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ABSTRACT: Performing laparoscopic surgery requires several skills, which have never been required for conventional open surgery. Surgeons experience difficulties in learning and mastering these techniques. Various training methods and metrics have been developed to assess and improve surgeons operative abilities. While these training metrics are currently widely being used, skill evaluation methods are still far from being objective in the regular laparoscopic skill education. This study proposes a methodology of defining a processing model that objectively evaluates surgical movement performance in the routine laparoscopic training course. Our approach is based on the analysis of kinematic data describing the movements of surgeons upper limbs. An ultra-miniaturized wearable motion capture system (Waseda Bioinstrumentation system WB-3), therefore, has been developed to measure and analyze these movements. The data processing model was trained by using the subjects motion features acquired from WB-3 system and further validated to classify the expertise levels of the subjects with different laparoscopic experience. Experimental results show that, the proposed methodology can be efficiently used both for quantitative assessment of surgical movement performance, and for the discrimination between expert surgeons and novices.
IEEE transactions on bio-medical engineering 11/2012; · 2.15 Impact Factor
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Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Automation. 07/2012; 2(ISSN 2163-2413):80-84.
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Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems 01/2012; · 0.83 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Our research is related to the development of an anthropomorphic saxophonist robot which reproduced the human organs involved during the saxophone playing. This research approach aims in understanding the human motor control from an engineering point of view and enabling the communication between humans and robots in musical terms. In a previous research, we have presented the Waseda Saxophonist Robot No. 2 (WAS-2) which improved the design of the lip and finger mechanisms. In addition, a feed-forward air pressure with dead-time compensation and an overblowing correction controller were implemented. However, the range of pressure was too limited to reproduce dynamic effects of the sound (i.e. decrescendo, etc.), a delay on the response of the finger mechanism was detected (due to the use of a wire-driven mechanism) and deviations on the pitch during the saxophone playing were observed. Therefore; in this paper, we present the Waseda Saxophonist Robot No. 2 Refined (WAS-2R). In particular the shape of the oral cavity has been re-designed to increase the sound pressure range and potentiometers were embedded on the fingers to reduce the dynamic delay response of the wire-driven mechanism. In addition, a Pressure-Pitch Controller has been implemented to reduce the deviation of the sound pitch by implementing a feedback error learning algorithm for a Multiple-Input Multiple-Output system. A set of experiments were proposed to verify the effectiveness of the re-designed mechanisms and the improved control strategy. From the experimental results, we could confirm the improvements to extend the sound pressure range to reproduce the decrescendo effect, to reduce the response delay from the finger mechanism as well as the deviations on the sound pitch.
Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2011 IEEE International Conference on; 06/2011
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ABSTRACT: Up to now, there are different kinds of robot-assisted ultrasound diagnostic systems proposed in the last decade. However, the compensation of the ultrasound probe position according to the patient movement is still one of the most important and useful functions required for those systems. For this purpose, in this research, we aim at developing an automated diagnostic system for the measurement of the wave intensity which is usually measured at the common carotid artery. In particular, in this paper, we focus on proposing a robust visual servoing method for tracking out-of-plane motion for a robot-assisted medical ultrasound diagnostic system by using a conventional 2D probe. A robotic device which manipulates the ultrasound probe firstly scans a small area around the target position and records several B-mode images at a regular interval. In order to track the out-of-plane motion, an inter-frame block matching method has been proposed and implemented on the Waseda-Tokyo Women's Medical-Aloka Blood Flow Measurement System No. 2 Refined (WTA-2R). A set of experiments was proposed to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. From the experimental results, we could confirm its robustness while doing the task with real human tissues.
Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2011 IEEE International Conference on; 06/2011
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ABSTRACT: Many patients suffer from swallowing disorders (dysphagia). There are many treatments for these disorders, such as swallowing therapy, surgery, and dietary modification. In our study, we focuse on dietary modification, a common approach. Normally, the swallowing is affected by food bolus properties such as hardness, stickiness and rheological characteristics, and dietary modifications can prevent swallowing disorder patients from suffering dysphagia (aspiration), as well as promote good nutrition. Based on these facts, our goal is to find foods which do not cause dysphagia, and develop food for swallowing disorder patients accordingly. Therefore, we are proposing an in-vitro Dynamic VFSS (Video Fluorographic Swallowing Study) simulation system which uses advanced robotics technology to mimic the dynamic process of swallowing and monitors the status and movement of the food bolus inside the system, for objective evaluation of the swallowing process. The dynamic VFSS simulation system consists of a head, mandible, neck, tongue, pharynx, and larynx which reproduce human anatomy. It is driven by 16 actuators with wire driving mechanisms. In this paper, we will present the dynamic VFSS simulation unit in detail. In addition, we will detail a set of the experiments carried out to determine whether food bolus properties can affect dysphagia or not. To observe the movement of the food bolus, we use a Video Fluoroscopy (VF) unit. The results of the experiments show that thickened boluses have a tendency to leave residue in the epiglottic vallecula. In contrast, liquids cause less residue, and increase the risk of dysphagia (aspiration). Moreover, this study shows that the frontal image, as well as the lateral image, is important for evaluating residual food in the oral- pharyngeal space.
Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2011 IEEE International Conference on; 06/2011
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ABSTRACT: This paper describes a fast turning method for a humanoid robot by using slipping motion with both feet. The humanoid robot, WABIAN-2R, has achieved human-like walking with heel contact and toe off motions by using a human-like foot mechanism with a passive toe joint. The human-like foot enables a robot to turn by using slipping motion between the feet and the ground because it can switch ground contact conditions such as heel contact, sole contact and toe contact. To realize a slipping turn, we develop an attitude control. Verification of the proposed method is conducted through experiments with a biped humanoid robot WABIAN-2R. WABIAN-2R realized a quick turn by using slipping motion with both feet. We also confirmed that the energy consumption of a slipping turn is less than that of a stepping turn.
Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2011 IEEE International Conference on; 06/2011
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ABSTRACT: In recent years advanced robotic technology has seen more use in the medical field to assist in the development of efficient training systems. Such training systems must fulfill the following criteria: they must provide quantitative information, must simulate the real-world conditions of the task, and assure training effectiveness. We developed Waseda Kyotokagaku Airway series to fulfill all of those requirements. The WKA series we had developed does not consider external appearance such as patient skin, or internal appearance such as the pharynx, larynx, and esophagus. Moreover, the tongue mechanism of the previous system can not precisely measure the force applied by medical devices and cannot simulate muscle stiffness. In addition, the mandible mechanism of the previous system could not adequately reproduce various airway difficulties or apply force control. For these reasons, we propose the WKA-4, which has high-fidelity simulated human anatomy, and we have improved the mechanism over the previous system. We have also attached a lung to the proposed system to improve simulation of the real-world conditions of the task. In this paper, we present how to design several organs with various embedded sensors and actuators, for a conventional patient model with high-fidelity simulated human anatomy. We also present the control system for the WKA-4. Finally, we present a set of experiments carried out using doctors as subjects, and they gave their valuable opinions about our system.
Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2011 IEEE International Conference on; 06/2011
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Zhuohua Lin,
M. Uemura,
M. Zecca,
S. Sessa,
H. Ishii,
L. Bartolomeo,
K. Itoh,
M. Tomikawa,
T. Odaira,
K. Tanoue,
S. Ieiri,
K. Konishi,
M. Hashizume, A. Takanishi
[show abstract]
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ABSTRACT: Performing laparoscopic surgery requires several skills which have never been required for conventional open surgery, surgeons experience difficulties in learning and mastering these techniques. Various training methods and metrics have been developed in order to assess and improve surgeon's operative abilities. While these training metrics are currently widely being used, skill evaluation methods are still far from being objective in the regular laparoscopic skill education. This study proposes a methodology of defining a processing model to objectively evaluate surgical performance and skill expertise in the routine laparoscopic training course. Our approach is based on the analysis of kinematic data describing the movements of surgeon's upper limbs. An ultra-miniaturized wearable motion capture system (Waseda Bioinstrumentation system WB-3), therefore, has been developed to measure and analyze these movements. The skill evaluation model was trained by using the subjects' motion features acquired from WB-3 system and further validated to classify the expertise levels of the subject with different laparoscopic experience. Experimental results show that, the proposed methodology can be efficiently used both for quantitative assessment of surgical performance, and for the discrimination between expert surgeons and novices.
Robotics and Biomimetics (ROBIO), 2010 IEEE International Conference on; 01/2011
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International symposium on Computational Models for Life Sciences (CMLS-11). AIP Conference Proceedings. 01/2011; 1371:205–214.
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ABSTRACT: The humanoid robot, WABIAN-2R, has achieved human-like walking with knee-stretched, heel contact and toe off motions by using a foot mechanism with a passive toe joint. However, the foot structure is different from a human's. In this paper, we describe a new foot mechanism capable of mimicking the human's foot arch structure to figure out the function of the arch structure. Especially, the developed foot mimics the elastic properties of the arch of the human's foot and the change of the arch height during walking. The foot mechanism consists of a passive joint in the internal toe, a passive joint in the external toe, and a joint in the foot arch. We conducted several walking experiments by using WABIAN-2R, and the function of the arch structure is clarified quantitatively. As a result, we confirmed that the arch elasticity could absorb a foot-landing force at the plantar contact phase and the change of the arch height contributed to a strong thrust at the push-off phase.
Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2010 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on; 11/2010
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ABSTRACT: In this paper, we present a robotic system which automatically searches and detects the longitudinal section of the carotid artery using a conventional medical ultrasound diagnostic system. In order to obtain a clear image of the carotid artery ready for medical diagnosis, the authors developed real-time image processing algorithms to detect the carotid artery and tissue layers of its walls in the B-mode ultrasound images. Sequential patterns of the ultrasound probe trajectory for scanning the surface of the neck and searching the carotid, were implemented and tested on the Waseda-Tokyo Women's Medical-Aloka Blood Flow Measurement Robot System No. 1 Refined II (WTA-1RII). An experiment with eleven volunteers was carried out and the results show that the system obtained clear images of the carotid artery in 91% of the trials.
Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2010 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on; 11/2010
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ABSTRACT: Heart and cerebrovascular diseases such as arteriosclerosis and myocardial ischemia dysfunction are currently among the main causes of death in developed countries. Recently, wave intensity (WI), which is an index used to obtain the force of cardiac contraction, has been investigated as a method for early-stage diagnosis of the above-mentioned diseases. Nevertheless, experimental tests have proven that the manual measurements of WI by means of commercial ultrasonic diagnostic systems require too much time and can be affected by the operator's skills. For this purpose, the introduction of robotic-assisted technology has advantages in terms of repetitiveness and accuracy of the measurement procedure. Therefore, at Waseda University, the development of a carotid blood flow measurement system has been proposed to support doctors while using ultrasound diagnostic equipment to measure the WI. This robotic system is composed of a serial robot with a wrist having a six-degree-of-freedom (6-DOF) parallel mechanism. The main focus is to obtain a suitable workspace performance of the 6-DOF parallel mechanism wrist. In this paper, a workspace analysis is carried out on a wrist prototype built for the Waseda-Tokyo Women's Medical Aloka Blood Flow Measurement System No.1 Refined (WTA-1R). Then, mechanical design enhancements are proposed and validated to provide a suitable workspace performance both as reachable workspace and dexterity, and a refined prototype WTA-1RII has been built.
Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part H Journal of Engineering in Medicine 11/2010; 224(11):1311-23. · 1.21 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: We have developed a new biped foot mechanism capable of detecting ground surface to realize stable walking on uneven terrain. The size of the foot mechanism is 160 mm × 277 mm and its weight is 1.5 kg. The foot system consists of four spikes each of which has an optical sensor to detect ground height. The foot makes a support polygon on uneven terrain by using three or four spikes. We have conducted several experiments on the outdoor ground surface that has a slope of 7.0 degrees and a maximum height of 15 mm bumps, and the effectiveness of the foot mechanism is confirmed.
Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2010 IEEE International Conference on; 06/2010
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ABSTRACT: This paper describes an avoidance behavior from unknown external forces for a biped walking vehicle. To distinguish between external forces from passenger and those from environments, we use the data of a force sensor mounted on foot, and external forces are estimated from ZMP errors. To guarantee a walking stability, the waist position is adjusted to match the measured ZMP to the reference ZMP, and the position of landing foot is adjusted so that the waist trajectory does not diverge. By implementing the developed method on the human-carrying biped robot, the robot realized a stable walk under unknown external forces from environments. When pushing the robot stepping, the robot moved backward and moved away from the generation source of external forces about 400 mm. When pushing the robot walking forward, the robot stopped going forward and prevented from coming closer to the generation source of external forces. We confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed control through these experiments.
Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2010 IEEE International Conference on; 06/2010
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IEEE/SICE International Symposium on System Integration (SII 2010); 01/2010
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IEEE/SICE International Symposium on System Integration (SII 2010); 01/2010
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IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics (RoBio 2010); 01/2010
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Proceedings of Annual Conference of the Robotics Society of Japan. 01/2010;
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ABSTRACT: Many researchers have studied on walking stability controls for biped robots. Most of them are highly accurate acceleration controls based on the mechanics model of the robot. However, the control algorithms are difficult to be applied to human-carrying biped robots due to modeling errors. In the previous report, we proposed the landing pattern modification method, but it had a problem that a foot landing impact increased when a walking speed became fast. So, we propose a new terrain-adaptive control that can reduce a landing- impact force. To increase a concave terrain adaptation, we set a target landing position beneath a reference level. To reduce the landing-impact force, we change the position gain control value to a small value at a swing phase. Moreover, we set landing-foot speed at zero after detecting a foot-landing by the force sensor mounted on a foot. To follow uneven terrain, a virtual spring is installed to the vertical direction after detecting a foot-landing on a ground, and a virtual compliance control is applied to the roll and pitch axes. In a stable walk while carrying a 65 kg human on uneven terrain, the new control method decreased the landing-impact force than the previous terrain-adaptive control.
Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2009. IROS 2009. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on; 11/2009
