This paper discusses the manipulation of multiple objects by pushing. For the pushing manipulation, we propose the concept of equivalent center of friction(ECOF). By using the ECOF, we obtain the region of pusher’s center of friction causing desired relative motion at each contact point.

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Studies in awake behaving monkey revealed that the activity in the primary cortex is correlated with kinetic parameters such as the direction of hand movement. However, the interpretation has been discussed for several decades. This paper describes the inherent problems of recording technique of single cell activity using electrodes. Recent discussions about M1 are also described.

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It is well known that, in order to control a multi-fingered hand to grasp an object and manipulate it toward a prescribed orientation and position, there arises an ill-posed problem of redundancy of DOF (degrees of freedom) because the total DOF of all fingers that constitute the hand is larger than the number of total DOFs that can enough describe motion of the object. The Russian psychologist Bernstein also raised a similar question how the brain could control a system with so many different degrees of freedom interacting in a complex fashion. This paper introduces a new concept of “Stability on a Manifold” in an illustrative problem how to realize secure grasp and orientation control of a 2D object by means of a pair of 3 DOF robot fingers and show that the ill-posedness can be resolved in a natural way without introducing any artificial extra performance index.

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In this paper, we derive a trajectory tracking control law for snake robots with passive wheels and active joints. We remove wheels of some links, and propose a control law based on dynamic manipulability to avoid the singular configuration. The robot can accomplish trajectory tracking of the head position without converging to the singular configuration. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed control law.

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A snake-like robot is a typical example of robots with redundant degree of freedom. Using input-output linearization for only movement of the head of a robot, we can control the head speed as a desired one, but eventually the robot will come to a singular posture like a straight line. In this paper, we propose a control technique in which a physical index of horizontal constraint force is used explicitly. It is shown that the winding pattern with which the robot can avoid the singular posture is generated automatically and the constraint force is redeuced. Some disussion on a inclusion of a spring effect at each joint is also included.

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In this paper, we consider the applicability of QDSEGA for redundant robots. We propose a hypothesis that the body image makes it possible to realize the ability to restrict the exploration space. By comparing between the QDSEGA and a learning mechanism of animals, we discuss the validity of the hypothesis.

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“Caterpillar” is developed as a bio-mimetic multi-legged robot which can realize various walking pattern with respect to its environmental condition. The key techniques are: an autonomous distributed structure in the lower layer such as CPG and the vector field based coding method of desired body motion by weighted sum of basic motions. 3D dynamic simulations and experimental results show the effectiveness of our hierarchical structure.

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This study is intended to deal with “well-balanced design” between control and mechanical systems. To this end, a decentralized control for a multi-legged robot is employed as a practical example. The derived result indicates that the convergence of decentralized gait control can be significantly ameliorated by modifying its interaction dynamics between the control and mechanical systems to be implemented.

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In this paper, we propose a new ankle joint controller which enables stable walking for biped robot on horizontal plane if possible, and relatively low energy consumption. This controller utilizes passive dynamic walking trajectory, and adds potential energy to biped robot. We ascertain this by numerical simulation and confidently think this study will be helpful to an artificial leg.

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In this paper, we define biologically inspired control of walking as “coupled-dynamics-based motion generation”, in which a neural system and a mechanical system are coupled and generate motion by interacting with the environment emergently and adaptively.

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In this paper, we propose a CoP control in double support phase of biped system. In the derivation of this method, the balance control in the single support phase is extended. The simulation results show the effectiveness of this method under the environment such that the constant external force works.

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In this paper, we propose a new control method of Quasi-Passive-Dynamic-Walking. Concretly, we use the (k-1)th step’s trajectory as the reference trajectory instead of some trajectory which was made in advance and update the reference trajectory at every step. Then, after some steps, because of the special feature of Passive-Dynamic-Walking, the robot itself will make the ideal trajectory which is realized by passive dynamic walking. And the effectiveness of the control law is shown through simulations.

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The goal of this study is to develop a variable assist rate system for power assist wheelchairs. This system can sense slope angle by a slop sensor, and can change assist rate according to the slope angle. From the result of the experiment, we confirmed that this system can change the assisting torque according to the slope angle.

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This paper describes a study of a multi-dof leg rehabilitation system. The aim of the study is to develop a leg rehabilitation system, in order to offer the opportunity of rehabilitation to the elderly people at home. A characteristics of our proposed system is to use wire parallel mechanism. In this paper, a 3-dof experimental system is reported.

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This paper describes a jaw movement training robot system and its application for lateral movement training. The authors have developed and improved a jaw movement training robot system, which provides not only jaw open and close training but also jaw lateral movement training. This system consists of a 6 DOF slave manipulator as a patient manipulator and 3 DOF master manipulator as a doctor manipulator.

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In this paper, we propose a sensor sheet in order to realize non-invasive and non-restrictive human vital-signals measurements. The proposed sensor is made of a kind of electric-conductive fiber, thus we can use it as a conventional bed spread. By making the sheet with the fiber in a matrix structure, we can detect the pressure distribution on it. This fact enables to acquire human vital signals such as breathing and heart beat. By a preliminary prototype, we show the basic properties of the proposed sensor.

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A force-sensing device for a power-assisted walking support system has been developed and tested. The sensor consists of a pair of frames supported by rubber springs and displacement detectors. It senses forward and vertical forces and a turning torque by detecting relative displacement between the frames. Test results showed that the sensor has sufficient precision for the power-assisted system.

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An electric bed has aimed to assist the daily life operation. It is difficult for people who have the trouble in the hand to operate the electric bed controller. Then, the input-output device for persons who had disable in the hand was developed. This device is installed in an original controller. The input devise is operated with only one switch from the personal computer screen. We have developed the systems of the electric bed controller.

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In the present aging society, the old man whom care is necessary for, and a handicapped person are on the increase. Because of this, we think that a physically handicapped person’s mental side can be considered with attempting the reduction of the burden of the care person by using “Muscle Suit” for the rehabilitation. By this research, we carry out the motion experiment of “Muscle Suit” and examine the utility as a welfare machine.

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Recently aged people and disable people increase and lack of careperson has become big social issue. In order to solve these issues, we proposes automatic nursing-care system in terms of eating, in which user can easily select food and eat it. In this paper, we present the structure of our eating support system and its basic ability.

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We will present micro parts-feeder using oblique vibration. Conveyance velocity of micro parts depends on the shape of the conveyance surface and the humidity around the surface. In this report, we will investigate the relationship between the velocity and the shape as well as the humidity.

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A binary actuator is an actuation component having only two kinematical states. In this study, we deal with a mechanical system having a large number of binary actuators. As approach based on spatial function and multi-layered neural network is proposed. Computer simulations are carried out for helical-mast type variable geometry truss with length-adjustable binary actuators; feasibility of the proposed approach is demonstrated.

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We have fabricated a robot arm using electrostatic film actuator. The electrostatic film actuator has lightweight, high power and flexible features. In this study, we propose an arrangement method which made use of flexibility of the actuator to make a robot simpler. Furthermore, we measured the performance of the actuators that arranged in the robot arm.

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Generally, it is difficult to use a lot of rescue robots because the robot is expensive. Therefore, we propose the method of supplying a lot of rescue devices cheaply. In this time, we show a simple search device as one of rescue devices. The device can be manufactured cheaply by using person’s power. To obtain a lot of devices, the hose for watering was applied as a body. In this report, it explains each part of this rescue device.

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Incase of a big earthquake, machineries for saving lives are called strongly. We focus on searching lives and develop the rescue robot “Pneumatic-Drive Expandable Arm”. That is elastic arm type robot drove by pneumatic pressure and equipped a camera on the head. That can drive stably on environments have many debris, no electric power, and can’t communicate using wireless.

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There is a danger of secondary disaster in disaster sites. In this paper, a 6-DOF robot arm using pneumatic artificial rubber muscles (PARM) is designed for construction machinery operation to ensure workers’ safety. The position control of PARMs is improved by constituting the cascade control system with the pressure control system in the minor loop.

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This paper discusses the mobile method of Active Hose to pass through such a narrow space as the debris. So as to improve the traverse ability by reducing the friction, the nail drive mechanism is proposed which is attached on the surface of Active Hose.

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This paper discusses the improving method of the traverse ability of both the jumping and rotating performance. First, with regard to the jumping, the existence of the optimal piston area to maximize the jumping height is mentioned, when the cylinder stroke is kept constant. Second, the effectiveness of the anisotropy elastic structure on the wheel is pointed out in order to cross over the big object by rotating.

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It is essential to find suffers quickly at debris in urban disaster. We have proposed scattered searching system with many rescue crawlers. In this paper, a searching system with dispersed crawler vehicle are proposed.

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It is the most important to search a sufferer in the rescue activities. So, we developed a search robot for rescue. This robot has CCD camera, two lights, a thermometer, a infrared detector and a gas detector. Using this robot, we can talk with the sufferer who has consciousness.

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This paper presents a system for building a map of an underground area that is stricken by an earthquake. The system consists of a teleoperated mobile-robot and a workstation to control it from the ground. The robot navigates in the underground area in both semi-autonomous and teleoperated modes, and builds a map based on the SLAM framework with the assistance of the operator.

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In order to search and rescue the victims in rubble effectively, a 3-D map of rubble is required. In this research as a part of a national project of recue robot system, we are investigating a method for constructing a 3-D map of rubble by teleoperated mobile robots. We are also planning to build intuitive user interfaces for teleoperating robots and navigating in a virtualized rubble model using the obtained 3-D model.

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To constitute a robot which explores inside buildings leveled by an earthquake, it is important to get environment information that requires localization. To localize the robot, we use 3-D map by laser range finder, and estimate its location by using correlation technique. In this paper, we introduce this method and a brief of our acquired project.

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This paper proposes a way of controlling the traffic signals in the urban area using the new emotional algorithm as an example of the distributed control of multiple agents. The emotional algorithm estimates the emotional value based on the emotional functions, which are defined on the emotional space. The individualities of each traffic signal enable to optimize the control of signals to make the traffic flows smooth. The numerical simulations clarify the role of parameters in the emotional algorithm.

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This paper proposes a behavior acquisition method of robots with an Emotional Memory System (EMS). We have proposed the EMS that forms the memory (emotional memory) based on emotional experiences. An emotional memory can forecast whether the situation is profitable or harmful for a mobile robot. Therefore, we discuss a behavior acquisition method based on the emotional memory through experiment of a mobile robot.

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In this paper, we investigate the viability of our proposed NN-based extension of the perception control concept. The expectation is used to replace missing parts of the information received and also influences the next perception in the perception control. The effectiveness of the present method is illustrated by some simulations.

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In this paper, a designing method of the swing-up control for an Acrobot(acrobat robot) is proposed, which is used a real-coded genetic algorithm and a neural network. Firstly, the gene arrangement of one individual is assumed as one swing-up pattern, and one cell of the gene arrangement rates as the input signal of the actuator for every 1 step time. By using the genetic algorithm, the swing-up pattern for an Acrobot is generated. Next, the optimal swing-up pattern obtained by it is used as the teacher signal for the neural network. Then, the weights and structure of the neural network are optimized by using another genetic algorithm. The neural network is used as the swing-up controller.

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We have already proposed the “rings gymnastic robot” aiming at an application to the gymnastic coaching. Although handstand skill has been already acquired evolutionarily through the three-link robot, its joint angles throughout the handstand were not considered in the fitness functions. In this paper, handstand skill is evolutionarily acquired by using fitness functions considering the joint angles, which are important factors in its skill and appearance.

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We have been developing exoskeletal robots in order to realize the human motion assist. Flexible and effective fuzzy neuro-controller has been applied for the control of the exoskeletal robots. In this paper, we propose an adaptation method of the exoskeletal robot for human shoulder motion assist under consideration of muscle arrangement. The effectiveness of the proposed adaptation method has been evaluated by experiment.

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Central issues of reconfigurable robots are; 1)reconfiguration of physical structure and 2)control strategy for a robot with undecided structure. In conventional works each issue has been discussed separately, but they are essentially inseparable because the physical structure and control strategy evolve interacting with one another. So this paper discusses both of two issues in our study on a modular type of transfer system, and proposes a coevolutionary method for our transfer system. Numerical simulations illustrate the effectiveness of our method.

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In this paper, we discuss the extention of the dynamic potential field method to apply for cooperative transportation task by multiple mobile robots. According to the proposed method, the energy field is constructed by using kinematic energy. The effectiveness of the present method is illustrated by some simulations.

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This paper describes a high performance finishing system for metallic molds of PET bottles. A mounted abrasive tool is attached to the tip of an industrial robot through a force sensor. Its motion in tangent direction and contact force in normal direction are delicately controlled so that a resultant force among a motion friction force, viscous friction force, coulomb friction force and so on can track a desired value. In other words, the surface of the mold is polished by the resultant force. In order to avoid undesirable over polishing, the rotation of the mounted abrasive tool is locked or is controlled with considerably low speed, e.g., from 1 [deg/s] to 10 [deg/s]. This technique is applied to an open architectural industrial robot FS-20, so that a useful finishing system can be easily realized. Polishing experiments demonstrate the effectiveness and promise of the proposed finishing system.

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In this paper, we propose an automatic mirror finishing system for PET Bottle molds. The finishing system runs based on hyper cutter location data (CL data). The CL data have new statements about regulations of a profiling velocity [mm/s], contact force [kgf], tool rotation [rad/s] and so on. The CL data allow us to skillfully control the finishing system as skilled workers perform. The effectiveness is demonstrated and discussed.

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In this paper, we propose a planning method of graspless manipulation by multiple robot fingers. By considering whether each robot finger should be position-controlled or force-controlled, the method can generate manipulation plans that use both position- and force-control appropriately. We present some planned results including pushing and tumbling of a cuboid by two robot fingers.

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This paper describes a real-time feedback system with tactile information grasping between fingertips and object. We construct a feedback system with tactile sensor and control force. We apply bang-bang control and saturated P control, and confirm that we can control grasping force more exactly by desiding proper ranges at the saturated P control.

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A Hyper-Flexible Manipulator (an HFM) is a robotic arm which has the mechanical structure like a cable. In this paper, we clarify the control structure of an HFM based on the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian dynamics, i.e., showing the hyper-underactuated nature of the system and the equilibrium points achievable by control.

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In this paper, we propose a decentralized motion control algorithm of mobile robots with dual manipulators for manipulating an object. In this algorithm, the representative point of each robot is controlled as if it had a caster-like dynamics in 3D space so that robots can manipulate the object without a geometric relation between the robots. Validity of this algorithm is illustrated by experiments.

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This paper proposes the pushing manipulation of an object placed on the floor by a humanoid robot. To realize the pushing manipulation, we consider two kinds of ZMPs, i.e., the convensional ZMP and the generalized ZMP. To avoid the humanoid to tip over, we obtain the region of the generalized ZMP on the floor. We also show that the difference between two ZMPs corresponds to the magnitude of pushing force.

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We propose a novel complementarity model for a general three-dimensional manipulation system with rolling and sliding contacts to solve the forward dynamics problem. The key idea is to derive complementary constraints for a rolling contact by decomposing the tangential properties.

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