McKibben Pneumatic Actuator(MPA), which is one of the soft actuators, has various useful features as an actuator for robots. Therefore, many dynamic motions by a robot using MPA as an actuator have been realized. A continuous jump of a 2DOF-1-legged robot with four MPAs has been realized in our previous research. In this paper, to pursue the height of a single jump, we focus on the shape of the knee joint and the coordination among MPAs and analyze these factors’ effect on jumping. First, we create knee joints with various shapes and experimentally verify their effects on jumping. Next, we conduct jumping experiments by giving inputs to the knee flexors and ankle plantar flexors at different times to verify the effect of coordination between MPAs on jumping.

In this paper, we propose an omnidirectional fluid powered ropeway that travels on a slope. The slopes need to be inspected and repaired regularly to prevent accidents such as collapses, but due to lack of personnel, inspection work is not enough. Therefore, a robot that works on a slope instead of humans is required. In this study, we aim to develop a compact and lightweight fluid ropeway that can travel on slopes in all directions and inspect and repair slopes without traffic restrictions. We proposed a method combining a fluid powered ropeway and spherical shell mechanism. We have verified the effectiveness of the prototype through indoor experiments.

We aim to develop a flexible tube type in-pipe robot to advance and to carry wired sensors like a camera or washing hose inside narrow and curving pipelines. To fulfill this request, the ability to proceed while generating stable supporting force is required in pipes with varying pipe diameters. Then, this paper presents a novel pneumatic flexible actuator to deform to the shape of lambda, resulting in generating sufficient supporting force while responding to changes in diameter from 50 mm to 150 mm. The effectiveness of the proposed actuator is verified through experiments using a prototype and a mathematical model.

Fluid injection has promising potential as a novel actuation approach for robots to enable the rapid switching of large forces. The proposed nozzle unit can drastically expand the injection range using a passive rotation mechanism to automatically follow the intended injection direction. Concretely, the nozzle unit consists of the passive joint to rotate and two active rotating nozzles to realize the net force. If the unit emits the jets inwardly, the nozzle posture converges to the direction of net force without any additional control. By modeling the proposed nozzle unit, we theoretically validate the stability of the proposed unit near the equilibrium point. Moreover, we demonstrate that some geometrical parameters could modify the responsiveness of the posture. The developed nozzle unit experimentally verifies that the nozzle unit can direct the net force direction in the range of 180 degrees from the upward to the downward direction.

It is widely known that robots using McKibben pneumatic actuator can achieve various dynamic motions by simple control, such as adjusting the timing of pressure application. However, the design of the applied pressure is often determined by trial and error, and there is no systematic design method. In our study, we have proposed a control method for a musculoskeletal robot by autonomous antagonist muscle coordination using tension feedback control. In this paper, we apply the tension feedback control to a 2DOF leg model with antagonistic biarticular muscles and verify its function by simulation. From the simulation results, it is confirmed that the tension feedback control autonomously generated the coordination of the biarticular muscles and periodic motion of the leg model. Furthermore, it is also confirmed that two different motion patterns can be generated depending on the choice of the feedback coefficient.

Pneumatic drive systems have higher output/weight ratio than electric or hydraulic systems, which make the total system compact and are expected to be applied in an industrial area. However, due to the compliant property of the air compressibility, it is easily affected by the frictional force and is not easy to identify the plant parameters. In order to effectively compensate for these influence, we propose 0-type control system focusing on disturbance observer’s model matching function. Identification function is also introduced to improve the transient response as well as positioning accuracy.

We developed two types of non-wearing power type assist device that allows the squat method. One is a pneumatic power assist device that uses a pneumatic actuator. The other is a passive power assist device that uses a gas spring. The support effect and muscle burden were evaluated using EMG and floor reaction force through lifting motion support experiments using these devices. From the experiment result, it was confirmed that the muscle burden on the lower body of the subject using the pneumatic assist device and the muscle burden on the upper body of the subject using the passive assist device were reduced.

Passive dynamic walking provides one of the most efficient gaits of legged robots since the required energy is supplied solely by the gravity. The challenge is to reduce the energy of collision with the ground in order to improve this type of walking to be able to walk on rough ground, e.g., in disaster areas. In this study, we attached a 2DOF wobbling mass to a biped robot and investigated how much the energy consumption due to the ground collision can be reduced. For this purpose, we optimized parameters of the wobbling mass by using Bayesian optimization.

This paper addresses a control for a hexapod robot recovering from an overturned situation. First, the dynamical model of the robot in an overturned situation is discussed. In this modeling, constraints that the round body rotates on the ground and does not slip are considered. Next, computer simulation is conducted in the case that either the left leg or the right leg is moved, and then, the difference in their recovery performances is discussed. Finally, in the case that both left and right legs move, the effect of the difference in timing to initiate the leg moving is discussed.

In recent years, the leg typed rovers are focused on as an exploring rover with high running performance. In previous study, walking method which prevents from slip on the loose ground was proposed. The proposed walking method used changes of the ground when giving vibration. In the proposed walking method, increasing passive earth pressure by giving the vibration is important. In this study, the relationship between kind of vibration and increasing passive earth pressure are confirmed. In experimental results, the more frequency of vibration was large, the more passive earth pressure was increased in low sinkage of a leg. However, this experimental result was not confirmed in high sinkage of a leg. These results were caused by attenuation of vibration.

Quadrupeds can generate adaptive limb trajectories according to the locomotion speeds and road conditions. An essential factor in the adaptive locomotion of animals is flexibility of tendons. Animal tendons have a notable nonlinear property, where it responds with lower stiffness for relatively small displacement, and higher stiffness for larger displacement. In order to investigate the contribution of the tendon properties to the mechanism of limb trajectories generation, we develop a tendon module imitating the tendon properties of horses. This article describes the design of the proposed tendon module and evaluates its properties by measuring the F − L properties of the tendon module.

There are some situations biped robots cannot avoid fall over, just as humans cannot avoid it. When biped robots fall over, it causes various problems such as critical damage due to the impact of the fall. This paper proposes a falling control method in a sagittal plane which uses capturability analysis. We utilize capturability for the detection of falling over and a decision of a landing point of an upper limb. The biped robot can keep its center of mass at a high position by landing its upper limbs, which reduces the impact the robot receives when falling. We confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed method through dynamic simulations.

In recent years, various studies on humanoid robots have been conducted, and their practicality has been increasing. However, bipedal walking, which is the main means of moving for humanoid robots, has some problems. Firstly, the movement speed is slow and secondly, the energy efficiency is low. As a means for solving these problems, we devised the skating method which used the swaying motion of the robot body. By skating, biped robots can move faster than by walking and save energy because of being able to move just by kicking the ground. In order to improve the stability of skating motion, we devised a new kicking motion that generates a motor command value using swinging angle data which is acquired by using RealSense, a kind of RGB-D camera.

Passive dynamic walking on a gentle slope provides one of the most excellent gaits of legged robots in terms of its energy efficiency, since the energy required to make a forward stepping is supplied solely by the gravity. To extend such gait to level ground, or more challenging condition, e.g., rough terrain, a fundamental task is to recycle the energy consumed by the ground collision. Inspired by soft tissues of animals and humans, wobbling masses have been attached to the walkers in the previous studies. Here we investigate the effect of different kinds of wobbling masses on the gait performance. First, a biped walker with a 2-DOF passive wobbling mass model is derived. Second, passive dynamic walking gait of this robot is numerically generated. Finally, the motion analysis is conducted under different wobbling conditions. Our results show that the walking speed can be improved by up-and-down oscillation, however, worsened by rotational oscillation of the wobbling.

Reflexes contribute to many motor functions of humans. In order to understand the reflex mechanisms in posture control of humans, we develop a bipedal robot platform that can reproduce muscle properties and reflexes. This robot with BLDC motors has high back-drivability and torque output ability to reproduce these two characteristics. In this study, to quantitatively investigate the contribution of various types of posture reflexes with different sensory information (muscle length, force, and no input), we compared the settling time and steady-state deviations of the posture response under disturbances.

Quadrupeds have an ability to autonomously generate locomotion in response to their environment by using a large number of reflex feedbacks throughout their body. We have been proposing a design method to implement a mechanical reflex system in a robot to reproduce the animals’ abilities. In this study, a robot resembling feline hindlimbs with a complex musculoskeletal structure including biarticular muscles autonomously generated leg trajectories through interaction between the body, the environment, and a mechanical reflex system, without using any computational devices such as a microcomputer. Furthermore, when we compare the joint angles of the robot with those of the cat, the characteristics of the joint trajectories matched except for the knee joint.

Recently, a reinforcement learning approach has been proposed as one of the control methods for legged robots. This paper describes walking motion in the sagittal plane of a biped robot with 6-DoFs using reinforcement learning. In this research, we prepared two types of rewards to generate gaits. One is a normal reward based on the robot’s state at each sampling cycle. The other is a walking reward, which is based on the contact state of the feet with the ground. By introducing these rewards, the agent was trained, and as a result, the biped robot realized forward walking for 10 seconds in the sagittal plane.

In this study, we attempt to drive a two-wheeled vehicle from a specified starting point to a target point avoiding obstacles by using model predictive control. In particular, we focus on dealing with the case of a deadlock due to an obstacle and on reducing the computational complexity. In the case of a deadlock, we modify the objective function of the model predictive control to get out of the deadlock. In order to reduce the computational complexity, the control law is approximated by a neural network.

The objective of this research is to develop an autonomous driving technology that can follow the flow of a crowd in a crowded corridor while maintaining a distance from the pedestrians. We have achieved this by applying a modified version of the Lennard-Jones potential method to pedestrians, and by following pedestrians moving in the direction of the robot's destination while maintaining a distance to avoid causing discomfort to the pedestrians. In this paper, we describe an improvement of the Lennard-Jones potential method. Some parameters are changed according to the nature of the pedestrian. In order to validate the proposed method, simulations are conducted to evaluate and compare the results.

We have developed a rugged terrain mobile robot equipped with an elastic telescopic arm for the purpose of improving moving performance on rugged terrain. The problem of the elastic telescopic arm is the low tension transfer efficiency of the passive pulley. In order to investigate the tension transfer efficiency, an experiment was conducted to obtain the relationship between the tension transfer efficiency and D/d, where D and d are the pully diameter and the wire diameter, respectively. We revealed that the tension transfer efficiency rapidly decreases when D/d is less than 10. Moreover, loss of the bering is not dominant reason for the efficiency decrease.

A lot of research is still being done on the running control of tracked vehicle because various factors are intricately intertwined and it is not straightforward. When beginners start by developing a vehicle, the problems we hear most often are "cannot turn" and "motor driver burns". In particular, the tendency becomes stronger as the weight of the vehicle becomes heavier.

Therefore, from our experience of developing a load carrying robot, we report the key points for overcoming those troubles. Regarding "cannot turn", many factors are identified and suggestions for robot design are given. Regarding "motor driver burns", we show conceptional graphs of the temperature rise of the switching ICs and give suggestions for heat dissipation.

We propose a dynamic motion using a rocker-bogie mechanism that utilizes the physical elasticity. By storing the kinetic energy of the robot as elastic energy in the physical elasticity and releasing it appropriately, more kinetic energy can be expected. In addition, dynamic motions such as excitation of the bogie link can accumulate even more elastic energy. In this paper, we designed and fabricated a prototype of the rocker-bogie mechanism with physical elasticity, and conducted experiments to climb over a step. As a result, the ability to climb over steps was improved by utilizing the physical elasticity.

Robot using wheels with special shape have been studied as a kind of robot aiming to search rough terrain. Wheels with the special shapes can leach step by higher than the wheel radius by hooking on steps and irregularities. However, the robot using the wheels with the special shape has a problem that he vehicle body moves up and down while traveling on a flat road. The purpose of this research is to develop a robot that can run on irregular ground and can travel without moving the body up and down during running on flat ground using wheels with special shape. In this paper, we developed a new prototype that is more useful for exploring indoor environments more freely, and investigated its operation method and conducted operation experiments.

In recent years, various electric wheelchairs have been developed and commercialized. However, there are not many wheelchairs that can be driven on mountainous roads with large undulations or in urban areas with many steps. Therefore, development of an electric wheelchair that can run even in an environment with obstacles is required in order to extend the freedom of life for passengers. In this research we developed an electric wheelchair that can run on slopes and uneven terrain. The developed object participated in the Cybathlon 2020 Global Edition and evaluated its performance.

We have been developing an inverted pendulum type robotic wheelchair with the ability to climb stairs. This wheelchair has a seat slider and two rotary links between the front and rear wheels on each side. It is controled by a linear-quadratic regulator consisting of a center of gravity control mode and a rotary link control mode. In this paper, we focus on how to estimate the modeling errors in using this system and how to suppress the wheel motion, because modeling errors caused by payloads can cause the wheelchair to fall. We found that modeling errors cause wheel movement due to errors of the slider position and changes of the mass of the passenger. We proposed a method for estimating the slider position error and mass change, and confirmed that the method can be applied to correct the error.

Soft materials, unlike hard materials such as metals, have properties such as flexibility, adaptability, and high compliance. Textile is one of the soft materials that we are familiar with, and is used to make clothes, bags, towels, and masks. High-strength textiles which are composed of high-strength fibers are expected to be used as materials for soft robots because of their high strength and flexibility. However, properties of textiles depend on its weaving and knitting methods and materials and durability evaluation method for use as a material for robots has not yet been established. In this paper, we propose a durability evaluation method for using high-strength textiles as materials for robots, and evaluate its properties．

Soft robots have advantages in terms of safety, softness and compliance. However, each fluid driven soft actuator often employed in soft robots requires a corresponding pressure supply and valve to be driven. Here, we take notice of a fluidic valve which can control flow without a mechanically moving part from a viewpoint of simplifying the driving system of fluid-driven soft actuators. Hence, we realize a system which consists of a pump, a fluidic switching valve, control flow and two balloons. The valve cannot switch the flow when the pressure difference between outlets is over several kPa, so we use latex balloons which has a peak in their PV diagrams. The system is able to control the balloon’s expansion by switching the flow from the pump. Experimental results proved that the system could actuate the arbitrary balloon.

In recent years, Dielectric Elastomer Actuators (DEAs) are attracting attention as excellent artificial muscles. We have developed a module that mimics the intervertebral bending angle of scomber at their swimming frequencies(4-7Hz). The module is formed by the antagonistically configured flat DEAs which are attached to the linked segments through wires. Models with one rotating segment and two rotating segments were made and tested. We observed that the maximum bending angle was 2.69deg for one segment model and 3.27deg for two segments model at 4Hz. We have developed an underwater robot using these models. The peak swimming speed of the robots were 24.2mm/s (10Hz) for one segment model and 35.5mm/s (9Hz) for two segments model. From these results, the possibility of adapting the wire-driven module to mimic the swimming of scomber was shown.

In this study, we are developing a cord-like manipulator using “bending type pneumatic rubber artificial muscles” (BPAM), which is a kind of soft actuator. The manipulator currently under study is composed of several units created by BPAM and connected in series. This allows the manipulator to be easily expanded. However, the low-pressure resistance performance and low stiffness of the BPAMs used have been issues. In addition, an effective control method for the unit had not been established. Therefore, we decided to use ready-made products rubber tubes and caulking methods to create the BPAM. As a result, improvements in the issues were observed. In addition, PI control and autonomous decentralized control were introduced to control the unit effectively. These control methods were found to be effective in controlling the unit.

In this study, we developed a robot hand based on the musculoskeletal system using pneumatic rubber artificial muscles. The human hand is dexterous and can grasp any object. Biological mechanisms provide flexibility and dexterity to the human hand. If this mechanism is applied for a robot hand, it will be flexible and dexterous. Therefore, we focused on the musculoskeletal system and used this system to develop a robot hand. This study found advantages and problems of the robot hand using the musculoskeletal system. In addition, the robot hand in this study used pneumatic rubber artificial muscle. This actuator is lightweight, flexible and has high power output. We tried to apply this actuator to a robot hand. And we found challenges of artificial muscles. In future works, we find a new robotic mechanism using the musculoskeletal system and artificial muscles.

In our laboratory, we are researching a soft robot that rolls by distorting its own body by constructing its body with artificial muscles like a wireframe model. By improving the cube-shaped self-distortion robot developed in a previous research, we developed icosahedral self-distortion robot. In this robot, the frame part of the robot is composed of 30 bending artificial muscles. The main components of this robot are artificial muscles and pneumatic systems, then I developed artificial muscles, terminals, and touch sensors, which are part of the component. The terminal is component used for plug, air supply, and connection to other artificial muscle. The sensor is attached to each corner of the robot. This sensor can grasp the posture of the robot by reading the reaction force from the floor. In this study, it was confirmed that this sensor can be used for this robot by testing the operation of the sensor.

A vacuum-driven rubber-band gripper is a ring-shaped gripper that wraps around an object by decreasing its internal air pressure. We analyzed the condition wherein the gripper wraps around an object without creating wrinkles. We also evaluated the wrapping performance of the gripper, using objects of different sizes and shapes. The experimental results show that the gripper can wrap around objects, for a wide range of sizes and shapes. We also developed a gripper-fixing device for a robot arm using the concept of variable stiffness by particle jamming. The fixing device enables the gripper to handle objects without swaying.

We propose a mesh layer-jamming sheet that changes its stiffness based on the internal air pressure. The proposed sheet is more flexible than layer-jamming sheets when the internal air pressure is at the atmospheric level and more rigid than fabric jamming sheets when the internal air is evacuated. Mesh sheets made of polyester fibers elongate by changing the mesh shape without elongation of the fibers. The proposed layer-jamming sheet envelopes the mesh sheets inside a flexible membrane, and provides both the flexibility and high bending stiffness of layer-jamming sheets. The proposed layer-jamming sheet can wrap around a curved surface without creating wrinkles.

In this paper, a small and lightweight hammering mechanism that can be mounted on a drone is proposed. To solve this problem, we developed a compact and lightweight percussion mechanism using a snap motor. The developed mechanism weighs 60g and can strike at a repetition rate of up to 1.6Hz, and through experiments we confirmed that it has the potential to determine the presence of defects.

This study aims at the fabrication of a soft active tactile sensor that can change its sensitivity by changing sensor’s morphology. In this paper, we use carbon-nano-tube-based (CNT) strain sensors as a sensor element, which is soft and can deform up to 200%. The output of soft tactile sensors with rigid sensor elements such as a strain gauge tends to be unstable, when stimulation is applied. However, using a CNT strain sensor can solve the problem. We fabricated tactile sensors with the CNT-based strain sensor using a stereolithography 3D printer. A CNT-based strain sensor was placed on the top of the three chambers on the base, which is covered by a thin film. In the experiment, an indenter slid on the surface of the tactile sensor. Based on the experimental result, we confirmed that that the sliding direction could be determined, and the sensitivity could change depending on the amount of air enclosed.

Ionic-Polymer Metal Composites (IPMC), one of the representative polymer actuators, has a structure consisting of an ion-exchange membrane and metal electrodes joined together. Conventionally developed IPMC robots are usually made by cutting and pasting sheets of IPMC, which requires an assembly process and is inefficient in realizing complex structures and motions. In this study, we propose a method of constructing a three-dimensionally shaped IPMC robot like a card model by joining ion-exchange membranes using the shape memory property. We then fabricated a turtle-type robot using the proposed method.

An ionic polymer metal composite (IPMC) actuator is one of the lightweight and flexible polymer actuators. A method of three-dimensionally forming IPMC (PF-IPMC) by using paper or cloth has been proposed. We have proposed a method of forming a three-dimensional ion exchange resin by forming the ion exchange resin using water-soluble paper and then removing the water-soluble paper. With this method, there is a possibility that a three-dimensional IPMC robot with a larger displacement than the conventional PF-IPMC can be manufactured. We have confirmed that IPMC can be created using the proposed method. In addition, we have conducted the operation test of this IPMC.

The mechanisms of the current robotics are completely different from the muscle driving mechanisms of humans or animals. The 7-DOF power soft robot arm driven by hydraulic artificial muscles developed in this study can potentially achieve the coexistence of strength and softness while having motion characteristics close to those of humans. This robot has two antagonistic joints on the shoulder, two asymmetrical antagonistic joints on the upper arm and the lower arm, and the wrist and elbow have rotational pull-wire drive joints, a total of 29 hydraulic artificial muscles.

In this study, we developed an EEG-based MR game based on the hypothesis that games can be made more interesting by reflecting the psychological state read from the EEG. The genre of the game was shooting. We designed the game in such a way that the size of the aim in the game is linked to the EEG feature value, and that focusing increases the EEG feature value and shrinking the aim increases the hit rate. The β/α ratio was used as the EEG feature, and we sought an effective way to introduce the β/α ratio into the game. By setting a threshold value using the average value of the β/α ratio of the subjects, and by performing a moving average process that divided the values above and below the threshold value, we were able to manipulate the size of the aim as desired with a probability of about 80%.

In laparoscopic surgery, current surgical navigation systems use preoperative medical images. The actual shape of organs and the navigation image are different from each other due to the deformation of the organ during the operation. To solve this problem, our research group is developing an endoscopic surgery support system that can present intraoperative organ deformation. In this study, for this system, an organ 3D model is constructed from medical images. The 3D model is projected by projection mapping on the surface of a human body to present the organ that is inside the body. In addition, a full-scale liver was made from soft resin using a 3D model of an organ, and the usefulness of projection mapping was verified.

We proposed a display method of temporally variable visual texture using a Kirigami structure. We studied two methods. The first is to change the shape of the surface, and the second is to change the ratio of the area of the glossy and the rough surfaces. In order to change the surface shape and the area ratio, we used a regular Kirigami structure and a cross patterned Kirigami structure. The method of changing the surface shape realized the display of a visual texture that was significantly different from that of a flat surface, and the method of changing the area ratio realized a visual texture that depended on the area ratio of the glossy and the rough surfaces.

In this study, we developed a tabletop game where a piece on a board is manipulated by inclining the board with four levers to navigate the piece to follow the predefined path. Our hypothesis is that communication may be enhanced by counterintuitive behavior of the piece, such as climbing up the slope that is against the laws of physics on the earth. To evaluate the effect of the counterintuitive behavior on the enhancement of the communication, we have conducted experiment where the pair of players played the game under two different conditions. The results of the five-point Likert scale questionnaire demonstrated that the counterintuitive behavior had positive effect on the freshness and interestingness of the game while it had no effect on the difficulty of the cooperation. However， it was confirmed that the verbal communication between the players increased 6.7 % in average which partially support our hypothesis.

Task training support technology for solving the shortage of skilled workers in the field of manufacturing is drawing attention. In order to realize this, it is important to develop a visual presentation device that can present a lot of information to workers, and as one solution, a high-resolution binocular video see-through display is being developed. It not only presents appropriate task instructions, but also presents images as if real objects and virtual objects exist there by high-resolution stereoscopic vision. If an environment in which such virtual and real objects coexist can be constructed and both can be operated in the same way, the task training can be performed even if all the real parts are not yet available at the design stage. In addition, while changing the shape of the virtual parts, the operator can check the ease of the task or see the overall appearance. In this paper, the mixed environment of real and virtual objects constructed using the prototype system is introduced, and the results of evaluation by performing the peg-in-hole task is reported.

In this research, an AR image presentation system based on gaze information has been proposed. In the proposed method, 3D objects are presented between the effective and periphery. This 3D object is intended for hazard warning and eye guidance. This field is known to have short reaction time. We conducted a subject experiment using a driving simulator and confirmed that the reaction time was significantly shorter.

A laparoscopic surgery is a minimally invasive surgery that reduces the burden on the patient. However, main disadvantage of the laparoscopic surgery is the narrowness of the field of view provided by an endoscopic camera. Therefore, if an organ is damaged by a surgical instrument outside the field of view, it is easily overlooked. To support the laparoscopic surgery, surgical navigation systems have been developed so far. However, conventional navigation systems provide information based on the preoperative medical images, and hence the gaps between the actual surgical situation and the navigation information become larger as the surgery proceeds. This paper proposes a method of providing predicted information on the endoscopic images. In this method, the movements of surgical instruments are measured by a motion capture system. The dynamic deformation of an organ caused by the contact between a surgical instrument and the organ is simulated and presented by superimposing the CG model on the endoscopic image. In the superposition display experiment, the superposition of the deformed flexible cube and its 3D model was confirmed.

In recent years，with the spread of streaming distribution and video sharing services，opportunities to listen to music in various places have increased．There are many researches that can improve the musical experience by tactile stimulation．We aimed to improve the musical experience by presenting three-dimensional video expression via HMD．The goal of our research is to process real-world scenes and to create visual representations in AR visual representations. In this paper，as a preliminary experiment, we examined the influence on music by presenting a three-dimensional video expression with music．In order to evaluate the proposed method，the change in the immersive feeling in the music is evaluated through comparison with the reproduction of the conventional video expression．

Since ancient times, people have longed to fly in the sky. Actual flying involves risks and costs, but using a VR device makes it easy to experience flight. In this study, we propose a method of presenting the sensation of flying with flapping virtual wings independent of the limbs, such as the Draco．Unlike studies that presents the sensation of flapping wings by moving the arms, new applications that use the limbs during the flight experience can be expected by flying without moving the limbs. In this paper, we proposed a method of presenting the sensation of manipulating the wing without using the limbs and a method of transmitting the force acting on the wing to humans. We conducted experiments using these methods and obtained subjective evaluations.

The purpose of this study is to construct an olfactory navigation system for insects. We constructed a system in which insects remotely control moving objects in order to model the differences in physicality that exist between insects and robots. After constructing the system, we measured the odor source search behavior of the silk moth. As a result of the experiment, by using this system, it was possible to present a searching environment close to the actual environment for insects. In the future, this system can be used for the development of odor source search algorithms.

Mouse is a useful animal model to address the neural mechanism of higher brain function and test pharmacodynamics of new drugs. Development of new behavioral analysis to detect subtleties of emotion is valuable for the evolution of neuroscience research and drug discovery. 3D gait measurement is expected to contribute greatly to them. Several methods for 3D gait measurement of mouse were proposed. For example, there is a method using optical motion capture with markers and multiple cameras, but this method has problems of preparing the markers sets, and the effect of markers on mouse behavior. Another method is to use a single RGB-D camera and calculate the position of the limbs using the distance from the center of gravity based on the depth image, but it has a problem that the error is large for the size of mouse foot. In this study, we propose a simple, highly accurate and markerless gait measurement method using a single RGB-D camera. As a result, the proposed method can reduce the error to about half compared to the error in the previous study and measure the gait of mouse with sufficient accuracy.

To understand and enhance the working dog’s activity performance, studies that grasp the dog’s positive and negative emotions related to its motivation are gaining a lot of attention. For estimating a dog’s emotion, heart rate variability is studied by observing its characteristic fluctuation. So, by preparing a dog’s emotion, a discriminator can be constructed to estimates the emotional state. Sometimes, however, it is not viable to measure the dog’s heart rate data of each emotion in advance. In this report, the verification of a dog’s positive and negative emotions can be distinguished by the use of machine learning on another dog’s heart rate variability data.