Dairoku Sekiguchi’s research while affiliated with Tokyo University of Information Sciences and other places

A Robotic User Interface (RUI) is part of a concept in which a robot is used as an interface for human behavior. By combining the RUI with Mixed Reality (MR) technology, we propose a MR RUI system that enables the presentation of enhanced visual information of a robot existing in the real world. In this paper, we propose the virtual kinematics to enhance robot motion. A MR RUI system with virtual kinematics can present a selection of visual information by controlling the robot through physical simulation and by changing the parameter dynamically.

A Robotic User Interface (RUI) is part of a concept in which a robot is used as an interface for human behavior. RobotPHONE is a RUI for interpersonal exchanges that uses robots as agents for physical communication. The shape and motion of RobotPHONE is continuously synchronized by a bilateral control method. Using RobotPHONE, users in remote locations can communicate shapes and motion with each other. In this paper, we propose a new type of RobotPHONE (MR RobotPHONE) system using Mixed Reality system. This MR RobotPHONE system enables people to communicate with each other via MR world and directly interact with the mixed reality world.

We describe experiments designed to measure gaze direction perception capability of humans under face-to-face and display mediated conditions. Gaze perception capability was determined by means of the absolute values of the pitch differences between a looker's actual regards and participants' judgments. We compared the capability under face-to-face, stereoscopic image, and monoscopic image conditions. On average, participants perceived the looker's gaze direction most accurately under the face-to-face condition. As expected, the accuracy under the stereoscopic image condition was higher than the results obtained under the monoscopic image condition. However, individual data did not follow the expected order and our exploratory experiments showed that participants with narrower interpupillary distance than the distance between two stereo cameras had difficulty in judging gaze directions. We also found that the perception of the pitch component of gaze direction is affected by gaze transmission methods but the yaw component is robust and is not affected by the transmission conditions.

In this paper we focus on a development of master-slave arm to support "mutual telexistence," which realizes remote dexterous manipulation tasks in hazardous place and close physical communication with other people using gestures. After the exhibition in World Exposition 2005 Aichi, Japan, we improved the control algorithm for bilateral impedance control of master-slave system and developed a new master hand system for precise force feedback. New slave arm with the optical torque sensor to measure the external torque in each joint of the arm is also being developed.

We developed a display for presenting 3-D shapes using a pin-rod matrix. Due to a wide range of movement, the display is capable of presenting large-scale, dense objects such as human faces or geographical features. We used a coil-type shape memory alloy as a pin-rod actuator for building our display. We first designed and evaluated the system components. We then constructed three different prototypes. The first prototype has a 1x64-pin-rod matrix, and each of the other two has a 16x16-pin-rod matrix. The prototypes have a 30-mm range of motion and a 5-mm pin interval. The prototypes are sufficiently accurate for presenting subtle surface structures. Our goal is developing a dynamic display that moves in real-time and that also works as both an output and input interface.

The Color Enhanced Emotion system controls the human 'emotion' drastically. The system recognizes the facial expressions and controls skin pigment components using a real-time processor. By implementing the proposed system, an attendee can experience ...

A Robotic User Interface (RUI) is part of a concept in which a robot is used as an interface for human behavior. Our RUI, which we have been developing for communications, is a system for interpersonal exchanges that uses robots as agents for physical communication. In this paper, we propose a new type of RUI for interactive entertainment. This RUI enables people to directly interact with the information world.

A Robotic User Interface (RUI) is part of a concept in which a robot is used as an interface for human behavior. Our RUI, which we have been developing for communications, is a system for interpersonal exchanges that uses robots as agents for physical communication. In this paper, we propose a new type of RUI for interactive entertainment. This RUI enables people to directly interact with the information world.

Robots have chiefly been considered as machines that perform work in the place of human beings, such as industrial robots. However, a robot can be used as an interface between the real world and the information world. This concept can be referred to as a Robotic User Interface (RUI). In this paper, we propose a RUI as a haptic feedback interface. We can interact with information world by using this RUI synchronize a CG model that has the same form and joints as RUI.

We previously proposed a new 3D form display actuated by shape memory alloy (SMA), which is capable of displaying large scale objects sequentially. Based on our devised method, our display uses a 16×16 array of pin-rods with 30mm stroke at 5mm intervals. In this paper, we discuss the control method of the shape memory alloy with a simple matrix drive circuit. This type of drive circuit can dramatically reduce the number of switch. In addition, we propose a novel approach using linear programming, where the simulated time to display a whole shape is reduced by about 50% or more with a large number of actuators.