Recently, the devices tethered on 10m and longer string to micro unmanned aerial vehicles (MUAV) are used in sample return, remote area exploring, or transportation to remote place missions. However, because of the pendulum effect and the lack of movement dumping in the air, the tethered object starts to oscillate uncontrollably, fails to land safely and accurately, and causes failure of desired job. Furthermore, there is a risk of collision with another object near desired location. Therefore, stabilization and controlling of kinematics of a suspended object will find usage in several applications. In this paper, we analyze the problem, and describe the physical model creation and experiments made with this model.

This paper presents a guaranteed cost controller design approach to waypoint following control for a powered paraglider (PPG). We derive a set of sum-of-squares (SOS) conditions to minimize the upper bound of a given cost function. Since the guaranteed cost SOS design conditions derived in this paper are non-convex, the so-called path-following method is provided to efficiently solve them. The guaranteed cost SOS design approach is compared with the existing guaranteed cost linear matrix inequality design approach. The simulation results demonstrate the capabilities of the guaranteed cost SOS design approach in minimizing the given cost function.

Recently, robots are expected to work in disaster or dangerous site on behalf of humans. Among them, flying robots can fly over obstacles and go to the destination where robots on the ground cannot reach. In this paper, a path planning method of a flying robot with a manipulator is proposed in order to carry objects stably in narrow space. Given the start and goal position and the 2D map of the environment, an initial trajectory is calculated by Rapidly-exploring Random Tree (RRT) Connect method. Then, the initial trajectory is refined so as to maximize both the distance from the obstacles and the manipulability of the manipulator in order to carry objects stably. The proposed method was evaluated in a simulator.

Helicopters are often used for rescue works hovering in the air on uneven terrain. Hovering is one of the most important functions of helicopters, but it is dangerous, needs high control technique of the operator and spend large amount of fuel. Therefore, we have been proposed landing gear system for aerial vehicles that can adapt to uneven terrain as a substitute for hovering. In this presentation, the developed linear drive landing gear using flexible rack and telescopic mechanism is proposed. Design and experimental results of landing on uneven terrain with hanging cord, flight and landing without cord and loading experiment without power are shown.

In this paper, we discuss how a balloon robot climbs over steps. We had proposed an autonomous patrol robot moving on a ceiling using the balloon buoyancy. The proposed balloon robot has some advantage in terms of quietness and energy efficiency. However, it had a problem that the balloon robot could not climb over the step. We add the flying mechanism to the wheel travel balloon robot for climbing over steps. We discuss how to design the robot for flying over the step. We developed the robot according the guideline and confirm the feasibility of the proposed balloon robot.

In this study, we present a underwater maneuver of multi copter system. At first, the underwater thrust of multi copter system was calibrated. Then, the sequences of taking off, taking water, diving, broaching, taking off from the water were tested. Also, the underwater maneuver was presented horizontal motion by using general motors of multi copter system in water.

In general, the autonomous robots charge their batteries by using exclusive docking stations. However, these robots's operating range are limited around charging station's area and it takes cost each time to set up a new charging point. In previous researches, to solve those problems, we suggested a new charging method called “Plugin-docking system” that inserts charging plug into outlet directly with three-dimensional control with Omnidirectional Robot. In this paper, we designed Docking results detection system, described re-docking motion and performed the experiment using the prototype to verify new system performance. It was found that Plugin-docking system could automatically detect docking results, executed re-docking motion each failed times and achieved higher docking success rate.

In this paper, we analyze the motion of a ball used for robot mechanism and power transmission. The authors group has been proposed an omnidirectional mechanism (ACROBAT-S). The mechanism has a power transmission mechanism using a ball. However, the motion analysis of a ball has no calculation method widely applicable. So, we introduce a method using a rotation vector for the motion analysis of a ball. In order to establish a ball drive analysis method, we analyze a kinematics of a ball transmission used for ACROBAT-S and verify the kinematics by simulations. From the results, it is confirmed that the analyzed kinematics is reasonable and the analysis method is useful.

This paper describes the development of the moving platform (T type robot base) with rocker-bogie strange. In previous studies, we have developed 3type of T type robot base. The finding of problem for development machine, We thought use rocker-bogie that can be expected to irregular ground driving performance.Using the simulation software "Recurdyn", confirmed the effect of the rocker-bogie. In the case of use rocker-bogie, the result of simulation suggested irregular ground driving performance improvement more than in the past by lower center of gravity.

Dual-wheel caster drive mechanism realizes omini-directional movement with a simple mechanism. However, It cannot performs well on a rough terrain. On the other hand, rocker bogie mechanism offers road surface tracking abilities with a simple mechanism. Therefore, in this presentation, a new driving mechanism combining dual caster drive mechanism and rocker-bogie mechanism is proposed and examined by experiment using a prototype model and by kinematic simulation.

In this paper, we propose a grasping and climbing mechanism for pruning tree-branches close to electrical power lines. By means of a multirotor helicopter, the mechanism is placed on it and deployed to the target, namely, a tree-branch and, by using a couple of claw-like grippers, it is firmly grabbed. In order to prune a specific point of the tree-branch, the grasping-climbing mechanism has the ability to move along it thanks to an extra couple of grippers which perform the walking task along the target. The proposed climbing-grasping CAD mechanism is presented along with some kinematic analysis of the performance of this mechanism.

We propose a fire-fighting helicopter which is slung by a hose from a larger manned helicopter with tank. The slung helicopter approaches closer to the fire and shoots fire extinguisher while the manned helicopter is able to stay away from the fire. Experimental helicopter controlled by a simple yaw control performed water shot test to a point 7.8m away.

The purpose of this study is to implement of the Aerial manipulation using by drone equipped with two manipulators. In that case, when one manipulator called working arm holds to object, it can be compensated for center of gravity about the drone by other manipulator called tail. Therefore, we calculated rotation torque in fuselage added by working arm using statics in any position. After time, we calculated to each joint angle in tail for compensating center of gravity using that torque. After this work, we plan to experiment by actual machine after verification by simulation.

In order to inspect the structures using multicopter, it is necessary to maneuver out of sight. In this paper, we made prototype of first person view video transmission device with a small time delay using spherical camera to teleoperate the passive rotating spherical shell multicopter out of sight. The proposed system contains a head mount display with an IMU so that an operator can quickly and intuitively change the display perspective. And we extracted problems through evaluation experiments and found that it is necessary to improve the stability and operability of the multicopter.

Since safety, reliability, and durability are required when the flight robot becomes large, we have studied the use of jet engines for both thrust and power generation, and have carried out technical development including manufacturing. In order to install a jet engine on a flying robot, it is necessary to reduce the noise to an acceptable level in society, and report on this noise reduction technology this time.

Recently, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle is used in many purpose such as wall inspection and disaster relief. When UAV moves remotely, a pilot uses First Person View (FPV) to get circumstance information. It is useful but it is difficult to operate stable remote UAV using only FPV, because it cannot find a bit motion either slant of airframe. To help operating UAV, this study decides to use LIDAR which is able to measure distance toward obstacle.
This study make a program that measure three direction using LIDARs to avoid obstacles. Mounting LIDARs on a multicopter and making some experiments, this study is going to make a report them.

In the near future, autonomous mobile robots are expected to operate in various locations, such as in living spaces as well as in industrial establishments. Based on this principle, a new autonomous mobile robot was designed and prototyped in this research. The robot consists of two in-wheel motors for the sake of simplicity of the design and assembly of the drive units. It is also effective in space-saving, and for high power and flexible control for various road surface conditions. This paper presents the concept for developing a new type of autonomous mobile robot, its control system for autonomous operation, and its driving experiments to verify the autonomous traveling performance.

This paper discusses transformation control of an autonomous mobile robot with multiple running modes. For an autonomous mobile robot to move in a human living environment, especially a place like a crowd, smooth action like a two-wheel mobile robot is required. However, with a two-wheel mobile robot, attitude control is required even at rest, and there is a problem that stability is lacking. We propose a method that enables transformation from four wheels to two wheels to obtain stability during rest in addition to smooth running in two wheels mode. Calculate the target attitude angle from the equilibrium of the moments, and transform it by controlling the attitude of the robot upper body and the wheel. In order to stabilize the transformation, feedback control is performed from the difference between the attitude angle obtained from the IMU and the target attitude angle.

Multi wheel drive robot with active joint is proposed for Multi-purpose Module System (MMS). Developed multi wheel drive robot is consisting of several module which have two drive wheels on a same rotating shaft and an active and a passive joints. The propagation controlled is selected to drive the robot. Detail of developed robot is described and its control method is evaluated by simulation and experimental. The experimental movement locus of the multi wheel drive robot give close agreement with simulation results at moving velocity 0.3-0.6 m/s. However, some differences between experimental and simulation results is observed because of interference between drive wheels and active joint. From the results, the usefulness of proposed multi wheel drive robot with active joint using propagation control is observed.

Recently, electrical welfare vehicles with free casters are widely used by patients and elders indoors. However, the welfare vehicles may not be able to move well on gravel or dirty road as seen in rural yard. In order to expand driving area, the skid steer mechanism is focused on. The skid steer vehicle (SSV) has been used for its high traveling ability on rough road. However, the SSV has disadvantage that the driving assistance is required because its steering is highly affected by road conditions. In this paper, a driving assistance control of SSV using model error compensator is proposed. The maneuverability is evaluated by correlation coefficient of joystick manipulation comparing asphalt road and off-road.

In our research, we suggest sphere kinematics model driven by two wheels. We measured the moving direction and posture of the sphere, and compared these measured value to the output of our kinematic model. As the result, we verified the accuracy of our model.

In this paper, we propose a motion control method of differential-drive wheeled robot to avoid wall-deadlock. We define the wall-deadlock problem as the cases that the robot cannot rotate to the desired dirrection because of the collision force from an obstacle. The proposed method generates rotational moment to the desired direction by adjusting rotational radius though the collision force inhibits the motion. Experimental results show that the proposed method can generate rotational motion to the desired direction while the driving motor torque is limited to prevent the wheel slip.

A position display system using a 2D laser range finder was developed for operation support of UAV. This display system consists of a LED tape, a 2D laser range finder and a compact control board. And by presenting lighting patterns of a LED tape, this system enables an operator to present an accurate position and orientation between a UAV and a concrete wall like tunnels. This system is compact and lightweight, being useful to mount on a UAV. The experimental results showed that this display system succeeded in enhance operability of a UAV.

In this paper, we present a surveillance system based on an unmanned aerial vehicle, UAV, for poaching ships. In this surveillance system, the UAV is required to prevent the ships from arriving at their destination and intruding into the patrolling area. However, these two purposes cause a trade-off problem. For this challenge, we adopt a probabilistic approach. For unknow ships, first off, Bayesian leaning is used in order for the UAV to estimate the poaching trend of the ships. On the basis of the trend, value iteration is further used for optimizing the patrolling path to the destination. Through simulation experiments, we show that the UAV based on the proposed strategy is enabled to patrol the environment depending on the poaching ships.

In this paper, we show the achievement of multiple objects transportation by a transformable aerial robot. As it is not easy to make the flight endurance of an aerial robot longer, we study the problem to transport multiple objects at the same time to improve the efficiency of transportation. However, for conventional aerial robots, multiple objects transportation is difficult because the CoG position changes when the number of grasped objects changes, resulting in the instability of the flight. Therefore, to solve this problem, we focus on the multirotor with two-dimensional multilinks proposed in our previous work, which possesses the ability to modify the CoG position actively and can keep the flight stable. We then propose a method to find the optimal form for the multilinks based on the flight stability. Finally, we present the experimental result of multiple objects transportation.

Scenes using robots against the background of shortage of workers are increasing in recent years. Forestry workers are needed to maintain forest function in particular. Various robots have been developed to reduce the burden on forestry workers. In this research we develop a multicopter that can manage forests. In our previous paper, we have verified accuracy of generated environmental maps by measuring diameters of poles which is indoors and a tree which is outdoors. In this paper, The route search uses the Laplacian polishing method. we verify route searching is applicable in the real world. Moreover, we develop speeding up the calculation by GPU.

This paper suggests multicopters with lateral overhanging propellers and control for them. Conventional multicopters use reaction-torque for yaw-control. Thrust by lateral propellers are used for yaw-control and supporting lateral external force. Experiment illustrates lateral propellers reduced yaw errors.

In the previous paper, taking the non-linear Wing-In-Ground effect into consideration, the longitudinal dynamic model of Aero-Train after expanding it with a horizontal tail was developed for the purpose to clarify the relationship between the body frame design and its stability. This paper describes the development of the longitudinal dynamic model after expanding it with the lateral dynamic model.

Running of an autonomous mobile robot in places where there are many dynamic obstacles such as pedestrians is difficult because it is necessary to predict the movement of dynamic obstacles. Therefore, we move by using pedestrian flow showing regularity, not pedestrians showing irregular movement.

To coexist with human, a robot has to avoid obstacles based on human-like flexible decision-making. In this article, we recorded the angle and speed that human operates the robot to avoid an obstacle on the simulator. Using those, fuzzy rules to decide the moving direction and control speed at every moment were derived as follows: as the input variables, distance to obstacle (x₁), angle to obstacle (x₂), speed of obstacles (x₃), and the direction of movement of obstacle (x₄), are adopted. As the output variable, steering angle (y₁) and control speed (y₂) of robot is adopted. Based on fuzzy-neural networks method, two network of 4 inputs (x₁～x₄) and 1 output (y₁ or y₂) is prepared. A membership function of each variable has 5 isosceles triangles. Fuzzy rules, number of which is 625 (=5⁴), are assumed. Optimal center and width of each triangle are obtained so as that the network reproduces the trajectories of simulation experiment with minimum errors. The obtained fuzzy rules with tuned membership functions successfully produce the trajectory which is similar to human ones. Also, if there are plural obstacles, they can be avoided by applying the fuzzy rule to each obstacle and adopting the largest outputs among them.

We present the recent development work on the electrical and hardware design of our modular and scalable mobile robot platform for education and research. The goal of the project is to develop a low-cost and extensible modular mobile robot platform for education and research activities. We present a differential drive robot with distributed input/output modules. The project is scalable to be easily extended to make complex autonomous robot systems including four wheel drive and omnidirectional robots. The software design is based on ROS framework that is based on open source software.

This paper presents vehicle with omnidirectional driving wheels based on screw-type differential rotating mechanism. An omnidirectional driving wheel can generate a driving force in any arbitrary direction. Therefore, there are various wheel arrangements for composing the vehicle. In this paper, wheels are arranged in series configuration for improving the traversing ability in longitudinal direction. In addition, realization of this type of vehicle and evaluation of its ability is reported.

This paper proposes constant altitude flight system using two -dimensional laser range finder with mirrors. Recently, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are expected to perform in the inspection of deteriorated infrastructures such as bridges and tunnels. In the most of such operations, UAVs should be navigated and controlled in GPS-denied environment. This paper describes three dimensional environmental recognition system using two-dimensional laser range finder with mirrors that can scan over horizontal direction and can measure vertical direction by using the change of the laser direction with mirrors. Then, we develop constant altitude flight system with the sensor. This paper proposes altitude estimation method from the point data obtained by the sensor and demonstrates flight experiment using that two-dimensional laser range finder with mirrors. The flight experiment verified the validity of the developed system.

In this research, we aim to realize collision-free formation flight of small unmanned helicopter. A guidance control system considering collision avoidance of each helicopter is designed by using Model Predictive Control (MPC). In previous study, a constraint of the relative position of the helicopters was considered to MPC for efficient collision avoidance and smooth path generation. In this paper, guidance control system based on MPC proposed in previous study is briefly introduced, and the flight experiment using multiple multi-rotor helicopters is carried out. The results of the flight experiment shows the effectiveness of proposed guidance control system and the constraints of relative position.

This paper investigates structural optimization of fully actuated multi-rotor helicopter. We propose a structure optimization method and derive the mathematical model of non-planar multirotor helicopter. In order to use the method, we generate thrust convex hull and torque convex hull and obtain scalar parameters which are objective function from 3 dimensional convex hulls in several ways. Then, we derive optimum mounting angle of each rotor, and select evaluation criteria to consider thrust convex hull and torque convex hull. As a result it is shown that the optimum angle is 30 degrees to 40 degrees, twisting method is better and the method of maximizing the multiplied both convex hulls is the only method affected by both convex hulls.

Recently, Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (SUAV) such as multi-rotor helicopter has been used for several industrial mission and expected to use at time of disaster. However, since SUAV is vulnerable to wind disturbance, a tough control system is required to apply it to a disaster site. In this study, adaptive control system based on Model Following Type Model Predictive Control (MFMPC) and online modeling algorithm is proposed. For basic study for such aim, in this paper, MFMPC is designed for the attitude control of multi-rotor helicopter. The effectiveness of designed MFMPC based attitude control system is verified by flight experiment.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are expected to perform collecting disaster information, investigation of corrupted building safety and inexpensively in place of human. A quad tiltrotor UAV would be useful to carry out such missions because of high mobility compared to the conventional UAV, such that it can control position and attitude independently by changing the directions of propellers. However , there is not so many research to use the quad tilt-rotor UAV in real environment. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to develop a collision avoidance flight system of quad tilt-rotor UAV using two-dimensional laser range finder. Semi-autonomous collision avoidance flight system in narrow space is developed and flight experiment is carried out to validate the efficiency of the proposed system.

The method of landing in a super-short distance like the bird includes the sudden deceleration method kept immediately before stalling when the nose is raised. This method is used only in the emergency because only the pilot of some stagers is possible high-level techniques, and it is very dangerous. The present study is an attempt to introduce this super-short field landing into the unmanned aerial vehicle by automatic control.

Throwing an object by a powered robot system is an effective way for object manipulation in long distance. The focus of the throwing is on the accuracy of the landing point with respect to model uncertainties or disturbances. So far, we have proposed a sensitivity analysis method of throwing with a feed-forward controlled manipulator, while feed-forward/back controlled one is considered in this paper. The dynamic sensitivity analysis method is developed based on the conventional method and its evaluation is executed by using a prototyped three-link manipulator. The effectiveness of the proposed method is evaluated and a robust throwing with low sensitivity is obtained that realizes small variance of the landing point.

In this research, we investigate what camera settings are effective for an indoor automatic search system. We recommend installing RGB cameras with depth sensors like the Kinect and show how they should be installed to facilitate searches in indoor environments such as buildings with multiple floors. To validate camera configurations, the RTA* algorithm is used for automatic searching and we measured how fast a drone could move to goal points in a simulation of a 3D-building model.

This paper presents the performance evaluation of robust model predictive control (robust MPC) for a mobile robot. The mobile robot is affected by stationary or moving obstacles and exogenous disturbances, which are road surface slipperiness, fluid resistance under water and current disturbance. Since these disturbances make it difficult to accurately control the trajectory of the mobile robot, robustness is required in the control framework. The robust MPC is one of the methods for mobile robot control. Several previous studies about the robust MPC have mainly focused on Gaussian noise. We conduct a simulation to test mobile robot obstacle avoidance under three different non-Gaussian noise environments, and confirm that the robust MPC is effective given the exogenous disturbances of affecting the mobile robot.

This paper proposes that a robot body design method which considers proper joint gear ratios in each joint. In this design method, other body parameters and motion patterns are also designed which include a degrees of freedom (DOFs) number and link parameters. The joint gear ratios are defined as design parameters of continuous values, therefore motor characteristics will change smoothly, and it will become an advantage in a calculation convergence point of view. A proposed algorithm was applied to a ball throwing robot model, and its body and motion were designed for maximizing a ball throwing performance. A calculation result, whose all gear ratios are fixed as 1, was compared with a calculation result, whose gear ratios were designed. A ball flying distance with the designed gear ratios were about 2 times of that with the fixed gear ratios, and an effectiveness of the proposed body design method was verified.

This work presents the position and force control in cartesian space by adapting the dynamics and geometry of the payload brought by a robot arm. We generated exciting trajectory by solving the nonlinear optimal problem to identify the dynamic parameters. Then we identified the dynamic model of the robot with the payload. Our proposed method can identify the geometric parameters of the payload from the identified dynamic parameters of the payload. Using the identified dynamic and geometric model, we generated the task motion for our robot to paint walls with roller by solving a new nonlinear optimal problem. Finally, we reconstructed the position and force control system from the model and generated motion, and let the robot performs the task motion in the experiment. As a result of using the accurate identified model, we can confirm that our proposed controller controls position and external force even if the painting roller brought by robot is changed.

This paper presents a novel method for synthesizing whole-body humanoid motions by blending different basic components under physical constraints based on Functional Principal Component Analysis (FPCA). After a process called smoothing that approximates measured human motions by B-Spline functions satisfying physical constraints, we apply FPCA to extract a small number of principal motion components that can be combined to generate different motions. The proposed method allows visualizing whole-body motions of many degrees of freedom (DOFs) in a compact FPC space, and synthesizing new physically consistent motions by applying physical constraints to those motions blended from principal components.

We have developed a laparoscopic grasper having tactile sensing function using acoustic reflection. The grasper has advantages for surgical application such as having no electrical elements within a part that is inserted into patient's body and simple structure. In this study, we tried to construct grasping force feedback by using the developed grasper. As a tactile presentation device, we used our previously developed tactile display, which is ring-type and pneumatic-driven. The display also has high applicability for surgical situation because of having simple structure and high wearability. A grasping test with objects with different materials was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of the feedback.

By using a surgery simulator, young doctors can train in surgical techniques to get essential skills and knowledge of surgery. In addition, surgeons can make a surgical plan and verify it. We have developed a neurosurgery simulator that can simulate surgical procedures in craniotomy such as brain retraction to expose a deep brain lesion. The simulator used virtual reality technology such as immersive display and haptic device to give a sense of presence. In this study, we simulated brain retraction and brain tumor resection to confirm operation verification and realistic sensation of the simulator.

In recent years, interventional radiology (IR) which is a medical procedure has been attracting considerable attention. Doctors can perform IR percutaneously while observing the fluoroscopic image, such as CT and MRI images, of patients. Therefore, this surgical method is less invasive. However, doctors are exposed to strong radiation in the case of under CT-guidance. In order to overcome this problem, we developed remote-controlled IR assistance robot. The problem of the puncturing robot is inaccurate positioning of the tip of the needle, which causes the misdiagnosis and the complication, due to deflection of the needle and soft tissue. In this research, puncture method for minimizing the deflection force of the needle during puncture based on force sensor is proposed. First, the deflection of the needle was modeled as simply cantilever beam. Next, based on the deflection model, the target posture which minimizes the deflection force was derived. Finally, validity of the proposed method was verified based on the result of phantom puncture experiment.

In this paper, we construct one-finger drive type intelligent decorative electric prosthesis that sensed finger joint motion near the defect. we considered a case where the index finger DIP joint and PIP joint were missing, devised an electric hand finger prosthetic mechanism with strong gripping power, small size, and light weight. With this mechanism, we aim to restore "pinch" which is the movement function of the hand. The sensing part is MP joint of the index finger or the middle finger. We control the electric prosthesis by sensing the motion in the angular direction of flexion and extension of these MP joints and writing the driving pattern to CPLD (Complex Programmable Logic Device). As the sensing method, instead of EMG signals conventionally used, a stretchable strain sensor with high flexibility makes of rubber and urethane is used as a simpler method. With this hand prosthesis, improvement of QOL is expected by enabling many ADL.

In recent years, HIFU (High Intensity Focused Ultrasound) therapy, which is one of the non-invasive therapies utilizing focused ultrasound, have attracted a great attention as a novel treatment method for a focal lesion, such as a tumor and a stone. However, the focal lesion moves in accordance with respiration, which may cause the damage for the surrounding normal tissues. To cope with this problem, we have developed a noninvasive ultrasound theragnostic system (NIUTS). In this report, we proposed a novel tracking method, which is implemented in NIUTS, based on “Partial Active Shape Model” to enhance the servo performance for the focal lesion. Experimental results shows the effectiveness of the proposed servo method concerning the precision and robustness for a kidney phantom.

In this research we suggest an electromagnet-based micro-manipulation system. The manipulator, of regular cuboid shape with square base, is suspended with crossed stainless steel rods from a framework. Four electromagnets are placed on the legs of the framework, facing the permanent magnets. By controlling the current through the electromagnets, the electromagnetic force between each pair of magnets controls the movement of the manipulator. In verification experiments, we were able to achieve precise motion control within a square area of 200 μm × 200 μm.
Further improvements to the system are currently being made by introducing a PSD based measurement system instead of the current image-based positioning system. With the introduction of the laser-based measurement, we intend to increase the measurement accuracy down to ~1.5μm.