Shimojo MAKOTO (下条 誠)

Offer Organization: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, System Name: Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A), Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A), Fund Type: -, Overall Grant Amount: - (direct: 27100000, indirect: 8130000)
In actual grasping, cooperative action of hand and arm is necessary to grasp objects of various shapes, positions and postures. For this reason, we developed a hand / arm integrated control system in which the arm follows the object to be grasped and the hand autonomously traces the shape of the object.Since autonomous grasping is possible, even with a grasping operation by monocular camera image, it is possible to grasp by bringing the hand close to the object, so the reliability of the remote control has been improved. We also introduced a haptic feedback system that supports tasks under poor visibility by remote control. Moreover, by introducing simple vision, global information such as the position and attitude of the object can be acquired, and the application range of the grasping operation has expanded.

Offer Organization: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, System Name: Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A), Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A), Fund Type: -, Overall Grant Amount: - (direct: 35100000, indirect: 10530000)
In this project, we studied the technologies to develop the myoelectric prosthetic hand to substitute one’s own hand by inducing the mutual adaptation between human and machine. A highly stretchable elastomer glove was developed by transcribing the texture of a human hand. Omnidirectional force sensors made of conductive silicon were embedded into the glove to introduce haptic function for sensory feedback. The interactive-tendon-driven mechanism was adopted in the design of robotic hand and arm to balance increasing their forces and functions with reducing their sizes and weights. To control a myoelectric prosthetic hand with electroencephalography (EEG) was also investigated in an experiment in which gaze points on the hand were identified from the P300 EEG response.

Offer Organization: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, System Name: Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (A), Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (A), Fund Type: -, Overall Grant Amount: - (direct: 20000000, indirect: 6000000)
The goals for this study are the concretization of a method for providing support for the capture/creation of nonlinguistic/spatial information (such as diagrams and images) that is difficult for the visually impaired to manage, and to help improve information accessibility via information devices for the visually impaired. The development of interactive tactile displays for the visually impaired is ongoing. Using these displays as base technology, we propose a new device that uses a haptic perception that combines a sense of touch and a sense of arm position as an sensory substitution pathway.

Offer Organization: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, System Name: Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A), Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A), Fund Type: -, Overall Grant Amount: - (direct: 33900000, indirect: 10170000)
In this research, the tactile sensor architecture which measures contact, slip and proximity information by the same analog circuit was developed. Thus, advanced features of the tactile sensor system mounted on robots and various mechanical system can be achieved. By this method, the solution of the wiring problem which connects many detection elements was proposed. And also by using an analog circuitry network, solution to the problem of the response delay accompanying the increase in a detection element was attained. Moreover, the slip sensor which can detect the slip just before beginning to slip was developed. The sensor is a high-speed response with a simple structure and thin light weight. In this research, the these-developed sensor was mounted to the robot hand and the autonomous vehicle, the verification experiment was conducted, and the availability was clarified in the experiment.

Offer Organization: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, System Name: Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A), Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A), Fund Type: -, Overall Grant Amount: - (direct: 37100000, indirect: 11130000)
In this project, we had developed and studied the man machine interface technology to replace or rehabilitate human’s movement and sense by robot system. Myoelectric prosthetic hand (high-torque drive mechanism, soft tactile sensor and upper arm controlled by Brain), power assist system for rehabilitation (assist methods accommodated for the conditions of a patient, mechanism that is easy to fit on the human hand and thumb’s CM joint assist mechanism) and functional electrical stimulation devices(sensor feedback method by 2D Phantom sensation, exploring system of effectively the optimal stimulation method) are developed and ready to be tested in a daily environment.

Offer Organization: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, System Name: Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (A), Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (A), Fund Type: -, Overall Grant Amount: - (direct: 7300000, indirect: 2190000)
A basic device combining a tactile graphic display function and a touch position sensing function is proposed. The trial device consists of two major components, a tactile graphic display and a force sensor. The force sensor measures a center of gravity generated by touch action on the display surface and a PC estimates the point based on the data. The fundamental function for achieving the interactive communication is to detect the location where user is touching a tangible surface. By applying this functions, the click and scroll function by an empty hand are realized. In addition, an audio-tactile graphic system which can be used mainly to overcome tactile cognitive limitation is implemented as an application of the system. Moreover, the area of tactile display is expanded for the purpose of improvement usability. Following this, we propose the tactile scrollbar where the users can recognize their position of plane space. The validity of the developed tactile graphic system has been confirmed through subjective experiments.

Offer Organization: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, System Name: Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A), Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A), Fund Type: -, Overall Grant Amount: - (direct: 27500000, indirect: 8250000)
本研究は,基本動作原理が同じセンサで,近接覚から触覚までをシームレスにつながる触覚センサシステムの開発と,これらを用いた新たな制御システムの開発を行った.その特色・独創的な点としては,全て同じ動作原理であるため,ソフトウェアの統一が取りやすく,また単純なアナログ回路網で構成するため,高速応答性に優れ,拡張性が高く,構造が簡単なことから安価に供給できる.このような特徴を併せてもつセンサはこれまで実現されておらず,これからのロボット技術はもとより各種機械システムに装着する触覚センサシステムの共通的プラットホーム技術として利用できると考える.

Offer Organization: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, System Name: Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B), Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B), Fund Type: -, Overall Grant Amount: - (direct: 9300000, indirect: 1140000)
Reception of non-verbal contents such as the figures and images in the Web is difficult for severe visually impaired persons. This study aimed to realize an idea to transform non-verbal information to spatio-temporal tactile image. Furthermore, synthesized speech presents, in connection with a deep position on the tactile representation. Obtained results are as follows.
1. Design of Web algorithm
Since endure the functions for the enlargement / reduction of tactile graphics in connection with same sound presentation, particular algorithm is needed. The Adobe Flash type of files is used to validate in the Web software.
2. Development of interactive tactile display
Reliable active mechanism is needed to represent synthesized speech, when intend to know a deep position of the tactile graphic by haptic search. An interactive tactile display developed which is connected to the USB. In addition, touch point, touch scroll and touch zooming functions are implemented to the display for user interface.
3. Evaluation experiment
Experiments performed to evaluate the effectiveness of proposed system. Severe visually impaired and blindfolded participants, recognized many guide maps and illustrations by use of the system. Thus usefulness for assistive device to the reception of non-verbal contents on the Web by severe visually impaired was explained.