It is very important to develop a guide robot for the visually impaired people with the hope of welfare reform. Lest the visually impaired people fall down by the step or have a collision with a street tree, the guide robot must guide them safely. A 3-dimensional map where various obstacles and steps have been recorded is necessary for the guide robot. In this study, 3-dimensional occupancy gird map concerning the unleveled ground was made with a measuring device composed of a servo motor and a laser range finder. Small stones, grass, and a tree branch and so on were expressible on the 3-dimensional map. The standard deviation value on the map, i.e. the void ratio above the uneven ground, can indicate whether the guide robot for the visually impaired people can go into the measured place. Even if the each measured area is small, the maps can combine to create the wide field map. We have been able to make 3-dimensional occupancy grid maps which are useful to guide the visually impaired people.

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The number of patients with chronic respiratory deficiency, such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease or Sleep Apnea syndrome, is increasing. For patients with comparatively serious symptoms, the Non-invasive Positive Pressure Ventilation (NPPV) may be prescribed. However, pressure necrosis or anaclisis could affect treatment by occurring at the contact area of nasal mask. In response to this problem, the construction of a simulation environment can be applied. This personal simulation model was created based on these measurement results and the interpolation results using the Free-form-deformation technique. A fundamental numerical analysis was performed, and Von Mises stress distribution was shown when the NPPV nasal mask made contact with the face. It is shown that the maximum stress can be decreased by 19.4% compared with the cases of standard mask. In conclusion, by using this system, the shape of a nasal mask suitable for each patient can be determined.

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In this paper, a walker that enables disabled or elderly people to rehabilitate outdoors is proposed. This walker has a pair of rotary cross arms with passive wheels, which allow it to get over steps. The user can travel safely because this walker is passive and cannot move unintentionally with driving force. The walker has a small turning circle because the rotary cross arms with wheels are located in front of the body; therefore it has good maneuverability. This paper presents the conceptual design of the walker and proposes two traveling modes according to the states of the rotary cross arms: 1-wheel mode and 2-wheels mode. The former is suitable for traveling indoors and on an asphalt surface. The latter is designed for traveling on bumpy outdoor surfaces such as pavement with interlocking bricks. In the case of the 1-wheel mode, each arm begins to rotate automatically if the angle of the arm is over the threshold. The maneuverability of the walker is also discussed through simulations. Results obtained from experiments demonstrate that an elderly person can travel stably indoors or outdoors, and can climb a step of 3.6 cm height indoors.

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A novel apparatus for non-invasive, in vivo evaluation of arterial mechanical properties was developed. A rigid airtight chamber with an ultrasound probe was attached to the forearm to manipulate transmural pressure (TP) of the radial artery by changing the pressure in the chamber. Pressure-diameter relationship of the radial artery was obtained by measuring the diameter with the probe while pressurizing and depressurizing the chamber. Pressure-diameter relationship of the radial artery could be obtained reproducibly over a wide range of TP. Contrary to intuition, the diameter decreased and increased when TP increased and decreased, respectively, in some TP ranges. This phenomenon disappeared when pressur-diameter relationship was obtained after taking alcohol, indicating that it was caused by the myogenic response of smooth muscle cells.This apparatus may be useful to measure not only pressure-diameter relationship but also contractility of smooth muscle cell.

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