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[in Japanese], [in Japanese], [in Japanese]
2008 Volume 44 Issue 12 Pages
947
Published: December 31, 2008
Released on J-STAGE: February 25, 2013
JOURNAL
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Shinya KAJIKAWA
2008 Volume 44 Issue 12 Pages
948-955
Published: December 31, 2008
Released on J-STAGE: February 25, 2013
JOURNAL
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This paper describes a robot hand with soft compliant finger module for safe and comfortable human-care services. In the finger module, we utilize two different kinds of elastic elements at finger-tip and MP joint (Metacarpa-Phalangeal Joint), respectively, so as to realize soft and stable contact with human body. At fingertip, a hemisphere shaped silicone gum cushion is mounted, while eight cylindrical cushions are placed between the motor and the link inside MP joint. These cushions deform easily and, as a result, absorb external forces exerted from multiple directions. Furthermore the amplitudes and the directions of applied forces can be estimated with the information of changes in the pressure of each cushion. We examined the fundamental characteristics and performance of this finger module through several experiments.
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Akitoshi NAKAMURA, Ryuta OZAWA, Satoshi GOTO, Yasuhiko HATANAKA, Sadao ...
2008 Volume 44 Issue 12 Pages
956-961
Published: December 31, 2008
Released on J-STAGE: February 25, 2013
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A control system of a clutch mechanism with a pneumatic passive element is developed for Ankle Foot Orthoses. This systein consists of an internal pressure control system and a gait sensor system, and is small enough to mount on ankle foot orthoses. A gait sensor system distinguishes walking phases, and the pressure control system adjusts a. maximum constraint force of a clutch system with the sensor signal. Experiments are executed to confirm the validity of the system.
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Toshio TAKEUCHI, Hideo SAITO, Akihisa OHYA, Yoshimitsu AOKI, Humitoshi ...
2008 Volume 44 Issue 12 Pages
962-969
Published: December 31, 2008
Released on J-STAGE: February 25, 2013
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The purpose of this study is to improve rescue radar system with array antennas so that it can quickly identify far-off survivors under rubble. Authors focused on time-variable elements from the respiration of a survivor awaiting rescue in order to remove clutter components, such as the rubble. Authors utilize array antenna and identify the location of the survivor with three dimensions. Authors also examine the effectiveness of this method experimentally.
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Motoyasu TANAKA, Fumitoshi MATSUNO
2008 Volume 44 Issue 12 Pages
970-978
Published: December 31, 2008
Released on J-STAGE: February 25, 2013
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We consider the trajectory tracking control of a 3-dimensional (3D) snake robot by using redundancy. We discuss the motion control which accomplishes the trajectory tracking and other tasks, for example singular configuration avoidance, obstacle avoidance, etc., for the 3D snake robot. Features of the internal motion caused by introducing the kinematic redundancy are considered and the dynamic model of the 3D snake robot is derived by introducing shape controllable points. By utilizing the redundancy, we propose the controller which accomplishes the trajectory tracking as the main-task and other several sub-tasks. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed controller.
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Toshitaka OKI, Jun FUJIOKA, Kazuya MORI, Ryo OHNISHI, Yasuhiro MASUTAN ...
2008 Volume 44 Issue 12 Pages
979-985
Published: December 31, 2008
Released on J-STAGE: February 25, 2013
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Rescue dummies are developed to analyze the influence on human body during rescue activity. In a rescue robot contest, small telemetric rescue dummies are also used for evaluating rescue activities. This contest has been held yearly for the education of rescue techniques and disaster prevention. The theme of the contest is rescue activity by using teleoperated robots at the miniature of a city that supposed to be damaged after large-scale disaster. The authors developed a new dummy system for the 7th rescue robot contest. The key features are: various heights like those of adults and children, the ability to measure loads on the neck and the whole body, and the availability that enables more number of dummies work on the contest field. This report shows the outline, the development process and the damage sensing criteria of the new dummy.
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Taiki OGATA, Takeshi TAKENAKA, Kanji UEDA
2008 Volume 44 Issue 12 Pages
986-995
Published: December 31, 2008
Released on J-STAGE: February 25, 2013
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People can produce rhythm cooperatively with others in spite of some internal delays (e.g. transaction delay of stimulus and motor delay). For this study, we produced a model of rhythm production with a partner considering one's own internal tempo. Using it, we then investigated the mechanism of rhythmic coordination between two people. We based the work on the Dual Process Model (DPM) proposed by Mates to account for mechanisms of human synchronization performance with a pacemaker. In DPM internal time delays are considered and the internal timekeeper and two error corrections (phase correction and period correction) are included. We used these DPM characteristics to construct a model of rhythm production with a partner. Results of simulation using the applied model were compared to those of a behavioral experiment using an alternate tapping task in which participants alternately tapped with a partner using an index finger. Cooperative rhythm production was reproduced by the model, which included not only two error correction systems but also internal timekeeper correction based on one's own internal tempo. These results suggest that maintaining the self-tempo is important for cooperative rhythm production with others.
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Tomomasa SATO, Nobuto MATSUHIRA, Eimei OYAMA
2008 Volume 44 Issue 12 Pages
996-1005
Published: December 31, 2008
Released on J-STAGE: February 25, 2013
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The Coordination Program of Science and Technology Projects of the Council for Science and Technology Policy is promoting“next-generation robots”. For efficient research and development of robots, common robot platform technology is to be established as a matter of urgency. In this paper, we clarify the common platform technology, survey the status of the technology and introduce our activities for prompting the technology. Information structured environments and a robot world simulator are our ongoing projects within the framework of the Common Platform Technology for Next Generation Robots. We present the status of the projects.
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Kazuo TANAKA, Hiroshi OHTAKE, Hirokazu SAKAMOTO
2008 Volume 44 Issue 12 Pages
1006-1008
Published: December 31, 2008
Released on J-STAGE: February 25, 2013
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This paper presents two attempts for automatic wheelchair control via electroencephalogram (EEG). One is an attempt for increasing successful rate of the EEG- based control without training tasks. The other is an attempt for reducing the number of electrodes without decreasing successful rate of the EEG- based control. Our experimental results with 10 subjects illustrate the viability of both the attempts.
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Hisayoshi SUGIYAMA
2008 Volume 44 Issue 12 Pages
1009-1011
Published: December 31, 2008
Released on J-STAGE: February 25, 2013
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Noncontact power supply network is investigated for multi-robot rescue systems. This network is based on wireless non-radiative mid-range energy transfer using magnetic resonances. The fundamentals of magnetic resonance and a basic analysis are shown about power supply network consists of three robots. As a result, parallel configuration of two power supplying robots is confirmed to have an advantage over serial one.
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Jian HUANG, Yusuke NAKAMURA, Daisuke YAMADA, Masayuki HARA, Tetsuro YA ...
2008 Volume 44 Issue 12 Pages
1012-1014
Published: December 31, 2008
Released on J-STAGE: February 25, 2013
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This paper proposes an motion control issue for a redundant serial-linkage manipulator by stratifying degrees of freedom of the robot to number of fundamental motion blocks. Since the lightweight blocks near the end-of-arm actively moves using manipulability index, advantages like less driving power and improved dynamic performance can be expected in the proposed method. Experiment using a redundant manipulator comprised with a 6 DOF manipulator and a 3 DOF finger was made to demonstrate the effectiveness.
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Takayuki HOSHI, Hiroyuki SHINODA
2008 Volume 44 Issue 12 Pages
1015-1016
Published: December 31, 2008
Released on J-STAGE: February 25, 2013
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A novel cloth-like device is proposed. It measures its own 3D shape in real time by utilizing a large number of minute sensors distributed on it. The shape reconstruction is based on the gravitational and the geomagnetic fields.
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Naoyuki HARA, Akira KOJIMA
2008 Volume 44 Issue 12 Pages
1017-1026
Published: December 31, 2008
Released on J-STAGE: February 25, 2013
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This paper deals with a reduced order model predictive control (MPC) for constrained discrete-time linear systems. By introducing a decomposition method for discrete-time linear systems with a quadratic cost functional, the pairs of initial state and input sequence which have a strong influence on input-output relation are clarified. Then an MPC law is obtained by solving a low-dimensional optimization problem. A numerical example is provided to illustrate the proposed method.
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Takayuki WADA, Yasumasa FUJISAKI
2008 Volume 44 Issue 12 Pages
1027-1033
Published: December 31, 2008
Released on J-STAGE: February 25, 2013
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A probabilistic approach is considered for robust optimization, where a convex objective function is minimized subject to a parameter dependent convex constraint. A randomized algorithm is proposed for solving this optimization employing the stochastic ellipsoid method, where an optimality cut which describes a provisional optimal value is sequentially updated. It is shown that the upper bounds of the numbers of random samples and updates of the algorithm are of polynomial order of the problem size and much less than those of the stochastic bisection method utilizing the stochastic ellipsoid method at each iteration. This feature actually leads to a computational advantage, which is demonstrated through a numerical example.
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Approach Based on Coordinate Transformation and Sampled-data Control
Manabu YAMADA, Shinichi OHTA, Yasuyuki FUNAHASHI
2008 Volume 44 Issue 12 Pages
1034-1042
Published: December 31, 2008
Released on J-STAGE: February 25, 2013
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This paper proposes new state/output feedback control systems based on coordinate transformations and sampled data control for a class of nonholonomic systems in high-order chained form. Our novel approach is the discretization of the chained systems with a zero order hold and a sampler and is the use of time-varying coordinate transformations to transform the discretized systems into linear time-invariant discrete-time systems. The problems of finding state feedback controllers and observer based dynamic output feedback controllers to stabilize the chained systems are reduced to the well-known pole assignment problems for controllable linear time-invariant discrete-time systems. As a result, the proposed design methods are simple and straightforward. Some simulations are performed to validate the effectiveness of the proposed controllers.
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Yasushi IWATANI
2008 Volume 44 Issue 12 Pages
1043-1045
Published: December 31, 2008
Released on J-STAGE: February 25, 2013
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This paper proposes a linear matrix inequality (LMI) approach for redundant manipulator control with singularity avoidance. The singularity avoidance problem with input constraints is formulated by a set of LMIs. Thus, the proposed method provides appropriate control signals for singularity robust resolution, although classical approaches may generate large amplitude signals, rapidly changing signals or slowly decaying signals.
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An Approach Based on Saturation-level-dependent G am-sc heduled Feedback
Nobutaka WADA
2008 Volume 44 Issue 12 Pages
1046-1048
Published: December 31, 2008
Released on J-STAGE: February 25, 2013
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We propose a gain-scheduled feedback control law for locally stabilizing linear systems with input saturation. The saturation level of the input saturation treated in this paper is time varying. The feedback gain of the proposed control law varies depending on the saturation level. The design problem of the control law is reduced to a convex optimization problem with Linear Matrix Inequality (LMI) constraints.
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