composite material. Next, we employ the boundary element method to analyse the elastic wave scattering rigorously. We focus on objective functionals expressed in the form of a boundary integral and derive its topological derivative with the help of the adjoint variable method because a lot of important features including far-field characteristics, dissipation energy, and reflectance (or transmission) ratio can be written in this form. Then, we describe the algorithm of our topology optimisation. Our topology optimisation is based on the level set method in which a level set function is spanned by B-spline basis functions to control the complexity of optimal configurations. Finally, we design a periodic composite structure which converts an incident P-wave into S-waves by using the proposed topology optimisation method and demonstrate its effectiveness.

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In this paper, we present a simultaneous optimization method for shape and topology design of shell structures. The first eigenvalue is used as the objective functional, and maximized under the volume constraint. The free-form optimization method for shells and SIMP method are employed for shape and topology optimization. Shape and fictitious homogenized-density variations are the design variables, and simultaneously determined in one iteration. This design problem is formulated as distributed-parameter optimization problem, and the shape and density gradient functions are derived based on the variational method, the material derivative method and the adjoint variable method. The optimal shape and topology are determined by applying the shape and density gradient functions derived to the H1 gradient methods for vector and scalar design variables of a shell structure, respectively. With the proposed method, the optimal shape and topology is determined without the shape parameterization while eliminating the numerical instability problems such as a jagged shape, a checkerboarded and a greyscaled topology. An example is presented to show the validity of the proposed method.

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This research presents a topology optimization method based on a high-frequency homogenization method for the design of elastic metamaterial that exhibits a desired dispersion relation. First, we give a brief explanation of the highfrequency homogenization method. Next, we formulate an optimization problem to obtain a desired dispersion relation of elastic metamaterial, especially a hyperbolic dispersion relation. The objective function is defined with tensor components of homogenized equation in the high-frequency homogenization method. To solve this optimization problem, we introduce a level set-based topology optimization method. Two-dimensional numerical example is shown to confirm the validity of our method. We could obtain an optimal unit cell configuration that consists of epoxy and lead, and it exhibits a hyperbolic dispersion relationship.

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This paper presents a sparse covariance matrix adaptation evolution strategy (sparse CMA-ES) considering interdependences between design variables for topology optimizations based on an immersed boundary-level set method. A perimeter constraint is employed by the presented topology optimization based on the immersed boundary-level set method to solve the ill-posedness and an objective function evaluating device performance is minimized with the perimeter of the structure. Structural boundaries emerge when the neighboring level set functions have different signs each other and the elements of covariance matrix are set to zero except for diagonal and covariance elements which are related to the interdependence between level set functions contributing the presence of the structural boundaries.

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Conventional topology optimization method only optimizes a single machine component structure while its circumstances are fixed. Concurrent optimization of topology and circumstances widens the effective range of topology optimization in mechanical design. We have developed a method for the concurrent optimization, which includes problem decomposition and metamodeling. However, the method requires further verification, especially, for cases where a relationship between circumstance variables and results of topology optimization becomes complex. In this research, we examine whether the method can be successfully applied to complex case if a metamodeling approach is switched. Case studies of three kinds of metamodeling techniques are performed. In the case studies, we test following metamodeling approaches: polynomial approximation, radial basis function(RBF) interpolation, polynomial approximation with spatial reduction. It shows that the proposed method can be applied even for complex cases by appropriate selection of metamodeling.

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The aim of this study is to understand the mechanism that forms the shapes of bones. In the studies of bone morphology, it is believed that mechanical stress is one of the chief factors that determine the shape of bones. Bones are formed mainly by two types of the cells: osteoblasts which synthesize bones and osteoclasts which resorb bones. The activities of osteoblasts and osteoclasts are regulated according to the external mechanical loading. Following this biological fact, the mathematical models that generate the shape of bones have been developed using topology optimization. Previous works focused on the inner structure of bones and little attention has been paid to the outer shape of bones. The inner structure and the outer shape of bones are both formed by osteoblasts and osteoclasts. Therefore, we hypothesize that the outer shape of bones can be reproduced using topology optimization. Our research subject is the vertebral centrum of teleost fishes. From our observation using micro-CT, we found that the vertebral centrum presents the variety of shapes. These shapes seem to be related to the swimming mode of fish and we assume that the different shapes of the vertebral centrum of teleost fishes adapt to the mechanical loading that depends on the swimming mode. In this study, we built the mathematical model using topology optimization that produces the different shapes of the vertebral centrum by adjusting the parameters. This model can suggest what is the important factor to form the diverse shapes of the vertebral centrum.

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For years, we have been treating surrogate optimization that do not have enough datum for global optimization, therefore, our goal is to reach to global optimization with in less number of datum as possible. Under such conditions, EGO with Kriging and Recommendation function with RBF have been proposed and their effectiveness have been shown. In cases, we have plenty of datum priori to approximation that has large number of variables. In such cases, conventional ideas are not suitable. In this study, we are going to propose how to choose basis with less number as possible. And we are going to show the effectiveness of the proposed method.

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The innovative methods for design and manufacturing has been constructed such as optimum design methods, additive manufacturing methods and reverse engineering methods. This work discusses an intelligent platform for design and manufacturing based on a steady state linear partial differential equation. Additionally, the Partial Differential Equation (PDE) system and several function for geometrical shape feature extraction is formulated. A numerical example is provided to confirm the usefulness of the presented method.

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We have participated in Cross-ministreal Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP) “Innovative Design / Manufacturing Technologies” as the hub where local companies can test the design tools for conceptual design for mechanical structures with topology optimization. This paper described the design method for efficient use of the design tools under development in SIP and our supports for using this method to a practical design problem. In addition, we show the conceptual design of the structural frame of power assist suit using this design method as the case of the application to the practical design problem. Finally, we present an outlook of the support for the conceptual design with topology optimization.

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A method to design the two-dimensional shapes of patterns of brassiere cup is proposed. A brassiere cup consists of several patterns and their shapes are designed by repeatedly making a paper cup model and checking its three-dimensional shape. For improvement of design efficiency of brassieres, such trial and error must be reduced. As a cup model for check is made of paper not cloth, it is assumed that the surface of the model is composed of several developable surfaces. A developable surface is generated by sweeping a straight line, which is referred to as a generatrix, along a three-dimensional curve. In this paper, it is revealed that the direction of a generatrix can be determined geometrically when the threedimensional shapes of edges of a pattern are given. By using this direction of a generatrix, we can design the twodimensional shape of the pattern. It is experimentally verified that the pattern designed by our proposed method is almost coincided with the measured shape of a pattern, which is used for making three-dimensional shape of edges.

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This paper describes the design of a prototype tool to bind a wire harness. The wire harnesses installed in airplanes are bound with belt-like strings from the viewpoint of the reliability. The binding process, which involves tying a clove hitch and then a double overhand knot, is still performed by human workers. To promote efficiency, simplifying the process by using tools is required. We propose a tool that has a path consisting of a groove and tubes through which a string is pushed to form a clove hitch and a double over hand knot. The shape of the path is very important in order to ensure that the belt-like string goes through without jamming. We formulated the bottom’s shape of the path based on the theory of surfaces and designed the shape to minimize changes in its curvature and torsion. We made a physical model of the prototype tool and confirmed its performance with tying experiments.

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In this paper, we discuss the modeling of the system used for the model-based design. In order to describe the structure of the system, we propose a graph in which the minimum elements constituting the system are represented by nodes and nodes having mutual relation are connected by edges. This graph can abstractly show the target system of the model base design. When modeling the system, what kind of structural and qualitative change occur is investigated using this graph. As a result, in the model-based design, we concluded that it is more advantageous to try to redundancy models that leave them, rather than trying to make the system slimmer by easy deletion of the components.

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In this paper safety analysis based on a system model is presented to reduce rework in development of electric and electronic systems installed in vehicles. In order to meet the planned quality, cost, and delivery, it is effective to reduce reworks in development using the MBSE approach. Safety for vehicles used as a means of transport is particularly important in several quality characteristics. It is necessary to implement safety functions in electric and electronic systems of vehicles based on ISO 26262. We apply the safety analysis combined with FMEA (Failure Mode and Effect Analysis) and HAZOP (Hazard and operability study) to a system model describing an electronic parking brake system. By utilizing not only structural diagrams but also behavior diagrams, it is shown that malfunctions can be exhaustively captured in the system context. It can be expected to reduce the rework in safety activity based on ISO 26262 by safety analysis on the top level within system development.

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The world's automotive industry is demanding environmental performance and comfort, and research on transmission with great influence is flourishing. Vehicle evaluation is an indicator of fuel economy and drivability. The transmission analyzes this index and the development is advanced. For the indicator that the vehicle and the transmission system is contrasted, the vehicle fuel consumption is replaced with the transmission efficiency, also, tried to evaluate the vehicle drivability operation by replacing the total shift evaluation. As a result, the performance of the transmission can be evaluated and analyzed by two indices of the transmission efficiency and the total transmission shift evaluation, and the transition of the performance by the method came to be able to compare. From this result, we can expect the effectiveness of the entire hierarchy leading to the principle phenomenon by expanding the vehicle evaluation from two tiers. We would like to expect the simulation technology which circulated the model to all hierarchies to expand to all levels.

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To make a new business create real value, it has been widely understood that there should be good combination of function, design, and technology, to address and enable potential customer's needs. However, in the current era of societal innovation where it becomes more strongly urged that presence of all relevant players and potential collaboration among them should be well considered in the value creation for our society as a whole, this understanding becomes insufficient. We have already understood that wider awareness of our environments is a new necessity, and this has been rather well studied and described, as generic skills, such as communication, multidisciplinary understanding, awareness of the society, self-awareness, and so on, However, it would take long time to obtain all of these skills and apply them effectively in practice. What we need is some simple way to check the potential positioning of the activity at hand, in a context of the society we are considering. The tool proposed here, named PDChart, was first prepared to assist governmental officials in their development of new policies and projects. Since then, this one-page chart has been used in a variety of business/policy development trainings and educations, as one of working tools, with the people who want to develop their own new ideas both in governmental and business activities not only in Japan but also in many other countries. This paper is to propose this tool's new usage potential as an addition to system engineering education.

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Trade-off is a major obstacle when designing and improving products efficiently. Therefore, numerous studies have been made for the purpose of resolving trade-offs. However, a method to correctly recognize the importance of the influence of product use-case on product performance, and to incorporate the information of use-case logically into the process of conflict resolution has not established yet. In this research, by considering the combination of the state of the parts as equivalent to the utilization scene, it is easy to visualize the influence of the usage scene on the performance of the product, and by describing the product model considering the usage scene, the effect Enable resolution of a trade-off.

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Combination of customer needs and quantitative data is an idea to produce a various value. Therefore, this research proposed method for multidisciplinary design optimization of hub airport which optimized customer needs and quantitative data simultaneously. For customer needs, target of tourism and season were assigned into design variables and optimal weight was calculated by using SGD method. Design variables of quantitative data were number of transit, transportation fee and time from airport to World Heritage, and calculated value by using AHP which Monte Carlo simulation was applied for updating optimal value. To obtain optimal value for customer needs, review of tourism was extracted by text mining and count number of review in each World Heritage, word rating point was decided to calculate the weight of each World Heritage. Next, results of customer needs and quantitative data were normalized for collaborative optimization. Finally, the results showed a various optimal solution obtained for each design variable.

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The aim of this study is to predict the heading day of rice by using machine learning. The heading day denotes the blooming day in the rice cultivation, which is one of the important days in the rice cultivation stage. The number of days from the planting day to the heading day is taken as the objective variable. The cultivation variables such as the weather data, the position of the field and so on are taken as the explanatory variables. The prediction model is defined by using Xgboost algorithm. The prediction model showed that the average error is 3.19 days.

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The aim of this study is to design the cultivation environment scenario in the rice plant cultivation by using data mining technique and optimization algorithm. The use of the multi-layer neural network model predicts the yield and the quality in the rice cultivation. As the objective function, the income is defined as the product of the yield and the quality. The scenario of the daily average temperature is changed in order to maximize the objective function. The result shows that the daily temperature in Nagoya is too high for the rice Oryza sativa ’Koshihikari’.

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The schedule prediction in the rice cultivation is very important for controlling the cultivation process and then, for enhancing the farmer’s income. The aim of this study is to predict the planting and the reaping days in the rice cultivation from the weather data by using the multiple linear regression analysis. The yield and the quality of the rice cultivation are also predicted from the weather data. The rice cultivation farmer’s income is maximized by changing the heading and the reaping days in the rice cultivation. The algorithms are applied for Koshihikari and Aichinokaori in Aichi Prefecture in order to discuss the effectiveness of the present algorithms.

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The agriculture farmer income strongly depends on the weather conditions. Therefore, the income risk evaluation is very important for sustainable development of agricultural business. The aim of this study is to evaluate the income risk in the rice cultivation farmer. The income, which is defined as the product of the yield and the quality, is predicted by using Deep Neural Network. Then, the value at risk (VaR) in the income is evaluated by Monte Carlo simulation. The result is compared with the value at the real data.

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Recently, with the growth of robot’s development, robots perform not only simple tasks but also face-to-face communication with people. In order to build a friendly relationship between humanoid robots and people, it is necessary for humanoid robots to perform smooth communication with people. In this research, we focus on the distance between humanoid robot and human based on the factors to facilitate face-to-face communication, and investigate the influence of humanoid robot's behavior on human's personal space. As a result of the experiment, it is indicated that personal space tends to be narrowed by communicating with humanoid robot. Moreover, it is indicated that personal space tends to be narrowed by seeing the emotional behavior of humanoid robot. Furthermore, it is suggested that it is effective for a humanoid robot to behave emotionally in order to make human feel humanness. And it becomes clear that people with a high communication skill tend to narrow the personal space by feeling humanness in a humanoid robot.

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Recently, a great deal of attention has been paid to wearable robots supporting human performance in the engineering field. Most existing wearable robots are enabled to support human power by attached actuators on each joint. On the other hand, previous research demonstrated that the coordinated control of monoarticular muscle and biarticular muscle would provide functions of adjusting the force direction and keeping the posture. Meanwhile a little research focused on the coordinated control to support human performance. When comparing humans and ungulates lower limb skeletal muscle, ungulates possess the biarticular muscle where is not in human body and the coordinated control provides predominant mobility capability, therefore this research explored the performance of a lower limb attached artificial muscle on the front of shin where no innate biarticular muscle exists. The experiment device was designed to determine the force and displacement of a toe with the artificial muscle. Based on the preliminary survey result, the applied tension of the artificial muscle and angle of each joint were set as the experimental conditions. The result of the experiments showed that applying tension of the artificial muscle caused the expansion of the toe force output area and the high toe stiffness under the specific conditions. Furthermore, it was found out that the part of muscle activity decreased. From the results, the method changing the angle for adjusting toe force and keeping the posture was suggested. This method is expected to be used for the ability of supporting posture maintenance at unstable places.

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In our previous study, we analyzed an interaction-activated communication through avatars by using an embodied virtual communication system and confirme that the interaction-activated communication is closely related to speech overlap. In addition, we developed a model that estimates the degree of interaction-activated communication using speech input only and demonstrated that the developed model is effective in estimating the interaction-activated communication. In this paper, we developed an advanced estimation model of interaction-activated communication based on the heat conduction equation with speech-overlap. This model regards an embodied communication environment as a virtual temperature environment. In concrete terms, we assume that a speaker’s utterance is a heat generation, a speech-overlap is a synchronous ignition, and an interaction-activated communication is a rising temperature. The model estimates the degree of interaction-activated communication by controlling the parameters in the heat conduction equation.

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Pupil response plays an important role in expressions of affect. Focusing on the pupil response in human interaction and communication, we analyzed the pupil response in an embodied interaction and demonstrated that the speaker’s pupil was clearly dilated during the burst-pause of utterance. In addition, we developed an embodied communication system in which an interactive CG character generates pupil response during the burst-pause of utterance. It was confirmed that the pupil response was effective for supporting the embodied interaction and communication. In this paper, we analyzed the pupil response with a listener’s head movement and demonstrated that the listener’s pupil response was synchronized with the head movement. Based on the analysis result, we developed an advanced pupil response generating character synchronized with the head movement.

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Motors are used in many machines and robots. On the other hand, they require expertise in operation settings. The operation parameters such as the rotation speed and acceleration time of the motor can be set by the inverter or servo. However, the setting work is difficult for the general user. The purpose of this research is to develop a motor drive system that allows the user to intuitively operate the motor without setting any number of parameters. Therefore, we proposed an interface to operate the motor by hand gesture, and developed a motor drive system to recognize hand gestures using non-contact sensor Leap Motion ®. Furthermore, we developed a program to learn and identify gestures using Google's machine learning engine "TensorFlow". As a result, in addition to the gesture recognizable by Leap Motion ® itself, it became possible to recognize ten new gestures. As a result, not only the start and stop of the rotation of the motor, the setting of the rotation speed and the direction, but also the more complicated operation setting can be easily set with only the hand gesture. With these techniques, it is possible to intuitively set the operation of the motor.

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As diversification of products and services progresses, the dilemma is that the environment becomes more complicated and usability drops. Therefore, in this research, in order to improve usability by voice communication, we constructed a "Multiple IoT speakers environment" in which smart speakers with AI assistant function and multiple small speakers connected to the Internet are linked. "IoT speakers" are attached to multiple products and services, and they output the voice sounds to notify users about products’ position. To confirm truly "Multiple IoT speakers environment" improve usability of services or products, we implemented the behavioral experiment that subjects wearing eye masks use a multi-purpose restroom with it. However, multi-purpose restrooms are closed and not so spacious, therefore voice communication, which is indispensable for "Multiple IoT speakers environment", should be affected in point of hearing accuracy. In other words, we have to assess the effect of a closed small room for "Multiple IoT speakers environment", and then we also implemented pre-experiment that help us comprehend that effect. As a result, by pre-experiment and behavioral experiment, the function of action support was verified through voice communication with products and services.

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In recent years, with the development of the VR industry, high-end HMD has become widespread in society. However, because the setup of the high-end HMD is complicated due to some cables, and the operation differs for each model, it was not easy to use it as a personal smart device in the home. In this research, to improve HMD experiences in the home, we developed a wireless HMD prototype with the operation of the Google Home as an AI Assistant for high performance and easy-to-use personal smart device. The prototype system was evaluated through the experiment using a demonstration content developed on Unity.

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In oversea substation equipment，it will generally be required the earthing switch which has a function for opening and closing the bus bar in order to secure safety during maintenance work. When the earthing switch is closing，it must frictionally hold the contact point between the movable blade and the fixed terminal by the contact pressure. However，when the movable blade and the fixed terminal separating or rubbing by electro-magnetic repulsive forces and magnetic driving forces，Since the high temperature arc discharge occurs，the contact point may be welded. Therefore，we constructed a model simulating the conduction point and showed the effectiveness of the estimation model of the required contact pressure / contact shape in the structural design of the grounding switch by using magnetic field analysis and contact stress analysis.

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Demand of folding bicycle has been increasing due to a number of disasters of public transportation is increasing. Therefore, the folding bicycles which can be carry on and put away in limited space, has been commercialized. However, many existing products has difficulty in reducing the overall size because the size of the wheels is large. Therefore, those products as the folding bicycle caused accidents to user due to small diameter of wheels cannot step up onto the way. The aim of this research is to develop the folding bicycle with reducing the wheel size from base 24 inch, and the bicycle has to perform for step up on the way without any accidents. Moreover, to develop this folding bicycle, a conceptual model of the real scale model was prototyped, and was verified for this mechanism behavior. In this paper, I describe the development of a compact lightweight folding bicycle combining small wheels imitating 24 inch wheels.

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Recently, there is a lot of disaster happened in Japan, and a great deal of attention has been paid to insufficient number of commodities at evacuation centers. Especially, the shortage of cold weather gear such as blankets, clothes and mats would suffer evacuees from illness. Therefore, this research proposes designing a temporary cold protective gear that could be developed from the materials at evacuation centers. Newsprint paper, that is easy to be obtained and molded, is employed for creating the gear. The authors put the molded newsprint paper under the clothes and cover the abdomen to keep the trunk warm. This temporary cold protective gear is designed as a simple structure with heat-retaining property and rigidity. In addition, the authors devised a tool kit that allows users to easily mold this structure by hands at evacuation centers. This kit can be assembled and utilized without practice nor using other tools, and stocked for saving space at warehouses of evacuation centers. The rigidity and the heat-retaining property were demonstrated by evaluation experiments.

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We, Osaka University Formula RAcing Club (OFRAC), have designed a small racing car for Student Formula Japan held every September. We regard an endurance running test in the manufacturing competition as the most important event to increase the total score. To win a prize (higher than 6th place), it is crucial to improve efficiency in car design for the endurance event. Therefore, we employed a lap time simulator to investigate the influence of various car parameters on lap time efficiently. We found that the most critical parameters on the lap time were the mass and gravitational center height for our car. We introduce the design result of each part of our car based on the well-grounded design concept, which is “Reducing the weight, and lowering the gravity center.”

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This paper points out the importance of decision making. Its importance is demonstrated by the proposal of the new quinary sector of the economy. Psychologists point out that if we can let our customers self-motivate and self-determine, their satisfaction will be the maximum. Design should move toward this direction and explore the new market and such design also increases adaptability which is most called for in the frequent and extensive changes today.

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Teamworking is increasing its importance to cope with the frequent and extensive changes. Up to now, value of machines was its reproducibility They were expected to work in the same way, no matter how the situations might change. But today the situations change very frequently and extensively and the problem is these changes are unpredictable. Therefore, adaptability becomes more important. To secure adaptability, team working becomes crucial and communication among team members becomes a prerequisite. Internet provides such communication capabilities. IoT, therefore, is very valuable, because it provides communication capabilities. But It connects not only machines, but it also connects humans and machines. In other words, living and nonliving things form a team and work together. We have never experience such teamworking. So, there are many challenging issues. These issues will be discussed.

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