We have developed sound direction estimation device CASH-H and vibration-type indicate terminal for elderly people and hearing impaired people. CASH-H is a device that estimates a sound source direction using two microphones and transmits the direction to a user. The sound source direction is calculated from time difference between two microphone signals. The results indicated that the sound source direction estimation accuracy was approximately ±10°.The sound source direction presentation method presents the sound source direction to the user based on the difference between the left and right vibration intensity. Sound source direction presentation accuracy is 73% correct answer rate and high danger avoidance accuracy.

In the handwriting verification system that identifies fake works of art works and signatures, in the conventional system, it is a method to estimate from the similarity of image patterns. In this research, we aim at a system that identifies individuals from the velocity pattern of the brush, focusing on the touch of the drawer. In this paper, speed patterns and features in handwriting are extracted.

Subjective palatability is related to human’s mental condition. According to Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare JAPAN, unusual feeling palatability is one of depression signs. Additionally psychogenic taste disorder is occurred by stress. Subjective palatability sensing is expected to make human realize own mental health condition at objectively. However, it is difficult for us to measure subjective palatability because it has differences among individuals and many factors. We try to elucidate the relation between subjective palatability and facial biological information in order to consider subjective palatability sensing method. We found 2 relation from our experiment by using taste stimulations for 4 subjects. 1st is between vertical EOG variance and intensity of subjective palatability. 2nd is iEMG(integrated electromyogram) and tasteless or tasty. We implement subjective palatability calculation program from them. The result of it using measurement data in this study experiment shows the possibility of subjective palatability sensing.

By controlling not only pseudo force sense due to asymmetric vibration but also on / off of the vibration and direction, but more detailed control, we try to present hardness feeling accompanying contact with the virtual object. By measuring the behavior change of the user at the time of contact, the effect of the pseudo force sense presentation of the hardness feeling is examined not based on the subjective evaluation but based on the quantitative evaluation.

In this study, a non-contact type operation system based on blinking state of user’s eyes with camera has developed for electric wheelchair operation. In this report, identification method for voluntary and involuntary of blinking has been constructed based on change in black pixel values at blinking with investigation of features for each blinking. Through the experiments, verification of the discrimination rate of the proposed method has been confirmed.

Trip-related falls, which account for a significant proportion of falls in the elderly, often result in the serious injury. A highly accurate fall-risk evaluation method will be increasingly required in the aged society. For this purpose, it is necessary to observe more realistic reaction motion against tripping. Thus, we developed a method to induce tripping at arbitrary timing during walking in the laboratory using a treadmill and evaluated the validity of the method by analyzing the reaction motion. At the same time, another experiment, which induces trip in a walking lane, was conducted. Then, they were compared each other. In this study, the difference in sensory comfort rate between treadmill walking and ground walking was focused on. It is necessary to determine whether individual differences in response to trip-induction depends on what kind of conditions. It is considered to be either the experimental system and conditions, or the gait difference inherent to the subject.

Many studies on the development of HMI using surface electromyogram (sEMG) have been reported. However, challenges remain in the reproduction of skillful motions. This study, focusing on the handwriting of Japanese characters as an example of such a skillful motion, proposes and examines a new method for motion classification as follows. At first, sEMGs are measured at 4 points on the forearm of the dominant hand during the handwriting motion. Secondary, time-frequency analysis is performed to extract the features from the sEMGs. Finally, the result is supplied as an input image to a CNN which is trained for classification of the written characters. By comparing the classification rate with a conventional 3-layered neural network, it is confirmed that the proposed method improves the classification accuracy by about 11.2% for the training data and 10.3% for the verification data.

When a human performs a lifting operation using a power assist device at a production site, if the operator's weight perception is different from his/her assumed, the operation may be different from the assumed one, which may cause discomfort. In this research, we analyze the lifting motion of a human when predicted mass by a human and perceived mass are different, and clarify mechanism of occurrence of discomfort. In addition, if it is possible to estimate the mass predicted by a human before perceiving the weight, and to apply it to the control of the assist device, discomfort during operation may be reduced. Therefore, we aim to estimate the predicted mass of a human.

Workers have lumbago for performing welding tasks at shipbuilding site because they take half-rising posture for a long time in the welding tasks and have a heavy burden on their lumbar region. In this study, therefore, we have developed a device supporting the lumber region. It can support the torque around the waist with the elastic force of piano wire. In order to use it at shipbuilding site, it is necessary that the workers can raise their legs so as to cross over longitudinal stiffeners. By using ratchet mechanism, we improve the assist device and evaluate the effectiveness.

In this paper, we investigated the influence of the restrictions on the range of view from the cockpit in operation of a hydraulic excavator. We developed a computer simulation system of a turning operation of an excavator and measured the operation time to complete reaching tasks. A mathematical model to represent the operation time depending on the difficulty level of operation was proposed, and the model was evaluated through the results of the simulation and the experiment with a real hydraulic excavator.

We are developing a small plant cultivation system using renewable energy. Cultivation becomes difficult when the weather is unfavorable in cultivation using only solar light. If the weather is irregular, it is a system that supplements with LED using electricity generated by renewable energy. In this report, we conducted the experiments of a power generation by solar light and compared it with the data of Japan Meteorological Agency.

This article proposes an estimation method of power consumption for building air conditioning systems with multiple indoor units per outdoor unit. In the proposed method, a recurrent neural network is used to estimate the power consumption from current states of the building. First, the power consumption while the number of indoor peoples is increased is estimated from the people number and both the outside temperature and the room temperature to investigate the influence of these data on the power consumption. The evaluation result showed that estimation accuracy of the power consumption can be improved by considering the number of indoor peoples compared with the case of only the outside temperature and the room temperature are used. Next, by replacing the indoor temperature with the preset temperature, the algorithm is modified to be suitable for predicting the power consumption. It has been also found that the estimation accuracy is kept even if the room temperature is replaced with the preset temperature, and this means the prediction can be feasible.

We are developing a LED small plant cultivation system using natural energy. The data from the Meteorological Agency is used to perform optimal energy management. A Nickel-Hydrogen rechargeable battery is used for the battery. In order to perform optimum energy management, it is necessary to accurately know the remaining charge capacity when energy is used. In this report, we will report the experimental results of the characteristics of the closed circuit voltage and the open circuit voltage of battery terminals.

As a countermeasure against leakage in the servo valve, it is possible to reduce the amount of clearance between the spool and the sleeve. However, wear tends to occur between the spool and sleeve when the servo valve is driven. As a result, the durability of the servo valve decreases. Therefore, we considered that abrasion can be suppressed by using ceramics for the spool and sleeve. We evaluated the performance by performing the durability test of the servo valve using ceramics material up to 4 million times..As a result, wear of the spool and sleeve was reduced by the ceramics material.

There is a limit when the robot is in operation. Energy saving of robots is an effective means to extend working hours. We simulated whether it is possible to optimize energy by running resistance and gradient resistance using a model of a mobile robot taking dynamics into account.As a result, it was confirmed that an optimal solution could exist. .

Recently, with the increase of diabetic patients, "painless blood collection" is strongly required. In order to respond to the needs, this laboratory is developing a painless microneedle mimicking mosquito. Microneedle is thin and easy to buckle, so it is necessary to prevent buckling of the needle by mimicking the mosquito needle and puncture method. From the observation this time, it turned out that mosquitoes imparted rotation and vibration when puncturing and blood sucking. Therefore, in this paper, we imitated mosquitoes, imparted rotation and vibration to the injection needle, conducted a puncture experiment, and examined the invasiveness to the skin.

In this study, as a novel plastic garbage collector that collects floating fine plastic substances in the water, a jellyfish like robot system has been developed. On this system, unidirectional flow generated by opening and closing motion of umbrella makes jet flow pattern toward a jellyfish’s oral arm like garbage collector. This study focused on jet flow that influences on the garbage collecting performance. Through some experiments, we have found that the optimum open-close timing of umbrella at a range of high flow rate. Further it has been confirmed that the arm like collector of the jelly fish’s mouth can collect fine cellulose powder.

Application of automatic sorting technology in logistics warehouse is considered as one of the development goals with the rapid development of robot technology. However, packaging products with different shapes is usually done by human instead of robots. The reason why robot automation is difficult to implement in operation is that single robot hand could not deal with items with different shapes and sizes. In this study, by imitating the opening and closing of the tree frog's palm to help items stably stand on different surfaces, a four-claw robot hand with vacuum suction cups on their tips is proposed. Robot hand consists of three fingers with sucks and a thumb, and it can adopt different grasping strategies according to objects with different shapes and sizes. A prototype of robot hand was fabricated by a 3D printer. Besides, simple automatic grasping system is established, grasping experiment is accomplished.

In this research, we aim to develop an adsorbent that can adsorb to the environment that cannot be applied with conventional vacuum suction cups. To realize that, we investigated the adhesion principle of land leech which is an organism which can adsorb to various materials in nature. It was found that the sucker of land leech has stickiness and can deal with mesh structure etc. where negative pressure cannot be generated. In addition, it was revealed that land leech actively deforms the suction cup to change the contact area with the adsorption surface, realizing both a strong adsorption force and an active detachment operation at the same time. Based on the findings obtained there, we set out uidelines for developing artificial suckers.

"Biomimetics" or "Biomimicry" that imitates the function and structure of living organisms has attracted attention. It is thought that the living organisms got a kind of optimum structure and form in natural selection. Engineering imitation of this points is an effective method for realizing things with certain ability and performance from nature.

In this paper, the authors focus not on the appearance and structural imitation of living things but on the work and abilities of the structure, and pursue the engineering essence. In other words, we propose " Function Extraction " that develops into development of new mechanism by extracting functions. As an example of this research, we focus attention on Suction Feeding found in fish and whales and try to extract its function. We will utilize it for the gripper mechanism and verify the effectiveness of the function in the experiment using prototype one.

Snail’s locomotion makes it possible to move on uneven walls. In order to apply the locomotion to wall crawling robots, in this paper, we designed soft robot and mucus mimicking snails. The soft robot was made by molding rubber and drives with pneumatic pressure. By contracting the pneumatic chamber in order from the rear, peristaltic motion is reproduced and move. Mucus was manufactured using LAPONITE . Adjusting the concentration and additives gives the kinematic viscosity, and it can be applied to walking with mucus.

We have been investigating how to use behavior-controlled Daphnia as a living micromachine. The control of Daphnia was done by applying their phototaxes. We successfully controlled the behavior of Daphnia using phototaxis. However, Daphnia has millimeter size body and it is too big for micromachines. Therefore, we have been investigating for the other applications such as for the entertainment field. In order to use Daphnia as entertainment, we created a new behavior control system using LCD screen of a tablet PC. For a new behavior control system, we created an experimental pool with a function like a prism that can polarize light from the bottom in the horizontal direction. We investigated how to acquire the location of Daphnia by image processing. Based on them, we developed a computer game to compete the Daphnia’s maneuverability.

The authors have developed a tuna modeled oscillation wing propulsion type fish robot, TDUNA2016. In order to improve the Yaw rotation characteristics, TDUNA2016 has a structure which is divided into 3 parts, head, torso, tail part, and the head is operated independently to use for Yaw turning. In this study, the rotational torque and the drag of TDUNA2016 in the yaw direction were calculated when changing the angle of the head and the dorsal-ventral fins obtained from three-dimensional unsteady fluid analysis. Based on the results, we discussed the method of interlocking the rotation angle of the head and the fins.

This paper describes the development of a flexible cable type robot aimed to travel in the sand available for rescue operation or marine resource exploration. To realize it, we have developed a robot made of soft tube material driven by pneumatics, inspired by the garden eel capable of diving in the sand quickly and deeply. In this study, we propose a new structure thinner than the previous one, aiming to dive into 350mm of depth with the reduction of consumed air, enhancement of response, and improvement of insertability. Finally, we verify the validity of the proposed structure through the experiment by the prototype.

We conducted the swimming behavior analysis of polychaete, Hediste diadroma (Nereididae) in the reproductive phase. Change of length and angle in parapodia and setae with movement time were analyzed. Flow field surrounding of polychaete while swimming was visualized using tracer of ion exchange resin particles, and velocity distribution were examined by Particle Image Velocimetry with the movement of parapodia. These results were discussed for the improvement of swimming speed for aquatic propulsion mechanism modeled on the polychaete worm's swimming.

Multipods are generic names of arthropods such as Myriapoda and Centipede. One of the physical characteristics of a multipod type is that it has many legs on a long trunk. Adaptive and efficient walking is possible for various rough ground depending on its characteristics.Myriapoda exhibit complex locomotion including mixture of forward and backward gait. In this research, we aim to investigate walking control system and mixed gait of Myriapoda by a simulator. We will introduce a simplified simulator with considerations of factors affecting on walking to verify assumptions on the walking control system. As a result, we found that walking such as forward and backward can be reproduced, but mixed walking could not be reproduced. It is considered that this is mainly due to the difficulty in balancing the interaction term and the shearing force feedback term.

We are studying how to utilize microorganism as “Living Micromachines”. We found the importance of the operation tool to enhance the ability of the microorganisms by using large microorganisms (>200μm). In this study, we tried to attach small operation tool to small protists (< 50μm) and bacteria. We applied avidin/biotin reaction and optical tweezer system for the experiments. We succeeded to bond avidin beads on the aimed position of the biotin-coated microorganisms. We found that coating biotin to protists is very difficult, and we could not coat biotin without decreasing their physiological activity. In the case of bacteria, their physiological activity did not decrease by biotin coating. We found that the moving speed of bacteria with beads (d=3μm) is about 70% of the swimming speed of bacteria alone. It means that the microbeads function as an operation tool.

Peritrichous bacteria exhibit chemotaxis that cells accumulate around an attractant or recede from a repellent by repeating straight swimming and turning direction. As for chemotaxis of Salmonella typhimurium, cells are known to accumulate around aspartic acid in a shorter time than serine. In this study, we clarify that aspartic acid shows chemotaxis even at lower concentrations by measuring the degree of accumulation of bacteria by variously changing the concentration of the attractant in the capillary. In addition, the chemotactic behaviors (frequency of directional change and swimming trajectory) of a single cell were compared, but the behaviors were almost the same between serine and aspartic acid.

Flying snakes uses their entire body as a wing to glide through the air. During the glide, they use unique cross-sectional shape, which act as generating lift and undulates their entire body. Elucidation of the gliding principle of flying snake widens the range of application of snake robot. In this paper, we aim to understand the aerodynamic property of undulating shape of flying snake. We developed flat serpentine gliding model that is based on flying snake. In the experiment of gliding model we change angle of attack by changing position of the center of mass. Results of experiment is good agreement with simulation.

Birds with flexible feathers have achieved stable flight under unpredictable disturbances. In this study, aiming at enhancing the robustness of the drones, the effect of the deflection of flexible feather models attached to the rigid wings on the robustness of the wing in disturbances is investigated experimentally. The bird-inspired wing models with flexible feather models on upper wing inspired by covert of bird wing is fabricated. In the wind tunnel, the Kármán vortex street was generated by putting a cylinder at the upstream of the bird-inspired wing. The aerodynamic forces on the wing model is measured dynamically by a 6-axis load cell, and the robustness of the wing is evaluated by the averaged lift-to-drag ratio (L/D) and the coefficient of variation of the lift force (CV). As a result, it is found that the length and the flexibility of the attached structure affects both of the indices, and the L/D and the CV can be enhanced by using the appropriate structure for the attachment.

This paper presents a realization of flapping motion using twist drive mechanism for a bird-like robot. Most of flapping flight robots realize flapping motion by converting the rotating force of motors to the up-and-down motion of the wing by using the crank mechanism or servo motors. However, the wings of actual birds move up and down by contracting the pectoralis major muscle and supracoracoideus muscle alternately. Therefore, in this research, we focus on twist drive mechanism which is light weight and can generate tensile force. A twist drive mechanism is a drive system that the driving force of a motor is used as a rotational force for twisting a cord and converted into a tensile force like a muscle. In this research, we realize flapping motion using twist drive mechanism.

Our research group established a technique for building three-dimensional cell constructs using only cells. The characteristic of this technique is to use spheroids for cell constructs. Spheroids size were adjusted by number of cells. For automatically create spheroids, we have developed Automatic Spheroid Culture System for spheroids manufacture. However, when the number of cells was small, variation in diameter of spheroids was widely. Therefore, this research was aimed to consider about pipetting motion according to the number of cells, and reproducibility of spheroids manufacture was evaluated. we programed nine patterns of pipetting motions based on current motion. The material were the rabbit mesenchymal stem cells, the numbers of cells/wells as 2 × 10⁴. and the passage number as 7.The experiment enabled us to specify an optimal pipetting motion for the spheroids with numbers of cells/wells as 2 × 10⁴.

In tissue engineering, building the cell constructs in vitro have been researched intensively in recent years. Our group established techniques which build three-dimensional cell constructs using spheroids. Then, noninvasive analysis was required. We attempted a noninvasive visualization method of the cell distribution inside spheroids and shape of spheroids using pseudo-color display processing. However, this system cannot be analyzed correctly because of the fixed reference values of the pseudo-color display processing. This study aimed to establish a reference values setting method for the concentration distribution of spheroid pictures and improve the analysis accuracy of the system. Software was improved to automatically set the reference value according to each image. Reference gray-scale value was calculated by using value from the average of the four corners area. Previous software could not be confirmed, however, developed software could be confirmed the cell density reduction inside spheroids from 4th day to 5th day.

Recently, there has been growing interests in biomimetics. In order to elucidate the mechanism of insect movement, it is necessary to measure extremely small and distributed force given by insects against the contacting object surface. A distributed force sensor made of transparent flexible film is proposed. Inside the film, grid patterns of microscale pitch are inscribed using MEMS technology. Distributed force can be obtained by observing the deformation of grid pattern. We have detected 0.1 N level distributed force by a device made of PDMS in previous report. In this report, a device made of agar, which have lower Young's modulus is proposed. The device successfully detected distributed force with approximately 10 μN resolution. The force given by a mosquito leg was detected, which was approximately 300, 290 and 430 μN in x, y and z direction, respectively.

In DARPA's original program, Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs) are defined as a class of aircraft whose target dimensions are less than 150 mm in any one dimension. They represent a promising field in robotic search and rescue, disaster management, and traffic monitoring. In this research, we build a small lever crank mechanism for flapping and develop its dynamic model to predict the angular velocity of the wing. Experiments show that our dynamic model prediction roughly matches the real robot movement. In future work, we will make insect-inspired wings, assemble a MAV with our crank mechanism, and measure its lift force.

This paper describes in-situ measuring method of internal condition for a skeletal muscle tissue. Skeletal muscle tissue with hydrogel scaffold changes it internal condition during the cultivation in the real time. Skeletal muscle tissue with hydrogel scaffold are placed in a tensile platform, to measure tension using a force sensor mounted on a tensile platform while uniaxially moving. Since a tensile platform is installed in CO₂ incubator including microscope, Tension and internal condition of skeletal muscle tissue are observed for a long term according to the maturation difference. In the formation of the skeletal muscle tissues, we 3D printed myoblast-laden hydrogel and cultured them to construct a skeletal muscle tissue on support substrate of the tensile platform. Further we confirmed that the skeletal muscle tissue can observe internal oxygen concentration by microcapsule sensor.

Cell–cell interaction is a vital component of human life activity. Obstacle existing in cell interaction can lead to many diseases and how two or more cells interaction can directly influence the migration, proliferation of cells, so different numbers of cells are required to be fixed. The development of microfluidic device using the hydrodynamic structure and the application of controllable closed fluidic environment provide a good direction for us. In this paper, we present the microfluidic device which could achieve the capture of double cells or triple cells respectively for cell-cell interaction analysis by changing the microfluidic structure with the simple and common approach. With experimental verification, the devices using the passive fluid force can all achieve the high efficiency and the high throughput. We envision that the efficient microfluidic device can be applied in more biological research on cell-cell interaction.

This paper reports an improved method for applying the mechanical stress on cells in a micro channel. It is reported that cancer cells can respond different characterization to the confined extracellular environment in order to cross basement membranes and connective tissues. However, it is unknown that how cancer cells respond and show the adaption to confined environment. In terms of these issues, we design and develop a one-layer microfluidic device to simulate a confined extracellular environment, and it can apply sequential mechanical stress on a number of cells to study the cell characterization. During experiments, normal and cancer cells suffer 20 mechanical stresses in micro channel respectively, and a high-speed camera under microscope collects the information of passing time. According to the passing times of normal cells and cancer cells, the preliminary results indicate that the characterization of cancer cells is different from normal cells, and they show more adaption during suffering multiple mechanical stresses.

Cell stiffness is one of important indicators. In the stiffness measurement method using microhand, it is essential to acquire images at high magnification for precise measurement, but in that case the field of view captured by the microscope becomes narrow and the work area becomes small. However, considering improvement of work efficiency, it is necessary to secure a wide work area, and this compatibility was a problem. In this research, in order to solve this problem, we develop a multiscale simultaneous observation system which observes with the optical system which fused two microscopes of different enlargement magnifications, thereby securing a wide working area and stiffness measurement. We also explain stiffness measurement using two micro force sensors to compensate for measurement error when doing.

In recent years, with the development of the life science field, researches on the mechanical properties of single cells and cellular tissues aimed at elucidation of biological phenomena, etc. Among them, in the research field of cell rheology, intracellular complications research has been conducted focusing on the design principle of the cell structure on a scale capable of coarse grain structure. In this research, we aim to construct a system that realizes cell rheology measurement considering intracellular structure. In this paper, we describe problems and proposal methods of rigidity measurement in conventional micro hand system for cell rheology measurement, and experiment results.

Recently, various cell size separation methods are proposed by using microfluidic chips. In this study, we propose cell size separation method based on vibration-induced flow. Vibration-induced flow is induced around microstructure when vibration is applied to a microfluidic chip with microstructure patterns. In addition to that, this flow can be induced on an open chip structure. Thus, we can manipulate cells without pump and tube. We succeeded in various cell manipulation by using vibration-induced flow, for example, 3D cell rotation, trapping motile cells etc. In this paper, we show cell size separation method as an application of manipulation using vibration-induced flow.

Today, cell spheroid is receiving attention in the field of medical science and drug discovery. In this study, we propose fabrication method of cell spheroids based on vibration-induced flow. The proposed method enables to easily collect fabricated spheroids and mass production of cell spheroids. In this study, we fabricated microfluidic chip with circular pattern of micropillar array. By applying circular vibration to the chip, we succeeded in condensation of microbeads whose diameter is 10 μm instead of cells by using proposed method. The proposed method has potential of mass production of cell spheroids.

In this research, we fabricated toroidal cell structures inside a microfluidic device for tissue engineering applications. A photo-crosslinkable biodegradable hydrogel gelatin methacrylate (GelMA) was employed to encapsulate biological cells for assembling cell structures. To stabilize the unstable GelMA manufacturing method,we review the manufacturing method and searched for a method that can be stavly produced. So changing the diakysis method,It was possible to prepare GelMA which is suitable as a cell culture medium. RLC-18 cells grow up on the micro structure. And when RLC-18 cells grow up,GelMA was gradually reduced

In this article, we introduce skeletal muscle three-dimensionally cultured with extracellular matrix (ECM) and module cultured muscle with 3D print tendon structure. The 3D printed prototype was transferred by PDMS to prepare a template for muscle culture. With the tendon structure fixed to the template, myoblasts mixed with ECM were injected into the template. Cultured muscles having a tendon structure were prepared by culturing them three-dimensionally. Since the tendon structure is linked to the culture muscle in a chain form, it is possible to fix the culture muscle regardless of the cell adhesiveness of the material.

We propose an axially-reinforced torus mechanism capable of transferring a soft cell sheet. Several soft grippers using a balloon have been proposed which consist of elastic rubber materials. However, since the traction force does not transmit efficiently due to its soft body, it had difficulty realize the tip storing motion to peel and release the cell sheet. To solve this problem, we constructed a torus balloon that is axially reinforced by inextensible fibers. The fabrication method is presented, and the stress-strain property is measured of the torus membrane. A basic grasping test was conducted to show its effectiveness.

Ride comfort of ultra-compact mobility is deteriorated by vibration because the mobility is lightweight. Therefore, active seat suspension is proposed for improving ride comfort of ultra-compact mobility. However, the seat part of ultra-compact mobility is very small. Thus, small device is required for the ultra-compact mobility. In this paper, we investigated characteristic of voice coil motor using electromagnetic field analysis. Moreover, control performance was investigated by simulation of vibration control. As the results, we confirmed high-performance parameters of voice coil motor is changed depending on size of road bumps in case of using optimal control theory for active seat suspension.

In this study, focusing on the sustainability of environment and health, it has proposed Man-powered mobility.The proposed system is designed on the“ Man-powered robotics”, which realizes the intelligent operation by controlling the power to be transmitted to the output shaft in the robot system. Man-power to implement the safety control in mobility to the power source, it puts control to allow prolonged exercise. As a result, to increase the chance of occupant movement, to prevent Lifestyle-related disease and fatness is expected. Moreover, by making human power to power, it becomes environmentally friendly mobility. In this paper, the pedal to measure input power of proposed mobility is described.

The purpose of this study is to automatically convert the movement patterns of the walking assistive device in different surroundings. We proposed a system that can detect the change of the surroundings and assist the elderly and mild patients to adjust the gait. The impedance control method was utilized to make the user trace the predefined gait that belongs to healthy people. Thus, the user was taught to walk effectively. Ultrasonic sensors were used measured the distance between the foot and staircase. Based on the measured distance, the stride length was adjusted to prevent the collision to the stairs. In the transition phase of the stair climbing and the level walking, the walking trajectories of different patterns were combined. From simulation results, the device climbed on the stairs at the distinct distance from the user. This method has the potential to adapt various walking assistive devices to different surroundings.

Personal mobility vehicle RT-Mover PType can move over paved road and rough terrain. And a seat is kept horizontal even on such terrain. PType has 4 wheels capable of leg motion. However PType’s leg motion doesn’t have interruption motion. We consider comfortable interruption for PType’s leg motion by user evaluation through experiment. And we confirmed the best one from discussed interrupt motions.

For further convenience, it is preferable for personal mobility to move quickly in any direction. However, the mobility with conventional wheels can not move in some directions, such as lateral or diagonal directions. In order to solve this problem, we proposed the omnidirectional mobile robot named slidable-wheeled omnidirectional mobile robot (SWOM), which has three conventional wheels connected to the robot body by three passive sliding joints. These sliding joints enables the main body of SWOM to move in an arbitrary direction despite the nonholonomic constraints on the wheels. In this paper, we discuss the motion of SWOM considering its singular configuration.