We have developed a wearable mobility and new interface, which is operated according to motions of a wearer with the wearable mobility. The mobility is composed of two parts. They are small wheeled mobile robots, which are mounted at sole of the both feet. In this paper, we introduce the developed mobility and propose a new interface to handle the mobility instinctively for the wearer with the mobility. Then, in experiments we show that it is can easy to perform following motions with the mobility, translational motion, walking motion, and going up/down in the step motion.

View full abstract

This paper describes a robot suit system to trace the motion by the experienced person, and to execute the motion by the in experienced person. The robot suit system consists of two robot suits. One is the robot suit to trace the motion which has encoders. Another is the robot suit to execute the motion by the motors using the measured data. We have developed the shoulder and elbow mechanism of the robot suits. We experimented the jab motion of boxing, the drumming operation and confirmed the basic performance of the robot suit system. We are going to reproduce the other physical motions using the robot suits.

View full abstract

Astronauts are struggling against decrease of physical function, such as muscle atrophy because of long space flight and its weightlessness. Thus today, they are using huge special machines in order to maintain physical function.This research aims to develop wearable training device to do muscle training under the zero-gravity. First, we measured Electromyograph and analysed the muscle activities during conventional barbell training.Next, we developed a simulation model to estimate the muscle activity level which varies with both motion position and and weight load. Using this model, we propose Semi-Active Load Control Mechanism, that enables to give similar training effect to conventional barbell training.

View full abstract

Anteflexion motion is absolutely necessary when we spend daily life which we carry, snow shoveling, farm work, etc. However, many people have lumbar pain because of anteflexion motion that causes a lumbar disk burden due to changing lumbar shape. For this reason, purpose of this study is make a motion measuring system that can estimate lumbar shape from measuring lumbar skin shape which is change when lumbar shape is change.

View full abstract

This paper describes an innovative passive element for assistive device and its application. S-FRP is an elastic composite consisting of FRP and rubber. S-FRP provides restoring force in 3 dimension. A prototype of S-FRP and its basic characteristics are shown. Moreover, a prototype of KEIROKA-assistive suit using S-FRP for supporting back bend motion is developed. The authors show experimental results that the prototype suit can reduce 20% of muscular activations in back bending and stretching motions.

View full abstract

We are developing a passive power assist supporter called Smart Suit Lite. Smart Suit Lite reduces lumbar load by utilizing the elastic force of elastic belts. In this research, we performed basic experiment that evaluates effect of reduction in joint torque by using humanoid robot HRP-4C. The humanoid robot has high reproducibility of the motion, and its joint torques are able to be measured easily. In the result of the experiment, we observed a clear decrease of the lumbar torque when wearing the device during lifting motion. Furthermore, because the correlation were found between the decrement of torque, assist force and joint angle, it was confirmed that the assist mechanism of Smart Suit Lite are realized as designed in terms of joint torques.

View full abstract

RTM have merit of using in industrial field that was required multiproduct variable quantity production, since RTM is able to quickly construct robot system. However, a lot of industrial robots are unavailable in RTM, as RTC for controlling industrial robot that were ever created are only three RTCs. On the other hand, standards of ORiN become widespread in industry, so that industrial equipment that are usable in ORiN are increasing. ORiN exclude device dependence of manufacture and model as much as possible by standardizing communication interface between PC and robot controller. In this paper, we explain that development of RTM-ORiN converter coupled ORiN with RTM for industrial application of RTM.

View full abstract

This paper reports the development of the small-size manzai robots that are distributed driven based on RT middleware scheme. The manzai robots create their manzai scripts from web news articles using the data mining techniques automatically, and then the robots perform the manzai scripts. The RT components prepare the lines in the manzai scripts, manage the timeline of the scripts, and control the mobile robot bases and the robots' displays. Using the RT middleware scheme, we develop the software for the manzai robots with scalability of the robot bases. Experimental results show the feasibility of the proposed robots.

View full abstract

In this paper, we describe the large-scale database system using the Hadoop distributed file system to store sensor data from the mobile robot or intelligent house. By this approach, we would able to construct a more flexible database for the accumulated long sensor various information. And we mention about the RT-Component to upload data from distributed sensors.

View full abstract

In recent years, we have been able to get the multi-core CPU board called TV stick at a low price easily. These device are able to run long-term with low energy and has a few USB interface. By these devices, sensors and RT-Middleware, we could construct RT-Component modules easily. In this paper, we describe RT middleware development environment for them.

View full abstract

In this paper, we aim to develop a custom-made environment control system (ECS) in order to support daily living for physically handicapped persons. We modularized the ECS "Bio-remote" developed at Hiroshima University based on OpenRTM. The modularity enhanced flexibility and expandability of Bio-remote, and it made possible to operate by combining multiple input signals. In addition, we performed a trial test with an upper limb amputee in a room which was build to evaluate Bio-remote. We confirmed the operation of the prototype system and the advantage of the modularity that the system function can be easily modified and added.

View full abstract

This paper describes development of an autonomous mobile robot and a remote operating system aimed for industrial applications using RT-middleware. The system is equipped with a minimum set of modules that service robots must have and does not provide actual services but is to show the feasibility of software development using RT-middleware. The remote operation system supports selection of destinations as well as the monitoring of the robot status and the scene around the robot through a wireless communication network. We also developed a program that makes it easy to launch the robot system using RT-Middleware. We confirmed that the system works successfully through experiments.

View full abstract

For starting new robot business, a lot of resource is necessary to develop a robot system. But it is difficult to expect the effect of the robot without a product robot. So we propose the rapid prototyping of a robot using RT middleware which makes the prototype robot development easy. And it enables to clear the robot effect and problems in a short time. In this research, we developed the system of "Mobile photography robot" as an example. The validity of the RT middleware system was confirmed by using different two robots.

View full abstract

We implemented the dynamic sensor network, using movable data-loggers that we developed with 'Raspberry Pi' (single-board-computer) and the extend-sensors-board. We combined this sensor network with cloud-computing to realize a scalable data processing system. In this paper, we describe method of implementing sensor network and trial utilization of the scalable data processing system.

View full abstract

In this study, we improved a human coexistence feature for robotic vacuum cleaner Roomba through use of movement discrimination function by environmental camera. Specifically, the environmental camera recognizes movement of a human (No Human, Walking, and Staying) by using Cubic Higher-order Local Auto-Correlation. Then Roomba gets the movement information, and moves in accordance with it. In the case of No Human, Roomba continues cleaning. If the movement information is Walking, Roomba stops. When Roomba gets the information of Staying, Roomba avoids the human while cleaning by using potential field. We implemented this feature by using OpenRTM-aist. In order to confirm effectiveness of proposed function, we conduct experiment.

View full abstract

Visual markers are useful assistive tools for object manipulation. Existing planar visual markers (AR markers) have poor accuracy in pose estimation, especially in frontal direction. Tanaka et al. solved this problem by a novel principle using two lenticular lenses and a microlens array. These two types of markers display a changing two-dimensional moire pattern according to the visual-line direction. We can extract pose information from patterns by a single camera. We developed two RT components based on common interface (I/F) for cameras to recognize these visual markers for the precise pose estimation. In this report, we describe the class constitution and interface design of each RT component, and show a test result by each sample RTC which we prepared for operation check.

View full abstract

The object of RT-middleware is promoting reuse of robot software through modularization of RT functional components. On the other hand modularization is deeply connected with system architecture and interface standardization. Thus realization of RT systems modularity is very complicated problem. This presentation tries to clear key issues of RT systems modularity and points out subjects for further discussion.

View full abstract

This paper has described the modularization concept of the rescue robot UMRS2010, one of the controlled mobile robot group for disaster exploration activity support. In order to unify a mobile robot group, compatibility is given by standardizing a robot's function. The modularization using OpenRTM-aist for that is described.

View full abstract

In this paper, we performed biodynamic verification of a normal gait muscular activity model gait with lower foot orthosis muscular activity model and using Bayes estimation. In creating this model, we aimed to enable quantitative selection of lower foot orthoses based on a patient's muscular activity in the lower foot. This model allows for not only the estimation of muscle activity, but also another closely related parameter through the change in muscular activity, which is a parent node to the muscle activity node. Here, we verify the biodynamic validity of the normal gait model and gait with lower foot orthosis model parent node for two foot muscles.

View full abstract

Tibial stress fractures are one of the most common and potentially serious overuse injuries in runners. Despite the fact that the tibial stress fractures are related to vertical ground reaction force at early contact phase, a few study has been done for quantification of the variability of the risk parameters. The aim of this study was to quantify the variability of risk parameters for the stress fractures in able-bodied runners. Eight male subjects were asked to run at three different velocities (2.5, 3.0, 3.5 m/s) on a treadmill mounted on the force plates. From the vertical ground reaction force, we calculated coefficient of variation (CV) following lower extremity loading variables; vertical impact peak, vertical instantaneous loading rate and vertical average loading rate. We found that there were no significant differences in the CV of the loading variables in each speed, indicating that variability of loading variables during running is independent from running speeds.

View full abstract

In this paper, we propose a method for estimating the pose of a human hand by orientation histograms. This method can estimate the pose of a human hand without placing any makers and using motion capture which is much expensive. First, some postures of a human hand model are generated using Dhaiba Hand. After getting the point cloud data of a human hand by using RGB-D sensor, histograms of normals are generated from a hand model and a point cloud. Those orientation histograms are compared with each other with Residual Sum of Squares. The result of the experiment shows that the hand posture could be estimated comparing with 3 postures of hand model using this method.

View full abstract

It is said that the gait pattern between adults and children are different. An index easy to comprehend is often used, for example step length and step width. In this research, we reduced the dimension of gait by using PCA and represented gait in lower dimensional space. After that we evaluated changeof gait between child and adults. We revealed that the gait in children change linearly in lower dimensional space. However, gait in adults doesn't appear the extension of the line.

View full abstract

In this paper, we conducted principal component analysis for hand postures measured by motion capture system when subjects were performing typical manipulative tasks in daily life. The results of analysis demonstrated that the 1st to 3rd principal components account for coordinate phase finger motion, while the 4th to 6th principal components account for opposite phase finger motion. This result indicates that complexity of hand motion can be analyzed by mapping the motion into the principal component space, and evaluating magnitude of the principal component scores.

View full abstract

In this paper, we conducted analysis of lifting task focusing on the center of pressure (CoP) at finger pad. The result of the experiment showed that the movement of the CoP during the task was almost identical regardless of the weight and friction conditions. The result of the finite element analysis showed that the nonlinear material property of finger pad plays an important role to produce this phenomenon, since it changes stiffness of finger pad.

View full abstract

This study was focused on a plantar skin deformation for estimating foot shape deformation of vertical and horizon. Images of plantar skin during a walk were collected by a high speed camera. Foot shape deformation was focused on plantar skin slip length by time. Plantar skin slip length was measured by using Feature points of plantar skin calculated by using harris corner image processing method and KLT method. After calculated, result suggested that human's effect of shape deformation reduced by aging. In conclusion, the plantar skin deformation measurement has a potential to estimate foot status and risk of fall.

View full abstract

The various microphone arrays are considered only 2-dimensional directivity control in previous research. In order to form the same directivity in every direction on the space, we made the truncated icosahedron structure microphone array. This paper reports which the making microphone array forms 3-dimensional directivity and can accentuate an objective voice. We selected the method called Delay-and-Sum Beam Forming (DSBF), because it is robust in real environments. The DSBF method can capture a sound at an objective angle locally to form a beam of high sensitivity. We examine the validity of the microphone array forming 3-dimensional directivity.

View full abstract

This paper describes results of verification whether visual attention can be estimated by Electro Dermal Activity (EDA). EDA is change in the electrical properties of skin in mental sweating caused by tension and agitation. In recent studies, it has been revealed that the overlap between brain activation area when emotion occurs and brain activation area when attention works. We made hypothesis that EDA vary depending on degree of attention. In this study, we verified this hypothesis from visual search in psychology. In visual search task of two different degrees of difficulty, the experimental results show that EDA response of difficult task is increased. From the above results, it is suggested that degree of visual attention is estimated by EDA.

View full abstract

This paper proposes a simulation-based learning support system that animates virtual environment in synchronization with a human's location and actions. The system provides learners with the sense that they have entered the virtual environment. The aim of the proposed system is to experience environment which we can't experience actually and to improve the interest and understanding about it. Obviously, it is impossible for learners to experience the actual past environment, and it is therefore difficult for them to understand this environment. This difficulty can be decreased by the proposed system, which provides learners with sense of immersion due to real body experience. As an evaluation, we conduct an experiment using the system, and interview the participants about the immersion. The experimental results confirm that most learners feel a tangible sense of immersion into the environment.

View full abstract

This paper proposes bicycle rider detection method using LDA (Liner Discriminant Analysis) based on CHLAC (Cubic Higher-order Local Auto-Correlation). The proposed method does not confuse rider with similar shape pedestrian such as bicycle pusher. In recent years, there are a large number of accidents happened while riding a bicycle. To prevent these accidents, bicycle rider detector is required for traffic monitoring camera system. Thus, many researches have been done in this filed. However, in previous works, it is difficult to discriminate robustly bicycle rider from pusher. In order to realize the detection to avoid confusing such similar shape pedestrian, the authors utilize CHLAC. Then, they integrate LDA with CHLAC for improving detection rate. In an experiment using video sequence, bicycle rider detection rate can be achieved 91.68%, which is 11.45% higher value than previous method using PCA. Experimental results prove effectiveness of the proposed method.

View full abstract

Nursing care needs taking individual patient state into consideration. Currently, grasping patient state such as ADL is done manually. However, this approach has problem which is difficult to record patient state at all times. In this study, we develop two kinds of location sensing systems for supporting nursing care; a bedside location system and an indoor location system. The bedside location system consists of Kinect sensor and human head detecting software, and the indoor location system consists of radio communication devices. These two systems allow us to monitor patient's location seamlessly from bedside and other nursing-care facilities. The fundamental function was evaluated.

View full abstract

Tracking method of moving objects using laser range finders can be applied to various applications. However, it is inefficient to make separate programs for each application, and it also causes bugs. This paper describes the designing of our versatile moving object tracking platform applied to several applications.

View full abstract

We have been developing motor-tendon-joint series connection type biomimetic soft actuators to make robots act jumping, running and dancing like animals. We developed an artificial silicone rubber tendon structure for the robot to mimic animal's muscular-skeletal structure. In the previous paper, we added an auxiliary motor to the one-axis jumping actuator to suppress the vibration at a fixed angle control. The vibration can be reduced by nipping between the main motor and the auxiliary motor. The experimental results of this actuator, however, showed that this structure had structural defects that the nipping force was restricted by the torque of the smaller motor at a fixed angle control stage, and the jumping force was also restricted by the movement of the slower motor. As a result, the jumping height of this actuator was decreased. In this paper, we newly developed an actuator mounted with the same twin motor to solve this problem. We used twin 200W DC coreless motors for the new actuator. The experimental results showed that we have succeeded in improving the simple jumping height up to 260 mm. It was, however, not possible to show the effectiveness of the tendon structure by bending and stretching jumping experiment. We are now creating a simulator of this actuator to investigate how to effectively utilize the tendon structure.

View full abstract

We have developed oscillation wing propulsion type fish robots called TDUNA5-2013 which were modeled tuna. This robot was powered by a 2.6kW DC Brushless motor and made swinging oscillated motion of caudal fin by a Scotch-yoke mechanism through planetary reduction gears. The caudal fin is rigid body with high aspect ratio and it has loosen ligaments to generate angles for the thrust force. The outer jacket is made of ABS resin using FDM type 3D printer and it is separated into three parts, a head, a body and a tail. The head is oscillated to the same phase of the tail oscillation by the reduced angle. This motion is generated by the movement of the pivot shaft of the tail oscillation. The total length is about 1750 mm. The experimental results of our previous study, however, showed that the water-proofing method of the outer jacket, oscillation mechanism, and the electrical parts are imperfect and we had to change the water-proofing method. In this paper, we modified the construction of the case of the oscillation mechanism. We also investigated the water-proofing method of the midair construction ABS block made by 3D printer. By using this water-proofing method, we newly reconstructed the three outer jacket parts. In our new jacket parts, we can install five supersonic sensors in the head, and finlets in the tail. We call our robot in this configuration as TDUNA5-2013b. In the first trial of the swimming experiments, however, the oscillation mechanism and its case was broken due to the insufficiency of fixation between the mechanism and the case. We are now repairing them and the experimental results of TDUNA5-2013b will be presented at the conference.

View full abstract

In this article, we have experimentally verified a relationship between the maximum thrust and a wing shape of a flapping mechanism driven by magnetic field. The wing consists of a small NdFeB permanent magnet and a polyimide film, and can flap by magnetic torque in alternating magnetic fields. At first, the approximate expression regarding the maximum thrust at the resonance frequency was derived under some assumptions. Next, the maximum thrust was examined as the wing shape was varied. As a result, it was verified that a thinner wing with short length is effective to generate larger thrust.

View full abstract

Robots built by biological material are expected to have a self-modification of its function and shape. In this study, we proposed microrobot that self-driving prompts self-organization. It is known that cells self-organize by adopting mechanical stimulations. The microrobots can self-modify their orientations and distributions of cell by adopting mechanical stimulations induced from microrobot driving. The microrobots were built by culturing neonatal rat ventricular cardiomyocytes on collagen thin sheets and driven by self-contraction of cardiomyocytes. Then, we designed microrobots body which has mechanically weak area. After 1 week cultivation of microrobot, cardiomyocytes localized in this area and microrobot motion changed.

View full abstract

This paper describes effects of the wings for flapping-wing robots on thrust forces. A dragon-fly inspired robot with four wings driven by four-bar link mechanisms was developed. Four types of wings that have various sizes and shapes were prepared for the robot and the thrust forces generated by the wings were measured using a balance. The time-averaged thrust was calculated from the balance of moments. Experimental results show that 20% decrease in wing size causes 40% decrease in thrust force, if the wings have the same shape. Thrust of the wings that have similar shape to dragonfly's wings is 1.2 times larger than that of rectangular wings.

View full abstract

This paper describes effects of abdominal shake of a butterfly-inspired robot on change in body pitch angles. A flapping-wing robot that has a mechanism for abdominal shake was developed. Angles of flapping and the abdominal shake for insect butterfly during general flight are 100 to 170 degrees and 20 to 35 degrees, respectively, while flapping and abdominal-shake angles of the robot are 108 degrees and 27 degrees, respectively. Therefore, these movements were properly reproduced. Furthermore, right and left flapping, and abdominal shake were synchronized. The abdominal shake of the robot with a heavier abdomen generated larger moment, and caused larger change in the body pitch angle.

View full abstract

Human's musculoskeletal system have multiple and redundant DOFs both in skeltal structures and muscle arrangements. We built tendon driven musculoskeletal humanoid named Kenshiro. To generate motion interact with external force, it's important to control wire which is equivalent to muscle as human based on not only wire length but also wire tension. However, planar muscle of Kenshiro that enables planar binding is not suited for wire tension based control. We tackle this problem by comparative experiment on the desk and as a result we improved planar muscle's responsivity at muscle stiffness control. Finaly we realized Kenshiro's driving motion as one example of human musculoskeletal real simulation.

View full abstract

Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) is one of the simplest multi-celled organisms whose body is composed of about 1000 cells. C. elegans has only 302 neurons devoted to information processing, and its interconnecting structure has been completely revealed anatomically. This has given an advantage to using C. elegans to reveal primitive information processing mechanisms in neural circuits, and various neural models have been proposed. The previously proposed models, however, were simulated in an ideal virtual environment created in the computer and could not consider the indeterminate noise from actual environment. We thus propose a model construction method using an articulated robot to verify the computational capability of the neural network model for information aquired from actual environment. We also report that the proposed method enabled construction of a model that calculates spatial and temporal light gradients from sensed brightness containing influences of head swings of the robot as well as indeterminate noise, and successfully simulated chemotaxis behavior of C. elegans.

View full abstract

Robot that uses body-propulsion like the snake can moves in the weak grounds and bad environments. We modeled the motion of snake and analyzed it mathematically. Thereby, we can calculate a trace of the motion of snake. In this study, we focused on the method that a snake crawls while touch a few parts of body to the ground and receives static friction. The sidewinding which the snake of the sandy area performs is this example. As a result of analysis, I found a good posture of the movement efficiency most. I performed numeric calculation about distance of movement.

View full abstract

For snake-like robots, lateral undulatory locomotion has been realized by attaching passive wheels that prevent sideway slip. Utilization of anisotropic friction has been confirmed by biological experiments and considered to be an important factor of lateral undulation. Meanwhile, snakes in nature do not always rely on the anisotropy. In fact, on a smooth and flat surface, they change the weight distribution and concentrate contact force on specific parts of the body, which is known as sinus lifting. This paper shows that lateral undulation can be achieved even with isotropic friction by increasing weight on the point where the magnitude of curvature derivative becomes large.

View full abstract

In stomach X-ray examination, the abdomen of a patient is pushed for taking clear images of the stomach. Especially for detailed examination, various parts of the abdomen must be compressed. However conventional stomach X-ray apparatuses have no pushing mechanism for prone position patient. In this report, we have developed a soft mechanism which can push various parts of the abdomen. The mechanism consists of five pneumatic actuators and has radiolucency. We conducted volunteer tests and confirmed that by changing the pressurizing actuator the obtained image can be changed with corresponding to the pushing area, and rugae in each part can be observed.

View full abstract

At present, no practical training for maxillofacial palpation has been conducted in the dental education curriculum. Against this educational background, the coauthor dentists requested us to develop a virtual training system that enables dental students to undergo maxillofacial palpation against a patient. Then, this paper presents a virtual training system for maxillofacial palpation by using virtual reality and haptic interface. In the present stage, we use multi-CT image of PHANToM to construct a virtual patient model. The graphics and dynamics of the patient model are processed based on linear finite element method. Our experiment using PHANToM Omni as a Haptic interface accomplished real-time interaction between the patient model and haptic interface.

View full abstract

In the current medical field, drug containers and surgical instruments used for surgery are counted and recorded to the chit one by one after the surgery by manual labor of medical staff. However, many kinds of surgical instruments and drugs are used in one surgery, and resemble each in shape. In addition, drugs need to be assorted according to if insurance can be requested. Thus, the following problem exists: causes human error such as error in writing or forgetting to write, and burdens medical staff. To deal with these problems, the equipment processing system not to go through the hand of the person is ideal, and to distinguish and manage subjects automatically is necessary.

View full abstract

This paper proposes a method for real time suture simulation of soft tissue by using corotational FEM. A proposed method is divided into two parts. First, simulaiton of the process of thread going through soft tissue was realized by collision detection between thread and soft tissue and by the penalty method to define reaction force between tissues. During suturing, self-collision between one part of the soft tissue and another part occured. Therefore, the penalty method was used to deal with the self-collision. Second, simulation of the process of a suture needle piercing into soft tissue was realized by collision detection between suture needle and soft tissue and by using a coarse method to update collision points to reduce calculation cost.

View full abstract

This paper presents a RBC fatigue evaluation. The fatigue state is defined by the times of reciprocated mechanical stress when the extensibility and the recoverability states conclude to the same value. Our challenge is how to construct a system capable of achieving stable and accurate control of RBC in a microchannel. By utilizing a new developed syringe pump and an online high-speed camera, we could achieve continuously observing the length of RBC over 1000 times reciprocated mechanical stress. Experimental study on RBCs were conducted with the developed system. Through the experiments, we found that the fatigue state of each cell has a fairly well correlation with its own extensibility, and it implies that a cell with better extensibility could sustain more reciprocated stress.

View full abstract

A system for evaluating deformability of red blood cells (RBCs) from whole blood is proposed and tested. From previous studies, it is known that RBC characteristics are significantly changed under different solutions, and the plasma of blood is the most natural and friendly environment for RBCs. As a result, it will be the best if RBCs can be evaluated in plasma. Therefore, we developed a system of on-chip evaluation for whole blood based on microfluidics. The plasma is firstly separate from whole blood by a sub stream, and later join the main stream again to achieve diluting RBC concentration. The deformability index based on cell size change is utilized for evaluation. From the experiment, we successfully evaluate RBCs without using any artificial buffer.

View full abstract

In the field of life science, techniques for micromanipulation in the micro area are indispensable. Operation with high accuracy and high efficiency is a significant burden on the operator. To solve this problem, a two-fingered microhand has been developed. The microhand operates two glass needles as end-effector like chopsticks, and manipulates cells with them. But the shape of glass needle is not the best for manipulating cells. In this paper, improved end-effector which replaces the glass needle is described. New design of end-effector is proposed and fabricated by semiconductor processes. Then we perform microbeads transporting experiment and indicate the usefulness of the end-effector.

View full abstract

In this paper, we achieved three dimensional (3D) assemblies of spheroids towards 3D in vitro cell structures. The 3D assembly of cells is one of the important techniques to reveal cell growth, differentiation and hystogenesis for applications in tissue engineering, drug screening, and cell characterization. The spheroids were used as building blocks for 3D structure and thermoresponsive gel was used for spheroids assembly. The mouse myoblast cells C2C12 was cultured in an ultra-low attachment surface flask and the cells were naturally aggregated to form spheroids. The thermoresponsive Gel probe (GeT probe) we proposed was employed for assembly of the prepared spheroids in 3D. The handled spheroids by GeT probe were cultured inside the thermoresponsive gel and the cell viability was confirmed. The results validate that the GeT probe can manipulate spheroids with keeping live condition of cells and achieve 3D cell assembly inside the thermoresponsive gel with arbitrary patterning.

View full abstract

Among various medical problems facing us in today's Japan are rapidly aging society, localization of medical doctors, concentrated visits of patients to large hospitals, etc. Development of diagnostic and treatment support systems is considered a solution to a pressing problem to help reduce loads on medical doctors. So, we have developed the ReDAT (Robotic-echography for Diagnostic and Treatment support system) to be able to diagnose by cooperative operation. However, the conventional system is not implemented yet the angle control system and probe pivot manipulation. Therefore, in this paper, we have constructed the position and angle control system for probe pivot manipulation. The mechanism for angle control is required to be small in size and light in weight, so that the position and control system works high accuracy and high-speed. Then, we have developed the mechanism using a wire drive, and performed experiments to confirm the accuracy and responsiveness.

View full abstract