We have been developing the wearable muscle suit for direct and physical motion supports. The use of the McKibben artificial muscle has opened the way to the introduction of “muscle suit” compact, lightweight, reliable, wearable “assist-bots” enabling manual worker to lift and carry weights. Muscle suit for lower back assist is already commercially available though, arm assist is also important. In this paper, we present the arm assist muscle suit in addition to back assist and some evaluation results will be shown.

A spray-coated tactile sensor having a simple structure which can be sprayed over complicated three-dimensional shapes such as curved surfaces is proposed. Contact points are detected as signal phase delay caused by the distributed constant RC circuit. In this paper, improvement of the sensor model is discussed. The sensor is modeled as a T-type concentrated constant RC circuit. To verify the sensor model, a step signal is applied to the sensor and the results of actual experiments and simulations are compared. The results show that the simulated response and the actual response are in agreement.

Lunch boxes usually contain soft food such as fried chickens and boiled eggs. It is difficult to manipulate soft food objects due to their deformation and variety in shape and size. In this research, we focus on the design of a sensor for grasping such objects using a robot hand. During food object manipulation, a robot hand often applies excess grasping force to the object, causing much deformation of the food, or destroying it. A capacitive force sensor was designed to deal with this problem. Capacitance changes according to the distance between electrodes so, by using this property, a robot hand was equipped with a couple of electrodes are able to measure the grasping force. Some experiments performed showed that the proposed capacitive force sensor successfully detects the change in the force during grasping.

The bloodstream promotion of the face appears to be useful to the beauty and relaxation. We proposed the small-sized wearable device that presents warm, cold, and vibration stimulations to the preauricular area that could promote bloodstream on a face. The previous study showed that the proposed device is effective to raise the surface temperature of the face and make users comfortable. In this study, we developed the glasses-type device for more practical applications. Furthermore, we tested whether the glasses-type device provides the effect similar to the previous study.

This study aims to detect impact position of baseball batting using a PVDF film. In this paper, we investigate responses of a PVDF film for the ball impact with different positions and intensities. Output from the PVDF film is normalized and filtered to eliminate the effect of intensity of the impact and extract a primary vibration mode. We calculate the largest signal from the obtained output as a parameter. Experimental result shows that the largest signal well reflects the longitudinal impact position and the longitudinal impact position might be estimated independently from the circumference position and the intensity of ball impact.

When we tap on the surface of the objects, damped collision vibrations occur. We can distinguish the materials by the perception of these collision vibrations. However, the discrimination ability is limited and unclear. This study investigated Just Noticeable Difference (JND) of the time constant, which is a reasonable factor relating for discriminating collision vibrations. We conducted psychophysical experiments to evaluate JNDs for two referenced time constants (10.8 and 50 ms) among five frequencies (150, 250, 500, 800 and 1000 Hz). The results showed that there were significant differences among reference time constant and we should use large step rate at the low time constant range.

Human collision perception relies on a force cue and a vibrotactile cue. However, vibrotactile feedback is still not so realistic, and current vibration feedback model still cannot explain the vibration in real collision conditions perfectly for a haptic rendering system. In this paper, we aim to investigate the brief tendency of vibration amplitude, frequency and decay rate changing with the attack speed as the first step for building the realistic vibration model. According to the results, we found that the vibration amplitude had a linear relationship with the attack speed when it was low, and the increasing tendency of vibration amplitude became slower with the increasing of attack speed. To reveal the details, we will conduct further investigation.

This paper reports a novel method of using air column to temporarily change microfluidic structure for cell seeding and culture in a microfluidic chamber. In conventional on-chip culture system, the medium flow has to be carefully controlled to prevent from excessive shear stress that washes out cells. We propose a method to directly seed cells into a stagnation area so that the cells can be stably cultured inside a microfluidic chamber without being affected by the flow. Air column is intentionally introduced during the seeding, and it forms a virtual wall, which temporarily changes the flow pattern. The changed flow allows the cell to flow into the stagnation area for seeding. The idea has been experimentally tested, and cells are successfully seeded and cultured in a single inlet chamber.

Bubbles with diameter of several hundred nanometers are known as nanobubbles. Oxygen nanobubbles are reported to increase the growth rate of animals such as fishes. The goal of this study is to understand how oxygen nanobubbles affect cell culture in microscopic view. We visualized the behavior of fibroblasts in the culture media with and without oxygen nanobubbles, and evaluated the shapes of cells. The experimental results suggest that oxygen nanobubbles promote cell growth in terms of extension on the substrate.

In cell culture, the pH of culture liquid is one of the most important conditions. However, culture liquid may have pH-gradient because of dissolved CO₂ especially when we apply pressure to cells, and it may affect cells. In order to confirm existence of pH-gradient, we propose a method for 3D pH measurement using the color change of phenol red. This method can measure vertical gradient of the pH by changing the position of LED light. Finally we confirm the reliability of the proposed method by the comparison with a commercial pH measurement method.

We found a new phenomenon of changing RBC color and named it "Chameleon Effect". When a RBC is compressed in a construction channel, the RBC dramatically changes its transparency level with the increase of loading time. Since it is well known that there are close relationships between diseases and the deformability of RBC, we focused on the correlation between this phenomenon and deformability. We experimentally show that the loading contributes to changing the mechanical impedance. In addition, we also examined the “Chameleon Effect” precisely and showed that this effect strongly correlates with the dynamic behavior of RBCs during shape recovery.

Cellular tissue made of smooth muscle cells becomes stiffer after applying cyclic pressure during the culture, and we call the procedure of applying such cyclic pressure as “Cell Exercise”. In conventional approaches, the pressure is applied using pressurized air, and consequently, the carbon dioxide in the air dissolve into the culture solution and changes the pH in the solution. The goal of this study is to create a system that keeps pH stable in the culture solution. We propose a method of applying pressure by hydrostatic pressure instead of pressurized air to avoid changing the pH of the solution. Based on the experimental results, we show that this method is sufficient to perform Cell Exercise.

This study demonstrated the feasibility of cell patterning on a cell culture surface with microstructure of cross-linked albumin. The cross-linked albumin has one-way dehydration process from solution to solid in a specified condition and cellular repellency. The microstructure of cross-linked albumin was fabricated on a cell culture dish by micro-casting method with a degassed polydimethylsiloxane micro mold with desired pattern. After cells were seeded and cultivated on the cell culture dish with microstructure, the cellular pattern of mouse skeletal myoblast cell line C2C12 was successfully observed.

Relationship between skin displacement and subjective sensation is indispensable for the design of tactile feeling display. Previous works on the observation of the skin displacement mainly used flat glass plate and a camera. However, the flat glass is not a representative tactile texture that we daily touch. We developed a system that can observe interaction between textured surface and finger skin by using technique known as index matching. In this paper, we report on accuracy of this measurement system and the results of skin deformation measurement using subjects.

It is known that a pseudo force sense as if pulled in one direction is generated by presenting an asymmetrical vibration stimulus with different acceleration in round trip. In this research, we utilized similar phenomenon using asymmetric rotational vibration of DC motor to present pseudo force sensation to multiple fingertips. In this paper, we investigated frequency characteristics of this phenomenon with two fingers; thumb and index finger, with grasping posture, showing that around 30Hz vibration is optimal. We also conducted an experiment to see equivalent physical force that this illusion generates, and it showed 10 to 30 gram force, with large variance among participants.

In recent years, the development of Virtual Reality is remarkable. And improvement of reality is also required. According to the requirement, the importance of the presentation of tactile sense has been increased as additional information with visual and auditory information. Especially, the friction feeling, which affects the operability of the object is focused in this study. In order to realize the human interface device for VR with tactile sense, the selection method of the actuator such as vibration motor has been examined. In this paper, response time required for stimulus presentation, vibration frequency and vibration amplitude are applied to selection. In addition, the mounting status of the actuator based on the outer shape is also consider at the comprehensively evaluation.

This paper showed the skin vibration caused by stick-slip phenomenon, which is useful for representing artificial frictional sensation. We conducted the experiments in which we measured skin vibration propagated from the fingertip and observed skin deformation by using a high-speed camera while stick-slip phenomenon. As a result, we confirmed that typical skin vibration occurs the status of fingerpad changes from stick to slip.

For versatile tactile rendering methods of collision sensation, we propose a method of simulating wave propagation using generalized viscoelastic models. The generalized viscoelastic models enable us to control attenuation value of simulated vibration, which leads to a versatile tactile rendering method.

This paper examined and discussed an examinations of the estimation skill of a controlled objects based on the multi modal information such as a tactile or a visual information. By the way to do the description to the indicate way to accomplish the task, it will be able to detect the phenomena to recognize the surround of the optical inflation. In the research, perceptual estimation of the dynamics of the controlled objects based on the tactile and visual information were discussed. Some experimental assumptions were investigate the validity of the proposed estimation methods.

In this study, we showed a design strategy of a bioreactor to produce platelets (PLTs) from megakaryocytes (MKs) using microfluidic chip. PLTs are generated from MKs by applying fluid force. In conventional study, slit structures have proposed for the improvement of producing PLTs. However, slit structures were difficult to adapt the size variation of MKs. In order to adapt a various size of MKs, we utilized a slope shaped microchannel. The effectiveness of the slope shaped microchannel was evaluated by using microbeads, and the results showed that microbeads were trapped in the slope shaped microchannel corresponding to its size. Finally, we evaluated the relationship between input pressure and flow volume. In the result, the flow volume linearly changed corresponding to input pressure. From these results, we confirmed that the proposed bioreactor will contribute to the on-chip platelet production.

This paper reports the measurement of oxygen distribution inside spheroid using fluorescence microbead sensor. Measurement of oxygen distribution inside the tissue such as spheroid is one of the most important issues for creating high-quality tissue and organ. Fluorescence measurement is suitable since the non-contact measurement is possible. This sensor consists of hydrophilic and biocompatible photo-crosslinkable resin, polyethylene glycol diacrylate, oxygen-sensitive fluorescence indicators, Ru(bpy)₃]Cl₂ and STELLA. Ratio measurement of fluorescence microbead sensor using two indicators for absolute and robust measurement of oxygen against photo-bleaching. The fluorescence microbead sensor was calibrated with oxygen and inserted into the spheroid. A demonstration of measurement of the time-course variation of oxygen concentration inside the spheroid was performed.

Active Scope Camera (ASC) is the robot video scope that can move by itself to probe narrow gaps for rescue missions. ASC has the ciliary vibration drive mechanism which generates a propellant force to travel in rubble. We had proposed a method to lift up the tip of the ASC stably by using air jet and a flexible passive parallel mechanism, which enabled ASC to climb over steps. However, enough evaluation of the mobility, especially quantitative evaluation, had not been done yet. In this paper, the quantitative evaluation of the mobility in terms of turning motion and step climbing is conducted. In addition, the mobility on rubble is also evaluated through the experiments. These evaluations make It clear that the air-jet-type ASC has higher mobility than the previous non air-jet-type ASC.

We have been developing the flexible hose type robot which is filled with water and actuated by water jet. We aim to use it for the fire-fighting: the hose flies to fire sources by using water jet from the outside of a building, then extinguishes the fire directly with the water without a risk to the rescue workers' life. Previously, we have proposed a simple control method to make the hose float stably by water jet with 2 dimensional model. In this report, the flexible hose is modelled by 3 dimensional N rigid bodies. Then, we investigate the physical features of the simple control method. We find that the simple control method still has physically feasible property, the control input can be represented by potential function.

This paper presents an integration experiment of high output hands with a four-limbed robot. If a legged robot holds a heavy object or performs powerful work while standing on two legs, there is a high possibility of falling unless the balance is properly maintained. Therefore, it is effective to keep a large support area by standing with three limbs or by grounding the body. The four-limbed robot with high output hands succeeded in holding a 15.6 kg hammer drill for more than 30 minutes by sitting back on its haunches.

This paper proposes a novel motor cooling method using direct-liquid cooling by immersing a heat source directly into coolant. Direct-liquid cooling is more effective than air cooling and indirect-liquid cooling because a heat source and coolant are in direct contact with each other. Further, if the shape of the shaft is designed to be able to perform heat transfer by forcibly circulating the coolant by the rotation of the motor itself, it will be possible to prevent the actuator unit from being enlarged.

The teleoperation system projects the model of the robot onto an image obtained earlier by the camera equipped on the robot in order to provide a third person viewpoint for the operator. The image of the robot from a third person viewpoint enables the detection of the robot malfunctioning and allows for the relative position between the robot and surrounding environment to be obtained more easily. In this paper, we adapt this technique for a legged robot performing a crawling motion on rough terrain. From experiments, we have confirmed that the teleoperation system mentioned above provides an image of the robot from a third person viewpoint and is effective for controlling a legged robot performing a crawling motion.

The paper proposes a stability improvement method of 6-DoF MCL (Monte-Calro Localization) for arbitrary motion of hand-held sensing application. In previous work[3], odometry-free 6-DoF localization was achieved using 6-axis IMU and 3D-LIDAR with the designed inertial state vector. Based on this method, we first examine the effect of each state with basic sensor motions. Then, we propose two modification; 1) point cloud extraction for better shape matching, 2) separated calculation of position and orientation. The basic evaluation results show that the proposed method improves the stability for known issues; at yawing motion and motion with tilted sensor.

We introduced phase alignment procedure, warping method and proposed homologous analysis for time-series gait data. From this analysis, we revealed the principal features including phase and time variations, while the conventional PCA handled phase variations as amplitude variations. The different gait patterns with extracted features were reconstructed and simulated at heel contact and toe off by FEM. The results showed the difference in plantar pressure and contact area, according to the change of joint angle not to foot shape or property. Our proposed method can analyze the phase and amplitude variations. Moreover, that can reveal the kinetic features for characteristic gait pattern with kinematic features.

Fall is the leading cause of injuries in walking. Previous researches found that features such as step length, cadence and minimum toe clearance are useful for evaluating fall risk. However, most of previous researches focused on inter-subject (healthy and patient, younger and elderly) differences measured under laboratory environments. Walk is achieved by interaction between human body and environment. In this paper, we developed step length GIS (Geographic Infomation System) by measuring walk in daily movement and evaluated effect of environment on fall risk. Step length was calculated from contact points and visualized as colored line representing the change of the step length. We found that the ratio of variability in step length was larger when the subject were climbing up the stairs than when they were walking on slope and flat plane.

For elderly persons, their physical loads for housework are needed. In this study, joint torques as the physical loads when a house-worker swept a floor surface with a cleaning tool by three types of the cleaning motions were investigated by using a motion capture system and some force sensors and a fixed point camera in order to optimize the physical loads by housework. From the results, it was found that dusts were cleaned out in similar way by three types of cleaning motions. However, it was also found that the joint torques were different in accordance with the cleaning motions.

Three-ball cascade juggling is the one of common theme in skill aquision. In previous research, dwell ratio is an important factor from the perspective of learning how to juggle and number of catches. In this paper, we experienced whether the time subjects can continue three-ball cascade is relevant to the dwell ratio. In the result, except for two beginners, we realized there was a correlation and the variability of dwell ratio in the juggler who can throw more than 1 minutes. We considered the stability of dwell ratio is important for improvement of the juggling skill. Finally, we made a training system that feedbacks the dwell ratio visually in real time but it still remains some problems. In conclusion, we will modify and develop the system for sound feedback.

This paper describes a portable person behavior measurement system using a 3D LIDAR. In this system, an observer carries the measurement system equipped with a 3D LIDAR and follows target persons to be measured while the system measures the behavior of the target persons. We first create a 3D environmental map by using GraphSLAM approach in advance to the measurement. Then, during the measurement, the system estimates its pose on the environmental map and detects and tracks the target persons to obtain a sequence of the target persons' behavior. Since the system does not depend on a static sensor put in an environment, it can measure the behavior of the target persons for a long time in a wide-area environment. We validated the proposed system through measurement of the behavior of a caregiver attending to an elderly in a hospital.

This paper proposes a wearable sensor suit for measuring the wearer's inter-limb coordination while swimming. A flexible and light-weight angular sensor with plastic optical fiber (POF) is developed for the underwater motion sensing. To validate the measurement performance of the developed suit, we conducted an experiment with a optical motion capture system. As the result, we confirmed that the developed system could measure the wearer's stroke cycle, and its average error is less than 50[ms].

This paper reports on a robotic hand that can grasp a valve handle. Each finger of the hand is designed to perform its assigned function. The hand is aimed to have various grip postures with a combination of the non-homogeneous fingers. The thumb has unique structures that include a thenar link with a thick elastic element to emulate stable and strong grip of a valve handle like a human. Experimental results show the ability of the hand to realize grip postures of precision grip, lateral pinch, cylindrical power grip, and the proposed power grip of a valve handle.

Disaster response robots require both high output and electrical power saving. The robot hand, which has 4 fingers with 12 joints and 12 DOF, has been developed. The finger has a retention mechanism without electrical power. This paper proposes a new grasping strategy of the robot hand with electrical power saving. Grasping strategy has two actions such as adduction/abduction and flexion/extension. The 1st joint position is determined based on the object shape. The 2nd and 3rd joint are controlled by velocity. When the finger is in contact with the object, it is controlled by periodic motor input. Experimental results show the usefulness of the grasping strategy.

Generally, a target position of a hand or a foot is input in a virtual space by using a mouse as a user interface of a legged robot. This type of a legged robot interface is used by teams participating in Darpa Robotics Challenge. However, the operation time is too long. Also it is difficult for the operators to recognize the spatial relationship between a robot and an environment. To solve these problems, we have proposed an interface that mixes and presents both visual and haptic sense. In the previous research, we developed a visual-haptic fusion system for teleoperation of a crawler robot. In this study, we adapt the system to the operation of a legged robot. We verify the effectiveness of the proposed system by comparison with the conventional method.

Teleoperation of disaster response robots with four limbs are required to manage sequential control-transition between hand movement and body movement. Furthermore, it is required that robots have to be operated intuitively since such disaster response robots have multiple degree of freedom. In order to deal with these requirements, we developed a master-slave interface system using magnetic sensors and data gloves for hand movement so that robots can be operated intuitively, and using foot pedals for body movement so that systems can manage sequential transition between hand and body movement. To evaluate the proposed system, we conducted a transport task using a VR simulator. The results indicated that proposed interface system could manage sequential transition between hand and body movement and this system enabled an intuitive operation.

This paper describes a method of surface condition estimation used for tele-operated robots working for internal investigation of damaged buildings. For surface condition measurement, we used “wiping motion”. We assumed the coefficient of kinetic friction is a function depending on velocity, and discussed the relationships between the approximate curve and physical phenomenon.

Recently, in order to reduce secondary disasters at the disaster site, the expectation of rescue robots has been increasing. In the disaster site, many kinds of environments are mixed, for example flat areas, steps, and rubble areas, etc. Therefore, if robots perform the environmental sensing in the complicated environment, it is necessary to change the measurement area and density according to the environment information. In this paper, we develop a Variable Sokuiki Sensor Array as a 3D-distance measurement system for changing measurement area and density. Next we propose an intelligent control method for the sensor array based on Multi-objective Behavior Coordination. Finally, we show results of proposed method in a simulation experiment.

We proposed a method to create an individual finite element (FE) model and to conduct contact analysis between an object and the model based on measured motion. There are 3 steps to create the model. First, we estimate full set dimensions to deform a template polygon model from a small number of measured dimensions. Second, to create an individual polygon hand model, we deform a template model based on the full set dimensions. Third, an individual FE hand model is created by transferring nodes of a template FE hand model based on deformation of vertices in second step. To conduct contact analysis based on measured motion, we calculate joint rotation angles from a motion capture(MoCap) data and rotate each link attached to bones. We compared contact regions by real hands and created model for evaluating accuracy of the created model. Results showed that the real hands and the created model have almost same shape and we can conduct contact analysis with proposed method.

In the education of children, learning based on the direct experiences is effective. However, a lot of things have difficulty in direct experiences. Therefore, Authors have developed the learning support system that provide experiences in real and virtual environment. Leaners can get experience like touching and seeing in real and virtual environment by using this system. At the first stage of this study, we have developed larval mimesis experience system. This system consists of Kinect sensor, larval models, load sensors which was controlled in Arduino. By using this system, learners can do full body interaction on the virtual environment, larva models observation experience in the real environment. In experiment, we have a primary schoolchild use this system to evaluate usefulness of the system. This paper summarizes the current system and describes the evaluation results.

In this paper, we proposed a method of modeling the range of motion (ROM) of carpometacarpal (CM) joint of thumbs in vivo. We modeled a CM rotation by the position of metacarpophalangeal (MP) joint and the pronation/supination angle of CM joint. We applied the proposed method to five subjects, and confirmed that this method could model the mechanical features of CM joint. Moreover, we calculated ROM of CM joint by using the method. We showed that the ROM can describe individual differences among multiple subjects. This method will be useful in generation of feasible hand postures, and evaluation of hand rehabilitation status.

As a method of inputting digital electronic equipment, there is a gesture interface. It is important that the gesture interface can be measured without being influenced by changes in the usage environment. As one of hand measurement methods, there is The Distance Image Sensor. Therefore, we evaluate the measurement accuracy of the hand by The Distance Image Sensor. For that purpose, the measured value of Motion Capture is taken as a true value, the error of The Distance Image Sensor is calculated, and the error is evaluated. As a result, we confirmed the effectiveness of the hand measurement accuracy by The Distance Image Sensor. We conclude that The Distance Image Sensor can be used for gesture interface.

Production age Popularity of service robots is expected with decreasing population. There is a guide robot as one of service robots. The guiding robot can conduct guidance that is more personalized by identifying individuals. Therefore, personal identification is a function required for the guide robot. Personal identification has some skeletal information of the whole body acquired using Kinect v2. However, since the distance between the guide robot and the guidance target is short, even if Kinect v2 is installed in the guide robot, it is not possible to acquire skeletal information of the whole body. Therefore, the authors proposed an individual identification method using human upper body skeleton information. In this paper, we describe the effectiveness confirmation by using the actual data on the proposed method.

We propose a motion optimization method for autonomous mobile robots that minimizes transition cost when a mobile robot traverses uneven terrain. The proposed method is able to reflect traversing cost of bumps to trajectory planning of robot including posture of bumps. The proposed method is implemented with a mobile robot platform and evaluated by experiment of navigation to find an appropriate route in uneven terrain environment.

ImPACT Tough Robotics Challenge is a research project of Japan Cabinet Office which aims at creating disruptive disaster robotics that has enough robustness under extreme environment of disaster situations. Five types of robot platforms, i.e. aerial vehicles, cyber rescue canine, construction robots, serpentine robots and legged robots, are being developed as well as various component technologies of sensing, actuation, robot intelligence and human interface. Research fruits are evaluated at test fields twice a year at the ImPACT-TRC Field Evaluation Meetings. It helps researchers, makers and users communicate each other to promote technical innovation as well as social innovation by implementation of robotics systems, and industrial innovation by creation of new business and services. At the November Meeting in 2016, a construction robot with high control precision, teleoperation with feedback of force and touch, visual support from arbitrary point of views, and a far-infrared camera for handling hidden objects by smoke, was demonstrated. Thin serpentine robots showed high mobility in rubble piles with integration of feedback of image, sound and touch. Cyber canine showed that a cyber suit could monitor dog's motion and find things left behind.

The motion of robotic arm attached to a multicopter can possibly disturb the multicopter attitude. We previously developed a robotic arm that reduce the ill effect on the attitude of multcopter. In this paper, a simplified model for this robot arm is used, and the configuration of the robot arm where the sum of the angular momentum of the rotating parts becomes 0 is described. We show the effectiveness through an outdoor experiment. Furthermore, we demonstrate that this arm can put a rope ladder as an application example.

Multicopter type unmanned aerial vehicle, called drone, has great potentials for various missions such as surveillance and delivery, and it is of great importance to enhance the robustness or to suppress the aerodynamic noise. We have been investigating the bioinspired rotary wing with flexibility or microstructure in order to achieve such high performance rotary wing. Here, we report the development of low-noise rotary wing inspired by feathers of owl that is known to achieve silent flight with microstructure on the feather. The various structures such as serrations were attached to the propellers for drone, and its acoustic performance is evaluated by measuring the noise when the drone is hovering. Through the experiment and computational fluid dynamic analyses, it is found that the attachment of a structure at trailing edge can suppress the noise significantly, while keeping the aerodynamic efficiency.

Improvement of gust responses is required for the safe operation of the drone. The drone dynamics was modeled based on the nonlinear equation of motion expressed on the body-fixed axis using the aerodynamic forces and moments developed theoretically. The aerodynamics forces and moments were constructed from the blade element theory and momentum theory, which contain the specifications of the drone explicitly. The developed model was applied to the response analysis of the gust input. The sensitivities of the drone specifications to the gust responses were revealed, and the design guidelines were stated. Additionally, disturbance observer was designed and validated by the numerical simulations. It will be applied to the gust alleviation control of the drone.

Sound source localization using a microphone array embedded on an unmanned aerial vehicle has been studied to detect and localize people who need help in a disaster-stricken area. Because such sound source localization should work in outdoor environments, the design of the microphone array is crucial. We thus developed two types of microphone array; 16ch two-storied hexagonal and 12ch spherical microphone arrays. These two microphone arrays were evaluated via numerical simulation with discussions on the appropriate design of microphone arrays.