Shigeki Sugano

Waseda University | Sōdai · Department of Modern Mechanical Engineering

Human symbiotic mobile robots are required to smoothly reach destinations while avoiding humans. Human-intent information, e.g., a moving direction, must be carefully estimated since its lack leads to the hesitation and repetitious avoidance. Conventional studies address human intent estimation and conveyance but do not consider cases of failing co...

To avoid inefficient movement or the freezing problem in crowded environments, we previously proposed a human-aware interactive navigation method that uses inducement, i.e., voice reminders or physical touch. However, the use of inducement largely depends on many factors, including human attributes, task contents, and environmental contexts. Thus,...

Robot safety is the most essential element when people tried programming robot working alongside themselves. In this work, an approach to the intrinsic safety functions is introduced. Nicebot-5 has six joints, and each joint has been installed with an electrical friction clutch. Clutches have a feature that they could slip when torque exceeds a def...

It is important for autonomous personal mobility(PM) to be able to move in narrow spaces. In this study, we develop a trajectory planning method that takes into account the unique motion model of differtenial-wheeled PMs, e.g., longitudinal body size, inability to move sideways, and inner wheel difference. It inlcudes the use of forward and backwar...

It has been reported that the driver workload is a cause of drowsiness, fatigue, and accidents of the driver, and a system for estimating the driver workload is required. In the conventional study, we have developed a system that estimates the current and future driver workload by using LSTM (Long Short-Term Memory). However, this system used an am...

A treadmill has a potential to enable humans to have a walking experience in remote place without a spatial limitation for telepresence. In this study, we present a treadmill system with a string traction, which enables a human to walk in the similar way to a level ground gait during the transition phase to a steady state from an acceleration state...

While the automation of overhead travelling cranes is progressing, the ‘dynamic lift off’ process is still manually operated. In this paper, we thus developed an automatic ‘dynamic lift off ’system based on a trolly-position control system using wire tension. The system suppresses swaying of the suspended load after the dynamic lift off by correcti...

The shortage of nurses and the increasing elderly population demand robots in nursing that can carry out care tasks safely and intelligently. In this study, the method of skeleton recognition-based motion generation of the humanoid robot for the human range-of-motion training with dual 7-DOF arm manipulation is developed. Mediapipe-based skeleton r...

Multifingered robot hands can be extremely effective in physically exploring and recognizing objects, especially if they are extensively covered with distributed tactile sensors. Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have been proven successful in processing high dimensional data, such as camera images, and are, therefore, very well suited to analyz...

A treadmill system has a large potential to provide humans with an augmented walking experience in real-life without a spatial limitation. However, a treadmill gait is different from walking on level ground. In previous studies, the adaptive belt speed control of a treadmill was developed to achieve a self-paced walking for making the users' treadm...

Vision plays an important role in motion planning for mobile robots which coexist with humans. Because a method predicting a pedestrian path with a camera has a trade-off relationship between the calculation speed and accuracy, such a path prediction method is not good at instantaneously detecting multiple people at a distance. In this study, we th...

Estimating the driver’s gaze in a natural real-world setting can be problematic for different challenging scenario conditions. For example, faces will undergo facial occlusions, illumination, or various face positions while driving. In this effort, we aim to reduce misclassifications in driving situations when the driver has different face distance...

Recently, tactile sensing has attracted increasing attention for robotic manipulation. Predicting the grasping stability before lifting objects and detecting the ongoing/onset of slip after lifting objects are two critical and widely studied tasks in robotic tactile manipulation. Previous methods focus on proposing novel neural networks (NN) archit...

Multi-fingered hands could be used to achieve many dexterous manipulation tasks, similarly to humans, and tactile sensing could enhance the manipulation stability for a variety of objects. However, tactile sensors on multi-fingered hands have a variety of sizes and shapes. Convolutional neural networks (CNN) can be useful for processing tactile inf...

Robot systems with both "intrinsic safety" and "high output" are expected to be implemented in heavy-duty industries such as construction and manufacturing. But there are currently no effective solutions. In our previous work, a backdrivable piston using magnetorheological fluid (MRF) whose viscosity can vary with the applied magnetic field was dev...

In automated vehicles, drivers are only required to input high-level control commands. The conventional driver-vehicle interfaces (DVIs) such as steering wheel and pedals that function in operational level may not be utilized in higher levels of automation. A DVI that allows the driver to input tactical-level control commands, .e.g., lane change, b...

Path planning in dynamic environments is still a challenging issue with autonomous mobile robots. Current methods lack adaptability to various passing scenarios, a variety of passing trajectories including an acceleration path, or immediacy in planning time, which require human-aware navigation. In this study, we propose Dynamic Waypoint Navigation...

Robot hands are crucial for dexterous interaction with objects. The joints of existing robot hands typically cannot be completely covered with skin. This paper demonstrates a robot hand for which the palmar side of the joints, which is the side that is typically in contact with objects, can be nearly completely covered with a continuous, thick skin...

It was confirmed that the torque transmission of the rotary clutch using the fracture and phase change of the low melting point metal is larger than that calculated from the breaking strength of the low melting point metal. Therefore, in this study, we focus on the frictional force inside the mechanism and consider the effect on the transmission fo...

The purpose of this study is to develop a basic control system that enhances mechanical and geometric adaptability for magnetorheological fluid (MRF) robot arms with high backdrivability and high output power, which we have developed in a previous study. A prototype control system was developed to control the force of the endpoint by controlling pr...

Most of robotic manipulation tasks are time-related process so it is important to handle time-series information for better manipulation performance. In this paper, we propose a LSTM based prediction system which predicts grasping outcome using time-series 3-axis tactile information. Tactile data was collected from grasping and early post-lifting s...

For personal mobility(PM) operators, it is difficult to move through a crowd and it is important to estimate collision risks and to control driving velocity properly. In this study, we propose an automatic velocity control system for PM based on “Passability Index (PI),” which indicates difficulty of driving while pedestrians are passing. The syste...

The purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of the difference in the activity time phase of TSA on the smoothness of the movement of the mechanism when the drive number change control is applied to the distributed cooperative drive soft-actuator system (DCD-SAS) that imitates human muscles. The drive timing of each TSA is changed to 0...

This paper presents an interface to operate a locomotion robot as if users grasp it. The interface is a gimbal structure and has 6 degree of freedom. User can control the robot’s velocity at XYZ and the posture at Pitch, Yaw and Roll using the interface. The participants operated a drone by the developed interface or iPhone when we measured the suc...

When using a multi-finger robot hand to grasp an object, it is important to be able to recognize some properties of the object. Otherwise, the hand squeezes a fragile object, for example. In this paper, we propose a MS-CNN model based on tactile data for the recognition of 3 properties of objects when grasping objects with a multi-fingered robot ha...

The multi-degree-of-freedom disaster response robot ‘OCTOPUS’ requires an ‘environment-adaptive motion generation function’ to fully utilize its advanced ‘body.’ The disaster site is unknown and complex, so there is a limit to the amount of control rules that can be described in advance by humans. To address this issue, we have developed a basic fr...

There has been an increasing demand for housework robots to handle various objects. It is, however, difficult to achieve object-shape-oriented tasks in conventional research owing to the requirement for dealing with multiple surfaces, invisible area, and occlusion; moreover, robots must perceive shapes and adjust movements even if they cannot be se...

Nowadays, the use of electric vehicles is increasing leading to a growing demand for more efficient use of lithium-ion batteries. The state-of-charge (SOC) has been estimated in previous studies to optimize energy management of batteries. For more efficient battery utilization, detecting degradation is important. However, it is difficult for conven...

Self-healing properties of robots can aid in achieving a high level of motion continuity despite the absence of manual maintenance. Therefore, various studies have been conducted on self-healing materials and mechanisms to incorporate self-healing properties in robots. However, the self-healing performance of a motor rotation system, which is the p...

This study proposes an operator support system that enhances understandability of multiple monitor for teleoperated disaster response robots. The autonomous environmental camera control system we previously developed could provide operators with various visual information suited to the situation. To enable operators to adequately recognize environm...

Disaster response robots are expected to perform complicated tasks such as traveling over unstable terrain, climbing slippery steps, and removing heavy debris. To complete such tasks safely, the robots must obtain not only visual-perceptual information (VPI) such as surface shape but also the haptic-perceptual information (HPI) such as surface fric...

We propose a tool-use model that enables a robot to act toward a provided goal. It is important to consider features of the four factors; tools, objects actions, and effects at the same time because they are related to each other and one factor can influence the others. The tool-use model is constructed with deep neural networks (DNNs) using multim...

Professional drivers are required to safely transport passengers and/or properties of customers to their destinations, so they must keep being mentally and physically healthy. Health problems will largely affect driving performance and sometimes cause loss of consciousness, which results in injury, death, and heavy compensation. Conventional system...

Conventional soft robotic grippers have been developed based on soft pneumatic actuators or using smart soft materials, but they need external pressure sources, are easily deteriorated or used in millimetric-scale, which leads to increase of the independency, instability, and vulnerability. In this study, we thus propose an EPMMRE (Electropermanent...

Although exists several drivers' gaze direction classifiers to prevent traffic accidents caused by inattentive driving, making this classification while the driver's face is temporarily or permanently occluded remains exceptionally challenging. For example, drivers using masks, sunglasses, or scarves and daily light variations are non-ideal conditi...

This paper explores a scheme of tuning a basic input-output (I/O) gain (BIOG) depending on usage conditions for improving the work performance of human-operated machines. I/O gain tuning is effective for improving operability and workability, but continual and/or huge changes makes operators confuse the machine dynamics, and then degrade the operab...

Selection of appropriate tools and use of them when performing daily tasks is a critical function for introducing robots for domestic applications. In previous studies, however, adaptability to target objects was limited, making it difficult to accordingly change tools and adjust actions. To manipulate various objects with tools, robots must both u...

Controlling minimum toe clearance (MTC) is considered an important factor in preventing tripping. In the current study, we investigated modifications of neuro-muscular control underlying toe clearance during steady locomotion induced by repeated exposure to tripping-like perturbations of the right swing foot. Fourteen healthy young adults (mean age...

Selection of appropriate tools and use of them when performing daily tasks is a critical function for introducing robots for domestic applications. In previous studies, however, adaptability to target objects was limited, making it difficult to accordingly change tools and adjust actions. To manipulate various objects with tools, robots must both u...

The underground facilities require to be inspected regularly for long-term and safe-use. Several mobile inspection systems are widely used, but some crucial problems with the limited inspection distance still exist due to the unstable wireless communication and cable restrictions in complex facilities. To solve these problems, we propose a wheeled...

Gait phase detection, which detects foot-contact and foot-off states during walking, is important for various applications, such as synchronous robotic assistance and health monitoring. Gait phase detection systems have been proposed with various wearable devices, sensing inertial, electromyography, or force myography information. In this paper, we...

With the increasing use of backpacks on a daily basis, appropriate assessment of shoulder load, which has adverse effects on the body, has become more important. We focused on nociceptive pain, which is a physiological warning signal, and performed a subjective evaluation of loading conditions. In this study, we investigated the relationship betwee...

An ability of visually-guided and anticipatory adjustments of locomotion corresponding to upcoming obstacles is important to avoid trip-induced fall. For establishing gait training based on visually-guided and anticipatory adjustments, techniques reproducing realistic training environment are essential. Although some previous works proposed virtual...

When using a backpack, proper shoulder load reduction is required. We focused on pain (nociceptive pain), which is a warning signal to protect the human body, and we aimed to extract the shoulder parts to avoid heavy loads while walking with a backpack. We set 19 measuring points on each shoulder and 12 measuring points on the lower back. Using thr...

For the safety, underground facilities are required to be inspected regularly, especially with image analysis. Traditional wireless and wired transmission techniques have a weakness of limited transmission range in narrow underground environments. In this study, a new image transmission method based on visible light communication (VLC) has been thu...

We propose a deep learning model to select and handle appropriate tools in cooking scene. The tool to be selected depends on both extrinsic characteristics such as size and shape, and intrinsic characteristics such as hardness and viscosity of the ingredients. However, in previous research, they were difficult to use tools in consideration of the c...

In this research, we propose to realize a flexible and high-powered drive system such as muscles by densely arranging twisted string actuators (TSAs) and synchronously driving them, and synchronizing TSAs with the same string length. The output when the TSA with a different string length from the output when driven was synchronously driven was inve...

In this study, we designed a basic framework for diagnosing a video presentation system suitable for individual operator engaging robot teleoperation. The individual suitability of video presentation systems can be only evaluated through the result of work and there are no evaluation frameworks. We first created 16 video types based on the conventi...

Synthetic ropes are becoming increasingly popular in robotic systems nowadays. Especially since the introduction of low creep materials, many researchers have tried to investigate the usage of these ropes in robots to replace the old conventional steel ropes that are being used to date. Synthetic bre ropes possess many other benets than steel ropes...

In order for a robot to do the same works as a human, it is effective to reduce the size of the robot hand close to that of a human. However, existing six-axis force torque sensors in robot fingers are large in size, and usually requires extra electronics. In this study, we propose a compact 6-axis force sensor for robot fingers. The size of this s...

Highly automated vehicles require takeover (TO) to shift the control authority to drivers in an emergency, but the driver only have about 4–10 seconds for TO. Driver’s situation awareness should be thus monitored for safe TO. In this study, we develop a situation awareness estimation method based on cognitive behavior. We made TO situations with di...

An end-effector with the ability to work in the unstructured environment is becoming essential in today’s scenario because of the increase in demand for robots to work in collaboration with humans. For such end-effectors, the sensors are essential. However, in conventional finger designs, it is not possible to cover the whole surface area with sens...

Personal mobility (PM) taking parts in society is a challenge due to two major problems as follows. The one is difficulty in estimating passability precisely and proactively. The other is difficulty in controlling PM in a narrow space. Human operators are essentially not good at dealing with the problems, so we propose a proactive operation support...

In order to enable autonomous mobile robots to move in human-crowded environments, active inducement including using voice and light contact can be one of effective solutions. However, to ensure safety and effectiveness, the robots must predict how the crowds will behave according to the robot approach as well as among humans forming crowds. In thi...

Work efficiency of unmanned construction is 40% lower than that of on-board operation because of lack of visual information. Despite previous researches to acquire external views using drones and image processing, finding out optimum and allowable camera placements on actual construction machinery for chosen scenario and machine has been difficult....

With the increasing use of backpacks in recent years, proper reduction of shoulder load has become essential. We focused on nociceptive pain, which is a physiological warning signal, and performed subjective evaluation as an index to determine appropriate loading. In this paper, we investigated the relationship between a single-point pressure stimu...

Adaptive assistance of gait training robots has been determined to improve gait performance through motion assistance. An important control role during walking is to avoid tripping by controlling minimum toe clearance (MTC), which is an indicator of tripping risk, to avoid its decrease among gait cycles. No conventional gait training robots can adj...

Synthetic fibre ropes have high tensile strength, a lower friction coefficient and are more flexible than steel ropes, and are therefore increasingly used in robotics. However, their characteristics are not well studied. In particular, previous work investigated the long-term behaviour only under static loading. In this paper, we investigate the el...

Currently, humans work in high-risk environments such as earthwork sites with construction machine. Such works are expected to be replaced by robots, but autonomous technologies of current robots are not sophisticated enough to deploy to such tasks. Thus, it is reasonable to use robots that can assist humans in cumbersome tasks and dangerous situat...

Distracted driving is one of the most common causes of traffic accidents around the world. Recognizing the driver's gaze direction during a maneuver could be an essential step for avoiding the matter mentioned above. Thus, we propose a gaze zone classification system that serves as a base of supporting systems for driver's situation awareness. Howe...