A novel 6 dof parallel robot 6 driven by 2 arms is proposed. This robot is redundantly driven by 8 actuators. By the special arrangement of the mechanism, the proposed parallel robot has combined of kinematic redundancy and actuation redundancy. The kinematic redundancy contributes to the singularity avoidance, and the actuation redundancy contributes to backlash removing by acting the internal forces on the mechanism. The proposed parallel robot has large workspace with the singularity avoidance, and high accuracy with the backlash removing. In this paper, design concept of the parallel robot and how to manipulate the combined redundancy are discussed in detail.

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We have proposed a mechanism and control method of a high speed parallel mechanism with driving force redundancy. However, when such a parallel mechanism is driven at high speed, it has the possibility to produce large internal forces. In order to reduce such internal forces, we have proposed the method of introducing kinematical redundant degrees of freedom into such a parallel mechanism. Furthermore, we suppose that high accurate motions can be realized by applying the control method we proposed to the mechanism. In this paper, we verify how the mechanism and the control method can reduce the internal forces and realize high accurate motions by experiments.

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This paper presents a kinematic design of a rotational parallel mechanism, which can perform rotational output motion around two-axes and translational motion of the target point, the center of rotation of the output link. It has an asymmetrical structure and is composed of three connecting chains; one target point control chain with actuators for changing the target point position (TPC), and two rotational motion generating chains having a single input joint in each chain for generating rotational output motion (RMCs). In our previous study, structural synthesis has been carried out and kinematic structures have been clarified in which translational and rotational output motions are fully decoupled, and displacement analysis of one of the structures has been formulated. In the present paper, optimal design of this mechanism was performed taking into consideration actuation and constraint characteristics, and motion range of passive joints in the mechanism. Numerical examples were given to show the effect of the kinematic parameters on the characteristics of the mechanism. Based on the analysis, kinematic parameters have been determined and a prototype mechanism has been designed and built. Experimental results were shown to support the proposed design.

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Stewart platform type parallel link mechanism has been widely applied to the driving simulators and the flight simulators. Additionally, the load test device for the automotive development that consists of the several parallel mechanisms has been reported recently. In such a case, it is preferred that the load against the parallel mechanism is equally shared with the actuator of the parallel mechanism. To solve this problem, simple geometric model that the universal joints of the parallel mechanism were configured at the vertex of the equilateral triangle was introduced. The design condition that actuators equally share the load was derived via this geometric model. In this paper, the detail of the derivation of this condition is described.

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We have developed an intracellular delivery system combining an array of needles and microelectrodes to control the functions of single cells at the same time in multiple conditions. In this study, we demonstrated an intracellular delivery using a single glass needle, transparent microelectrodes, and microwell arrays. An array of microwells was fabricated in SU-8 photoresist on a transparent electrode. We applied a DC voltage between an electrode placed in a glass needle and a substrate electrode and generated an electrokinetic flow. A glass needle was inserted into a cell cultured in a microwell and fluorescent DNA was delivered by electrokinetic forces.

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We have made up a portable device for reverse transcription, the first step in ribonucleic acid (RNA) expression analysis. RNA expression analysis is significant for early detection of diseases. Although quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) is generally used in the analysis, there are two problems for early detection diagnosis. First, the conventional qRT-PCR devices are too heavy and large for portable use. Also, the conventional devices require a lot of expensive reagents, resulting in high medical cost for the patients. To solve these problems, we aimed to develop a portable micro device for qRT-PCR. In this report, we achieved to perform multiple reverse transcription by 1 ttl by using the prototype device. Basic performance for precise measurement of reverse transcription was verified experimentally.

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We propose optical fiber array device for spatial position detection of fluorescent particles. Optical fiber array device can detect optical intensity depending on distance of between tip of optical fiber and fluorescent particles. Optical fiber array device is composed of eight optical fibers which are collocated with a distance of 200 μM by taking account of the distance of connection between nerve cells. We employed fluorescent bead as pseudo neuron in evaluation experiment of optical fiber array device. Each fiber could successfully detect fluorescent intensity of fluorescent bead depending on between the tip of optical fiber and fluorescent bead. Spatial position detection of fluorescent particles was successfully demonstrated in culture gel using the optical fiber array device.

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In this study, we propose a novel micro valve usingPluronic^[○!R] F127 as thermally responsive solution. It was hard to integrated conventional micro valves into micro devices because of their complicated composition. Thus, we propose novel micro valve to be integrated with pneumatic micro actuator. The thermally responsive solution valve was designed and fabricated by using micro channel containing thermally responsive solution with micro heater. The micro valve can be reversibly driven by heating and gellirig of thermally responsive solution. Furthermore,we integrated the micro valve topneumatic balloon actuator and successfully controlled its actuation by developed micro valve. Integration of a valve into pneumatic actuator allows designing compact pneumatic actuator system.

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This paper presents a portable blood storage with thermal control system for higher frequent blood testing. The temperature of blood sample can be controlled by the proposed device by combination of heat release system and a peltier device. A portable battery was employed as a power source, in consideration to the device portability. Time course of sample temperature was measured, when the sample was cooled by the developed device. Time course of sample temperature was measured. when the sample temperature was maintained at a constant with and without fluctuation of ambient temperature. The human blood glucose in fresh blood and that in aged blood with different storing temperatures are also compared.

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This paper presents a novel manufacturing technology for microprobe electrode arrays which builds on our previous work using wire-bonding-based microprobe technology. Newly proposed manufacturing technology allows vertical probe structures having tips in the uniformed height. Vertical probe arrays are formed by special wire-bonding technology. The gold probes are clad by insulating materials such as photoresist. Thick photoresist pillars can be precisely patterned so as to embed and reinforce the vertical probes. Tips of electrodes are exposed and leveled by polishing. Sacrificial supporting material between pillars reinforces probes in polishing. Presented technology successfully provides an efficient method based on widespread manufacturing technologies such as wire-bonding and polishing. We could demonstrate a microprobe electrode with 100μm in height, 50μm in diameter. Reliable results of electrochemical evaluation will be also reported.

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This paper presents gel beads dispersed gold nanoparticles for hyperthermia therapy application. The gel beads can generate self-heating thanks to the absorbed photo energy by gold nanoparticles dispersed in alginate gel beads. Gold nanoparticles have strong absorbance in the near infrared light of wavelength 808nm and absorbed photo energy can be converted to heat energy. We focus on local hyperthermia for small animals for efficient drug delivery. Local hyperthermia makes it possible to aim at target site such as cancer and reduce the side effects. This paper will also show evaluation of temperature increase of alginate gel beads dispersed gold nanoparticles.

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We proposed and developed a novel three-dimensional (3D) microfabrication process to produce magnetitepolymer hybrid microstructures by the combination of two-photon microfabrication and selective electroless plating. In this method, 3D polymeric microstructures composed of two kinds of photopolymers were precisely created by twophoton microfabrication. The polymeric microstructures were additively and selectively magnetized by electroless plating. This selective magnetization process was based on the difference in reactivity between acrylate photopolymer and methacrylate photopolymer. In experiments, we demonstrated that alphabetical letter model composed of acrylate was only coated with magnetite by the selective electroless plating. In addition, we also fabricated a prototype of a magnetically driven microfluidic device, in which a magnetic microrotor was embedded in a microchannel. The 3D microfabrication process based on two-photon microfabrication and selective magnetization is expected to be applied in a wide range of area such as functional lab-on-a-chip devices and biological applications.

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Recently, metallic nanowires have been applied in various applications such as plasmonics and nanoelectronics. To construct nanodevices using metallic nanowires, manipulation and fixation techniques of nanowires are indispensable. Here, we proposed a novel method for two-dimensional manipulation and fixation of a metallic nanowires using dual-beam optical trap. By irradiating dual beams to both ends of a metallic nanowire, the metallic nanowire can be trapped between the Gaussian beams due to gradient force. Then, by increasing the laser power, the metallic nanowire is fixed on the substrate due to aggregation of metallic nanoparticles containing the sample solution. In this study, we examined the optical radiation pressure exerted on a metallic nanowire by electromagnetic field analysis. We demonstrated the attitude control and fixation of metallic nanowires using dual-beam optical trap.

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This paper reported ECLIA (Electrostatically Controlled Linear Actuator) integrated with an electronic connecting technique using conductive liquid. All physical resistance resulting from this technique is fluid resistance which is resulted by the probe moves in the conductive liquid. Therefore this technique allows reducing physical resistance compared with conventional wire. The slider of ECLIA can move in a long range by using this connecting technique. In order to control the motion of the slider, we integrated the slider with a micro position sensor, which is a potentiometer using conductive liquid. The developed slider was successfully demonstrated to drive and detect movement as designed.

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We proposed novel optically-driven microtool which can control cell adhesion on its surface. The proposed microtool is made of polystyrene microbead coated with thermo-responsive gel, Poly (N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm). Target cells can adhere on the surface of the microtool at more than Lower Critical Solution Temperature(LCST) (> 33 ℃), and cannot adhere at less than LCST (< 29 ℃). Thus, the microtool can transport target cell by adhering the cell on its surface at high temperature. The microtool can be heated by infrared laser used for optical tweezers, and the temperature of the microtool surface can be controlled by changing laser power and/or environmental temperature. We theoretically analyzed the controllability of the temperature, and experimentally evaluated the cell adhesion by changing environmental temperature. Furthermore, we confirmed that target cells can adhere to the tool by irradiating laser with 65 mW, and cannot adhere to the tool with 29 mW.

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Biomimetic robots are possible to investigate aquatic lives without affecting them. Our laboratory has developed a Manta robot that has propulsion mechanism with pectoral fins, which are constructed by mimicking the pectoral fin of the manta ray. However, the swimming speed of the conventional Manta robot does not reach to those of many aquatic lives. In this paper, the propulsion performance of the Manta robot is improved by adopting a 3D streamline shape, which has a less propulsion resistance as the body shape of the robot. In addition, letting the Manta robot be autonomous can overcome a problem that a power cable interrupts the motion of the Manta robot. The effectiveness of the proposed method is proved by several swimming experiments using the improved Manta robot.

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This paper proposed a novel approach to the kichiji rockfish recognition method for investigation of the fish biomass. This method does not depend on the size, position and attitude of the fish, because SIFT feature with rotation invariant is used and is represented by vector quantization histogram. The experiment results showed that our method detected 94 % of object which is the fish from 37 photographs and recognized 57 % of the fish from detected image. And our method was able to recognize kichiji rockfish from SIFT features of the fish head. However, if more than one object is piled up, our method is a possibility of mistaken recognition because features of object other than target are used for recognition

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Underwater localization is important for underwater mobile robots to autonomously investigate marine resources. A method using inertial navigation system is a conventional underwater localization. However, it requires expensive sensors. In this study, we propose a laser odometry to localize an underwater walking robot. In the laser odometry using optical sensors, motion is estimated by tracking laser speckle patterns. However, measurement error increases when the sensor is tilted. In this paper, we describe the overview of our walking robot with the sensor, the principle of laser odometry, and the experimental results of investigating measurement accuracy, in which the accuracy is improved by considering a tilt angle.

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Recently, electric ship is being actively conducted in marine industry. Benefits are reduction of environmental impact and improved maneuverability and controllability. A ship that specializes in motility attention to control of the motor has been attracting attention. It is a 4-axis electric propulsion ship with four motors to the driving force. 4-axis electric propulsion ship tracks the magnitude of the direction and magnitude of thrust of the hull utilizing the control of the motor speed. This paper proposes a thrust estimation method that focuses on the axis placement of 4-axis electric propulsion ship. This paper evaluates thrust control using the estimation method by thrust measurement. Results of experiments suggest that the proposed method works properly and effectively.

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Deep ocean floor near Japanese island has been focused because of the potential occasion of large submarine earthquakes. Our agency has been developing submarine cable-based observatory systems to observe such deep ocean floor environment online and continuously. These systems consist of several observatory and submarine cables. The cable connecting procedure is operated by an underwater remotely operated vehicle (ROV). The cables for such observatory system must be deployed on active and rough ocean floor environment. It leads that the system might be damaged by unexpected environmental disturbance. Currently, such submarine cable routes are planned by experienced scientists. This paper describes fundamental study to plan the cable route for such system considering the risk of the potential future damage to the cables.

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Underwater robot for a long time and a wide range of activities has been desired in addition to the autonomous. This paper reports about the docking control to the station for the construction of wireless charging system using the underwater station as a way of operation autonomous underwater vehicle. It was successfully controlled to fit within the angular error off ±10 degrees and a distance error off ±100 mm.

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JAMSTEC has developed Autonomous Underwater Vehicle "JINBEI". The vehicle is a cruising type AUV with a weight of 2 ton and a length of 4.0m. The maximum operation depth is 3,000 meters. The major purposes are observation of underwater CO2 distribution in deep sea and exploration of seabed mineral resources. It has four rear-thrusters, two mid-ship azimuthal thrusters, and a rear X-rudder. The AUV is equipped with three main sensors; a multi-beam echo sounder, a side scan sonar, and a hybrid CO2-pH sensor. During KY14-15 cruise in December 2015, we carried out sea trials at Suruga Bay. The depth of the area is 1,300-1,500m. The vehicle succeeded in full-autonomous dive and acoustic observation with high-resolution. Through the dives, we confirmed that the cruising AUV "JINBEI" is one of powerful tool for survey of scientific observations.

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A position and attitude control method for underwater robots is being developed. The dynamics of underwater robots are nonlinear and include modeling errors such as fluid coefficients and unknown disturbances. In this paper, we propose an disturbance compensation control using the Extended State Observer for underwater robots. Detailed design procedure is discussed and the basic performance of the proposed method is verified with experiments.

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Supersonic wave communication is used for a mother ship and the communication of the underwater robot, but information transmission density is small, and a delay becomes the problem in the semiautonomous mission by the order from a mother ship at time. In this study, I simulate exercise of AUV control meeting suggestion of the operative technique of AUV in consideration of a delay and the use in that time.

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Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) are one of the key technologies for deep oceanic research. Several studies of AUVs have focused on thrust allocation limited in horizontal plane and designing control laws. Relationships between thrusters allocation and AUV s motion performance has not been clarified. If AUV s motion performance shifted to mission specialized by the relationships, we can expect oceanic research of more energy saving. In this paper, we propose an evaluation guideline for AUV s motion performance and a method of thrusters allocation based on proposed guideline. Additionally, we show numerical simulations which illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

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When ship is anchored a long period of time, a lot of marine life adhere to the hull.it is one of cause to be increased fuel cost, so that ship hull need regular cleaning. In general, the cleaning of ship hull is carried out on the ship inspection in dockyard or by divers in harbor. But these are high cost, and have a high risk of accident. One of the solutions to the problem is to use underwater robot in cleaning of ship hull. In this paper, we consider the attitude control method of underwater robot. In addition, we report on cleaning experiment.

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Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) is one of the key technologies for deep ocean research. However AUV cannot work long time due to battery capacity. To solve this problem, a noncontact power supply is required for AUV to conduct observations for extended durations. In this study, we use resonant energy transfer method which has a wide transmission distance. We report results of the performance evaluation in water environment.

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Marine vessels require periodic cleaning treatment to maintain the hydrodynamics and fuel efficiency that can be affected by marine organisms growing on the hull surface. Traditional method to ship hull cleaning is costly due to amount of the availability and risk. Underwater robots are being developed worldwide as another method to the task with reduced such burdens. A Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) for ship hull cleaning has been on development in Ishii laboratory, Kyusyu Institute of Technology, Japan. This study introduces a center of gravity control mechanism that enables the ROV align itself to curved surfaces of ship hulls by controlling its center of gravity.

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Underwater is a challenging work environment with high risks for human beings. One of the needs of the robot, the development of robots working in water extreme environment is expected. Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) are suitable for a wide range of search mission without restrictions from power cable, AUVs can move freely in every direction. In this research, we have developed an AUV named "DaryaBird" for coastal survey and integrated system with MATLAB/Simulink. Also we report the result of position control experiment of Surge and Sway direction.

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In this paper, we propose a compact swimming mechanism which has not only horizontal but also vertical slalom performance despite its compact body. The proposed mechanism has two distinguished features. One is the use of a water jet as a driving device for propulsion. The other one is the use of an elastic differential, which generates a two-dimensional deformation of a V-shaped elastic strip by driving the both ends with two rotational motors, for bending the flexible nozzle of the water jet laterally and vertically. Due to these features, the proposed mechanism can change its swimming direction quickly and smoothly. Experimental results in water show that the proposed mechanism can achive not only a horizontal slalom motion at intervals of 1.2 body length(350[mm]), but also a vertical slalom motion at intervals of 2.1 body length(600[mm]) with maintaining the maximum propulsion speed 1.46 body length per second (0.43 [m/s]

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In late years marine resources development advances, and the sustained use of the marine resource attracts attention. The change prediction of the marine ecosystemic grasp and sea life is necessary for the sustained use, and it is said that an underwater robot is useful for this. In AUV(autonomous underwater vehicle), underwater photography or the investigation into quality of the water are carried out, but, among underwater robots, the collection method of the bottom of the sea creature is not established. A reason includes difficulty of the action control of the underwater robot having difficulty and a manipulator of the bottom of the sea creature collection. Therefore, in this study, I paid attention to an underwater vacuum cleaner and robot hand and evaluated development, the performance of the new sampling equipment which could supplement each bad point by each other's good points.

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Robust self-localization is important for AUVs (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle), especially on missions where long distances are covered, in order to follow given waypoints accurately and also during processing of the obtained data. In order to improve the accuracy of the position estimate we propose a SLAM localization method based on images acquired by a single camera. It compares a topological map created based on features detected in photos acquired from different positions to a terrain map acquired with a different method, such as a light-sectioning. We propose a filtering method to improve feature-based matching between image pairs where the known bathymetry map is used for eliminating erroneous feature matches. At the same time the self-localization is estimated so that there is no contradiction between the motion parallax and terrain measurements. The performance of the proposed method was verified by field and tank experiments.

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An underwater vehicle system based on visual servoing technology with binocular wide-angle lens was developed to decontaminate radiation from mud in dam lake, river, regulation pond, sea and storage reservoirs in FUKUSHIMA. A real-time pose detection of target object through binocular camera system utilizing Genetic Algorithm(GA) for underwater vehicle is used, which is combined with servo controller, enabling to enhance stability performance of the vehicle's pose relative to 3D marker. The following results were derived: (1) The robustness of the proposed regulator system has been verified by exerting abrupt disturbance. (2) A robust stability for 3D pose control in visual servoing process was confirmed. This visual servoing experiment to regulate the pose of Autonomous Underwater Vehicle(AUV) is aimed at developing an AUV system to have the vehicle recharge batteries on it to continue decontamination work under the sea without being interrupted by returning to ship and recharging.

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Recently, underwater robots have been proposed use of the maintenance and inspection of underwater structures. However, these underwater robots will take a burden to the operator at the time of transportation, because there robots to be large. Therefore, the authors have developed an underwater robot with transformable frame. The frame contains strictly linear motion mechanism and it can reduce the width. Thus, the frame improves transportability of the underwater robot. Then, we experimented in a test tank to get the motion characteristic of underwater robots and confirmed that the robot is operating.

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Fish robots are expected to be used in biological survey and so on. It is known that velocity and efficiency of fish robots propulsion are affected by rigidity of their fins. Fins have the ideal rigidity in each environment around robots and robots velocity. So it is necessary to change the fin's rigidity in driving of the fin to achieve high efficiency and speed of robots. In this study, we proposed a smart fin structure with SMA wire which enables to control its rigidity easily. We tried to control SMA's rigidity by detecting its electric resistivity and changing the applied voltage. Behavior of the fin which is affected by the rigidity change is measured experimentally. As a result, control of fin's rigidity is achieved, and the effects for the fm's behavior and forces are investigated.

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Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is applied to various practical missions. However, few attempts have been made for transportation or manipulation of deformable linear objects. Thus, the aim of this paper is to establish the method for UAVs to manipulate the deformable linear object. As an example of an actual manipulation task, it is assumed that two UAVs avoid contact between a transported deformable linear object and an obstacle on the flight path. In order to accomplish this task, estimation of the shape of the transported deformable linear object is very important. This paper proposes a shape estimation method for deformable linear object using catenary curve and flight path planning while taking into account the above contact avoidance task. The proposed method is verified by flight experiment.

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We propose a new maneuvering method of quadrotor helicopter using a vane. In this method, quadroter helicopter can be moved horizontally. The vane is located under each propeller and generated lift for down wash of propeller. The composition this generated powers occurs horizontal maneuver. Flight test is done using control system for normal quadrotor helicopter. In flight test, airframe was controlled by lift generated by vane for level flight. But with the current control system, vane control interfered with attitude control by thrust difference of each rotor.

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Recently, R/C helicopter is used in field of aerial photography and investigation. But helicopter rotor blades are not covered, and the thrust is generated by very high rotational speed. So R/C helicopter has high risk. In this study, we developed a new flying object like the inverted pendulum that using two ducted fans instead of rotor blades. And we named it "Ducted fan Flying Object ver.3 (DFO3)". Each ducted fans have Gimbals mechanism of 2 degree of freedom as thrust vectoring mechanism. We try 3-axis (roll, pitch, yaw axis) attitude control by PI-D control and VTOL. PID gain has calculated by pole placement method and its simulation. We succeeded attitude control. However, control precision falls because of simulation precision problem and some mechanism problems. Therefore, we improvement "Ducted fan Flying Object ver.4 (DFO4)" basis of the DFO3 to solve the problems. DFO4 has nozzle mechanism instead of Gimbal mechanism.

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This paper presents the development of a flying robot that can carry an object having up to 4.1[kg]. The flying robot consists of four rotors, four legs and a body. Its width is 1130 [mm], its height is 415 [mm], and its weight is 6320 [g]. It is mainly made of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) and aluminum. Through flight experiments, the effectiveness of the mechanism of the flying robot is verified.

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Recently, demand of UAV(Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) is growing up due to the need for various applications such as aerial photography, disaster investigation and etc. UAV market is expanding as increasing demand of UAV application. As the number of UAV operators increased, the accident of UAV operated by unskilled operator also have increased. In this paper, the new control method of UAV is developed for safe and easy operations of UAV. Take-off and landing is particularly difficult operation in whole operations of UAV. The main reason of those difficulties is ground effect from ground. Instead of conventional method of taking off and landing, we propose the hand launching and the hand catching method. The hand launching method is a throwing UAV by operator's hand. The hand catching method is a catching UAV by operator's hand. By these methods, it is possible to perform easy and safe launching and catching.

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Vertical Take-Off and Landing(VTOL) aircraft has combined advantages of fixed wing aircraft and rotorcraft. Practical VTOL is rare because the VTOL mechanism is complex, also characteristics is different when hovering and cruising, and it is difficult to control the transition flight. The purpose of this study is development of Tailsitter VTOL using multicopter mechanism. It is maneuverability by selecting the mode of fixed wing aircraft and rotorcraft. We measured payload of prop unit. Test VTOL aircraft was designed and made from the measured payload. Hovering test was performed to examine maneuver because it takeoff and landing by hovering.

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Recently, quad rotor helicopter (QRH) is used for multiple uses such like aerial photographing and investigation at disaster site. Also QRH is the easy operationable UAV because of its structure. But, if one of the rotors is broken, QRH will fall dawn soonly. The methods to avoid falling down are emergency parachute, to increase rotors, etc. But these methods will raise cost and weight. Biblioglaphy[1] shows emergency landing control of QRH with image processing using embedded camera on the airframe. In this study, we propose a new emergency landing control of QRH with one broken rotor. The new method is to realize emergency landing control by controlling the rotational speed of diagonal rotor of damaged rotor.

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Recently, the humanoid robot can do various movements (walk, run, up and down the stairs, jump and dance). In addition, because the humanoid robot can work like a human, it is expected that the humanoid robot works as substitute for the people in the disaster area where human being cannot enter. However, the humanoid robot can move flatland and the stairs, but it cannot move over big step and debris by the current movement method. It is necessary to be able to go ahead when there is an obstacle. Therefore, we present the humanoid robot which is equipped each leg with duct fan. The influence of ground form disappears by hovering, and mobility improves.

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In this paper, we consider a flying strategy of a single rotor flying robot with vertical wings, with which we have a possibility to develop a very small and light-weight flying robot. Based on a flight experiment using its prototype with a size of 190×100×58[mm] and a weight of 19[g], we discuss a strategy for mild take-off and stabilization of a robot posture in the air in a feedforward manner.

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In this paper, a new sports genre, "Aerial Sports" is introduced where the humans and robots collaborate to enjoy space as a whole new field. By integrating a flight unit with the user's voluntary motion, everyone can enjoy the crossing physical limitations such as height and physique. The user can dive into the drone by wearing a HMD and experience the provided binocular stereoscopic visuals and sensation of flight using his limbs effectively. In this paper, the requirements and design steps for a Synchronization of visual information and physical motion in a flight system is explained mainly for aerial sports experience. The requirements explained in this paper can be also adapted to the purpose such as search and rescue or entertainment purposes where the coupled body motion has advantages.

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We measured the differential pressures of butterfly's wing surface at the time of take off. Simultaneously, we photographed high-speed videos from two directions. To measure the pressure, we attached a MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) differential pressure sensor on the wing surface. We analyzed the data with the videos to calculate the lift coefficient during the flight of a butterfly. Then we revealed the number of lift coefficient during the insects' free flight. The results suggest that the number of lift coefficient was bigger at the take off compared to during a flight. Furthermore, we revealed that the number of lift coefficient agrees with conventional study that have conducted in the same Reynolds number.

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This study is a proposal of small UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) localization technique in GPS (Global Positioning System)-denied indoor environment using dropping type AR (Augmented Reality) markers. For the in-door flight of UAV, self-localization is important. However, most of localization techniques are computationally expensive, such as SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping), and it requires high-performance on-board computers. Thus, it is appropriate for UAV localization to use augmented reality system because of low-calculation-cost. To clarify the possibilities of AR systems for indoor UAV localization, we implemented an on-board AR system, mounted a dropping device of AR markers, and implemented a localization method on a small multi-rotor UAV. Evaluation tests clarified the advantages and issues of the localization technique.

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We describe a vision-based automated control system of grasping for a robotic hand mounted on the top of the multi-copter airframe, developed for an upward directed aerial manipulation. In this system, position and orientation of the bar-like object are measured and the object in the hand is detected through the monocular camera image and the FPGA-based on-board processing. By combining these functions, positioning and grasping in aerial manipulation can be automatically performed.

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In this paper, we propose contra-rotating propellers and a thrust vector MAV. This MAV is for the use at indoor environment. It has 400 mm diameter and 1.1kg gross weight with a spherical outer shell. To reduce its vibration during hovering, an inertia balancer which compensates the angular moment difference between the upper and lower propellers was developed. Stable hovering, safe contact on a wall during hovering and re-take-off from various postures of MAV in landing were confirmed.

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From viewpoints of vibration and simplicity of treatment, electrical powered UAVs are superior to combustion engine-powered ones. However, flight time of battery powered ones are too short to perform inspection. Power supplying using tether from external power sources is one of solutions to extend flight time. Tether cable should be light and thin in order not to disturb UAV's flight. In this paper, several power supply methods using tether was analyzed. We concluded that high voltage power supply using DC-DC converter is the solution for tether power supplying.

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