This paper proposes a method to discriminate between a bicycle rider and a pusher from a video sequence. It is important to discriminate a bicycle rider from a pusher in a monitoring camera system. However, in previous works using shape feature, it is difficult to discriminate between similar shape objects such as a bicycle rider and a pusher. The proposed method uses not only shape feature but also movement feature. The leg movements of a bicycle rider and a pusher are different. We apply Cubic Higher-order Local Auto-Correlation (CHLAC) feature to these leg movements to calculate the difference of these movements. We conduct an experiment in a video sequence to verify the effectiveness of this proposed method. As a result, we confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed method.

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To realize "Human SUGOROKU", Kinect and Ultrasonic Sensor are used simultaneously. But there are two serious problems in using multiple sensors. The first problem is that own coordinate system of each sensor is inconsistent. The second problem is that it is difficult to locate sensors manually. In this paper, to solve these problems, the authors propose a method for unifying coordinate systems of multiple sensors. This method transform coordinate systems of multiple sensors to a canonical coordinate system configures by an instrument. We have experiment to assess the effectivity of this method using Kinect and Ultrasonic sensors. As a result, we succeed in unifying coordinate systems of these sensors.

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In this paper we conducted analysis of lifting task focusing on the trajectory of center of pressure (CoP) and posture of fingertip while human subjects lift up, hold and replace an object with their index finger and thumb. CoP was computed from the forces and torques measured by a 6-axis force sensor installed in the lifted device, while posture of the index finger and thumb was measured by a motion capture system and three optical markers attached to the fingernail and thumbnail. The result of the lifting task experiments under dierent friction and weight conditions showed coordination between the grip force and load force. The trajectories of the CoP during the lifting task had similar trend regardless of the experimental conditions, and were divided into two distinct phases. From the data of finger posture, the first phase was speculated due to change in the finger posture coming in contact with the device, while the second phase was speculated due to skin deformation in the direction of the load force.

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This paper discusses a new manufacturing system consists of knowledge circulation through making information open and flexible manufacturing devices and factories. This paper points out that the new manufacturing system is strongly required in product and service design for "persons with life function changes" such as children, female during child-rearing and their families, old people, and persons with disabilities and their families. As a trial and feasibility study on the new manufacturing system, this paper reports development of an infant drowning prevention device based on knowledge circulation system, flexible manufacturing device, and life-data based workshop.

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Since there are various stress may change the structure of our life in our everyday life, technology and social system for supporting to redesign everyday life is necessary. The authors are trying to develop the system of mathematics and techniques for realizing everyday life design cycle process consists of presentation of possible everyday life, decision support of desirous everyday life, support for realizing desirous everyday life by service integration and sustainable improvement through evaluation. This paper described about development of a database about life function changes and its application to everyday life design.

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Seaweed is a useful material for solving modern industrial problems on processing sewage and reducing carbon dioxide. In order to cultivate seaweed efficiently, it becomes necessary to accelerate seaweed growth by controlling its environment. This study focuses on controlling seaweed twining by water flow. We propose how to measure twining phenomenon by analyzing seaweed motion in simulation. Simulation results show that twining phenomenon is numerically measured by examining water drag distribution and seaweed networks which are made by connecting centers of gravity among contacted seaweed.

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This paper proposes a novel convergence estimation method for reinforcement learning. In recent years, an actual multi-robot system using reinforcement learning is expected to realize to real world applications. However, a learning convergence takes a long time by conventional existing learning methods. Moreover, such learning process is inefficient because it is executed on one robot in most cases. In response to this problem, the authors are proposing a knowledge co-creation learning with multi-robot systems. To realize efficient knowledge co-creation learning, an autonomous convergence estimation method for the reinforcement learning is necessary. Therefore, based on an assumption that a learning curve has fractality, we propose a convergence estimation method using a fractal dimensional analysis. Furthermore, we confirmed that our proposal method has a possibility of deciding convergence/non-convergence by computer simulation.

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In our laboratory, we have succeeded in acquiring forward actions to various robot systems using Reinforcement Learning. We have also succeeded in acquiring a giant swing motion as dynamic task by devising its rewards. Then, the purpose of this study is to clarify probabilistic behavior of giant swing. Although the giant swing robot has a continuous dynamic motion such as its angle and angler velocity, its state of the motion must be divided into 216 states in order to apply the reinforcement learning. For this reason, this robot shows probabilistic behaviors. Consequently, it became clear that collapse of the learning knowledge may happen which is defined as Q value that could acquire the giant swing motion become impossible to acquire this motion by increasing learning count. The results show that 100% successful rotation cannot be obtained even when its learning converges sufficiently.

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The exercise to move a whole body from a certain place to other places is one of basic and important activities for all creatures. In our laboratory, on the view point of forward locomotion-pattern, we have succeeded that various robots acquire locomotion pattern by using Q-learning method that is one of the reinforcement learning. However all locomotion-patterns of our previous studies are assumed to be quasi-static, whose motion velocity is very slow. For that reason, this paper attempts to acquire dynamic and consecutive locomotion-pattern of qudarupedal robot. Hoyt et al. researched relation between running velocity and oxygen consumption per unit distance when horses walk, trot and gallop at any speed. According to these results, each gait has a certain velocity to minimize oxygen consumption, and has the almost same minimum value among each gait. Therefore, this paper attempts to reproduce this phenomenon of a mobile robot.

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We propose an automatic composition system that handles all of the music creation activities including the evaluation of music. In order to achieve the evaluation of music, it is important to consider the physiological response when a human listening to music. In this paper, we discuss the evaluation model of the music that considers physiological response.

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This paper describes a method of the decentralized inverse kinematics calculation for ultra redundant robots. We attempt to decompose the inverse kinematics calculations into calculation elements corresponding to joints, and then we develop the decentralized inverse kinematics calculation system which can configure various types of robot models. Finally, some case studies of ultra redundant robots are reported to indicate feasibilities of proposed method.

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Although there are many kinds of robots with various purposes, hard and dangerous work is generally among their tasks. In this vein, we have been studying robots for stairs cleaning. Floors are basically two-dimensional, but stairs are three-dimensional. Action for a stairs cleaning robot is clearly more complex, and it must avoid dangerous situations like falling. In addition, there are many kinds of staircase designs. Stair conditions also vary as to location (indoor/outdoor) and status of use. Thus, for stairs cleaning, the robot is desired to work with an advanced learning function. In this post, we explain a 6-DOF robot that is designed and built to clean stairs. We propose control regulation based on reinforcement learning.

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In recent years, multi-robot activity is expected. But, often to work as a single unit robot now. it is difficult to determine the robot behavior among So, get the action to work with the cooperation between robots. Problems continue to parallel the balance of the robot is moving in automatic plate. Tackle the problem 3-D balancing. I want to be able to perform multiple tasks simultaneously. I look at the formation control. This time I decided to tackle the formation control. I resolved using neural networks and particle swarm optimization

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The objective of this paper is to develop a control method for a differential wheels robot in paddy field environments, in which the robot can easily get stuck. Even if the robot applies a large torque to the wheels, they can slip due to the deformation of the paddy field. In order to solve the problem, we developed a controller considering the angles and speeds of the wheels, and conducted numerical experiments to show how the proposed controller can recover from being stuck. As a result, motion performance of the robot was improved by the proposed controller.

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Behavior acquisition of artificial life research has been carried out extensively. Having been generally used as an actuator behavior is a technique that directly controls the joint, less those using virtual muscles. Virtual muscle control is a control method that takes into account the behavioral characteristics of real creatures. So it can acquire behavioral characteristics that the torque control may be difficult to acquire. In this study, we create fish and frog model using a musculo-skeletal model and skeleton control model, and examine the differences in the behavioral characteristics that have been acquired by it.

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The individual in a swarm emerges controlled behavior by interaction to neighboring individuals. This study observes the swarm consisting of a leader and followers, where the follower are modeled by Boid, and estimates the degree of swarm behavior. Then, the whole network connected by sub-networks, which are made by individuals within a view field of each individual, is analyzed from a viewpoint of the complex network characteristics.

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This paper describes a coordinative behavior of virtual robots. Virtual robots move on a two-dimensional plane by the law based on the Newton's equations. Motions of virtual robots are controlled by an artificial neural network (ANN). Parameters of an ANN are optimized by a real-coded genetic algorithm so that virtual robots cooperate on catching targets. Targets escape from virtual robots in the opposite direction of the nearest virtual robot. The experimental result shows that two virtual robots are located in front and the rear of a target like a straight line to catch it. It is also shown that the role of a waiting virtual robot changes dynamically to surround a target when the target breaks through the besieging two virtual robots.

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In many fields, such as electronic material, medicine and cosmetics production, it is an important proposition to generate small and uniform droplets of various liquids. In order to realize these droplets' generation, a bolt-clamped Langevin-type transducer and a micropore plate has been used. The purpose of this study is to fabricate a bolt-clamped Langevin-type transducer having small and simple structure in comparison with the previous one, and to generate droplets by using this device. First, by using a new fixation method, we have designed a bolt-clamped Langevin-type transducer whose structure is suitable for miniaturization. Next, we have generated and evaluated droplets in the air by using pure water. When the micro pore diameter, the applied air pressure and the resonance frequency were 50μm, 30kPa and 37kHz, the average diameter of pure water droplets and standard deviation of diameter were 96.1μm and 0.98, respectively.

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Micro-dialyzers are expected to materially improve quality of life (QOL) of the patients who must receive dialysis treatment several times a week. Our group has been developing micro fluidic systems. This systems contains Polyethersulfone (PES) nano-porous membranes for dialysis membranes. PES membranes can selectively separate the solute in their hole scale, however in the long term thrombosis or adhesion of solute happen on the surface of them. Therefore we tried to modify the surface of them by coating fluorinate-diamond like carbon (F-DLC) on their surface. In this paper we reported the results of control of diffusion in PES membranes which surface were coated with F-DLC and the effect of blood solidification on their surfaces.

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This paper reports the fabrication, combinatorial differentiation and analysis of embryonic bodies (EBs) in one device called "PASMA (Pressure Actuated Shapable Microwell Array)". It is 2x3 cm lab-on-a-chip and has 100 shapable microwells of thin elastmer membrane actuated by pressure. By using PASMA, EB fabrication, differentiation in multiple cell types and selective collection can be easily done in parallel. We have demonstrated EB formation from human adipose derived stem cells (ADSCs), differentiation into adipocytes and osteoblasts and staining for differentiation monitoring all in one PASMA. The massively parallel analysis tool "PASMA" should accelerate the regenerative medicine as a total EB culture device.

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We succeeded in developing a new simple and unique method to fabricate enclosed microfluidic channels within Polydimethylsiloxane(PDMS) substrates. The procedure is extremely straight forward, where sacrificial caramel embedded inside solid PDMS simply dissolves to form arbitrary shaped enclosed channels. Arbitrary microchannel network including 3-D interchanges, cross-junctions and very thin(≤1μm) cylindrical channels can be produced with no costly equipment and no cytotoxic material. Because deposited caramel lines change from flat to cylindrical due to its surface tension, microchannel with circular cross-section can be realized easily. Owing to the procedures simplicity and applicability, the novel technique realized herein will have a penetrating impact as a versatile fabrication tool and lead to the opening of new avenues in the field of biomedical engineering and microfluidics.

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Diffusion is important phenomena in biology such as cell-to-cell and intracellular communications. It is driven by Brownian motion, concentration distribution and turbulence flow. However, it gradually changes composition in liquid, which is important information of vital activities. In order to understand the vital activities, liquid containing such information should be stocked without changing its composition. Therefore, we developed a microfluidic device to archive the liquid suppressing the change of the composition. A liquid-liquid interface between two kinds of colored deionized water was observed inside a microchannel. A mixed region around the interface was not spread at the micro scale without any turbulence flow over 60 minutes.

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This paper experimentally demonstrates a biological NAND logic gate using DNA and biological nanopores. Biological nanopores can be used for single molecule detection; in our previous works, it was confirmed that ssDNA is driven throughαHL, a biological nanopore, incorporated in bilayer lipid membranes(BLMs) but not double-stranded DNA(dsDNA). In this study, these passing and non-passing phenomena were applied as the binary system and logic gates, and NAND gate was successfully demonstrated. Furthermore, we developed this NAND system into four droplet network. Droplets are covered with lipid and linked through biological nanopores. This droplet network enabled DNA to be input by voltage ON/OFF application. We believe that this system enables direct connection between electrical systems and computing based on biomolecules.

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This paper reports a built-in of a capacitive microsensor into an aneurysm artificial blood vessel model for evaluation of a stent surgery. The proposed method is able to evaluate the indwelling of a stent from the change of capacitance, without an image. In this paper, the flow diverting function of a stent was evaluated by the proposed artificial blood vessel model with a capacitive microsensor.

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This paper reports the potentiality of a semi-permanent integrated power source mounted on an insect. First, an insect biofuel cell(BFC) based on trehalase and glucose oxidase reactions which oxidize β-glucose obtained by hydrolyzing trehalose found in cockroach hemolymph(CHL) was developed and the maximum power density of 46 μW/cm^2 was obtained. Then, a self-circulation system of CHL powered by the dorsal vessel of a cockroach was developed for self-refueling of an insect-mountable BFC and connected to a cockroach with a flow channel. Finally, the electrochemical reaction of the anode was confirmed to take place when the chamber was mounted onto the cockroach. The results have enough potential to be applied for a micro battery of novel ubiquitous robots such as insect cyborgs in near future.

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We present an innovative polymer actuator made of photoprocessible thermo-sensitive gel. The gel, which we call "Bioresist", is thermo responsible biocompatible photoresist. Novelties of this Bioresist are shown as follows. (1) It is possible to fabricate arbitrary 2D pattern using photolithography. (2) Its volume is controlled by only heating. Therefore, it can be applied to the thermally controllable functional microfluidic devices. Herein, we demonstrated this innovative gel as applications of microfluidic components controlled by microheaters. Its properties were evaluated. Firstly, the relationship between expansion rate of Bioresist and temperature was measured. Secondly, the normally closed microvalve was fabricated for the fluid control. Then, the performance of this gel actuator was evaluated. Finally, we applied this microcomponent to the sorter of cells flowing in the microchannel.

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This paper proposed a Multiple Microfluidic Stream based Manipulation (MMSM) system for biological object using micro hydrodynamics and Lab on a Chip (LOC) technology. Our method can implement the function of micro manipulation and micro assembly of bio-objects without contact in an open space. Compared with other conventional bio-micro manipulation and assembly methods, this system is manipulating a micro object by controlling multiple microfluidic streams onto it from various directions. The advantage of this method is open space, multi-function, multi-scale, multi degree of freedom, and non-invasive three dimensions manipulation. These microfluidic streams are generated simultaneously from multiple orifices. By regulating the parameters of the microfluidic stream such as flow rates, position and number of operating orifices, the direction and velocity of the object can be controlled. To verify this principle, we designed an open space fluidic system for on-chip manipulation. The results presented in this paper showed that this MMSM has the capability for Micro Bio-manipulation.

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Automation of piezoelectric inkjet-based single cell printing is the target of this study. Piezoelectric inkjet technology capability of high speed printing is the main advantage of this technology over other technologies. Therefore, this technology has gained attention in recent field of tissue engineering. Additionally, this technology was successfully developed for single cell handling. However, automation system for the single cell handling was not yet developed. In this study, utilizing open source image processing library, OpenCV, to process image of the inkjet head, automatic cell detection system was successfully developed. Finally, combining cell detection system and cell printing system, automation of single cell printing system with 98% successful ratio was successfully developed.

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We have been studying 4-legged robots with active-suspension-based leg modules with spring elements. Our 4-legged robot doesn't have knees, but has a linear motion mechanism. It has two or three DC motors per leg for swinging and jumping, and runs by controlling them. This time, aiming to improve the velocity of movement, we designed and prototyped a new robot with 10 pcs motors. We analyzed the torque required for each leg, and gathered that stronger torque was necessary for rear legs' movement. As a result of analysis, we designed a robotic body with anteroposterior asymmetry. We also considered anteroposterior asymmetry in the body at the robotic control. We present the design details and running experiment.

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This paper reports and discusses simulation results on the stabilization of a quadruped robot by its neck swing motion. The simulation model was constructed in ODE base on the parameters of the quadruped robot built by us. The ratios of the all link lengths of both the model and the real robot are similar to those of horses. The model has eleven joints in total. First, we altered the foot trajectory in swing phase and the foot posture in the stance phase to prevent the robot from falling over. Then, we investigated the effects of the center position of foot trajectory, the duty factor, and the digging depth in stance phase on the pitch angle of the robot body through simulation. Using the most suitable parameters based on the simulation results, we investigated influences of the neck swing motion on the pitch and the roll angles of the robot body, and found the suitable swing angles.

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This paper shows effects of cane usage for humanoid robots. Older people and patients with stroke use a cane in order to stabilize walking and reduce weight bearing and so on. We aim that a robot obtains these effects of cane usage. At first, we propose basic usage of a cane, preventive usage. In preventive usage, we further propose active usage which realize stabilization by the reaction force of a cane. Effects of each usage proposed are verified by simulation.

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This research aims to develop a method to learn a walking policy for multi-legged robots in various rough terrain. For this purpose, this paper investigates the generalization property of a learned walking policy in rough terrain. Using this result, we expect to provide a method to reduce the number of walking policies with which the robot can walk through any variations of terrain.

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New quadruped robot, which has variable walking modes, so-called tall mode, short mode, SCARA mode and stair mode, has been developed. A leg of the robot has 3D.O.Fs with three rotational joints connected in series like SCARA and achieves the GDA. Due to the wide motion range of the legs, the robot can make stable going up/down motion on the stairs and walk on horizontal floors high-efficiently. This paper describes the mechanism of the legs and its characteristics of the motion. And also the miniature robot which has the proposed mechanism has been applied to a basic experiment and the result is mentioned.

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A foot mechanism with variable-stiffness for humanoid robots is designed and developed. Passive deformation of the whole foot which comprises a zero-DOF linkages enables soft response against the landing impact and steady support of the load at the same time. A difficulty on manufacturing is discussed with ideas of an improvement.

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In this paper, we propose a small hexapod wall climbing robot with passive suction cups. Although wall climbing ability is required for various operations of a robot, an absorption mechanism by a negative pressure using a pump, for example, is not effective from viewpoints of downsizing or energy consumption. From this reason, we designed an attachment and detachment mechanism without electric power by four-bar linkage system with a suction cup and optimized the six leg trajectories of tripod gait driven by single degree of freedom. The developed robot with 12 cm long, 5 cm high, and 10 g traveled at 27 mm/s on the ground and climbed at 21.6 mm/s on vertical wall.

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In this study, we develop a small amphibious robot. For rescue operation in disaster area, it is required to rapidly move and investigate not only narrow space on the ground but also flooded spot on the water. Although many on-the-water robots are developed, the posture stabilization mechanism depends on the tail buoyancy. However, such tail increases the body size and also constrains the agility which a cm-scale robot has essentially. In this paper, we propose the tailless quadruped robot that can move the legs three-dimensionally to stabilize the posture. Here we analyzed the lift, thrust, and moment generated by the leg motion using numerical simulator and developed the hardware with the length of 9 cm and the mass of 10 g. The result showed that the robot ran on the water at the speed of 5 body lengths per second (50 cm/s).

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Large biped robots use at least twelve actuators for two lees to move generally. Furthermore, the walking style of them is static walking so they consume a great deal of energy to walk. In this study, passive dynamic walking is focused to reduce energy consumption in walking. And then the control method to switch active walking and passive walking for large biped robots with knee joints is proposed. The switching mechanism is achieved by the simple clutch mechanism and it is used in the knee joint and the hip joint. The method is applied to walking down the slope and the effectiveness of it is shown.

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A pneumatically actuated six legged robot is introduced and demonstrated in this paper. With the concept of actuator reduction and gravitationally decoupled actuation (GDA), four-actuator configuration is realized. Especially, only two of these should produce a force against gravity. A required force of these is less than half of whole weight. With this designing concept, a 73kg hexapod can walk with carrying a load of 76kg human onboard. A stroke of straight walk is up to 800mm, where the length of whole robot is 1428mm. An energy saving actuation technique, such as zero-air-consumption to keep its posture, brings a long working time of about two hours with a built-in compressor driven by a battery. The gait of this hexapod is a kind of tripod gait, but a state of all six leg contact to the terrain may not exist. Using a partial leg exchange sequence that we proposed, the robot can negotiate uneven terrain by only four actuators.

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In this paper, We realize a skating motion by a simple small biped robot. The achieved skating motion is based on a swinging body skating model. The swinging body conflicts to the ground on its foot blade periodically. The swinging energy of body is converted to traveling energy on the conflict. The pitch joint of ankle pushes the ground to keep peak height of body swing. The yaw joint of ankle is used to avoid the traveling energy loss on the conflict. We developed a small and simple biped robot with 4 joints on each ankle. This 0.52m height robot achieved 0.13m stroke and 0.18m/s traveling velocity of skating.

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It is thought that Humanoid robot is easily adapted for human living environment. However, there is a problem that moving speed of Humanoid robot is slow. In this study, we aim at running motion of Humanoid robot for the improvement of moving speed. It is thought that running motion is continuation of jumping of each leg. We study about the 1 leg robot's jumping motion as the first step of running motion. We made the motion which the 1 leg robot can jump with using our original 1 leg robot. The 1 leg robot succeeded in jumping, but Jump height was low. Then, we will upgrade the 1 leg robot from now to increase the jumping height.

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This paper proposes a footstep planning method for centipede-like multi-legged robots from tactile information of antennal sensor. Centipede-like multi-legged walking robots are controlled based on Follow-the-Contact-Point (FCP) gait control. Using FCP gait control, merely planning and allocating the contact points of legs of a head segment adequately allows the robots to change the moving direction and also step on rough terrain. To plan the contact points, two antennal sensors are added to the head of the centipede-like multi-legged walking robot. When the antenna makes contact with an obstacle, the collision position of the antennal sensor is recorded to make a temporal contact map. An optimal target contact point of head legs is selected from this contact map. Finally, in order to show the availability of the proposed method, the results of physical simulation are shown.

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We developed a prototype for new simplified-link legged robot with high-performance. The original concept is an animal mimicking robot, to achieve the real-time motion traceability of each limb, the simulated assorted movements of rats and the high-weight capacity to carry some experimental instruments. To achieve the enough performances, we invented a unique linkage mechanism and employed it to our robot "Whitegoat". The performance of "Whitegoat" is suitable for various applications, which includes practical mobile robot, but this robot is very hard to build up. Hence we designed the robot "Kidgoat" as a successor of "Whitegoat", to increase the number of the simplified-link legged robot.

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We have developed a quadruped walking robot TITAN XII equipped with active ankle to go over large obstacles. Although it has high terrain adaptability, it is not able to move quickly. In this paper, we consider to attach active wheel to the tip of the leg of TITAN XII to achieve high mobility and energy efficiency on not only horizontal ground but also uneven terrain. As the first step, we confirm that TITAN XII can generate basic wheeled locomotion on the horizontal ground by experiments.

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Mechanical device with high accuracy and high degree of freedom such as the manipulator, they are often used in industrial robots. In addition, the research and development in this area have been proposed. However, in the environment of the microscope, there is no small and flexible manipulator which can be applied a small subject from the various direction and the angle by tools such as a syringe or knife. In this study, by using the drive with wire as a control method, we developed a control system of the manipulator with small size can be controlled angular coordinate θ and φ. We assume that the micro-injector as a target to control posture freely and it's used at the target of millimeter size.

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A wire suspended manipulator is proposed for extending its working space. A manipulator is fixed on a base plate suspended by four wires. In this study, we propose a motion trajectory for a wire suspended manipulator to reach as quickly as possible to the target position. The effectiveness of the obtained trajectory is verified by simulations and experiments.

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A tele-operation system for a crane is developed. The crane consists of a small actuator and a large actuator in x and y direction respectively. The large actuators are controlled by input signals from screen click interface and transports suspended objects. The small actuators are used as a regulator and feedback controlled by a wire angle sensor. If the operator plots some points, the transportation time is longer in proportion to a number of plots. Therefor we generate the trajectory to shorten the transportation time. We make possible to derive the route error caused by superposing the trajectory. In the area with obstacle the possible transportation area considering the route error is derived.

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For the decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, we need robot arms which have long and slender shape, wide motion range, and radiation-tolerant system. However, existing robot arms are not capable of satisfying those requirements. In particular, the extremely large torque generated by the arm weight is the most difficult problem in the development of such long and slender arms. Therefore, in order to satisfy those requirements, we propose a new robot arm named "3D CT-Arm". The 3D CT-Arm uses a "coupled tendon drive", in which the all joints are driven by motors located on the base through wires and pulleys, and the all motors support the torque on the base joint. Thus, the 3D CT-Arm can maintain its posture even when it extends the arm horizontally. In this paper, we introduce the concept of 3D CT-Arm and show the design and test of a prototype.

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In this study, we validate a stiffness adjustable function of joint with 2-D.O.F. manipulator. We developed the wrist manipulator driven by antagonism wire system that combining non-linear springs (termed SAT: Stiffness Adjustable Tendon) with driving wires. We performed verification by experiments about joint stiffness adjust function by tensile control of SAT, and about possibility of force control without force sensors.

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A parallel wires driven mechanism with 6 or 7 wires can control position and orientation of a suspended object. However, it is not easy for the precise control of orientation by wires' length especially for large s ale wire suspended mechanism. We propose a pared type parallel wire mechanism which always keep the suspended object horizontally. When the control of orientation for the suspended object is needed, then we just add lo al actuators on the suspended object as an option. The positioning mechanism can be realized by only three motors. When the case of large scale parallel wire mechanism, the wires tend to sag and to swing. In the paper, we thus investigate the effect of the sag and the sway for the pared type parallel wire mechanism, by the dynamical simulation and experiment.

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A parallel wire driven robot is considered as a parallel link robot, whose links are wires that are flexible and lightweight. The robot has several advantages. Parallel wire driven robots with such characteristics can be divided into 2 types, namely "Completely restrained type" (CR type) and "Incompletely restrained type" (IR type). Some research has already been done on CR type and IR type systems. If we can combine CR type with IR type, we can use a system that has characteristics of both CR and IR types. In this thesis, we propose a system that has both CR and IR type's configuration. To realize such a system, we propose a control method that can be used for both CR and IR types. We have developed a parallel wire driven system with eight wires. A method for determining the redundant parameters is proposed.

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