A novel single-master multi-slave (SMMS) human-robot shared control framework which is implemented in the RT-Middleware was proposed. Our research set the target goal of improving the user's operability with the proposed system. This paper proposes a novel force feedback strategy for shared controlled SMMS telemicromanipulation system which was developed in our laboratory. This work is motivated by the high necessity of proper force feedback strategy to provide better operability to the human operator which results in the improvement of overall task performance. Lastly, several pick-and-place experimental results show a dramatic improvement of internal force regulation capability and an operability by the proposed feedback strategy based on the shared control framework in SMMS tele-micromanipulation system.

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A Comparison method for Web pages in terms of visual similarity is proposed. Conventional Web information retrieval/gathering systems, such as search engines, extract keywords from HTML source files, based on which the similarity between pages is calculated. The extracted keywords are considered as semantic features representing the contents of Web pages. Onn the other hand, visual feature of Web pages is as important as semantic feature, because HTML is designed for visualizing a Web page in understandable manner for humans. The proposed method compares the layout of Web pages based on image processing and graph matching. A large test collection for evaluating visual similarity between pages is also constructed based on the assumption that the top pages of a certain category of business have some common visual features. Experimental results with the test collection shows the potential of visual similarity calculation.

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We can access huge information by using PC connected to the Internet, from home, office and elsewhere. However, it is difficult for us to look for necessary information from vast number of typical Web sites. In such a situation, an interactive search interface employing information visualization methods is promising. It has been proposed that Keyword Map, which is one of information visualization methods based on spring model, is applied to the interface for Web information retrieval. In the interface, clustering is used to presume the user's intention from the keyword arrangement. However, the setting of the threshold for clustering has not been fully examined. This paper performs the experiments with test subjects for determining the appropriate thresholds. Furthermore, additional graph drawing methods that should be incorporated into the interface are also considered based on the experimental results. The experiments are performed to examine the relation between the user's intention that should be reflected in a query for retrieval and keyword arrangement pattern. The experimental results show that there exist typical arrangement patterns according to user's intention.

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Reproduction of human haptic sensation has lately attracted attention for various fields, such as virtual reality, remote control of robots, computer interfaces and so on. Previously, a novel method to provide human tactile sensation using surface acoustic wave (SAW) was proposed. A pulse modulated driving voltage excites temporal distribution of standing SAW on a stator transducer. The distribution generated fluctuating friction on the surface of SAW substrate. When the surface with burst SAW is explored by fingertip through a slider, the fluctuation can be transformed into vibration and perceived as tactile sensation at mechanoreceptors in our finger skin. A prototype of the SAW tactile display is fabricated according to the principle. Rubbing the substrate through the slider, we can feel tactile sensations under a control depending on the rubbing motion. A controller for the prototype is developed. For evaluation of slider steel ball vibration, steel ball velocity under the control is measured. Two sets of the control parameters are selected so that operators can discriminate two kinds of roughness sensation. Effectiveness of the selection is evaluated through an experiment with a large number of subjects.

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We developed a learning system for autonomous robots that allows for autonomous exploration of the effective output, and has simple external parameters and a low calculation cost. We propose the concept of self-organizing network elements (SONE) for creating learning systems with these characteristics. We created and evaluated a self-organizing logic circuit by using this concept. Our results indicated this learning system had the characteristics.

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This paper proposes a new communication strategy for engaging humans in interaction with a robot. In usual human-robot interaction, a person looks on the robot's behaviors without responding to them and seldom immerses him/herself in the interaction. Our communication strategy achieves person's immersion in interaction by generating an affective utterance which stimulates a person's feeling about a physical object. The innovative idea of the strategy is to employ human's five senses of the actual physical objects to mediate the human-robot interaction. In particular, since the affective utterance relates directly to a sort of human sensory perception, it is easy to develop a robot system to stimulates the person's feeling.

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The spatiotemporal patterns of spontaneous action potential were analyzed, using the multi-site recording system for extracellular potentials of neurons and the living neuronal network cultured on a 2-dimensional electrode array. The map of functional connections between neurons revealed that each culture contained some hub-like neurons, and the connections were drastically re-organized by continuous feedback stimulation. These results strongly suggest that the network structure of the cultured hippocampal neurons is neither stable nor random, but is functionally dynamic and tunable in order to be suitable for certain types of information processing. So we proposed a hypothesis; the interaction to environment generate the specific rules in the spatiotemporal pattern of nerve electrical activities. Our goal is reconstruction of the neural network, which can process “thinking.” in the dissociated culture system.

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In this research, we propose a method for the evaluation of emotional behaviors by using a pet-type robot without the subjectivity of a special person. In the proposed method, at first we evaluate a body motion by the robot based on Laban's Theory. Next a basic emotional degree is calculated by the fuzzy reasoning from the evaluation value of the body motion. Moreover, we evaluate the emotion value based on Russell's Circumplex Model by using the above-mentioned basic emotional degree. In order to confirm the efficiency of the proposed method, in this research, the experiment used a pet-type robot as an object for the body motion was performed. The results for the experiment and Kansei evaluation are also shown at the end of this paper.

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This paper proposes the spatial memory which aids human activity in a working environment. The spatial memory regards three-dimensional space as mass storage of computers, i.e. three-dimensional point is treated as an address of stored digital data such as various documents, images and commands for machines. Consequently, we can access stored digital data by indicating a point using our own arms, which we named “Human Indicator”. In this paper, we implement a prototype of the spatial memory system which is supposed to utilize digital data regarded as externalized knowledge. The implemented system is evaluated through two types of experiments. The tendency to forget and the efficiency of task performance are investigated. By applying the t-test under the level of significance 5%, experimental results of the performance efficiency show significant statistical difference between the results with the spatial memory and without it.

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A “muscle suit” that will provide muscular support for the paralyzed or those otherwise unable to move unaided is being developed as a wearable robot. The lack of a metal frame and use of McKibben artificial muscle allow the muscle suit to be lightweight, making it realistic to use in daily life. Although all motion for the upper limb is realized, shoulder joint has difficulty in smooth motion because of DOF limitation. To overcome the limitation, new link mechanism is proposed and smooth motion for shoulder is achieved. Moreover, by using neural network, posture control method is developed in case of both the same load and additional load. The precise posture controllability is shown in this paper.

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A long-term experiment of robot therapy for elderly people has been conducted at a health service facility for the aged since Aug. 2003. Three therapeutic seal robots, named Paro, were introduced at the facility. This paper describes an interim report of the experiment after one year. Face scales, consisting of illustrations of person's faces, were used to evaluate people's moods. In addition, Geriatric Depression Scales were used to measure people's depression. These results showed the feelings of the elderly people had been improved continuously by interaction with the seal robots for the period.

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We develop a recognition pattern generation (RPG) algorithm for electroencephalogram (EEG)-based control. The RPG algorithm is based on a recursive procedure of generating recognition patterns so as to improve EEG-based control performance. The algorithm is applied to EEG-based direction control of a biped robot. Experimental results show the utility of the proposed RPG algorithm.

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The energy modification method has been attracting a lot of attention as a new control design of mechanical systems. In this paper, we show an approach to give control performance specifications to controller derived by Interconnection and Damping Assignment-Passivity Based Control (IDA-PBC) method. The closed loop system by such controller has mechanical properties. To evaluate the performance, we construct cost function by using the modal vector of the linearized closed loop system around equilibrium point. Simulation results and numerical analysis show the effectiveness of our approach.

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Two indices, sleep age and sleep index by the human pulse wave and body movement measured non-invasively by the pneumatic method are presented. The sleep age shows the quality of a whole night sleep and the sleep index shows the sleep characteristics of each minute to estimate the sleep stage in the manner of R-K method. The average error between the estimated sleep ages by the R-K method and the proposed method was 7.8 years. The coincidence rate by direct comparisons of sleep stages for each minute estimated by the R-K method and the proposed was 36.4% and SQRM of errors was one sleep stage. The sleep stages estimated by the proposed method showed the essential human sleep characteristics in whole night sleep.

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This paper addresses the energy based swinging up control problem of the Acrobot, which is a two, link underactuated planar robot. Based on the Lyapunov stability theory, this paper proposes an energy based control law, provides a complete analysis of the convergence of the energy and the motion of the Acrobot, and illustrates clearly several unique characteristics of the closed-loop system of the Acrobot. Specifically, for any initial state of the Acrobot, this paper provides a necessary and sufficient condition for non-existence of any singular point in the control law, and shows clearly how to choose the control parameters such that starting from any initial state, the Acrobot will eventually either be swung up to any arbitrarily small neighborhood of the upright equilibrium point, or remain at the downward equilibrium point. Moreover, this paper shows that the downward equilibrium point is unstable and hyperbolic for the closed-loop system. This proves theoretically that the proposed energy based control is effective for swinging up the Acrobot for all initial conditions except a set of zero measure. Simulation results are provided to validate the theoretical results.

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With the trend toward higher-power electric-motor-driven injection molding machine, multi-AC servomotor control is needed to control the molding machine, making synchronous positioning control inevitable to prevent excessive mechanical stress in equipment. Synchronous positioning control in injection velocity control is implemented by using position feedback signals from motor pulse generators. In injection pressure control synchronous positioning control is difficult to realize because pressure-detector signal is used in place of position feedback signals. We clarified synchronous positioning control during injection pressure control by using both pressure-detector and position feedback signals as well as bumpless transfer from velocity control to pressure control by using SFC (Sequential Function Chart) programs. The experimental results by using a simulator apparatus showed that the synchronous positioning control error was less than ±4μm in pressure control.

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Visual navigation is a task of navigating a mobile robot by using a vision system fixed to the operating environment. It is necessary for a visual navigation system to detect and track the target robot, and recently some effective methods for this purpose have been proposed. However, in previous frameworks, it is assumed that the attributes (color, shape, texture, etc.) of the robot are a priori known. In this paper, we propose a method for a visual navigation system automatically learning a statistical model of the robot attributes. For the purpose, we employ an active recognition approach where the visual navigation system and the robot cooperate together. This method can evaluate how the learning was successful, therefore it becomes possible to optimize the system for individual operating environments.

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In this paper we propose new framework of controller design for redundant robots which works in unknown complex world. We consider three problems of unknown complex world. They are problem of sensing, problem of modeling and problem of real-time processing. We show that the cause of the problem is to model the real world by using physical quantity. To solve the problems, we employ perceptional model, which is an abstracted expression of the real world, instead of the conventional physical model. To realize new controller which use the perceptional model, we propose the passive intelligence and the active intelligence. We show that the perception can be realized in real-time by the passive intelligence using properties of the real world, and we also show that active intelligence can control the robot without suffering of the problem of real-time processing by using the perceptional model.
To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed framework, we have applied the framework to a snake-likee robot which has crawlers. As a result, effective behavior moving toward a light source has been realized.

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Following the worldwide trend of deregulation, safety regulation is under re-consideration, whereas various accidents still endanger our society. Some method that can take both production and safety management into account is therefore required to assess safety regulation. This research proposes a social simulation to assess influence of safety regulation on social utility.
The model used in this study is a multi-agent system where many production companies act and evolve under the common environment. The model of each company contains elements related to both productivity and reliability. Safety regulation influences companies'activities as the environment. This simulation model is so flexible that it can be extended from simple to more complicated ones.
In conclusion, a useful method for assessment of safety regulation has been developed, and then several insights were obtained from test simulation comparing various regulation styles and methods.

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This paper presents a manipulation planning using bias sampling of subgoals based on multi-fingered manipulability. The randomized planning we have proposed is based on random generation of subgoals for object configuration, and the connection between these subgoals without considering the manipulability. Therefore, the randomized planning increases calculation time and trial frequency. In order to improve these problems, in the present algorithm, we first choose a high manipulability subgoal and generate a next subgoal in the area biased for target direction. We verify the effectiveness of the present algorithm by simulation examples.

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