Cooperative robots are characterized by their ability to work together with humans. However, cooperative robots cannot handle heavy objects. Therefore, we propose a power-assist technology for cooperative robots that enables ultra-portable work. In this technology, a human-operated assist device is applied to a cooperative robot. However, cooperative robots do not learn the characteristics of assist devices like humans do. In this paper, we discuss the difference between human and cooperative robot manipulation using a model of the assist device.

The range of application of new industrial robots has been expanding in recent years, and measurement and evaluation techniques are indispensable to improve the accuracy of their motion. Many studies have been conducted using the DBB method, but the speed is measured at a slower speed than the actual robot movement speed. In this study, we propose a new method to diagnose the accuracy of locomotion based on the trajectory of a ball on a plate using a dual-armed SCARA robot, which is input only in the horizontal plane.

Manipulation of deformable objects has been studied for many years in dexterous manipulation. Casting manipulation is an example of deformable linear object manipulation, in which a special device is attached to a string and the robot manipulate object from a long distance. In this study, we propose a method to realize casting manipulation on a non-uniform string whose characteristics are unknown, by repeating motion generation, actual manipulation and parameter estimation to estimate the characteristics of the string, including its mass distribution.

The capillary force micromanipulation technique is a method to manipulate objects by generating a liquid bridge between the surface of a probe and the surface of an object. This work aims to verify whether the capillary force between a flat object and a probe with coaxially aligned hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces can be controlled as desired to pick-and-place the object. Liquid is supplied to the surface of the probe with a built-in supply channel. The change of the liquid bridge’s profile is observed from the bottom and side of the object, which is then compared with the obtained capillary force-displacement data. The effectiveness of the proposed manipulation technique will be verified by interpreting the capillary phenomenon.

A bipolar electrostatic chuck is a gripping device suitable for handling thin and flexible objects such as semiconductor wafers, glass and polymer films. Existing studies mainly focused on increasing the gripping force, such as smoothening the contact surface of the device. However, handling methods that include not only grasping, but also releasing of objects have not been developed. This study verifies the effect of the changeable stiffness at the contact interface on the grasping and releasing of an object handled using a bipolar electrostatic chuck. For object handling, efficient grasping and releasing are two fundamental functions needed of any gripping device. To ensure a smooth pick-and-place process, a significant difference between the maximum (grasping) and minimum gripping force (releasing) is desired. Thus, this study proposes a bipolar electrostatic chuck with changeable stiffness at the contact surface. The bipolar electrodes act as heaters, allowing the stiffness of the surface to be controllable by adjusting their temperature. For grasping, by decreasing the stiffness, a closer contact with an object can be achieved and the chuck’s maximum gripping force can be increased. Furthermore, during releasing, the chuck is expected to detach away from the object easily.

By peeling of nano-particle (PNP) process, the magnetic nano-particles in an aqueous solution are employed to be locally magnetically controlled for adhering to a substrate surface and removing the material. In order to remove the material on the surface, the touching phenomenon of particle on surface needs to be confirmed. In this study, the touching phenomenon of nano-particle on the substrate surface was experimentally observed in situ the PNP process by our developed optical system applying multi-wavelength evanescent fields. The action forces, such as DLVO force and magnetic force, on the particle were measured by the height Z of the particle from the substrate surface. Fe₃O₄ particles with the sized range 50-100nm dispersed in the KOH solution (pH value of 10) were employed to be magnetically pulled to approach a silica glass surface by the controllable magnetic field generated by a solenoid coil. During the magnetic field generating, the height Z of nano-particle were measured at the closest approximately 10 nm, in which the DLVO force at measured height Z approximately 0.5-0.9 pN by calculation. To pull the particle touch on the glass surface, the pulling magnetic force on the particle size in range 50-100 nm should be higher than 1 pN approximately.

There are many types of sensors and data for analyzing the behavior of measurement objects in equipment diagnosis. This paper proposes an anomaly detection method that can capture equipment anomalies from multiple angles based on the evaluation of relationships between 3-axis acceleration data, acoustic data, and temperature data obtained from sensors installed on compressors. The main focus here is on the transition of measurements, intercomparisons, and comparisons based on time-frequency analysis, and the usefulness of the wavelet transform, which is a time-frequency analysis, is asserted.

A method for recording and analyzing sounds generated by target equipment with a smartphone for equipment diagnosis is under investigation. In this report, we focused on the amplitude change caused by the sound generated by a bearing flaw, and found the possibility of detecting abnormalities using entropy, mutual information content, and Kalbach-Leibler divergence. However, the amplitude is affected by the distance between the smartphone and the equipment, and we are currently considering how to deal with this issue. The goal is to make it possible for anyone to easily perform inspections with a single small terminal.