Takuya Otani

Shibaura Institute of Technology · College of System Engineering and Science

To support SynecocultureTM, in which a variety of crops are grown in mixed densely vegetated areas, I developed a seed planting mechanism that can handle seed dumplings made of soil and can be used for multiple species and interchangeable operation. I also developed a manufacturing machine and succeeded in planting seed dumplings that automatically...

Rehabilitation for stroke patients includes periodic arm exercises, but these require assistance by caregivers at the start of the exercise, which is a burden for caregivers. In this study, we have developed a system with three reaction wheel mechanisms, which can generate not only moments in each direction but also a larger moment than the output...

Teleoperation has become increasingly important for the real-world application of robots. However, in current teleoperation applications, operators need to visually recognize any physical deviations between the robot and themselves and correct its operation accordingly. Even when humans move their bodies, achieving high positional accuracy can be d...

Humans can perform stable motion with a sense of stability that involves identifying their center of gravity point with plantar sensory system. By contrast, the stability of a humanoid robot is inferior to that of a human. If the sense of stability of a humanoid robot is presented to a human who operates the robot in real time, the operator can con...

Currently, as measures against environmental destruction, an agricultural method called synecocultureTM has been received attention. However, since multiple types of plants grow densely in this method, conventional machines and robots can't intervene. Conventional agricultural robots are basically capable of handling only one type of crop. Therefor...

Although there are various past studies on pitching robots, there is insufficient research on a pitching robot with a comparable size and mass to a human pitcher. Past studies have not simulated a human pitcher's hand motions, including the fingertips, and they have only developed robots capable of throwing at a slower speed than a human pitcher. W...

Currently, as measures against environmental destruction, an agricultural method called synecocultureTM has been received attention. A robot that can perform agricultural work is under development, but because it is difficult to operate in a complex environment with dense vegetation, an improved operating interface was necessary. In this study, we...

In this paper, a compact telescopic mechanism with a high extension and retraction ratio is fabricated for use in the work arm of an agricultural robot that works on crops in densely vegetated areas. We confirmed that a high extension and retraction ratio can be achieved in a compact form by utilizing the deformation of a thin metal plate in the sh...

Improving the energy efficiency of robots is an important issue for the widespread use of robots in society. However, previous methods plan motions to perform tasks in the shortest possible time in consideration of work efficiency. Other methods change the trajectory for same path to decrease unnecessary acceleration/deceleration. On the other hand...

Currently, an agricultural method called SynecocultureTM has been receiving attention as a means for multiple crop production and recovering from environmental degradation; it helps in regreening the environment and establishing an augmented ecosystem with high biodiversity. In this method, several types of plants are grown densely, and their manag...

Currently, as measures against environmental destruction, an agricultural method called synecocultureTM has been received attention. However, since multiple types of plants grow densely in this method, conventional machines and robots can't intervene. Therefore, work efficiency is low. To improve work efficiency, we developed a robot with a wheel a...

In recent years, the teleoperation of robots has become widespread in practical use. However, in some current modes of robot operation, such as leader-follower control, the operator must use visual information to recognize the physical deviation between him/herself and the robot, and correct the operation instructions sequentially, which limits mov...

A large joint output is required for the robot to perform dynamic motions. Most previous robots output power only with actuators, with a lot of energy. On the other hand, humans perform with high efficiency by storing and releasing energy by tendons. When trying to simulate it with robots, the actuator and elastic element are arranged in series. Th...

Improving energy efficiency of robots is an important issue for diffusion of robots in society. For reducing the energy consumption of robots, we focused on the gear weight and friction during drive, and investigated Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMW-PE) for the robot joints as a lightweight, low friction, and high impact strength mate...

The long-term goal of this study is a training system that can simulate medical cases and advise physicians based on quantitative evaluation of neonatal resuscitation. In this paper, we designed and manufactured a neonatal airway management simulator for quantitative evaluation of tracheal intubation. This robotic simulator is equipped with 25 sens...

Human stability is an important sense that relates to human posture. If it can be presented the stability sense, it will improve the reality of virtual reality experience. In this study, in order to reproduce the projected center of gravity, which is one of the indices of stability, we conducted experiments to confirm the projected center of gravit...

In a small room such as an operating room where there are multiple staff, some orders should be transmitted to a selected person. For achieving this without any wearable devices, we developed a voice transmission system using a parametric speaker. To use a parametric speaker in a small room, we had some experiments to investigate sound pressure cha...

Herein, we have developed a humanoid robot that achieves dynamic motion. Focusing on the running motion that is the basis of the motion, the robot has been developed focusing on the pelvic rotation on the frontal plane and the elasticity in leg joints (that changes according to running speed), which are the characteristics of humans during running....

We are developing the biped humanoid robot WATHLETE-1 (Waseda ATHLETE humanoid No.1) that has the same mass arrangement, link ratio, and output characteristics as humans. It is not possible to mount high-power electromagnetic motors and mechanical transmissions that satisfy the hip joint output at running because its weight makes it impossible to r...

The tactile sensation of the human foot is one of the most sensitive parts of the human skin sensation and is known to be used during various locomotion. Force-tactile presentation for the sole of the foot is considered to be effective in reproducing kinesthetic sensations. If it is possible to actually present the force sense faithfully, it is no...

Biped humanoid robots, whose size and output are equivalent to humans, have been developed. However, it is difficult to mount high-power large electrical motors with a mechanical transmission due to spatial limitations. Generally, hydraulic systems have a high energy density and excellent layout characteristics. This study proposes a hydraulic dire...

In this study, we focused on the automatic scoring of medical clinical abilities. The objective clinical ability tests that all undergraduate students take before starting clinical practice were considered. As these tests evaluate practical skills, there is a problem that the learning method is poor compared to the examination of other lectures. Th...

While running, humans use the stiffness of the knee and ankle joint of the leg. Mimicking this motion can improve the output power and performance of humanoid robots. It also offers the possibility of clarifying running in humans, from an engineering perspective, by mimicking other characteristics of an ankle joint. In this paper, we design an ankl...

In previous studies, various stabilizing control methods for humanoids during the stance phase while hopping and running were proposed. Although these methods contribute to stability while hopping and running, it is possibility that the control during the flight phase could also affect the stability. In this study, we investigated whether the contr...

Many extant studies proposed various stabilizing control methods for humanoids during the stance phase while hopping and running. Although these methods contribute to stability during hopping and running, humanoid robots do not swing their legs rapidly during the flight phase to prevent rotation in the yaw direction. Humans utilize their torsos and...

Analysis of human running has revealed that the motion of the human leg can be modeled by a compression spring because the joints of the leg behave like a torsion spring in the stance phase. In this paper, we describe the development of a joint mechanism that mimics the elastic characteristics of the joints of the stance leg. The knee was equipped...

Human steady running is modeled using a spring-loaded inverted pendulum (SLIP). However, human pushes off the ground actively when starting to run. In this study, we describe a knee joint mechanism for coping with both of an active pushing-off and joint stiffness needed to continue running. To achieve this, knee is equipped with a mechanism compris...

The spring loaded inverted pendulum is used to model human running. It is based on a characteristic feature of human running, in which the linear-spring-like motion of the standing leg is produced by the joint stiffness of the knee and ankle. Although this model is widely used in robotics, it does not include human-like pelvic motion. In this study...

In this paper, we describe the development of a leg with a rotational joint that mimics the elastic characteristics of the leg of a running human. The purpose of this development was to realize the dynamics of human running, the analysis of which has revealed that the motion of the leg can be modeled by a compression spring and that of the leg join...

Analysis of human running has revealed that the motion of the human leg can be modeled by a compression spring because leg’s joints behave like a torsion spring. In addition, the pelvic movement in the frontal plane contributes to the increase in jumping force. We therefore assumed that human-like running, which requires higher output power than th...

Human running motion can be modeled by a spring loaded inverted pendulum (SLIP). However, this model, despite being widely used in robotics, does not include human-like pelvic motion. In this study, we show that the pelvis actually contributes to the increase in jumping force and absorption of landing impact, both of which findings can be used to i...

This paper describes the bipedal humanoid robot that makes human laugh with its whole body expression and affect human's psychological state. In order to realize 'Social interaction' between human and robot, the robot has to affect human's psychological state actively. We focused on 'laugh' because it can be thought as a typical example for researc...

This paper describes a walking stabilization control for a biped humanoid robot with narrow feet. Most humanoid robots have larger feet than human beings to maintain their stability during walking. If robot's feet are as narrow as humans, it is difficult to realize a stable walk by using conventional stabilization controls. The proposed control mod...

A human running motion can be modeled by a spring-loaded inverted pendulum (SLIP). However, the SLIP model does not include human-like pelvic movement which can contribute to increase a jumping force and absorb a landing impact. Based on a running gait analysis, we propose a novel model, named SLIP2 (Spring-Loaded Inverted Pendulum using Pelvis), t...

This paper describes the implementation in a walking humanoid robot of a mental model, allowing the dynamical change of the emotional state of the robot based on external stimuli; the emotional state affects the robot decisions and behavior, and it is expressed with both facial and whole-body patterns. The mental model is applied to KOBIAN-R, a 65-...

This paper describes the development of a new shank mechanism and mimicking the human-like walking in the horizontal and frontal plane. One of human walking characteristics is that the COM (Center Of Mass) motion in the lateral direction is as small as 30 mm. We assume that it is thanks to the human walking characteristics in the horizontal plane t...

This paper describes a development of new expressive robotic head for bipedal humanoid robot. In order to obtain the representative facial expressions, the authors asked cartoonists to create computer graphics (CG) images. To realize the most representative facial expressions from the CGs, 24-Degrees-of-Freedoms(DoFs) facial expression mechanism wa...

This paper describes the development of a new expressive robotic head for bipedal humanoid robot. Through a preliminary experiment, the authors defined the representative facial expressions for 6 basic emotions. To realize these facial expressions, 24-DoFs of mechanisms that allow wide moveable range, and facial color were needed on the face. We de...

This paper describes the development of a new expressive robotic head for the bipedal humanoid robot. Facial expressions of our old robotic head have low facial expression recognition rate and in order to improve it we asked amateur cartoonists to create computer graphics (CG) images. To realize such expressions found in the CGs, the new head was p...

This paper describes a walking stabilization control based on gait analysis for a biped humanoid robot. We have developed a human-like foot mechanism mimicking the medial longitudinal arch to clarify the function of the foot arch structure. To evaluate the arch function through walking experiments using a robot, a walking stabilization control shou...

This paper describes the development of a distributed control system and a small motor controller unit modularized to a controller module and motor driver modules for a humanoid robot. The humanoid robot, KOBIAN, had a centralized control system. It was difficult to increase the number of motors because of PC’s I/O channel limit. We installed the d...