An android is a robot with a very humanlike appearance, and its appearance is very effective to human-robot communication. However we feel an uncanny impression even in a stationary state when it completely stops and this impression violates natural interaction. When we observe a relaxed sitting man, he shows us that he constantly generates body movements and turns his gaze on various objects, and keeps shifting the targets. Therefore, we adopted an "attractor selection model" to make the android to keep its attention on objects and shift its attention to informative objects according to stimulus. This paper proposes a mechanism to generate a natural idling motion in the android, using the gaze control system.

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An android is a robot with human-like appearance, and therefore it has to behave like a human otherwise it gives us uncanny impression. However, it is difficult to control the android to behave naturally due to its complex body structure and nonlinear characteristics of air actuators. In this report, we compare the motion of the android with that of a human by using a motion capture system to investigate what kind of difference gives us uncanny impressions. We found that there are vibrations in the motion and different phase-lag of joint's movements.

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This research aims to achieve a smooth handover task from robot to person without making the person feel some stress and bringing discomfort. We captured the handover task between two persons and analyzed the feature of human movement of the task in order to use it to design the robot's movement. This paper shows the developed simulation software of humanoid robot's movement. Then it presents the result of the experiment about the weight estimation from the handover movement.

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When a person does a handover task, the movement of operator contains some information about feature of the load even without oral remarks and the receiver picks up the meaning and provides against the load then receives the load safely and certainly. This research aims to achieve a natural handover task from robot to human by designing the robot body movement. This paper shows the result of analyzing the human's handover task as an earlier stage.

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Humans shake hands as a sign of greeting in order to express a feeling of closeness. Handshake refers to embodied interaction using physical contact. In the case of a small size robot for communication with human, a robot should generate a handshake interaction motion that is similar handshake motion between human and robot. In this paper, we develop a small size hand-shake robot system for the handshake interaction motion with human. This robot system generates the response motion which is a similar handshake motion with a human when the human approaches his or her fingertip to the robot. In this robot system, we adapt an image processing method based on a 3D model for recognition of human fingertip position without obstructing a human hand motion.

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This paper proposes a method to recover missing data during observation by factorial hidden Markov models (FHMMs). By combining the motion recognition from partial observation algorithm and the proto-symbol based duplication of observed motion algorithm, whole body motion imitation from partial observation can be achieved. The algorithm for missing data recovery uses the same basic strategy as the whole body motion imitation from partial observation, but requires more accurate spatial representability. FHMMs allow for more efficient representation of a continuous data sequence by distributed state representation compared to hidden Markov models (HMMs). The proposed algorithm is tested with human motion data and the experimental results show improved representability compared to the conventional HMMs.

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This paper describes a novel approach for incremental symbolization and classification of observed human motion. The acquired symbols can be used for both subsequent motion recognition and generation. The resulting representation is a tree structure with the symbol at each node corresponding to its abstraction level.

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In this paper, we propose that what are the natural smooth motion in piano playing. Piano playing motion data are measured by using motion capture system. We examined what natural smooth motion is by questionnaire for twelve subjects and analyzed Z axis finger velocity. The analytical result showed that waving motion relates to smoothness.

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This paper describes the bilateral control of the Air-pillow telephone, which has been developed for touch sense communication via a pillow-shaped MotionMedia device using a pneumatic actuator. We propose a bilateral control method with some experimental results under TCP/IP network environment.

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This paper addresses impression evaluation of the communication robot from an aspect of approaching motion. From technical progress in recent years, we can expect that a robot will play an active part in our life. Coexistence of people and robots needs communication such as movement, a sound, gesture, and so on. For this reason, we build a communication robot system which play rock-paper-scissors including approaching motion. From the result of this game, we conducted the investigation and analysis of the impression which people receive from a robot.

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SEMG has many benefits, for example, measurement of SEMG is easy and a characteristic pattern of SEMG is obtained for each different movement. Our objective of this study is a development of the method that becomes to be able to control various equipment by using a characteristic pattern of SEMG. In this paper, we will talk about our developed control system that is worked on diverse equipments.

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We propose a navigation system for the visually impaired using GPS. First, we prepared a GPS receiver and a computer. The next, we made programs to navigate safely using location data, digital map and voice data. These programs searches for the most safely route and inform about a route to the destination using voice data. We tested this system and installed on a cell phone.

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There are approximately 300,000 visually impaired persons in Japan. Most of them are old and cannot make appropriate use of their white cane. Therefore, it is imperative to develop some instruments that support the independent activities of the visually impaired. Our objective of this study is a development of a simple and inexpensive navigation system for the visually impaired which can use in the indoor space. This navigation system can follow a colored guideline that is set on the floor. In this system, a color sensor installed on a white cane senses the colored guideline, and by vibration, the system informs the visually impaired that he/she is walking along the guideline. RFID tags and a receiver for these tags are used in the map information system. An antenna for RFID tags and the RFID tag receiver are also installed on a white cane.

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When a disaster occurs, there is a possibility that lot of suffering person results.Therefore, there are many researches about rescue robots for the disaster. If we can measure sufferer's vital sign at the disaster area, measured data will be useful for triage. So, we are investigating a measured system which is installed on a rescue robot and can measure the vital sign at the disaster area easily. SPO_2 (Arterial blood oxygen saturation degree) is one of the important vital sign of a human.We developed and assessed a SPO_2 measurement system which can measure SPO_2 by only easy touching to the skin. Four subjects were studied with our system. In all cases, our developed system was able to measure SPO_2 correctly.

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Pressing a blood vessel makes stopping natural flow of blood and brings into a change of color in surface of tissues from red to white. This phenomenon is called "ischemia". The purpose of this work is to discuss the ischemia dyamics where the color of surface due to ischemia changes from red to white or from white to red when a force changing with respect time is given to our body. We also compare the dynamics of ischemia with that of deformation of tissues.

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Pruning machines which mount a large cutting machine have a risk of damaging surfaces of trunks. Although this problem is resolved by downsizing the cutting machine, it is necessary to recognize a position of individual branch and prune it actively because an area pruned by the cutting machine is small. For this purpose, we have developed the mapping system, called the branch map building system, which represents positions of branches based on distance information. In this study, by deliberating problems of the mapping system found through preconducted examinations, improvement methods for the problems are proposed. After describing the proposed method, their efficiency is shown through performance evaluation experiments.

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SEMG (Surface EMG) is one of the bio-electric signals that is generated from the muscle. There are many kind of muscles in a human body, and used muscles are different for each body movement. Therefore, we can detect the body motion form generated SEMG patterns. In this paper, four channels SEMG signals which were measured from a right forearm of the subject were used to detect right hand motions. And a radio controlled vehicle was controlled as the results of detecting hand motions. Five basic hand movements are recognized using canonical discriminant analysis. Two normal subjects were tested for our control system. They had not used our system before experiment. For every subjects the recognition rates were up to 90% and they were able to control radio-controlled toy very well.

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We propose a method to improve the sensitivity of a micro ultrasonic wave sensor using Helmholtz resonance. By this method, we improve the sensitivity by 23.8 [dB], getting 15.5 times greater amplitude of the vibration of the cantilever, which was used as the sensor, compared with the normal cantilever. We also made two more experiments to measure how the sensitivity changed according to the relationship between the resonance frequency of the Helmholtz cabity and the natural frequency of the cantilever. As a result, the sensitivity was the highest when these two frequencies were the same. The peak of resonance was not so sharp that the sensitivity was more than the half of its maximum when the resonance frequency of the Helmholtz cabity was in the range of 92.6 - 108.9% of the natural frequency of the cantilever. Moreover, there was also a peak at the resonance frequency on the frequency properly of the sensor, even if there was a small gap between the two frequencies.

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In this paper, we develop the novel force sensor system for structural health monitoring (SHM) using the 13.56 MHz band passive RFID. In SHM for buildings and apartment houses, it is important to measure the strain and the static load of the structural member covered with concrete or coating materials. In our system, we assume the force sensor-equipped passive RFID tag that has the A/D converter is placed in near the structural member in the covering materials. And then, from the outside of the covering materials the sensor signal is read without contact as well as the memory data communication to the RFID tag by the RFID reader/writer. So this force sensor system enables to measure the strain and the static load of the structural member covered with concrete or coating materials. In this system, power supply to the RFID tag and the force sensor is achieved by an electromagnetic induction system and therefore this force sensor system does not need battery inside the space covered with concrete or coating materials.

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This paper discusses the non-contact active sensing for a living tissue with both viscoelasticity and coupling effect where it deforms not only at the force applying point but also its surrounding area. We newly introduce a model where the node moves freely in the horizontal as well as the vertical directions, so that it may express a real tissue in some details. By the result of simulation, we newly found the new model could express the deformation of living tissue with higher accuracy than the previous model.

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In our previous papers, we proposed a new haptic interface that detects electromyography (EMG) on a forearm. EMG sensors were arranged onto a flexible and stretchable sheet. The sheet we used here was the "Two Dimensional Communication (2DC) sheet" that enables the sensors touching it to communicate with each other without any wires. Electrical power can also be supplied through the sheet. Thus we can easily arrange the sensors densely onto the sheet for obtaining two dimensional EMG signal patterns. They are supposed to be useful for estimation of fingers or wrist motions. In this paper, we show an effective connector for the 2DC sheet. We demonstrate simulation and experimental results.

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An encountered-type visual haptic display using flexible sheet is proposed ; it allows users to feel like seeing and touching virtual soft objects directly. Both edges of transparent flexible sheet is attached to two manipulators. They apply bias tension to the sheet by pulling it from both sides, thus varying the sheet compliance. A user can feel the compliance of a virtual soft object by pushing the sheet with his finger directly. The manipulators also control the pose of the sheet along the object's surface together with the finger tip motion. Hence the shape of the object can be presented by active touch. A control method of presenting arbitrary shape of virtual objects generated by FEM is proposed. A virtual soft object which has smooth uneven surface is modeled by FEM, and the developed display presents the compliance and shape of this object. Then the display is evaluated by subjective experiments.

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We propose a wearable haptic display that indicates the sensations of touching and stroking virtual objects. We classified the haptic perceptional performances on the palm by motion direction. Based on this classification, we designed a control method to present stimuli, and constructed a prototype device that can reproduce the vertical and shearing forces on the palm. We then evaluated the capability of our proposed method to recognize the position and shape of a virtual object.

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In this research, a mouse device which can realize force feed-back has been developed. The mouse device is named Active Mouse, and has been applied to teaching software application. Active Mouse consists of developed omni traveling mechanism, force sensor and optical position sensor. Moreover, it can communicate with PC through USB. In the teaching software application, it was confirmed that Active Mouse can teach user how to insert an image into a document through mouse operation. In addition, Active Mouse can teach mouse operations of another application.

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We have proposed a tactile display for grasping handle using rotating round slices. This method intends to display pressure from handle and may have the ability to induce proper grasping force intuitively. We cut the handle into thin round slices, and rotate them. Directions of the adjacent rotations are set opposite with each other. The intervals of the slices are set smaller than the resolution of directional stretch sensation (by Ruffini ending). Therefore we cannot perceive the direction of rotation, while we may perceive pure pressure. In this paper, we manufactured a full size handle with rotating round slices, which is grasped by the whole palm. We evaluated relationship between the sensation and rotation parameters, such as frequency and amplitude of the rotation and slice width.

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This paper presents a new haptic hand of five-fingered haptic interface robot. The haptic hand is designed for low friction and a wire-saving control system by a FPGA circuit is mounted in a palm of the haptic hand. Mechanical design and experimental results of force control in free motion are presented.

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The present paper describes a decision method for the placement of tactile elements for grasp recognition. Based on the mutual information of the grasps and tactile information, an effective placement of tactile elements on a sensing glove is determined. Although the effective placement consists of a small number of tactile elements, it has a recognition performance that is as high as that of a placement consisting of many tactile elements. The effective placement of tactile elements decided by the proposed method has been evaluated through experiments involving the recognition of grasp type from grasp taxonomy defined by Kamakura

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Recently, the advancement of virtual reality technologies can provide various force sensations to users. With regard to studies on the haptic interface, most researchers have focused on the development of the haptic interfaces. So, these devices are constructed by using several decelerators. It is supposed that various types of decelerators individually cause the different effects on in the force/position display performance ; it may also affect human force sensation. Then, in this study, we developed haptic devices with four types of decelerators and compared their force/position display performances. Further, this paper attempts to how the decelerators affect human force sensations when employing haptic devices.

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We propose a novel cylindrical interface that treats the force vector distribution to manipulate a robotic hand. This elastic device allows an institutional and dexterous robot manipulation based on vision-based tactile-sensing technology. It provides universal manipulation that can tolerate the personal differences in hand sizes and grasping postures of the users. In this paper, we introduce the hardware design and the basic algorithm of our interface. We decided the hardware parameters such as the camera, convex mirror, the size of markers and length of the cylinder to capture the movement of markers clearly. Using our interface, simple system for robot manipulation will be possible.

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This paper presents an object manipulation technique in virtual environment by using a positioning controlled of haptic device to present a stiff virtual object to human operator. It is difficult for a haptic device of force control to presents a stiff virtual object (ex machine part) to a human operator. The operator feels unpleasant vibration through the haptic device when a stiff object collide another stiff objects. This technique controls position of the grip of haptic device along the trajectory which the manipulated object moves. This effectiveness was confirmed by experiments.

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In design of car, the best length of the wire harness is examined. A prototype is prepared and examined under the present situation. However, the cost increases if prototyping is repeated. If doing such examination work by the simulation on the computer becomes possible, the cost can be decreased. Then, the system that can simulate the best length of the wire harness on the computer with a virtual wire harness is developed. It aimed to make the wire harness that operators were able to operate as freely as things in real environment.

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Nails are not just an instrument to protect fingers and scratch an object. They improve our tactile sensitivity. We have developed the novel tactile device considering nail function, which we call "tactile nail chip." This device is mounted on the nail and deforms the nail to change the capability of tactile perception. In this paper, the effect of the tactile nail chip is investigated through psychophysical experiments on pressure and texture. Results lead a supposition that the tactile nail chip affects the transmission of applied stimuli to fingertip by changing physical characteristics of fingertip and the tactile perception is changed.

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In this paper, we report on the system with Virtual Haptic Map that is aimed to support self-walking of visually disabled persons. Virtual Haptic Map includes haptically-displayed roads and buildings which are automatically constructed from a numerical map. By using this system, users can understand present location in outdoor and the situation in the surrounding dynamically and haptically. Preliminary experiment was conducted and its feasibility was confirmed.

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A novel tactile sensor based on electromagnetic induction which can detect slippage in addtion to three-axis force is proposed. This sensor structure is simple, and in essence a displacement gauge, consists of two-dimentional array of inductor and elastic body in which a permanent magnet is inserted. Formulas to transform output voltage of proposed sensor into force vector are derived, and analyses on both deformation of the proposed structure and magnetic field generated by a cylindrical permanent magnet are carried out to extract transformation parameteres. A unit-cell of tactile sensor is prototyped with four chip inductors, silicon gel as a elastic body and a neodymium magnet, and experiments are undertaken with a 6-axis force/torque sensor as a reference. The contributions of inductors to sensor output is observed experimentally in agreement with analytical prediction and the reference sensor. Experimental results show that the proposed tactile sensor is useful for 3-axis force measurement and slip detection.

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This paper discusses effective sensing strategy for identification of contact conditions by experiments. The contact conditions mean contact position, contact force, and contact type. To improve the speed and precision of distinction of contact type, it is necessary to raise separation degree of large and small eigenvalues of a covariance matrix of estimated contact moment. Firstly, several sensing strategies are investigated by experiments. The difference of these strategies is the origin and the direction of the motion. Secondly, more effective sensing motion is suggested from the result of experiments. Finally, it is pointed out that these strategies are related to sensing motion by a human being.

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This study aims to develop a handheld-type sensor comprised of microphones covered by fabrics that capture frictional sounds between the device fabrics and a target fabric for quantitatively evaluating mechanical properties of the target fabric. The data obtained through an experimental device were analyzed through a modified version of principal factor analysis. The analysis revealed that some combinations of device fabrics were useful for efficiently distinguishing target fabrics.

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The mesh structure fusion of tactile and proximity sensor is developed. The sensor can be attached to freeform surface and needs only six wires. The sensor can detect the center position of the object and total distance to the object and the center position of a distributed load and the total load of the distribution. In this paper, the structure of the sensor and the prototype of the sensor are described, and the sensor is made to be installed in the manipulator, and the collision evasion is achieved. And seamless detection operation is done by using tactile information and proximity information.

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We propose a method to measure the shapes of solid surface with a strain sensor. Our device is comprised of two different kinds of cantilevers, which are 8 pressure and 7 shear stress sensors, arrayed alternately in line by 5.0 mm and covered by silicone rubber. Our device offers the detection of concavo-convex shapes by scanning the surface of the object once. With pressing, releasing and sliding motion, our device detected one convex shape within a 1.0 mm error and two convex shapes within a 3.0 mm error. In addition, we demonstrated that various types of object shapes were detected by our device with tracing motion.

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In this paper, we propose a tactile display that uses acoustic radiation pressure. We fabricated a prototype. The prototype display consists of an annular array, a 12 channel driving circuit, and a PC. The array has 91 pieces of 40 kHz ultrasound transducer. We measured the output force, the frequency characteristics and the spatial distribution of radiation pressure. We confirmed that the output force were 0.8 gf at the focal region and 2.9 gf just above the surface of the array. The frequency characteristics were fine up to 1 kHz. The spatial resolution was about 20 mm.

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To achieve a human like grasping with a multi fingered robot hand, an interaction with vision and tactile information is indispensable. The method to use the camera for the vision information acquisition of the robot hand is common. The camera is effective globally but incorrect locally because of blind spot and the shadow of robot hand itself. Therefore it is thought that acquisition of approach and contact information to the object continually is very effective for grasping by introducing the proximity sensor which is sensing distance of several centimeter from an object. This time we propose a method that make tactile sensor coexist with proximity sensor in a finger-tip.

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We propose a novel force sensor that detects the force distribution as well as its position, rotation and ID. In previous optical force sensors, an elastic body and cameras are fixed together. Contrarily, on our system, users can move tile-shaped elastic bodies freely on a flat face. The sensing process is as follows : first, the system detects its position, rotation and ID of each interface face by position markers attached on their bottom surfaces. Then, it calculates the force vectors on each interface by using cameras.

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In this paper finger-pad-type tactile sensor for tele-presentation systems is developed. The sensor is designed to be small enough to attach on a robot finger. The sensor is made for detecting three physical characteristics. They are 'surface shape' 'elasticity' and 'friction characteristic' that help recognition of tactile sensation. Through a detection experiment of the surface shape, the distortion distribution and the dynamical friction coefficient, the produced sensor is evaluated. As a result, it is shown that the tactile sensor is suitable for attaching on robot fingers for teleoperation.

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This paper describes a novel method to indicate tactile sensation using surface acoustic wave (SAW). A stator transducer material of a SAW tactile display, however, has constraint of size and shape. To solve this problem, the glass substrate SAW tactile display is proposed. To improve energy efficiency, a wave-circulating surface acoustic wave transducer is proposed. In the structure, the wave excited by the oscillator can circulate around the substrate surface. In this research, a tactile mouse, which is a computer mouse with the wave-circulating transducer, is proposed. Fabrication and characteristics of the tactile mouse are reported and its works successfully.

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This paper describes the manufacturing method and the sensor properties of the CNT/PVDF composite material. The measurement principle is based on CNT/PVDF of electric resistance variation when it is subjected to a strain resulting from external loading. It was confirmed that resistance changed by the strain variation of the sensor. Moreover, the sensor characteristic confirmed the variation according to the ultrasonic agitation time. Experimental results show the statical and dynamical sensor properties of the CNT/PVDF composite.

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We aim at development of tactile interfaces which can be attached to mobile terminal devices. We focus on two points in this paper. Firstly, a touch motion is very important to acquire tactile information of an object. However, it is difficult to secure space for touch motion on the mobile device. We propose a hypothesis that touch motion is not always necessary on condition that tactile stimulation which accompanies the movement of the cursor is effectively presented. We verify the possibility of conveying texture information without real touch motions. Secondly, when a object which is bigger than the screen is displayed, the object must be resized. A guidance of generating tactile stimulation not to lose texture information is important. We propose a guidance of generating tactile stimulation in the case of resized objects and verify its effectiveness.

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This paper presents a newly designed MR-compatible optical force sensor: its principle, structure and performance. Our force sensor employs an optical micrometry based on differential measure of light intensity. This technology enables highly accurate and sensitive two degrees-of-freedom displacement sensing by using a point source, a photo detector and an optical lens. The developed force sensor achieves MR compatibility by placing all the electric and metallic components outside the scanner room, and extending the light path between the optical components using multi-core optical fibers. The sensor head component is made of glass fiber reinforced poly-ether-ether-keton that helps reducing hysteresis characteristics of plastic resin. The accuracy of this force sensor is better than 1.6 % under the applied force ranging from 0 to 3 N.

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This paper studies a physical model for reproducing wet sensation. Based on the past studies concerning perception mechanism of wet sensation, we propose and formulate the hypothesis that human feels wet sensation from the combination of increased heat flow between a finger and an object and the variation of contact area of finger. The formulation was verified by experimental results, which measured temperature variation and contact area variation at a contact interface between a finger and a wet surface. Based on the proposed model, we tried to reproduce wet sensation. Although further investigation is required, the result of our pilot experiments showed a potential effectiveness of the proposed model.

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In this paper, we propose a layered contact sensor for material identification. The proposed sensor consists of the PVDF (Polyvinylidene Fluoride) films, which each electrode is constructed by Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) electrode as the transparent conductive electrode, and the photo sensors. The optical properties are measured by an infrared LED and a phototransisitor, and the electrical properties are measured by the surface ITO electrodes of the PVDF films. In addition, the vibrational and ultrasonic properties are measured by the PVDF films. Therefore, the optical, electrical, vibrational and ultrasonic properties are measured by the proposed sensor. In the experiment, the identification of fourteen kinds of materials was demonstrated by the proposed sensor. As results, it is suggested that the material identification including hardness and thickness is possible.

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Thermal sense plays an important role in object recognition.The idea to identify materials by heat flow from the skin to the touched materials have been introduced to artificial thermal sensors and proved effective.Moreover, the addition of tactile sensors is found to improve the performance of material identification by obtaining further properties of objects. However, the application of these sensors to autonomous recognition by a robot is not a well investigated topic.Contact with the objects will vary in such cases, but no previous sensor has shown the ability of material recognition robust to change in contact conditions with the required size and softness. This paper introduces a soft anthropomorphic finger with both thermal and tactile sensing elements embedded in soft silicon skin. Experimental results show the ability to discriminate materials robust to variety in contact condition by virtue of the soft contact and compensation by the tactile sensors. Recognition robust to temperature changes is also realized by additional themal sensors.

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We focus tactile stimulus on a sole during walking to clarify mechanisms of fall and walking adapted for irregular terrain. Therefore, this paper proposes the development of the force sensor which can measure 3-axis distributed forces acting on a sole during walking. To measure the 3-axis distributed forces, a sheet of silicone rubber on which a number of circular truncated cone projections are putted designed and developed. The relation between the force and the deformation of a projection is verified with the developed sheet of silicone rubber. Therefore, the 3-axis distributed forces can be measured from the deformation of projections.

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