J. Robotics Mechatronics最新文献

{"title":"Design of a Database-Driven Assist Control for a Hydraulic Excavator Considering Human Operation","authors":"Keisuke Hiraoka, Toru Yamamoto, Masatoshi Kozui, K. Koiwai, K. Yamashita","doi":"10.20965/jrm.2023.p0703","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.20965/jrm.2023.p0703","url":null,"abstract":"In recent years, there has been strong focus on sustainable development goals (SDGs). In Japan, Society 5.0, which is proposed as a future vision to be achieved towards the realization of SDGs, is being promoted by various organizations. In particular, “i-Construction” is being promoted in the construction industry. As a result, hydraulic excavators are becoming increasingly automated and semi-automated. Furthermore, if operators achieve high productivity, it helps them maintain a sense of accomplishment and motivation to work. In this study, a control system that results in the desired output is proposed for a hydraulic excavator; in this system, the degree of interference depends on the human input and controller input. Attachments on hydraulic excavators cause interference owing to the characteristics of the hydraulic system. Therefore, a control system that can adaptively adjust the controller input to the human operation, considering the interference with information caused by human operation stored in the database, was constructed. The proposed method was implemented on a hydraulic excavator and its effectiveness was verified.","PeriodicalId":178614,"journal":{"name":"J. Robotics Mechatronics","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131104667","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Support Effect and Simulation Evaluation of Lifting Motion Using Non-Wearing Type Power Assist Device","authors":"M. Yokota, M. Takaiwa","doi":"10.20965/jrm.2023.p0684","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.20965/jrm.2023.p0684","url":null,"abstract":"One of the serious problems that Japan has been facing is its growing aging society, which causes a shortage of young workers in the nursing field to support care recipients and in other industries that require heavy labor. Many workers in these workplaces experience back pain. To reduce the burden on the lower back, the squat method is generally recommended when workers lift heavy objects. Many assist devices have been developed to reduce the burden on the body; however, most wearing type devices have difficulty performing the squat method owing to their mechanical constraints. In a previous study, we developed a non-wearing type pneumatic power assist device that considers the squat method and evaluated its support effects during a simple lifting motion. In this study, we developed a passive type assist device and a previously developed active type device and quantitatively evaluated their effectiveness in lifting motions. In addition, we analyzed muscle activity using a musculoskeletal simulator.","PeriodicalId":178614,"journal":{"name":"J. Robotics Mechatronics","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125799038","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Estimation Model for Emotions Based on Pulse","authors":"J. Morimoto, Akihiro Murakawa, Hiroki Fujita, M. Horio, J. Kawata, Y. Kaji, Mineo Higuchi, S. Fujisawa","doi":"10.20965/jrm.2023.p0788","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.20965/jrm.2023.p0788","url":null,"abstract":"The progressive aging of society has increased expectations for the spread of nursing care robots to support long-term care and welfare services. This research had the goal of developing a communication system as one of the elemental technologies of nursing care robots, along with a method that allows care robots to consider a user’s emotions. The estimation of emotions based on a user’s electroencephalogram and heartbeat has attracted attention. However, users may experience stress when wearing the sensors needed for such measurements. To prevent this system from causing stress in users, we had the goal of developing an estimation model for emotions based on the pulse, which is relatively easy to measure. Various autonomic nervous activity indices (pNN50, RMSSD, LF, HF, LF/HF) were adopted for the estimation model, and transfer functions were established. These indices were considered in time domain and frequency domain analyses of the heart rate variability. The pulse was measured while the user was watching a video and converted into an accelerated plethysmogram using second order differentiation. Then, the autonomic nervous activity indices were calculated. The transfer function from the input to output was identified using these autonomic nervous activity indices as inputs and the responses to a questionnaire that was administered after watching the video as outputs.","PeriodicalId":178614,"journal":{"name":"J. Robotics Mechatronics","volume":"39 13","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"120887562","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Development of Ankle-Joint Rehabilitation Device for Bedridden Patient Using Fan-Shaped Pneumatic Soft Actuator Driven at Low Pressure","authors":"S. Shimooka, Rui Suzuki, T. Uehara, Takahiro Hirayama, A. Gofuku","doi":"10.20965/jrm.2023.p0565","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.20965/jrm.2023.p0565","url":null,"abstract":"Recently, the number of older people and the reduction in infant birth rates in Japan have increased. Elderly against the younger increased to more than 28.9% in 2020. According to the Japanese aging society, a welfare pneumatic device to rehabilitate the temporally injured elderly and the disabled has been actively researched and developed. However, the developed rehabilitation device is almost always used for a patient who is not bedridden. Therefore, the joint of a bedridden patient is given only a passive exercise, by a physical therapist (PT). In this study, in order to reduce the burden of PTs, we aim to develop a rehabilitation device that can be used by anyone assisting the bedridden patient. The target joint was decided to be an ankle-joint because it is difficult for patients with contractions to walk. Therefore, a fan-shaped pneumatic soft actuator (FPSA) using a no-stretch hose with weaved bellows and silicone rubber string was proposed and tested. In addition, the characteristics of FPSA with different pitches and lengths are measured. To predict the bending angle of FPSA, a simplified shape analytical model of it is proposed. It can be confirmed that a calculated bending angle of FPSA using the model generally agrees with the experimental result. The proposed analytical model is a first-stage model that does not include the influence of external forces on FPSA. The ankle-joint rehabilitation device using FPSAs is proposed and tested, where an ankle-joint is changed from a plantarflexion to a dorsiflexion motion by pressurizing both FPSAs on the tested device. And it can be confirmed that a range of motion (“ROM” for short) is satisfied in an inversion and eversion driven by operating one or another FPSA on the device.","PeriodicalId":178614,"journal":{"name":"J. Robotics Mechatronics","volume":"70 3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124109466","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Correction Method for Muscle Stiffness Sensors to Measure Transversus Abdominis Activity","authors":"Shunsuke Nakamae, Takayuki Tanaka, K. Shimatani","doi":"10.20965/jrm.2023.p0810","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.20965/jrm.2023.p0810","url":null,"abstract":"The transversus abdominis muscle is important for various human functions, including the prevention of back pain and the use of muscle activity values as an indicator for the treatment of urinary incontinence. Measuring muscle activity is an effective means of evaluating whether correct training has been performed. The transversus abdominis muscle stiffness sensor developed in a previous study used a method in which a belt with a sensor attached was wrapped around the lower back, which made measurement simple but also caused problems owing to the influence of phenomena other than muscle activity on the measurement data. Therefore, we propose a novel correction method to calculate the muscle activity of this sensor accurately, which can be used for simple measurements. We propose a formula to compensate for effects other than muscle activity based on a model equation that includes contact conditions and belt tension, which affect the muscle stiffness sensor value. We evaluated the validity of the correction equation from simulations and the change in similarity owing to the correction by simultaneously measuring the muscle action potentials and muscle stiffness sensor values during breathing movements with muscle activity. The proposed correction method improved the muscle stiffness data during respiration and contraction. It is possible to improve the measurement accuracy by improving the calibration method and hardware.","PeriodicalId":178614,"journal":{"name":"J. Robotics Mechatronics","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129141008","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Indoor Positioning Scheme Using Off-the-Shelf Lighting Fixtures' Fingerprints","authors":"Hiroyuki Kobayashi","doi":"10.20965/jrm.2023.p0780","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.20965/jrm.2023.p0780","url":null,"abstract":"This paper discusses an indoor positioning technique aimed at human-centric services such as pedestrian navigation or service robots. The method is called “CEPHEID” and uses a light flickering pattern as an environmental fingerprint. The authors found that each lighting fixture has unique and distinguishable flickering characteristics. In this paper, CEPHEID is introduced as a “classifier” and its validity is shown based on experimental results. Additionally, an approach for improving the positional precision is proposed. The classifier and regressor are combined to create a zone-classified regressor model for CEPHEID. The basic performance of this concept is also tested using an experiment.","PeriodicalId":178614,"journal":{"name":"J. Robotics Mechatronics","volume":"37 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115431349","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Special Issue on Humancentric Robotic Technology and its Applications for Coexistence with Humans","authors":"S. Fujisawa, Takayuki Tanaka, M. Takaiwa, Toru Yamamoto, Kanya Tanaka, T. Tanikawa","doi":"10.20965/jrm.2023.p0531","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.20965/jrm.2023.p0531","url":null,"abstract":"In today’s super-aging society, it is essential to maintain and improve the quality of life of the elderly and to counter the shortage of young workers. Such problems are becoming evident in several areas, not just in the manufacturing sector but also in the fields of transport/mobility and healthcare/welfare. In these fields, there is an abundance of situations that cannot be solved simply by replacing human workers with robots. In the manufacturing sector, for instance, the transmission of skills and knowledge is threatened as the members of the baby boomer generation, who have both knowledge and experience, have reached retirement age at a time when the younger population is declining. Another example is the provision of care with human warmth at nursing sites. As we evolve toward Society 5.0, which is represented by a digital transformation and which encompasses elements such as digital twins, it will be critical to pioneer robotic technologies that allow robots to work with humans to achieve a prosperous coexistence and create an affluent society. For this special issue, which features humancentric robotic systems coexisting and working together with humans, we invited researchers to submit papers covering a wide range of topics, including element technologies as well as operating and evaluation methods.\u0000 This special issue on Humancentric Robotic Technology and its Applications for Coexistence with Humans includes two review papers, 29 regular papers, and two development reports that cover the following topics.\u0000 • Research on rehabilitation equipment and training systems\u0000 • Research on power assist and support actuators\u0000 • Research on human-robot interaction systems\u0000 • Research on motor characteristics and the musculoskeletal system\u0000 • Research on the utilization and development of vital signs and sensors\u0000 • Research on IoT technology and smart technologies\u0000 We thank all authors and reviewers of the papers, as well as the Editorial Board of the Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics, for their help with this special issue.","PeriodicalId":178614,"journal":{"name":"J. Robotics Mechatronics","volume":"84 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133252609","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Design of an Extremely Lightweight Soft Actuator on a Pneumatic Corset for Support Lumbar Burden","authors":"Yasutaka Nishioka, M. Nishihara, T. Yasuda, M. Yamano","doi":"10.20965/jrm.2023.p0650","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.20965/jrm.2023.p0650","url":null,"abstract":"In the case of the treatment of low back pain, the lumbar corset which is the orthotic therapy is mainly used. However, there is a problem that the trunk muscle group is not used continuously by wearing the conventional lumbar corset for a long time, and muscle decline may occur. In this research, we propose an intelligent pneumatic corset that detects the forward bending posture with a sensor and automatically drives the soft actuator according to the attitude angle. It detects a forward-leaning posture in which the burden on the lumbar region increases, and automatically pressurizes the soft actuator. And, in the corset developed so far, the effect of supporting the muscle of the lumbar region was expected by compressing the abdomen and increasing abdominal pressure. In this paper, the operation support method by the restorative force when the soft actuator is deformed and the design of the intelligent pneumatic corset with built-in them are described.","PeriodicalId":178614,"journal":{"name":"J. Robotics Mechatronics","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125746237","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Convergent Conditions of Feedforward Control for Musculoskeletal Systems with Multi 1-DOF Joints Driven by Monoarticular and Biarticular Muscles","authors":"Hiroaki Ochi, Koichi Komada, K. Tahara, H. Kino","doi":"10.20965/jrm.2023.p0751","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.20965/jrm.2023.p0751","url":null,"abstract":"Muscles in the musculoskeletal system can only transmit forces in the tensile direction, thereby resulting in redundant actuation. This redundancy creates an internal force among the muscles. The musculoskeletal potential method uses a potential field generated by the internal force among muscles and performs a step input of the muscle tension balanced at the desired posture to achieve the point-to-point (PTP) position. This method is extremely simple and does not require any sensory feedback or complex real-time calculations, as long as the target muscle tension is achieved. However, it is known that convergence to a desired posture is strongly influenced by muscular arrangement. In a previous study, we limited our analysis to a specific structure with two joints and six muscles and explained the conditions for convergence to a desired posture. However, when the structure of the target system, number of joints, and number of muscles are different, the convergence conditions cannot be clarified using the previous method. In this study, we extend the previous method to a musculoskeletal system with multiple one degrees-of-freedom (DOF) joints driven by monoarticular and biarticular muscles. In this study, we clarify the conditions that must be satisfied by the muscular arrangement to converge to a desired posture in the musculoskeletal potential method and verify the results through simulation.","PeriodicalId":178614,"journal":{"name":"J. Robotics Mechatronics","volume":"747 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122965581","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Slide-Gate Type Multi-Port Switching Valve","authors":"Takumi Kobayashi, T. Akagi, S. Dohta, Feifei Cho, T. Shinohara, M. Yokota","doi":"10.20965/jrm.2023.p0633","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.20965/jrm.2023.p0633","url":null,"abstract":"In a typical pneumatic soft actuation system, the control valve is often heavy and expensive, making a compact and economical control valve highly desirable. In addition to improving the valve itself, reducing the number of valves required can also be beneficial. To address this requirement, this study proposes and tests a multi-port switching valve based on a slide-gate mechanism. This valve is designed to enable the supply or exhaust of multiple actuators simultaneously, thereby reducing the number of valves required to drive a complex pneumatic actuator with multiple chambers. The main components of the proposed valve are a rotational cam, multiple ports, and 12 gate pins. The construction and operating principle of the valve and a design method for a rotational cam are described in this study. Furthermore, the results of the designed valve for radial bending and extension of a flexible robot arm are also reported.","PeriodicalId":178614,"journal":{"name":"J. Robotics Mechatronics","volume":"45 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114830732","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}