研究者データベース

研究者情報

マスター

アカウント(マスター)

  • 氏名

    田中 孝之(タナカ タカユキ), タナカ タカユキ

所属(マスター)

  • 情報科学研究院 システム情報科学部門 システム創成学分野

所属(マスター)

  • 情報科学研究院 システム情報科学部門 システム創成学分野

独自項目

syllabus

  • 2021, ヒューマンセントリックシステム特論, Human-centric Systems, 修士課程, 情報科学研究科, 人間機械系,人間ロボット工学,パワーアシスト,インピーダンス制御,ヒューマンセンシング,ヒューマンモデリング
  • 2021, ヒューマンセントリックシステム特論, Human-centric Systems, 修士課程, 情報科学院, 人間機械系,人間ロボット工学,パワーアシスト,インピーダンス制御,ヒューマンセンシング,ヒューマンモデリング
  • 2021, システム創成学特論, Frontiers of System Creation Technologies, 修士課程, 情報科学研究科, H∞制御,人間センシング,ディジタル幾何処理,サイバーフィールド
  • 2021, システム創成学特論, Frontiers of System Creation Technologies, 修士課程, 情報科学院, H∞制御,人間センシング,ディジタル幾何処理,サイバーフィールド
  • 2021, ヒューマンセントリックシステム特論, Human-centric Systems, 博士後期課程, 情報科学研究科, 人間機械系,人間ロボット工学,パワーアシスト,インピーダンス制御,ヒューマンセンシング,ヒューマンモデリング
  • 2021, ヒューマンセントリックシステム特論, Human-centric Systems, 博士後期課程, 情報科学院, 人間機械系,人間ロボット工学,パワーアシスト,インピーダンス制御,ヒューマンセンシング,ヒューマンモデリング
  • 2021, システム創成学特論, Frontiers of System Creation Technologies, 博士後期課程, 情報科学研究科, H∞制御,人間センシング,ディジタル幾何処理,サイバーフィールド
  • 2021, システム創成学特論, Frontiers of System Creation Technologies, 博士後期課程, 情報科学院, H∞制御,人間センシング,ディジタル幾何処理,サイバーフィールド
  • 2021, ロボティクス, Robotics, 学士課程, 工学部, ロボット,運動学,動力学,制御,アクチュエータ,センサ
  • 2021, 一般教育演習(フレッシュマンセミナー), Freshman Seminar, 学士課程, 全学教育, ロボット,マイコン,制御,モータ,センサ
  • 2021, 画像計測工学, Image-based Instrumentation Engineering, 学士課程, 工学部, 計測工学,データの処理,画像計測,計測システム

researchmap

プロフィール情報

学位

  • 博士(工学)(電気通信大学)

プロフィール情報

  • プロフィール

    ロボット工学,人間工学を基盤として,人間中心のものづくりができる人材育成を目指しています.人の手による作業の負担軽減を目的とした「軽労化®技術」の研究開発では,軽労化スーツ「スマートスーツ®」を開発し,実際に農業や介護の現場で使っていただける技術を,メーカー,ユーザーと一緒に創り上げています.役に立つ,夢のある技術を一緒に作りませんか?
  • 田中, タナカ
  • 孝之, タカユキ
  • ID各種

    200901070423113274

対象リソース

業績リスト

研究キーワード

  • パワーアシスト   筋骨格モデル   筋活動センシング   ペットロボット   生物型ロボット   視覚情報   画像計測   生体計測システム   移動ロボット   ウェアラブルロボット   人間機械システム   Mobile Robot   Wearable Robot   Human-Machine System   

研究分野

  • 情報通信 / ヒューマンインタフェース、インタラクション
  • 情報通信 / データベース
  • ものづくり技術(機械・電気電子・化学工学) / 計測工学
  • 情報通信 / 知能ロボティクス
  • 情報通信 / 知覚情報処理
  • 情報通信 / 機械力学、メカトロニクス
  • 情報通信 / ロボティクス、知能機械システム

経歴

  • 2023年05月 - 現在 北海道大学 数理・データサイエンス教育研究センター 副センター長
  • 2023年04月 - 現在 産業医科大学 産業生態科学研究所 非常勤講師
  • 2022年04月 - 現在 北海道大学 大学院情報科学研究院 研究院長補佐
  • 2021年01月 - 現在 北海道大学 大学院情報科学研究院 教授
  • 2019年04月 - 2020年12月 北海道大学 大学院情報科学研究院 准教授
  • 2007年04月 - 2019年03月 北海道大学 大学院情報科学研究科 准教授
  • 2004年04月 - 2007年03月 北海道大学 大学院情報科学研究科 助教授
  • 2003年04月 - 2004年03月 電気通信大学 知能機械工学科 助教授
  • 1996年04月 - 2003年03月 電気通信大学 知能機械工学科 助手

学歴

  •         - 1996年   電気通信大学   電気通信学研究科   機械制御工学専攻
  •         - 1994年   電気通信大学   電気通信学部   機械制御工学科

委員歴

  • 2024年04月 - 現在   日本機械学会ロボティクス・メカトロニクス部門   副部門長
  • 2022年10月 - 現在   HCMIコンソーシアム北海道拠点   拠点長
  • 2020年04月 - 現在   ロボティクスシンポジア運営委員会   運営委員長
  • 2014年01月 - 現在   Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics   Deputy Chief Editor
  • 2017年02月 - 2020年02月   計測自動制御学会   理事,監事
  • 2013年09月 - 2017年12月   計測自動制御学会 システムインテグレーション部門   運営委員
  • 2015年04月 - 2016年03月   日本機械学会ロボティクスメカトロニクス部門   運営委員
  • 2016年   第17回計測自動制御学会システムインテグレーション部門講演会   実行委員長
  • 2013年01月 - 2014年12月   計測自動制御学会   評議員
  • 2011年04月 - 2013年03月   日本ロボット学会   理事   日本ロボット学会
  • 2008年 - 2011年   計測自動制御学会   北海道支部 幹事   計測自動制御学会
  • 2008年 - 2009年   精密工学会   北海道支部 幹事   精密工学会
  • 2007年 - 2008年   日本機械学会   機素潤滑部門運営委員   日本機械学会
  • 2006年 - 2007年   計測自動制御学会   論文集委員   計測自動制御学会
  • 2007年   日本ロボット学会   北海道ロボット技術研究専門委員会 幹事   日本ロボット学会
  • 2004年 - 2006年   計測自動制御学会   システムインテグレーション部門運営委員   計測自動制御学会
  • 2004年 - 2006年   日本ロボット学会   評議員   日本ロボット学会
  • 2004年   日本機械学会   ロボティクスメカトロニクス部門欧文編集委員   日本機械学会
  • 1999年 - 2002年   日本機械学会   ロボティクスメカトロニクス部門技術員会 委員   日本機械学会
  • 計測自動制御学会   システムインテグレーション部門 運営委員   計測自動制御学会
  • 日本機械学会   ロボティクスメカトロニクス部門 運営委員   日本機械学会

受賞

  • 2024年05月 日本機械学会ロボティクス・メカトロニクス部門 ROBOMECH表彰(産業・実用分野)
     外壁タイル非破壊検査のための電磁波多層走査法による空隙深さとサイズの同時推定 
    受賞者: 田中孝之;アッサリム・ホセイン;本田匠;大野湧人;内田茂
  • 2023年02月 産業応用工学会 論文賞
     残存機能を活用した立ち座り動作支援機器における適正アシスト力の選定と評価 
    受賞者: 三上 隼人;土谷 圭央;田中 孝之;和田 親宗
  • 2022年09月 計測自動制御学会 フェロー称号
     
    受賞者: 田中孝之
  • 2022年06月 日本水産工学会 水産工学論文賞
     近海かつお一本釣漁業の漁獲物搬出作業における軽労化支援スーツの効果 
    受賞者: 髙橋秀行;安田健二;田中孝之
  • 2021年11月 日本再生医療とリハビリテーション学会 第3回日本再生医療とリハビリテーション学会学術大会
     最優秀賞 
    受賞者: 吉田道拓;田中孝之;土谷圭央
  • 2020年12月 計測自動制御学会システムインテグレーション部門 部門研究奨励賞
     X線画像解析に基づく腰部締付力による人体腰部の関節剛性変化のモデル化 
    受賞者: 吉田道拓;田中孝之;金子勇斗;土谷圭央;神島保
  • 2019年03月 計測自動制御学会システムインテグレーション部門 SI2018優秀講演賞
     杖型立ち座り支援器具 
    受賞者: 田中孝之;勝長達平;橋元裕紀;平石聖;土谷圭央
  • 2018年 日本ロボット学会 フェロー
     
    受賞者: 田中 孝之
  • 2017年12月 計測自動制御学会システムインテグレーション部門 部門貢献賞
     
    受賞者: 田中 孝之
  • 2017年01月 北海道大学 北海道大学研究総長賞
     
    受賞者: 田中 孝之
  • 2016年02月 北海道 北海道科学技術奨励賞
     軽労化技術スマートスーツの研究開発と普及活動 
    受賞者: 田中 孝之
  • 2014年01月 日本機械学会 フェロー
     
    受賞者: 田中 孝之
  • 2012年 第24回中小企業優秀新技術・新製品賞 産学官連携特別賞
  • 2011年 2011年度精密工学会北海道支部優秀プレゼンテーション賞
  • 2011年 ヒューマンインタフェース学会論文賞
  • 2010年 日本機械学会ロボティクス・メカトロニクス部門貢献表彰
  • 2009年 計測自動制御学会システムインテグレーション部門貢献賞
  • 2009年 日本機械学会北海道支部賞(研究技術賞)
  • 2008年 SI2008優秀講演賞
  • 2008年 (社)精密工学会2008年度北海道支部学術講演会技術賞
  • 2008年 計測自動制御学会論文賞
  • 2007年 ICROS ICCAS2007 Student Paper Award
  • 2007年 SPIE ISOT2007 Best Paper Award
  • 2007年 画像センシングシンポジウム優秀論文賞
  • 2007年 ICROS ICCAS2007 Student Paper Award
  • 2007年 SPIE ISOT2007 Best Paper Award
  • 2006年 SI2006優秀講演賞
  • 2006年 (社)精密工学会2006年度北海道支部学術講演会技術賞
  • 2005年 SPIE ISOT2005 Best Student Paper Award
  • 2005年 SPIE ISOT2005 Best Student Paper Award
  • 2004年 SI2004ベストセッション賞
  • 2003年 SI2003優秀講演賞

論文

  • Takashi Kusaka, Takayuki Tanaka
    Electronics 13 15 2955 - 2955 2024年07月26日 [査読有り][招待有り]
     
    Vector normalization is an important process in several algorithms. It is used in classical physical calculations, mathematical techniques, and machine learning, which has witnessed significant advancements in recent years. Normalization and regularization ensure the stability of solutions and play an important role in algorithm convergence. Normalization typically refers to the division of elements by their norm. Division should not be used in algorithmic implementations because its computational cost is considerably higher than that of multiply–add operations. Based on this, there is a well-known method referred to as the fast inverse square root (FISR) algorithm in floating-point calculations (IEEE754). In deeper-level embedded systems that require fast responses or power efficiency, integer instead of real number arithmetic (floating-point number arithmetic) should be used to increase speed. Conversely, in deeper-level embedded systems that require fast responses or power efficiency, integer arithmetic should be used instead of real number arithmetic (floating-point number arithmetic) to increase speed. Therefore, embedded engineers encounter problems in instances in which they use integer arithmetic for implementation, but real number arithmetic is required to compute vectors and other higher-dimensional algebra. There is no conventional normalization algorithm similar to the FISR algorithm for integer arithmetic; however, the proposed pseudo-normalization achieves vector normalization within a restricted domain using only multiply–add operations and bit shifts. This allows for fast and robust operations, even for low-performance MCUs that do not have power-efficient FPUs. As an example, this study demonstrates the computation of the arctangent (Arctan2 function; atan2(y, x)) with high precision using only integer multiply–add operations. In this study, we proposed a method of vector normalization using only integer arithmetic for embedded systems and confirmed its effectiveness by simulation using Verilog. The research results can contribute to various fields such as signal processing of IMU sensor data, faster artificial intelligence training, and efficient rendering of computer graphics.
  • 亀井 佐以蔵, 土谷 圭央, 田中 孝之, 北川 雅基
    産業応用工学会論文誌 12 1 92 - 100 2024年03月15日 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • 松田潤樹, 田中孝之
    日本ロボット学会誌 41 9 789 - 796 2023年11月 [査読有り]
     
    This research aims to improve maneuverability for power assist system based on guidance force field. This paper describes a method of improving maneuverability using guidance force field of toward the desired trajectory considering approachability on the impedance-controlled manipulator. The approachability in this study means the direction where to approach target work piece. The guidance force field generated toward planned trajectory considering approachability based on Minimum-Jerk Model. It was designed to be easy to apply operator's mind, because the guidance force was designed to decrease when the difference between the desired trajectory and the end-effector position was increased using spreading parameter of guidance force field. Moreover, we defined evaluation function to evaluate maneuverability for guidance force field. As a result of study, we confirmed that the proposed method can improve maneuverability through experiments.
  • Daniel Tunmise Fatunmbi, Takayuki Tanaka
    2023 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC) 2023年10月 [査読有り]
  • Yoshio TSUCHIYA, Yoshifumi TANAKA, Takayuki TANAKA
    IFAC-PapersOnLine 56 2 9709 - 9714 2023年07月 [査読有り]
  • Masahiro Sato, Michihiro Yoshida, Takashi Kusaka, Yusuke Suzuki, Takayuki Tanaka
    Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics 35 3 762 - 770 2023年06月20日 [査読有り]
     
    We considered the change in joint stiffness as a motion strategy in human lumbar extension movement. We developed a musculoskeletal model that can reproduce this motion strategy and attempted to clarify the individual characteristics and differences in motion strategy. This model reproduces changes in lumbar joint stiffness during movement by appropriately adjusting parameters such that they represent the motion strategy. Using this model, we identified parameters in lumbar extension exercises for six participants with differences in lumbar joint stiffness and examined changes in lumbar joint stiffness and motion strategies. The results showed that participants with similar changes in joint stiffness had commonalities in their motion strategies.
  • Shunsuke Nakamae, Takayuki Tanaka, Koji Shimatani
    Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics 35 3 810 - 822 2023年06月20日 [査読有り]
     
    The transversus abdominis muscle is important for various human functions, including the prevention of back pain and the use of muscle activity values as an indicator for the treatment of urinary incontinence. Measuring muscle activity is an effective means of evaluating whether correct training has been performed. The transversus abdominis muscle stiffness sensor developed in a previous study used a method in which a belt with a sensor attached was wrapped around the lower back, which made measurement simple but also caused problems owing to the influence of phenomena other than muscle activity on the measurement data. Therefore, we propose a novel correction method to calculate the muscle activity of this sensor accurately, which can be used for simple measurements. We propose a formula to compensate for effects other than muscle activity based on a model equation that includes contact conditions and belt tension, which affect the muscle stiffness sensor value. We evaluated the validity of the correction equation from simulations and the change in similarity owing to the correction by simultaneously measuring the muscle action potentials and muscle stiffness sensor values during breathing movements with muscle activity. The proposed correction method improved the muscle stiffness data during respiration and contraction. It is possible to improve the measurement accuracy by improving the calibration method and hardware.
  • Hussain Alsalem, Takayuki Tanaka, Takumi Honda, Shigeru Uchida, Wakuto Ono
    2023 IEEE/SICE International Symposium on System Integration (SII) 1 - 5 2023年01月17日 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    Electromagnetic waves have proven to be efficient in detecting voids in concreted building tiles. However, obstacles, such as the difficulty of data analysis and the need to use relatively large equipment on-site, lead to increased costs. The multilayer survey method (MLS) provides a qualitative and fundamental solution to this dilemma. Because it is based on multiple scans, it still has the potential to improve the quantity and location of the required scanning layers, which will increase the accuracy and speed of the results. MLS was conducted on actual tiled concrete, which includes voids of several sizes. A comparison of the simulation and experimental results showed that there was a possibility of optimizing the number of scan layers. The ability to optimize scanning layers was demonstrated both theoretically and empirically.
  • Masahiro Sato, Takayuki Tanaka, Michihiro Yoshida, Yusuke Suzuki
    2023 IEEE/SICE International Symposium on System Integration (SII) 1 - 6 2023年01月17日 [査読有り]
     
    In this study, we developed a lumbar mechanical model that can reproduce the changes in joint stiffness during lumbar extension motion in humans. Earlier reports suggest that during lumbar extension motion joint stiffness varies from person to person. The individual differences in the way joint stiffness changes during lumbar extension motion are caused by individual differences in motion strategy, developed with reference to the equilibrium-point hypothesis, which is one of the clues to the elucidation of the human motor control law. We herein describe the development process of the model and examine the possibility of verifying individual differences in movement strategies by reproducing joint stiffness changes.
  • Hussain Alsalem, Takayuki Tanaka, Takumi Honda, Satoru Doi, Shigeru Uchida, Wakuto Ono
    IEEJ Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Engineering 2022年12月30日 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    The separation of tiles from buildings degrades the aesthetic appeal of buildings and may result in structural failure. Therefore, tiles should be inspected periodically. However, manual inspections are expensive and require qualified experts. In this study, voids corresponding to tile separation were detected in a concrete specimen using nondestructive inspection based on electromagnetic wave detection. Furthermore, wave reflection models of healthy and defective tiles were created, and the effects of the void plane size on the reflection of defective tiles were considered. The correlation between the void plane size and the reflection intensity difference integral value was verified through multilayer scanning using these models.
  • Takashi Kusaka, Takayuki Tanaka
    Robotics 11 6 149 - 149 2022年12月09日 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    In the fields of control engineering and robotics, either the Lagrange or Newton–Euler method is generally used to analyze and design systems using equations of motion. Although the Lagrange method can obtain analytical solutions, it is difficult to handle in multi-degree-of-freedom systems because the computational complexity increases explosively as the number of degrees of freedom increases. Conversely, the Newton–Euler method requires less computation even for multi-degree-of-freedom systems, but it cannot obtain an analytical solution. Therefore, we propose a partial Lagrange method that can handle the Lagrange equation efficiently even for multi-degree-of-freedom systems by using a divide-and-conquer approach. The proposed method can easily handle system extensions and system reconstructions, such as changes to intermediate links, for multi-degree-of-freedom serial link manipulators. In addition, the proposed method facilitates the derivation of the equations of motion-by-hand calculations, and when combined with an analysis algorithm using automatic differentiation, it can easily realize motion analysis and control the simulation of multi-degree-of-freedom models. Using multiple pendulums as examples, we confirm the effectiveness of system expansion and system reconstruction with the partial Lagrangians. The derivation of their equations of motion and the results of motion analysis by simulation and motion control experiments are presented. The system extensions and reconstructions proposed herein can be used simultaneously with conventional analytical methods, allowing manual derivations of equations of motion and numerical computer simulations to be performed more efficiently.
  • 迎田 隆幸, 島田 悠之介, 田中 孝之, 野口 宏明, 阿部 敏久
    計測自動制御学会論文集 58 12 558 - 567 2022年12月 [査読有り]
     
    To evaluate the work contents of a care worker, this paper proposes a novel lower limb posture estimation method, and a motion recognition method for the automation of care records. In our approach, wearable-embedded sensors consisting of inertial sensors and insole-type plantar pressure sensors were used to recognize the posture of the whole body during care tasks. The upper body posture was calculated from triaxial accelerations, and posture classification of lower limbs can be reached with characteristics extracted from plantar pressure distribution. To achieve accurate posture recognition considering unexpected posture in training phase and compound postures combining multiple postures, a new posture estimation method combining normal and complementary Gaussian mixture network (NACGMN) and posture-fitness function was developed. Using the time-series data of posture information, our proposed work estimation manner utilizing hidden semi-Markov models can recognize performed care works based on the frequency distribution of state transitions. In experiments, we measured and recognized transfer assistance works between a bed and a wheelchair in our laboratory and an actual care facility, and the results demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed system.
  • Takashi Kusaka, Takayuki Tanaka
    Sensors 22 20 7989 - 7989 2022年10月19日 [査読有り]
     
    Advances in micro-electro-mechanical systems technology have led to the emergence of compact attitude measurement sensor products that integrate acceleration, magnetometer, and gyroscope sensors on a single chip, making them important devices in the field of three-dimensional (3D) attitude measurement for unmanned aerial vehicles, smartphones, and other devices. Sensor fusion algorithms for posture measurement have become an indispensable technology in cutting-edge research, such as human posture measurement using wearable sensors, and stabilization problems in robot position and posture measurement. We have also developed wearable sensors and powered suits in our previous research. We needed a technology for the real-time measurement of a 3D human body motion. It is known that quaternions can be used to algebraically handle 3D rotations; however, sensor fusion algorithms for three sensors are presently complex. This is because these algorithms deal with the post-rotation attitude (pure quaternions) rather than rotation information (the rotor) to avoid a double covering problem involving the rotor. If we are dealing with rotation, it may be possible to make the algorithm simpler and faster by dealing directly with the rotor. In this study, to solve the double covering problem involving the rotor, we propose a stateful rotor and develop a technique for uniquely determining the time-varying states of the rotor. The proposed stateful rotor guarantees the continuity of the rotor parameters with respect to angular changes, and this paper confirms its effectiveness by simulating two rotations around an arbitrary axis. In addition, we verify experimentally that a fast sensor fusion method using stateful rotor can be used for attitude calculation. Experiments also confirm that the calculated results converge to the desired rotation angle for two spatial rotations around an arbitrary axis. Since the proposed stateful rotor extends and stabilizes the definition of the rotor, it is applicable to any algorithm that deals with time-varying quaternionic rotors. In this research, an algorithm based on a multiply–add operation is designed to reduce computational complexity as a high-speed calculation for embedded systems. This method is theoretically equivalent to other methods, while contributing to power saving and the cost reduction of products.
  • Masaki Kitagawa, Takayuki Tanaka, Akihiko Murai
    2022 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2022) 5249 - 5256 2022年10月 [査読有り]
     
    This study aims to construct a running simulator based on a motion generation and control system that enables the description of motion strategies using the spring-loaded inverted pendulum (SLIP) model. The problems of stability and robustness encountered in the running simulation with the SLIP model are elucidated, and stable running is achieved by controlling the stiffness and the attitude angle dynamically at touchdown, as well as human energy adjustment that is introduced to consider the active motion strategy. As a result, passive and active control by humans can be expressed, and a framework that can express the changes in running due to motion strategies is constructed. Finally, we discuss the possibility of describing and elucidating the motion strategies.
  • 三上 隼人, 土谷 圭央, 田中 孝之, 和田 親宗
    産業応用工学会論文誌 10 2 82 - 89 一般社団法人 産業応用工学会 2022年09月 [査読有り]
     
    Supporting the elderly by utilizing their remaining functions will lead to the extension of their healthy life span. In this study, we developed a portable cane-type standing and sitting positional mobility support device. In this study, we developed a cane-type mobility support device, and selected a suitable support direction for elderly people by dynamic analysis simulation. In addition, the necessary assisting force for the elderly was examined and the assisting force was set. The effectiveness of the device was evaluated by measuring the surface electromyogram of healthy subjects. As a result, it was found that the specifications of this device were effective when the assist direction was 30 degrees and the assist force was 110 N. From the measurement of the surface electromyogram, it was found that the device was effective for both standing and sitting motions. It also helps to ensure the safety of the sitting motion of elderly people.
  • 浅野 裕一, 高氏 秀則, 田中 孝之, 金子 俊一
    電気学会論文誌C 142 8 971 - 981 電気学会 2022年08月01日 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    Two novel strategies for incremental searching of interest patterns are proposed in context of sequential search of multiple patterns in the scene. One is based on a scheme based on union operation to extend search regions depending on all of the proceeding searches, which can possibly adapt the search to some local distortion in the scene or the objects. Another strategy utilizes incremental setting of confidence intervals to the search regions depending on their statistics in position errors of respective patterns. In addition to them, a new scheme of repetitive trials for realizing reliability in the search. By using a set of real objects, many experiments show the effectivity and the efficiency of the proposed strategies.
  • Takashi Kusaka, Takayuki Tanaka
    Electronics 11 15 2285 - 2285 2022年07月22日 [査読有り]
     
    In modern computers, complicated signal processing is highly optimized with the use of compilers and high-speed processing using floating-point units (FPUs); therefore, programmers have little opportunity to care about each process. However, a highly accurate approximation can be processed in a small number of computation cycles, which may be useful when embedded in a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or micro controller unit (MCU), or when performing many large-scale operations on a graphics processing unit (GPU). It is necessary to devise algorithms to obtain the desired calculated values without an accelerator or compiler assistance. The residual correction method (RCM) developed here can produce simple and accurate approximations of certain nonlinear functions with minimal multiply–add operations. In this study, we designed an algorithm for the approximate computation of trigonometric and inverse trigonometric functions, which are nonlinear elementary functions, to achieve their fast and accurate computation. A fast first approximation and a more accurate second approximation of each function were created using RCM with a less than 0.001 error using multiply–add operations only. This achievement is particularly useful for MCUs, which have a low power consumption but limited computational power, and the proposed approximations are candidate algorithms that can be used to stabilize the attitude control of robots and drones, which require real-time processing.
  • Michihiro Yoshida, Tanaka Takayuki, Yoshio Tsuchiya
    Physical Ergonomics and Human Factors 205 - 213 2022年07月 [査読有り]
     
    We have been elucidated the mechanism by which pelvic belt reduces lumbar burden. Pelvic tightening increases the lumbar joint stiffness and inhibits the flexion of the lumbar spine in the forward bending. Flexion of the lumbar joint is substituted by the hip joint, which corrects the posture during forward bending and reduces the lumbar burden (lumbar joint torque). The level of the assisting effect of the tightening force has the individual difference, but at present, it is not clear what factors cause it. In this study, we develop a model that represents the assistance effect based on the physique such as height and weight, and the posture and shape of the pelvis and lumbar spine (pelvic alignment).This study developed a regression model that expresses the amount of change in joint stiffness due to tightening force, using the individual physique and pelvic alignment characteristics as input. The joint stiffness was estimated from motion measurement using optical motion capture and obtained from the equation of motion of the link model representing the human body. Pelvic alignment was measured by X-ray images, and five features were obtained: sacral inclination angle (SS angle), pelvic inclination angle (PT angle), inclination angle of the sacrum relative to the pelvis (PI angle), curvature of the lumbar lordosis, and pelvic aperture angle. Among these, the SS angle, PT angle, and PI angle were measured under two conditions: standing and 45 degrees forward bending and obtained a total of eight pelvic alignment features. In addition, height, weight, BMI, and back muscle strength were added as physique characteristics expressing body size and muscle strength, for a total of 12 variable measured. These features were measured on 15 subjects. Among the 12 features, three to four variables were input to the model by excluding those that were strongly correlated with each other and less capable of explaining changes in the target value, joint stiffness.From the proposed model, changes in joint stiffness could be estimated from pelvic alignment and physique characteristics. At large forward bending angles, we found that to obtain a high assistance effect, tilting of the sacrum anteriorly relative to the pelvis and forward tilting of pelvis is necessary. On the other hand, in the mild forward bending, the person who is higher body weight in addition to the forward tilt of the PT and PI angles tend to obtain higher assistive effect.
  • Junki Matsuda, Takayuki Tanaka
    2022 IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics 1231 - 1236 2022年07月 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    This study aims to improve the maneuverability of power assist systems based on guidance force field. We have proposed an artificial potential method to generate a guidance force field on an arbitrary work trajectory to guide the operator and manipulator to reduce the workload of the operator when using a position-controllable industrial manipulator as a PAS. Experiments showed that the proposed guidance force field contributed to a reduction in the workload of the operator. Individual differences were observed in the maneuverability of the operator under the guidance force field. In this paper, we propose a mathematical model of the maneuverability of the guidance force field and a method to obtain the optimum spread of the guidance force field for each operator.
  • Michihiro Yoshida, Takayuki Tanaka, Yoshio Tsuchiya
    Biomechanics 2 2 264 - 280 2022年05月22日 [査読有り]
     
    This paper aims to develop a regression model that explains the relationship between changes in lumbar joint stiffness and pelvic alignment (posture or shape of the bones of the pelvis and lumbar spine) due to pelvic tightening. The proposed model is based on the hypothesis that lumbar joint stiffness increases with changes in pelvic alignment. The proposed model is based on experimentally measured stiffness values and pelvic alignment data sets. The stiffness of the lumbar joint was estimated by motion analysis using a motion-capture system. Ninety-six volunteers participated in the experiment to estimate stiffness values, and the validity of using lumbar joint stiffness as the output of the model was examined. The pelvic alignment was measured through X-ray images. Pelvic alignment was measured using radiographic images, and 25 volunteers participated. The Results section states that the amount of change in the posture of the sacrum relative to the pelvis and the curvature of the lumbar spine contributes to the change in lumbar joint stiffness. Future work will include FEM analysis to validate the overall hypothesis and the validity of applying the model to a group other than those who participated in the development of the model.
  • 吉田道拓, 田中孝之, 土谷圭央, 金子勇斗
    計測自動制御学会論文集 57 12 2021年12月 [査読有り]
  • Michihiro Yoshida, Takayuki Tanaka, Yoshio Tsuchiya
    2021 IEEE 30th International Symposium on Industrial Electronics (ISIE) 1 - 5 2021年06月20日 [査読有り]
     
    This study aims to develop a diagnostic system that estimates the assistance effect of pelvic tightening in advance for the introduction of the pelvic belt to the field of work or clinical use. This study explains the hypothesis of lumbar burden reduction by pelvic belt and shows that pelvic tightening reduces lumbar joint flexion. The posture correction degree is proportional to the amount of reduction in the lumbar burden. By conducting a motion measurement, the posture correction index indicates the assistance effect. From the measurement using motion capture and force platform for 86 people, we developed a mathematical model that estimates the posture correction index from CoP change.
  • Hongyuan Ren, Takayuki Tanaka, Akihiko Murai
    2021 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) 1263 - 1268 2021年05月30日 [査読有り]
     
    Human running motion is a complex motion that not only based on the movement of legs but also needs the entire body to participate in. Therefore, we focused on the upper body, designed a trunk and pelvic rotation assist suit to apply an external force on the chest and pelvis for assisting the running motion, changing the energy flow between the upper and lower body to improve the running efficiency. However, human motion is very complicated and difficult to analyze, it is hard to explore the specific effect of the external force which is provided by the rotation assist suit on human motion. In this paper, we proposed an advanced spring-loaded inverted pendulum model for simulating the human running motion in natural running status and expanded running status in which the motion is expanded by wearing the trunk and pelvic rotation assist suit, parametrically represent the changes of human due to the intervention of the external force, and discuss the effect of the external assistant force on the human running motion.
  • 髙橋 秀行, 安田 健二, 田中 孝之
    日本水産工学会誌 57 3 83 - 89 2021年02月 [査読有り]
     
    The main function of work assistive suits is to reduce the burden on the muscles around the waist during stooping, thought to be the one of the causes of low back pain. Since fishermen frequently stoop, the introduction of work assistive suits is highly anticipated. In this study, the effect of a work assistive suit on the fish unloading task in a skipjack tuna pole and line fishing boat on offshore waters was experimentally investigated. A prototype work assistive suit, using carbon fiber-reinforced plastic plates as the elastic body of the suit, was manufactured and provided for the experiment. We measured the activity of the elector spine of four subjects using surface electromyography. The results showed that the muscle activities of the elector spine adjacent to the fourth lumbar vertebrate were significantly reduced in two subjects (the other two did not have successful experiments) and the rate of reduction ranged from 11% to 25%. The muscle activity in the elector spine adjacent to the first lumbar vertebrate was slightly increased in a subject, however, no significant changes were seen in other three subjects. It is expected that the work assistive suit considering actual work of fishermen is developed and disseminated.
  • Shinnosuke Kato, Mihoko Niitsuma, Takayuki Tanaka
    2021 IEEE/SICE International Symposium on System Integration (SII) 315 - 319 2021年01月11日 [査読有り]
  • Tappei Katsunaga, Takayuki Tanaka, Mihoko Niitsuma, Saburo Takahashi, Toshihisa Abe
    2021 IEEE/SICE International Symposium on System Integration (SII) 310 - 314 2021年01月11日 [査読有り]
  • Shunsuke Torigai, Takayuki Tanaka
    2021 IEEE/SICE International Symposium on System Integration (SII) 566 - 571 2021年01月11日 [査読有り]
  • Yoshio Tsuchiya, Takayuki Tanaka, Michihiro Yoshida
    2021 IEEE/SICE International Symposium on System Integration (SII) 2020 0 548 - 553 一般社団法人 日本機械学会 2021年01月11日 [査読有り]
     

    Lumbar load, which causes chronic low back pain, varies depending on posture and external load. However, the timing to feel the lumbar burden varies from person to person. It is also known that tightening the pelvic belt against the lumbar burden improves posture and reduces the lumbar burden. For this reason, the tightening force of the pelvic belt is measured for the posture and the lumbar load, and the relationship between the sensation and the load is evaluated.

  • 持丸 正明, 村井 昭彦, 田中 孝之, 栗田 雄一, 南澤 孝太, 稲見 昌彦
    バイオメカニズム学会誌 45 2 80 - 83 バイオメカニズム学会 2021年 [査読無し]
     
    超人スポーツとは,人間の身体能力を補綴・拡張する人間拡張工学に基づき,人の身体能力を超える力を身につけ「人を超える」,あるいは年齢や障碍などの身体差により生じる「人と人のバリアを超える」ことによって生み出される新しいスポーツ競技である.拡張された超人同士がテクノロジーを自在に乗りこなし,競い合う「人機一体」の新たなスポーツを創造することを目指している.さらなる「人機一体」の技術の開発に向け,競技者同士が同一の技術(道具)を用い,その使いこなし方や身体能力,戦略で競い合う超人スポーツ競技ではなく,最先端の人間拡張工学と身体能力を競技者同士が自在に開発,適用して,独自技術と身体能力で競い合い,記録に挑戦するかたちの競技を新たに創り出すという目的で,3 つのグランドチャレンジを設定し,2020 年度の第 1 回グランドチャレンジを実施した.
  • Hussain Alsalem, Takayuki Tanaka, Takumi Honda, Satoru Doi, Shigeru Uchida
    Proceedings of the 37th International Symposium on Automation and Robotics in Construction (ISARC) 633 - 638 2020年10月14日 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    The separation of exterior tiles from buildings diminishes the visual appeal of cities and can injure pedestrians when they are struck by falling tiles. Therefore, tiles should be inspected periodically. However, completion of the inspection process has hurdles, including high cost and the need for qualified human inspectors. This study describes a non-destructive inspection method for detecting voids that match those seen in tile separation in a concrete specimen using electromagnetic waves, specifically microwaves. The method can be performed using devices that are simpler, smaller, and easier to use than those required by conventional methods. In addition, this method can be used to measure the adhesion strength of tiles.
  • Hongyuan Ren, Takayuki Tanaka, Kotaro Hashimoto, Akihiko Murai
    ROMANSY 23 - Robot Design, Dynamics and Control 458 - 466 2020年09月 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    In this paper, we evaluated the effect of the trunk and pelvic rotation assist suit in assisting human running motion. During running motion, when the angular momentum of the upper body and the lower body is closer to balance, the running efficiency will be improved. According to this fact, we developed the trunk and pelvic rotation assist suit to apply external forces in the upper body to balance the angular momentum and improve the running efficiency. To evaluate the assist efficiency of our assist suit, we used the spring-loaded inverted pendulum model (SLIP model) and conducted a running expansion experiment. We combined the results of SLIP model and experimental data to evaluate the effect of the assist suit by comparing the energy and athletic performance between natural and expanded running motion. Finally, we confirmed the trunk and pelvic rotation assist suit does have an assisting effect on the human running motion.
  • Yoshio TSUCHIYA, Takayuki TANAKA, Tamotsu KAMISHIMA
    Advanced Biomedical Engineering 9 181 - 188 2020年09月 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    Lumbar loading causes increased intervertebral pressure and is an important factor in low back pain. However, it is difficult to quantitatively judge the actions that affect lumbar load and the magnitude of lumbar load increase. Low back pain occurs not only in the workplace but also during activities of daily living. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the factors inducing low back pain by measuring movements in various planes and determining the magnitude of the lumbar load. Accordingly, the lumbar spine should be examined during various movements. Several studies have examined vertebral bodies in the anteflexion posture. However, the relationship between body flexion angle and vertebral body angle during lateral flexion and rotation remains unknown. In this study, we proposed an estimation method for changes in vertebral body angle during lateral flexion and rotation in the lumbosacral region using a wearable sensor system we previously developed. The accuracy of the proposed estimation method was evaluated and demonstrated using X-ray images.
  • Michihiro Yoshida, Takayuki Tanaka, Yoshio Tsuchiya, Yuto Kaneko
    Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing 168 - 176 2020年07月 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • 若生知宏, 田中孝之, 島谷康司, 栗田雄一, 杉山好美
    バイオメカニズム 25 113 - 124 2020年07月 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    腹圧性尿失禁は女性の典型的なQuality of Life(QOL)疾患で,咳やくしゃみをした際に腹圧が上昇することで予期しない尿漏れが生じるものである.主に肥満や加齢,出産による骨盤底筋(PFM)の弛緩や損傷が原因とされており,予防するためにはPFM強化が有効とされている.既存のトレーニング方法として,Kegel体操などが提案されているが,トレーニング効果に個人差が存在するなどの問題がある.これを解決するために本研究では日常生活でとり得る11姿勢を定義し,個人適合した筋骨格モデルを用いて各姿勢のPFM活動量計算を行うことで,各個人に適したトレーニング姿勢を導出する方法を提案した.また各姿勢におけるPFM活動量の実測値と比較することで提案手法の評価を行った結果,6名中3名の被験者で計算結果との正の相関が確認され,本手法の妥当性が示唆された.
  • Visualization of Voids in Tile Concrete by Non-contact Inspection using Electromagnetic Waves
    Takumi Honda, Takayuki Tanaka, Satoru Doi, Shigeru Uchida
    The International Workshop on Frontiers of Computer Vision 2020 2020年02月 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • Takayuki Mukaeda, Keisuke Shima, Saori Miyajima, Yuki Hashimoto, Takayuki Tanaka, Naomichi Tani, Hiroyuki Izumi
    2020 IEEE/SICE International Symposium on System Integration(SII) 1270 - 1275 2020年 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • Tappei Katsunaga, Takayuki Tanaka, Mihoko Niitsuma, Saburo Takahashi, Toshihisa Abe
    2020 IEEE/SICE International Symposium on System Integration(SII) 1265 - 1269 2020年 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • Kouji Sakotani, Shinnosuke Kato, Mihoko Niitsuma, Takayuki Tanaka
    2020 IEEE/SICE International Symposium on System Integration (SII) 1259 - 1264 2020年 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • Takumi Honda, Takayuki Tanaka, Satoru Doi, Shigeru Uchida, Maria Q. Feng
    Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics 31 6 863 - 870 2019年12月 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    The tiles that are used to protect the exterior of a building may separate from the concrete substrate and fall off as they age. To prevent accidents, a tiled wall can be inspected using various methods. In this study, nondestructive inspection (NDI) with microwave electromagnetic waves (EMWs) is used for detecting tile separation, and the chance of detecting the separation by this method is discussed in this paper. Here, the inspection apparatus is used to detect voids in concrete, including voids that simulate tile separation. An antenna attached to the apparatus transmits and receives microwaves to obtain a reflected intensity from the concrete. In addition, the distribution of reflected intensity is obtained using a proposed scanning method, multi-layered scanning. This involves several scans along the concrete surface at different antenna-to-surface distances. Typically, EMWs have to be analyzed with an expensive network analyzer in the time or frequency domain. However, we demonstrate that voids are detected from the obtained distribution of the reflected intensity of EMWs measured by a simple device without a network analyzer. The proposed method of NDI with EMWs is cheaper and simpler than conventional inspection methods.
  • Relationships between Quantitative and Subjective Evaluations of Assistive Effect on Standing Function of the Smart Suit
    Hijiri Hiraishi, Takayuki Tanaka, Mami Sakata, Dai Kawahara, Keisuke Shima
    The Fourth International Conference on Informatics and Assistive Technologies for Health-Care, Medical Support and Wellbeing 2019年11月 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • Saori Miyajima, Yuki Hashimoto, Takayuki Tanaka, Natsuki Miyata, Mitsunori Tada, Masaaki Mochimaru
    2019 IEEE/SICE International Symposium on System Integration (SII) 2019年01月 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • Hikaru Hasegawa, Takayuki Tanaka, Tomohiro Wakaiki, Koji Shimatani, Yuichi Kurita
    Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing 789 403 - 410 2019年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    © 2019, Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature. Pelvic floor muscle (PFM) training is important in the treatment of stress urinary incontinence. In this study, biofeedback training was performed using electromyographic signals obtained in real time by a surface electrometer attached to the transverse abdominal muscles working in conjunction with the PFM. The low activity of the perineal muscles before training increased by an average of 20% points within 10 min after the start of training. This finding suggests that training of muscles indirectly involved in continence of urine may improve the functioning of the PFM.
  • 吉田 道拓, 田中 孝之, 金子 勇斗, 土谷 圭央
    計測自動制御学会論文集 55 11 683 - 691 公益社団法人 計測自動制御学会 2019年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     

    In this paper, we experimentally verify the relationship between the change in the stiffness of joints around the lumbar due to dynamic tightening control of the Active Corset and the reduction of the lumbar load. The bending angle of joints around the lumbar in lifting movement were measured, and the elasticity of the joints were calculated. As the result of the measurement on 21 subjects, tightening of Active Corset reduced the lumbar load with substituting the lumbar joint flexion by the hip joint flexion in all subjects. In addition, the we confirmed that the ratio of the lumbar elasticity to the hip joint elasticity increase with tightening around the pelvis on the four subjects. We conclude that the decrease of the lumbar load with tightening caused by increasing the ratio of the lumbar joint elasticity to the hip joint elasticity.

  • Kotaro Hashimoto, Takayuki Tanaka, Takashi Kusaka
    2018 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) 2018年10月 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • Michihiro Yoshida, Takayuki Tanaka, Yoshio Tsuchiya, Takashi Kusaka
    Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics 30 5 740 - 751 2018年10月 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    This study describes the effect of Active Corset on the lumbar spine. Active Corset is assist tools used to prevent low back pain. It tightens the waist optimally according to the lumbar load during work. This study aimed to clarify the mechanical effect of tightening of the pelvis on lumbar joints and determine the mechanism leading to reduction of the lumbar load. Moreover, this study examined the phenomena commonly occurring among the subjects with reduced lumbar load by tightening of the pelvis. First, we will present some examples of currently used assist tools and demine the utility of the Active Corset among the various tools used. Next, the mechanism of the Active Corset will be described. Further, we will present a hypothesis about reducing the lumbar load by tightening the pelvis. After describing the change in the joint bending angle on tightening, we will describe reduction of burden from the antigravity torque around the lumbar joint. Finally, we will compare active tightening using Active Corset with tightening using a constant force and describe the advantage of active tightening.
  • Yoshio Tsuchiya, Yumeko Imamura, Takayuki Tanaka, Takashi Kusaka
    Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics 30 5 696 - 705 2018年10月 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    A forward bending motion is essential in everyday tasks, such as carrying objects, shoveling snow, and performing farm work. However, many people suffer from lumbar pain resulting from forward bending motion, which causes a lumbar disc load owing to the changing of the lumbar shape. We have developed a wearable lumbar load estimation system, which measures the skin shape on the back using a curvature sensor. Because the lumbar load varies with the external load, the lumbar load should be estimated based on the external load. Therefore, we have developed a method for estimating an unknown external force using a muscle stiffness sensor. Muscle strength can be estimated by measuring the muscle hardness from the surface, and the relationship between the external force and the muscle force can be modeled. Using this method, we estimate the dependence of the lumbar load on external forces in real time. In addition, we simplify the calculation by converting the external load into a load resulting from a person’s own weight. We incorporate the proposed method into our wearable sensor system, estimate the lumbar load, and compare this with the results of a musculoskeletal dynamics simulation.
  • Yumeko Imamura, Ko Ayusawa, Eiichi Yoshida, Takayuki Tanaka
    International Journal of Humanoid Robotics 15 3 2018年06月01日 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    This study presents an enhanced framework for evaluating an assistive effect generated by a passive assistive device using a humanoid robot. The humanoid robotic experiments can evaluate wearable devices by measuring the joint torque, which cannot be measured directly from the human body. In this paper, we introduce an "assistive torque estimation map" as an efficient means for estimating the supportive torque within the range of motions by interpolating the measured joint torques and joint angles of the robot. This map aims to estimate the supportive torques for complex motions without conducting humanoid experiments or human-subject experiments with these motions. We generated an estimation map for an actual assistive suit that decreases the load on the lumbar region and we verified the validity of the proposed method by experimentation. In addition, the geometric simulation model of the assistive suit was validated based on the proposed experiments by using the humanoid robot HRP-4. The proposed framework is expected to lead to an efficient design of such assistive devices so that fewer human-subject experiments need to be conducted.
  • Haruma Akimoto, Yoshio Tsutiya, Yumeko Imamura, Takashi Kusaka, Takayuki Tanaka
    2017 IEEE Life Sciences Conference, LSC 2017 2018- LSC 234 - 237 2018年01月23日 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    We describe a simple musculoskeletal model of the lumbosacral spine that is in development for the evaluation of embedded systems in lumbar assist suits. The model is a multiple-link model, reflecting lumbosacral alignment. We also propose a method for optimizing link joint position and evaluate the effect of changing the position.
  • Junki Matsuda, Takayuki Tanaka, Takashi Kusaka
    Proceedings - 2017 IEEE 5th International Symposium on Robotics and Intelligent Sensors, IRIS 2017 2018- IRIS 249 - 254 2018年01月08日 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    We developed a power assist system based on a method with considering the operator's trajectory and dynamics prediction by using approachability. In order to realize the assist system, we proposed a concept of guidance force field. Our guidance force field method helped to improve maneuverability for operator. In this paper, we propose a method to improve maneuverability based on guidance force field and approachability of traditional impedance-controlled power assist system. We propose an estimation method of the optimal spread of the guidance force field from the experimental evaluation value when it take minimum value. As the experimental results, we showed that the guidance force contributed to improving maneuverability by defining the estimated function, and we obtained a best value of spread for the guidance force field.
  • Yoshio Tsuchiya, Takashi Kusaka, Takayuki Tanaka, Yoshikazu Matsuo
    Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing 608 160 - 168 2018年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    Anteflexion of the spine is a crucial motion in performing many tasks during work and daily life. It is particularly important in tasks such as providing care to others and carrying objects. To devise measures for preventing back pain, it is necessary to determine the postures associated with high risk of low back pain. Postures that increase lumbosacral load should be identified to reduce the risk of low back pain. In previous work, the relationship between posture and intervertebral loading was clarified, and the centers of gravity in the upper body and the waist shape were estimated. Moreover, individual differences were considered to improve the accuracy of the estimation. This method can estimate the lumbosacral load with sufficient accuracy. However, lumbosacral loading was examined in relation to posture and increases with external load. Therefore, the external load should be included in lumbosacral load estimation. In this study, we developed a back muscle exertion estimation method by using stiffness sensors to measure back muscle exertion, because the back muscle exertion changes with the external load. We conducted experiments in which participants wore the sensor system and the lumbosacral load was estimated from the external load. Estimation using the muscle stiffness sensors was better than previous estimation methods.
  • 日下聖, 相津琢磨, 橋本光太郎, 田中孝之
    計測自動制御学会論文集 54 3 373‐382(J‐STAGE) - 382 公益社団法人 計測自動制御学会 2018年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    This paper proposed a walking assistance method by using trunk rotation based on the spinal engine theory. According to the spinal engine theory, our walking is realized by cooperation between upper body and legs through the energy exchange. Therefore, we developed an assistance device for trunk rotation and its control method. We adopted the periodic input control as the control method and modified it to be suitable for human assistance. According to experimental results, the proposed method realized walking assist by supporting trunk rotation movement. Moreover, it also realized training effect as the walking resist, by controlling a parameter of the controller. In this article, their effects were confirmed by theoretical analysis and experiments.
  • Tomohiro Wakaiki, Takayuki Tanaka, Koji Shimatani, Yuichi Kurita, Tadayuki Iida
    J. Robotics Mechatronics 30 6 991 - 1003 2018年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) is a typical quality of life disease in women. The strengthening of the pelvic floor muscle (PFM) is considered effective to prevent this. Specifically, PFM activity is affected by individual pelvic shape and posture. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze muscle activity by considering the individual differences. In this study, individual pelvic alignment was estimated from the feature values of natural gait via multiple regression analysis. In addition, individual pelvic feature points were derived from X-ray images and used to deform the standard model to obtain individual pelvic shapes. Results indicate that the residual averages of the estimated feature angles were less than 2° in most cases. Subsequently, measurements of the pelvis were obtained via MRI to evaluate the estimated pelvis shape. The results indicate that individual adaptation leads to muscle attachment positions, which are important in the muscle activity analysis, and closer to the true MRI value when compared to that of the standard pelvic model.
  • 橋本光太郎, 田中孝之, 日下聖
    日本機械学会論文集(Web) 84 864 ROMBUNNO.18‐00064(J‐STAGE) - 18-00064 一般社団法人 日本機械学会 2018年 [査読無し][通常論文]
     
    The purpose of this study is to develop a walking assist device by controlling trunk and pelvis motion. Human gait motion consists of whole body exercise including lower body motion and upper one. As all exercises are performed normally, walking with less energy loss is performed. If any exercises are incomplete, compensatory motion is performed and it is considered that there is energy loss. Therefore, this study aims at developing the walking assist device to make normal exercises and reduces energy loss by applying external forces, focusing on the trunk rotation and the pelvic rotation that involved in stride length and walking speed.
  • Miyajima, S., Tanaka, T., Miyata, N., Tada, M., Mochimaru, M., Izumi, H.
    Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics 30 5 706 - 716 2018年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    As the demand for nursing care services is growing, the physical burden involved in caregiving has drawn widespread attention. To mitigate the physical burden in caregiving, we have to recognize what kind of work and problems are involved in each caregiving task. To identify the problems involved in caregiving, we need to recognize the work and analyze its workload. Aiming to reduce the burden on the waist during caregiving tasks, we are developing inertial sensor suits for measuring the working motions. With the developed method, the burden on the waist is estimated from the waist posture. Considering its use in practical caregiving sites, the number of inertial sensors should be the minimum necessary, which depends on the number of body parts where to measure the posture. In this study, we select the body parts to achieve the two above-mentioned goals: to recognize the work involved in caregiving and capture the waist posture. A support vector machine (SVM) is used to recognize the work. Its conventional method of selecting the features on which to recognize the work only considers the recognition accuracy and does not sufficiently meet the needs for measuring the postures. Therefore, we propose a new feature-selection method, which can evaluate the waist-posture measuring accuracy and can make forward feature selections in the same manner as the conventional wrapper method. We have verified the effectiveness of the proposed method by measuring simple simulated work motions.
  • Yuichi Kurita, Jumpei Sato, Takayuki Tanaka, Minoru Shinohara, Toshio Tsuji
    IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON HUMAN-MACHINE SYSTEMS 47 6 1158 - 1163 2017年12月 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    Studies suggest that the level of muscle activation may influence force reproduction. The purpose of this study was to develop a sensorimotor-enhancing suit (SEnS)-unpowered assistive clothing without actuators or electrical devices-and to examine its efficacy for reducing voluntary muscle activation and improving force reproduction in the upper limb in healthy young adults. The SEnS was made of elastic fabric and designed to produce assistive shoulder flexion moment that can partially mitigate the required activation of the user's shoulder flexor muscles. A series of human experiments were then conducted in healthy young adults. As a proof of concept, reduction in force reproduction performance of the shoulder moment was confirmed with mitigation of the shoulder moment by using an external string. To examine the efficacy of the SEnS, voluntary muscle activation and force reproduction performance was examined with and without using the SEnS, by comparing the amount of activation in the shoulder flexor muscles and the error in force reproduction in the upper limb. The results showed that wearing SEnS reduced muscle activation and force reproduction error. These results suggest that the accuracy of force reproduction can be improved substantially by partially mitigating the shoulder moment and associated voluntary muscle activation, using the SEnS.
  • Takashi Kusaka, Takayuki Tanaka, Hidekazu Kajiwara
    ROBOMECH Journal 4 1 1 - 11 2017年12月01日 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    This paper describes a skill assist method for sinusoidal motions using a semi-active assist mechanism through an energy control method. In a previous study, we had developed and verified the effectiveness of a power assist device with a semi-active assist mechanism and a control method for reducing loads during periodic motion. Here, we have developed a skill assist method as an extension of our power assist device for periodic motion. The skill of performing sinusoidal motions is defined in this study as an operator’s ability to track such motions. Therefore, our skill assist method attempts to improve the operator’s tracking ability. The proposed skill assist method is implemented using our previous power assist device therefore, the device provides not only a power assist effect but also a skill assist effect to correct the motion. Hence, an operator obtains both the power and the skill assist effects simultaneously.
  • Yumeko Imamura, Ko Ayusawa, Eiichi Yoshida, Takayuki Tanaka
    International Journal of Humanoid Robotics 15 3 1750026-1 - 1750026-25 2017年10月 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    This study presents an enhanced framework for evaluating an assistive effect generated by a passive assistive device using a humanoid robot. The humanoid robotic experiments can evaluate wearable devices by measuring the joint torque, which cannot be measured directly from the human body. In this paper, we introduce an “assistive torque estimation map” as an efficient means for estimating the supportive torque within the range of motions by interpolating the measured joint torques and joint angles of the robot. This map aims to estimate the supportive torques for complex motions without conducting humanoid experiments or human-subject experiments with these motions. We generated an estimation map for an actual assistive suit that decreases the load on the lumbar region and we verified the validity of the proposed method by experimentation. In addition, the geometric simulation model of the assistive suit was validated based on the proposed experiments by using the humanoid robot HRP-4. The proposed framework is expected to lead to an efficient design of such assistive devices so that fewer human-subject experiments need to be conducted.
  • 宮島 沙織, 田中 孝之, 日下 聖
    計測自動制御学会論文集 53 5 299 - 307 計測自動制御学会 ; [1965]- 2017年05月 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    These days, inertial sensors are often used to capture human movements. A complimentary filter is the one method of sensor fusion, which several sensors data are combined to set off each sensor's disadvantages. It is often used for wearable devices because of its high measurement accuracy at low calculation cost. Human motion contains various speeds and frequency. However, in a complementary filter, combined frequency range is fixed and the filter can not cope with motion out of the range. Thus, a coefficient of the complimentary filter is replaced with sigmoid function in order to fluctuate along with motion speed of subjects. This fluctuating coefficient enables measuring irregular motions of human. Experiment shows that using this method rises accuracy of motion measurement.
  • Yuichi Kurita, Jumpei Sato, Takayuki Tanaka, Minoru Shinohara, Toshio Tsuji
    IEEE Transactions on Human-Machine Systems 99 1 - 6 2017年05月 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • Yumeko Imamura, Takayuki Tanaka, Kazuki Takizawa
    Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics) 10652 137 - 146 2017年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    There are several problems involved with introducing assistive technologies, which amplify human physical strength or reduce fatigue, to actual environment. One of the problem is that there is the possibility that the muscular strength of the user decline due to the reduction of the physical burden associated with the work. Therefore, the changes in physical performance due to the use of the assistive devices need to be quantitatively evaluated. In this study, a four-week monitoring test (including a two-week trial period) was performed with a total of 30 nursing-care workers in a nursing home. The participants wore an assistive wear “Smart Suit Lite” for two weeks and their subjective fatigue and physical strength were evaluated over the course of the study. The results show that the feeling of fatigue was decreased in each of the subjects by an average of 16% as a result of using the assistive wear. However, there was no significant difference in the subjects’ physical fitness (back-muscle strength, grip strength, sitting–standing capability, standing long-jump ability, or one-legged standing ability), indicating that there was no decrease in physical strength due to the use of the Smart Suit Lite during normal work over two weeks.
  • Individualization of Musculoskeletal Model to Analyze Pelvic Floor Muscles Activity
    Tomohiro Wakaiki, Takayuki Tanaka, Koji Shimatani, Tadayuki Iida, Yoshio Tsuchiya, Kazuya Sugihara, Yoshimi Sugiyama
    DIGITAL HUMAN MODELING SYMPOSIUM DHM-013FP  2017年 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • Shotaro Kawataki, Takayuki Tanaka, Satoru Doi, Shigeru Uchida, Maria Q. Feng
    2017 IEEE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MECHATRONICS (ICM) 336 - 341 2017年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    The tiles that are used to protect the exterior of a building may separate from the concrete substrate and fall off as they age. To prevent accidents, a tiled wall can be inspected using various methods. In this paper, nondestructive inspection (NDI) with microwave electromagnetic waves (EMWs) is used for detecting tile separation, and the chance of detecting separation by this method is discussed. Here, the inspection apparatus is used to detect voids in concrete including voids that simulates tile separation. An antenna attached to the apparatus transmits and receives microwaves to obtain a reflection intensity from the concrete. In addition, the distribution of reflection intensity is obtained using a proposed scanning method, multi-layered scanning. This involves several scans along the concrete surface at different antenna-to-surface distances. Typically, EMWs have to be analyzed with an expensive network analyzer in the time or frequency domain. However, we demonstrate that voids are detected from the obtained distribution of reflected intensity of EMWs measured by a simple device without a network analyzer. The proposed method of NDI with EMWs is cheaper and simpler than conventional inspection methods.
  • 土谷 圭央, 日下 聖, 田中 孝之, 松尾 祥和, 小田 まこと, 笹木 工, 神島 保, 山中 正紀
    日本機械学会論文集 82 843 16 - 00072-16-00072 一般社団法人 日本機械学会 2016年10月 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    Anteflexion of the spine is essential for many physical activities of daily living. However, this motion places the lumbar disks because it generats heavy load due to changes in the shape of the lumbar spine and can lead to low back pain. In older to reduce low back pain, here we proposed a wearable sensor system configuration that can estimate lumbosacral alignment and lumbar load by measuring the shape of the lumbar skin when the lumbosacral alignment changes. The shape of the lumbar skin and posture angle are measured by using curvature sensors and accelerometers. In addition, the system must be constructed in consideration of the physique, in order to absorb in a variety of human. We proposed this system by measuring the body parameters of anteflexion and studied the change in dimensions of the lumbar spine from changes in posture. By extracting the dimensions of the lumbosacral spine in X-ray images, the attitude angle, body surface area and the dimensions of the lumbosacral spine have relevance. The lumbosacral dimensions calibration method was developed by using that relation. Lumbosacral alignment estimation considering the difference in physiques is developed, and lumbosacral spine alignment was to improve the estimation accuracy. The proposed method could improve accuracy lumbosacral alignment estimation.
  • Ko Ayusawa, Eiichi Yoshida, Yumeko Imamura, Takayuki Tanaka
    ADVANCED ROBOTICS 30 8 519 - 534 2016年04月 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    This paper presents the new application of a humanoid robot as an evaluator of human-assistive devices. The reliable and objective evaluation framework for assistive devices is necessary for making industrial standards in order that those devices are used in various applications. In this framework, we utilize a recent humanoid robot with its high similarity to humans, human motion retargeting techniques to a humanoid robot, and identification techniques of robot's mechanical properties. We also show two approaches to estimate supporting torques from the sensor data, which can be used properly according to the situations. With the general formulation of the wire-driven multi-body system, the supporting torque of passive assistive devices is also formulated. We evaluate a passive assistive wear 'Smart Suit Lite (SSL)' as an example of device, and use HRP-4 as the humanoid platform.
  • Kotara Hashimoto, Takayuki Tanaka, Takuma Aizu, Takashi Kusaka
    2016 WORLD AUTOMATION CONGRESS (WAC) 2016年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    We developed a new system to assist the elderly with walking. Previous walking assist systems directly control the hips or legs. The proposed system provides walking assistance using passive dynamic walking by controlling trunk rotation. We verify the relation between trunk rotation and walking by fixing trunk rotation. Gait analysis was performed using a motion-capture system and electromyography. We propose an assistive device for a new form of walking assistance. We also developed a prototype of the assistive device and verify its effectiveness.
  • Takuma Aizu, Takayuki Tanaka, Kotara Hashimoto, Takashi Kusaka
    2016 WORLD AUTOMATION CONGRESS (WAC) 2016年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    Passive walking suppose to depend on trunk rotation, and system is proposed trunk rotation assist by walking periodical. We aim to develop a waking assist suit for a long period of walking. In this study, we analyze walking motion, and got important subject. As the result, we confirmed almost all joints have the same representative frequency, and this system need to control energy. We think state of walking changes with increasing velocity, and human cannot do passive walking in the case of above a certain speed. Therefore, it is important to do assist insufficient energy in the passive walking. There is periodic input control as a method that enables it. Actuator is selected with enough torque and angular velocity for assist trunk rotation from the walking analysis result. We confirmed three nonlinear oscillator characteristic applying periodic input control. As the result, Rayleigh model is most efficient and approximately equal to energy of trunk rotation. We evaluate torque assist ratio of trunk rotation in this system and actuator. As the result, we confirmed that van der Pol is better torque assist ratio average than others, but Hybrid can be cetain of assist.
  • Saori MIYAJIMA, Takayuki TANAKA, Hiroyuki IZUMI, Natsuki MIYATA, Mitsunori TADA, Masaaki MOCHIMARU
    The Japanese Journal of Ergonomics 52 Supplement S234 - S235 2016年 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • Yoshio Tsuchiya, Takashi Kusaka, Takayuki Tanaka, Yoshikazu Matsuo, Makoto Oda, Tsukasa Sasaki, Tamotsu Kamishima, Masanori Yamanaka
    INTELLIGENT ROBOTICS AND APPLICATIONS, ICIRA 2016, PT II 9835 200 - 210 2016年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    Anteflexion of the spine is essential for many physical activities of daily living. However, this motion places the lumbar discs under heavy loading because of changes in the shape of the lumbar spine, possibly leading to low back pain. With the aim of reducing low back pain, here we developed a wearable sensor system that can estimate lumbosacral alignment and lumbar load by measuring the shape of the lumbar skin as the lumbosacral alignment changes. The shape of the lumbar skin and posture angle are measured by using curvature sensors and accelerometers. In addition, the wearers physique must be considered for the system to be usable by a variety of people. We developed this system by measuring the body parameters associated with anteflexion and studied the changes in the dimensions of the lumbar spine with changes in posture. By measuring the dimensions of the lumbosacral spine on X-ray images, the posture angle, body surface area, and the dimensions of the lumbosacral spine have relevance. A calibration method for lumbosacral dimensions was developed using this relation. However, the estimation method for lumbosacral alignment could not maintain good calibration of interbody distance. Therefore, we further developed the estimation to include a calibration method for interbody distance, thereby improving the estimation accuracy.
  • Miyajima, S., Miyata, N., Tada, M., Tanaka, T., Mochimaru, M.
    Advances in Physical Ergonomics and Human Factors 489 483 - 494 2016年 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • 田中 孝之, 武居 直行
    日本機械学会誌 119 1166 40 - 41 一般社団法人 日本機械学会 2016年 [査読無し][通常論文]
  • 今村由芽子, 田中孝之, 瀧澤一騎
    看護理工学会誌 2 3 142 - 149 看護理工学会 2015年08月25日 [査読無し][通常論文]
  • Takashi Kusaka, Takayuki Tanaka, Hidekazu Kajiwara
    2015 IEEE/ASME INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ADVANCED INTELLIGENT MECHATRONICS (AIM) 42 - 47 2015年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    This study proposes a technique for approximating high-cost calculations at low cost in embedded systems. Fast calculation of arctangent (as given by atan2) was developed by the proposed technique. Relative to the atan2 standard library function, the resulting approximation is 20 times as fast and requires only one-third the memory.
  • Yumeko Imamura, Takayuki Tanaka, Ko Ayusawa, Eiichi Yoshida
    2015 IEEE-RAS 15TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON HUMANOID ROBOTS (HUMANOIDS) 1149 - 1154 2015年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    A passive power-assist supporter, called Smart Suit Lite, aims at reducing the lumbar load utilizing the tension of elastic belts. Its design method is based on a digital human model and motion measurements. This paper presents basic experiments using humanoid robot HRP-4 for verifying the design model of the suit. In the experiment, the joint torques of the robot and the elastic force of Smart Suit Lite were measured. We found that the decrease of the chest pitch torque during slow forward bending motion on the sagittal plane was consistent with simulation results. In addition, the effects for three-dimensional motion including chest pitching and yawing also indicated a similar tendency to the simulation. Because we performed quantitative evaluation of the effects by each part of the suit, these results are considered to provide useful information to the optimization of Smart Suit Lite.
  • Yumeko Imamura, Takayuki Tanaka, Takashi Kusaka, Yoshio Tsuchiya
    2015 37TH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE IEEE ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY SOCIETY (EMBC) 2015 3905 - 3908 2015年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    In this study, we propose an estimation model of lumbar load, which is a factor in lumbar disorders. Our proposed method uses a musculoskeletal model with elastic elements between the vertebral bodies, and simulates the inter vertebral disk pressure and the displacement of the vertebral bodies simultaneously.
  • Yoshio Tsuchiya, Takashi Kusaka, Takayuki Tanaka, Yoshikazu Matsuo, Makoto Oda, Tsukasa Sasaki, Tamotsu Kamishima, Masanori Yamanaka
    2015 37TH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE IEEE ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY SOCIETY (EMBC) 2015 3909 - 3912 2015年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    Anteflexion of the spine is essential for many physical activities in everyday life. However, this motion places the lumbar disks under heavy load due to changes in the shape of the lumbar spine and can lead to low back pain. With the aim of reducing low back pain, here we developed a wearable sensor system that can estimate lumbosacral alignment and lumbar load by measuring the shape of the lumbar skin when the lumbosacral alignment changes. In addition, we used this system to measure the parameters of anteflexion and studied the change in dimensions of the lumbar spine from changes in posture. By determining the dimensions of the lumbosacral spine on an X-ray image, a lumbosacral dimensions calibration method based on body surface area and height was developed. By using this method, lumbosacral alignment and lumbar load could be accurately estimated using the wearable sensor system.
  • Saori Miyajima, Takayuki Tanaka, Yumeko Imamura, Takashi Kusaka
    2015 37TH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE IEEE ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY SOCIETY (EMBC) 2015 6716 - 6719 2015年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    We estimate lumbar torque based on motion measurement using only three inertial sensors. First, human motion is measured by a 6-axis motion tracking device that combines a 3-axis accelerometer and a 3-axis gyroscope placed on the shank, thigh, and back. Next, the lumbar joint torque during the motion is estimated by kinematic musculoskeletal simulation. The conventional method for estimating joint torque uses full body motion data measured by an optical motion capture system. However, in this research, joint torque is estimated by using only three link angles of the body, thigh, and shank. The utility of our method was verified by experiments. We measured motion of bendung knee and waist simultaneously. As the result, we were able to estimate the lumbar joint torque from measured motion.
  • Yumeko Imamura, Takayuki Tanaka, Yoshihito Suzuki, Kazuki Takizawa, Masanori Yamanaka
    Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics 26 6 791 - 798 Fuji Technology Press 2014年12月20日 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • Norihiro Kobayashi, Takayuki Tanaka
    Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics 26 6 780 - 789 Fuji Technology Press 2014年12月20日 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • Takuto Yoshifuji, Takayuki Tanaka, Takashi Kusaka
    Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics 26 6 692 - 703 Fuji Technology Press 2014年12月20日 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • 田中孝之, 奈良博之
    日本バーチャルリアリティ学会誌 19 3 148-151,123(1)  2014年09月30日 [査読無し][通常論文]
  • 渋川文哉, 田中孝之
    日本機械学会論文集 80 816 1 - 13 2014年08月 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    Multi-portal Human Interface (M-HI) as an innovative human interface for power assist systems has been researched and developed. The M-HI allows users to apply the operational force anywhere on the power assist system. When users control the PAS on its arbitrary point, The operational point motion is different from the end-effecter motion, even if the end-effecter move as ideal motion for users. The phenomenon affects user's maneuverability decrease. In this paper, impedance paremeters on the operational point are forcused. The relationsihp between the operational point motion and maneuverability are analyzed in terms of the impedance parameters. To evaluate the maneuverability of PAS applied M-HI, The impedance parameters of each operational point is calculated. Furthermore, modification of impedance parameters on the operational point is proposed. However, the method raise end-effecter motion error, the modification amount optimization is required. In this paper, the optimization method and results of fundamental maneuverability evaluations are shown.
  • 日下聖, 田中孝之, 梶原秀一
    日本ロボット学会誌 32 2 108 - 116 日本ロボット学会 2014年03月 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    This paper describes a method of skill assist efficiency control by using semi-active assist mechanisms based on phase difference limitation method. The skill assist in this study means the motion correction effect in periodical motions. The semi-active assist mechanisms can make the assist force with the phase difference, because the mechanism uses elastic materials as the source of the assist force. This force is controlled by adjusting the fixed point of the elastic materials by using the connected actuator as a series-elastic actuator. We confirmed the motion correction effect of our skill assist based on the phase difference control in previous study. Our proposed method in this study can control the skill assist efficiency to arbitrary value by limitation of the phase difference. Moreover, we confirmed that the proposed method can control its effect through experiments with several value of the efficiency. As a result of this study, we confirmed the fundamental ability of our developed method to control the motion correction ratio depending on types of task or personal differences in periodical motions.
  • Takashi Kusaka, Takayuki Tanaka
    2014 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SICE ANNUAL CONFERENCE (SICE) 1762 - + 2014年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    In recent years, workers decline has become a major problem in the field such as nursing care, welfare and heavy transport work in a factory with hard work. The authors have developed semi-active assist mechanisms and their control methods as wearable power assist devices for fatigue reduction. The mechanisms have elastic material as the source of assist force, and actuators for controlling the elastic force. Elastic materials such as springs retain equilibrium because their material generates the restoring force toward a natural length. This characteristic is effective in assisting movement that requires a restoration of posture, such as bending and stretching of human limbs. We have optimized its controls for various forms of target work, and confirmed its effectiveness regarding work with a bending motion that requires a postural restoring force. Then the purpose of this study is to develop a control method of the semi-active assist mechanisms. Moreover, this study aims the simultaneous realization of power assist and skill assist based on energy control and its application to semi-active assist mechanism. The proposed skill assist method is implemented using our previous power assist device, so the device provides not only a power assist effect but also a skill assist effect to correct motion. Hence, an operator obtains both power and skill assist effects simultaneously. In order to realize power assist and skill assist simultaneously, we develop efficiency control methods between the power assist and the skill assist in this study. Moreover, to apply the semi-active assist mechanism to real-world tasks like rehabilitation, we aim to develop a control method which has effects of both motion correction and fatigue reduction.
  • Norihiro Kobayashi, Takayuki Tanaka
    2014 IEEE/SICE INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON SYSTEM INTEGRATION (SII) 632 - 637 2014年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    In our previous work, we proposed a method to control power-assisted carts with motor torque limiter that achieves the desired load-reduction ratio even if torque saturation occurs. However, load-reduction ratio was not controlled correctly when there is a large error in prediction. To improve this problem, we propose the method that considers the reliability of prediction. Our proposed method predicts the needs of the operator and delivers the desired load-reduction ratio by predicting operation considering reliability. The results show that the target load-reduction ratio can be obtained with our proposed control method and indicate that the load-reduction ratio is improved by considering reliability of prediction.
  • Yuichi Kurita, Jumpei Sato, Takayuki Tanaka, Minoru Shinohara, Toshio Tsuji
    ACM International Conference Proceeding Series 2014年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    In this study, we examined (1) weight discrimination capability of human subjects with different body postures, and (2) sensorimotor capability of human subjects when using a muscle assistive equipment. According to previous studies, humans can sense the intensity of external stimulus more accurately when voluntary muscle activation is less. We developed a three-dimensional musculoskeletal model based on an upper extremity model, and calculated the muscle activity required to keep a posture. We also conducted human experiments and revealed that the weight discrimination capability improves as voluntary muscle activation is less. Based on the experimental results, we developed a muscle assistive equipment that unloads the weight of one's upper limb and evaluated the improvement in the sensorimotor capability when using the equipment. The results show that assisting the muscle load is effective to improve the sensorimotor performance.
  • Ko Ayusawa, Shin'ichiro Nakaoka, Eiichi Yoshida, Yumeko Imamura, Takayuki Tanaka
    2014 14th IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids) 205 - 211 2014年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    This paper presents the application of a humanoid robot as an evaluator of assistive devices; we propose a framework of the evaluation by utilizing identification of the mechanical properties of a humanoid robot. The accurate estimation of joint torque with the identification can enhance the performance to estimate the supporting effect of the devices. We evaluate a passive assistive wear "Smart Suit Lite (SSL)" as an example of device, and use HRP-4C as the humanoid platform. With the general formulation of the wire-driven multi-body system, the supporting torque of passive assistive devices is also formulated. The identification of the stiffness of SSL is performed an example of the evaluation with HRP-4C, and the result is compared to the ground truth value.
  • Yumeko Imamura, Takayuki Tanaka, Ko Ayusawa, Eiichi Yoshida
    2014 IEEE/SICE INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON SYSTEM INTEGRATION (SII) 761 - 766 2014年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    We are developing a passive power assist supporter called Smart Suit Lite. Smart Suit Lite is a compact and lightweight power assist device that utilizes the elastic force of elastic belts, and its purpose is reduction of lumbar load. We have proposed the design method of Smart Suit Lite based on a digital human model and motion measurements. This paper presents the basic experiment using humanoid robot HRP-4C for verifying the design model of the elastic force and its assistive effect. In the experiment, the joint torques of the robot and the elastic force of Smart Suit Lite were measured. We observed the decrease of the chest torque by the assistive force during forward bending motion. Furthermore, the comparison between the simulation results and the experimental result is described.
  • Yoshio Tsuchiya, Yoshikazu Matsuo, Takayuki Tanaka
    Conference Proceedings - IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics 2014- January 3669 - 3674 2014年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    Anteflexion is essential for many physical activities ranging from carrying objects through snow shoveling to farm work. However, lumbago is a common cause of anteflexion, in which lumbar disks are under a heavy load due to changes in lumbar spine shape. With the aim to reduce lumbago risk, in this study we developed a motion sensor system that can estimate the shape, posture and load on the lumbar spine from measuring the lumbar in the lumbar region when the lumbar spine shape changes and the pelvis posture angle changes. We present a wearable version of this sensor system, and propose an estimation method of the lumbar shape using the pelvis posture angle and lumbar region skin curvature from this system. In addition, we measure the anteflexion using this system and study the change in load of the lumbar spine caused by changes in posture.
  • Maria Q. Feng, Takashi Kawamura, Takayuki Tanaka
    Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics 26 1 9 - 14 2014年 [査読無し][通常論文]
     
    This paper describes the successful research and development (R& D) of parallel bicycles (PB robots) including six prototypes created by the authors and their applications to personal vehicles. The first, developed in 1986, consists of a pair of coaxial wheels and an inverted pendulum on the wheel axis. Since then, the authors have carried out fundamental and practical studies on static/dynamic posture stabilization control, dynamic movement, and slope and stair ascent/ descent. The PB robot control mechanism has recently been applied to educational robots, mobile humanoid robots, and personal vehicles. This paper also discusses personal vehicles commercialized as an application of the PB robots.
  • Shunji Moromugi, Takayuki Tanaka, Toshio Higashi, Maria Q. Feng, Takakazu Ishimatsu
    Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics 25 6 973 - 982 2013年12月20日 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    A prehension orthosis with a pneumatic actuator has been developed to compensate for the disability of cervical cord injury patients and support their daily activities. One major feature of this orthosis is that the user can continually pinch or hold a target object using a finely adjusted finger force. The movement and force applied to the fingers can be controlled by continuous instructional signals from the user through the activity of a command muscle, which is selected from among the muscles without functional impairment in the user's body. The level of muscle activity can be obtained by using an original sensor that detects the hardness of the target muscle through contact with the skin. The level of muscle activity can be estimated by the hardness information of the muscle. This sensor is easily fixed to a user's body by using an elastic belt and even works over clothing. Therefore, the user can wear the system very easily. This feature allows the system to be very user friendly. Users can handle fragile objects such as an egg or sculpted-glass by using this prehension orthosis because of its finger force control function. Excellent dexterity in the finger force control has been demonstrated through evaluation tests conducted with various subjects, including a spinal cord injury patient.
  • 苫米地伸泰, 瀧澤一騎, 田中孝之, 鈴木善人
    体力科学 62 6 653 - 654 2013年12月01日 [査読無し][通常論文]
  • 渋川文哉, 田中孝之
    日本ロボット学会誌 31 9 108 - 943 The Robotics Society of Japan 2013年11月 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    We have proposed a Multi-portal Human Interface (M-HI) as an innovative human interface for power assist systems (PAS). The M-HI allows users to apply the operational force anywhere on the power assist system. Because of that, the effective workspace of the PAS is extended as their end-effecter can be controlled as a user desires. However, when users control the PAS on its intermediate joint, the control point motion is different from the end-effecter motion. This motion affects maneuverability of the PAS. In this paper, we consider the number of links and degrees of freedom on a multi-link manipulator. The relation between the control point motion and maneuverability is analyzed. The operational point motion harmonization (OPMH) is based on this relation. This method enables users to control the PAS with M-HI more accurately.
  • 田中孝之
    J Clin Rehabil 22 9 893 - 899 2013年09月 [査読無し][招待有り]
  • 井川久, 田中孝之, 金子俊一, 多田達実, 鈴木慎一, 大村功
    精密工学会誌 79 7 651 - 658 公益社団法人 精密工学会 2013年07月 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    To remove weeds around a grape vine without damaging the stem, we propose a contact recognition technology in this paper. The developed technique can reliably determine the position of the vine's lower stem, which may be deformed under sufficient force and may be buried in the weeds. We have developed a new method to detect the position of grape stems as objects in which its deformation is considered. By calculating the deformation from the relations between the geometry and mechanics of manipulator's link postures before and after contact point detection, the position of the object can be determined with high accuracy. Because stem position detection commences after tactile recognition has been performed, any deformation of the object has already occurred. The effect of this initial deformation on the detection accuracy cannot be ignored. Therefore, position detection of object is divided into two operations : reducing the object deformation and detecting the object position. In this way, highly accurate recognition of its position is achieved. The paper continues by giving a detailed explanation of the proposed method.
  • 瀧澤一騎, 田中孝之, 吉成哲, 奈良博之, 柴田啓介, 山中正紀, 鈴木善人
    日本生理人類学会誌 18 2 27 - 32 2013年05月25日 [査読無し][通常論文]
  • Kosuke Takahashi, Takayuki Tanaka, Hiroyuki Nara, Shun'ichi Kaneko, Masao Inoue, Shunji Shimizu, Satoru Kojima
    INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF OPTOMECHATRONICS 7 2 83 - 95 2013年04月 
    A method is proposed for measuring brain activity during exercises involving head motion by using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), which investigates cerebral hemodynamics. Obtaining measurements during exercise is difficult because cerebral blood flow changes due to the head motion component (HMC), in addition to neural activity. HMC is an undesirable artifact in the measurement of hemodynamic response caused by neural activity, and as such, it must be estimated and eliminated. In our experiments, cerebral blood flow and head motion were measured during repeated passive forward bending of the subjects. Head motion was measured by 3-D motion capture, and HMC was estimated by deriving a relation between head motion and cerebral blood flow, where the pitch angle was found to be suitable for estimating HMC. In this research, an assumption was made that cerebral blood flow caused by neural activity and that caused by postural change were additive, and thus HMC was eliminated by subtraction.
  • Improving the Maneuverability of Power Assist Valves by Considering the Characteristics of Biarticular Muscles
    Motoki Nakano, Takayuki Tanaka, Shun'ichi Kaneko
    Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics 25 1 145 - 152 2013年02月 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • Motoki Nakano, Takayuki Tanaka, Shun'ichi Kaneko
    Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics 25 1 145 - 152 2013年02月 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • 森友揮, 田中孝之, 金子俊一, 片桐祥雅
    ヒューマンインタフェース学会論文誌(CD-ROM) 15 1/4 305 - 312 ヒューマンインタフェース学会 2013年02月 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • Yoshio Fukuda, Maria Q. Feng, Yuto Narita, Shun'Ichi Kaneko, Takayuki Tanaka
    IEEE Sensors Journal 13 12 4725 - 4732 2013年 [査読無し][通常論文]
     
    This paper develops a vision-based displacement measurement system for remote monitoring of vibration of large-size structures such as bridges and buildings. The system consists of one or multiple video cameras and a notebook computer. With a telescopic lens, the camera placed at a stationary point away from a structure captures images of an object on the structure. The structural displacement is computed in real time through processing the captured images. A robust object search algorithm developed in this paper enables accurate measurement of the displacement by tracking existing features on the structure without requiring a conventional target panel to be installed on the structure. A sub-pixel technique is also proposed to further reduce measurement errors cost-effectively. The efficacy of the vision system in remote measurement of dynamic displacements was demonstrated through a shaking table test and a field experiment on a long-span bridge. © 2013 IEEE.
  • Shota Ando, Takayuki Tanaka, Hiroyuki Nara, Kazuki Takizawa
    Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics 25 6 1050 - 1059 2013年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    In this study, we modeled the change in maximum muscle force when a skeletal muscle is subjected to a periodic workload. The model represents an increase or decrease in the maximum muscle force exerted. It was created to evaluate the effects of our power-assist technologies on skeletal muscle strength, and we think that it can be applied to sports science. The model equation is constituted by a formula of step responses of a first-order delay system. The model input has the following four constants: the target muscle impulse when exerting force during a day in daily life, the force impulse exerted in 1 day during a period in which the target muscle was under study, the target musclemaximal strength, and the subject-specific time constant that represents the ease of change in muscle force. The output is the change in maximal strength. We confirmed the validity of the model by fitting the model to measurements obtained from experimental subjects. For this, we applied a special filter to remove noise from muscle force measurements.
  • Shota Ando, Takayuki Tanaka, Hiroyuki Nara, Kazuki Takizawa
    Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics 25 6 1050 - 1059 2013年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    In this study, we modeled the change in maximum muscle force when a skeletal muscle is subjected to a periodic workload. The model represents an increase or decrease in the maximum muscle force exerted. It was created to evaluate the effects of our power-assist technologies on skeletal muscle strength, and we think that it can be applied to sports science. The model equation is constituted by a formula of step responses of a first-order delay system. The model input has the following four constants: the target muscle impulse when exerting force during a day in daily life, the force impulse exerted in 1 day during a period in which the target muscle was under study, the target musclemaximal strength, and the subject-specific time constant that represents the ease of change in muscle force. The output is the change in maximal strength. We confirmed the validity of the model by fitting the model to measurements obtained from experimental subjects. For this, we applied a special filter to remove noise from muscle force measurements.
  • Yuki Sampei, Takayuki Tanaka, Yuki Mori, Shun'Ichi Kaneko
    Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics) 8027 734 - 743 2013年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    We have developed a vibration alert interface (VAI) that provides information through various vibration patterns. In our previous studies, we designed the VAI and its vibration patterns to provide analog-like information to users such as distance to obstacles. Precise information recognition requires correct perception of vibration patterns. However, various disturbances can affect perception of vibrations, causing users to perceive similar vibrations as being different. We therefore proposed the relative vibration sense presentation method to avoid disruption of the vibration sense. In this paper, we experimentally show that this method improves the repeatability of vibration sensation. We also propose a vibration presentation model for drivers to correct perception gaps due to the application and surroundings of VAI. We evaluate the proposed model through experimentation. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.
  • Takayuki Tanaka, Yasuhisa Hasegawa, Takanori Miyoshi, Shunji Shimizu, Tohru Ifukube
    J. Robotics Mechatronics 25 6 887 - 887 2013年
  • Yuki Mori, Takayuki Tanaka, Shun'Ichi Kaneko
    Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics) 8016 1 107 - 116 2013年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    This paper describes a method for correcting differences in human vibratory perception caused by sensory adaptation. Humans feel a vibrational strength when a vibrating device is held in the hand. However when the vibrational frequency is changed, human perception of the new frequency is affected by the vibrational frequency experienced before the change. This is called sensory adaptation. The Katagiri-Aida model-based vibratory perception adaptation (KI-VPA) mode can estimate changes in vibratory perception caused bt adaptation. We have developed a correction method on basis of the KI-VPA model and tested the method on ten human subjects. The results indicate that the proposed correction method reduced the effects of adaptive changes to vibratory perception. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.
  • Hiroyuki Nara, Takashi Kusaka, Takayuki Tanaka, Takayuki Yamagishi, Shotaroh Ogura
    2013 35TH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE IEEE ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY SOCIETY (EMBC) 2840 - 2843 2013年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    Our purpose in this study is to achieve an independent life and a social involvement for the elderly using KEIROKA Technology(fatigue-reduction) which makes it possible to improve the quality of chores and occupations by removing excessive strain and tiredness. The authors have developed power assist suits named "smart suit". The authors have evaluated the effect that the purpose of dairy work assistance, to measure EMG of the worker, compared to the potential of the surface of the non-wearing and wearing "smart suit".
  • 瀧澤 一騎, 田中 孝之, 吉成 哲, 奈良 博之, 柴田 啓介, 山中 正紀, 鈴木 善人
    日本生理人類学会誌 18 2 87 - 92 日本生理人類学会 2013年 [査読無し][通常論文]
     
    We examined physical fitness adaptation after six weeks of snow shovelling using different types of shovels. Thirty-three subjects participated in this study and were divided two groups: normal shovel group and less-workload shovel (UD-shovel) group. Grip strength, vertical jump, 10 m obstacle walking, chair rising test, lactate threshold and body mass were measured before and after six weeks of snow shovelling. All measurements showed no significant differences between the groups. The chair rising test and ten meter obstacle walking were significantly at main effects. These values were higher in the after period than in the before period. But there were no significant differences at main effects in grip strength, vertical jump, lactate threshold and body mass. These results suggest that six weeks of snow shovelling may not affect upper body strength and aerobic capacity, but may affect lower body and muscle of trunk strength, power, agility, balance and coordination. These effects were not different if using normal shovels or UD-shovels.
  • Yumeko Imamura, Takayuki Tanaka, Hiroyuki Nara, Yoshihito Suzuki, Kazuki Takizawa, Masanori Yamanaka
    2013 35TH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE IEEE ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY SOCIETY (EMBC) 2836 - 2839 2013年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    We are developing a passive power-assist supporter called Smart Suit Lite, which is a compact and lightweight power-assist device that utilizes the restoring force of elastic belts. Smart Suit Lite is designed not only to support muscles but also to stabilize the torso similarly to a corset. However, because a corset is always tight around the waist, negative effects caused by long-term use has been pointed out. In contrast, the tightening force generated by Smart Suit Lite increases only when the wearer adopts a posture corresponding to higher load on the low back. In this research, we performed two basic experiments to evaluate the static balance ability of wearers. As a result, the standard deviation of the lumbar angle decreased by 32.1% on average in wearers with low stability.
  • Kanako Miura, Eiichi Yoshida, Yoshiyuki Kobayashi, Yui Endo, Fumio Kanehioro, Keiko Homma, Isamu Kajitani, Yoshio Matsumoto, Takayuki Tanaka
    2013 IEEE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION (ICRA) 2013 Vol.1 679 - 685 2013年 [査読無し][通常論文]
     
    This paper presents a basic study on feasibility of usage of humanoid robots as an evaluator of assistive devices, by taking advantage of its anthropomorphic shape. In this new application humanoid are expected to help evaluation through quantitative measures, which is difficult with human subjects, and also to reduce the burden coming from ethical concerns with costly tests by human subjects. Taking a passive supportive wear "Smart Suit Lite" designed to relieve the load at lower back as an example, we have conducted pilot experiments by using the humanoid robot HRP-4C. The motion to be performed by the humanoid is obtained through retargeting technique from measured human lifting motion. The supportive effect is first estimated by simulation taking into account the mechanism of the supportive device. The experimentation of humanoid hardware brought us encouraging results on the basic feasibility of this application, as we observed a clear decrease of the torque for lifting when wearing the device as expected by the simulation.
  • 瀧澤一騎, 田中孝之, 吉成哲, 柴田啓介, 鈴木善人
    体力科学 61 6 684 - 684 (一社)日本体力医学会 2012年12月01日 [査読無し][通常論文]
  • Power-Assisted cart Control Method with Motor Torque Limiter based on Prediction of Torque Saturation
    Norihiro Kobayashi, Takayuki Tanaka, Shun'ichi Kankeo
    Journal of Energy & Power Engineering 6 8 1349  2012年10月 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • 岡崎 伸哉, 田中 孝之, 金子 俊一, 高氏 秀則, 高地 伸夫, 山田 光晴
    電気学会論文誌. D, 産業応用部門誌 = The transactions of the Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. D, A publication of Industry Applications Society 132 10 942 - 950 一般社団法人 電気学会 2012年10月01日 [査読無し][通常論文]
     
    This study is aimed at developing a high-reliability motion stereo system through the consideration of camera vibration. In stereo measurement, we can approximate the distribution of measurement the error in images as a uniform distribution, and the distribution of the disparity error as a triangular distribution. Therefore, the parameters of the distributions are the mean value µ and the standard deviation σ, while the amplitude A and the frequency F are regarded as parameters of camera vibration. In our previous work, we constructed a model of the measurement error resulting from camera vibration. In this study, we define the existing probability of objects by using the measurement error model, and the reliability of object position. In addition, we verify the validity of the existing probability and reliability.
  • 森 友揮, 田中 孝之, 金子 俊一, 片桐 祥雅
    ヒューマンインタフェース学会論文誌 14 3 293 - 301 ヒューマンインタフェース学会 2012年08月25日 [査読無し][通常論文]
     

    This paper describes a method to model the change in vibratory perception due to the adaptation. In the vibration alert interface, user has to perceive the vibratory frequency correctly, however when the frequency was the same, the vibration perception was different if the frequency before change was different. Experimental results showed that the higher vibration frequency before the change is, the weaker vibration strength user perceives. In order to correct this difference of vibratory perception, we create a model to calculate the perception adaptation. Simulation result shows accuracy of this model.

  • Power-Assisted cart Control Method with Motor Torque Limiter based on Prediction of Torque Saturation
    Norihiro Kobayashi, Takayuki Tanaka, Shun'ichi Kankeo
    Journal of Energy & Power Engineering 6 8 1349  2012年08月 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • 渋川 文哉, 田中 孝之, 金子 俊一
    日本ロボット学会誌 30 4 420 - 427 日本ロボット学会 2012年05月15日 [査読無し][通常論文]
  • A Yank-based Variable Coefficient Method for a Low-Powered Semi-Active Power Assist System
    Andre Rosendo, Takayuki Tanaka, Shun'ichi Kaneko
    Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics 24 2 291 - 297 2012年04月 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • 井川 久, 田中 孝之, 金子 俊一
    精密工学会誌 78 2 160 - 167 精密工学会 2012年02月 [査読無し][通常論文]
  • 森友揮, 田中孝之, 金子俊一, 片桐祥雅
    ヒューマンインタフェース学会論文誌(CD-ROM) 14 1/4 293 - 301 2012年02月 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • Kosuke Takahashi, Takayuki Tanaka, Hiroyuki Nara, Shun'ichi Kaneko, Masao Inoue, Shunji Shimizu, Satoru Kojima
    2012 INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON OPTOMECHATRONIC TECHNOLOGIES (ISOT) 7 1/2 83 - 95 2012年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    A method is proposed for measuring brain activity during exercises involving head motion by using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (tNIRS), which investigates cerebral hemodynamics. Obtaining measurements during exercise is difficult because cerebral blood flow changes due to the head motion component (HMC) in addition to neural activity. HMC is an undesirable artifact in the measurement of hemodynamic response caused by neural activity, and as such it must be estimated and eliminated. In our experiments, cerebral blood flow and head motion were measured during repeated passive forward bending of the subjects. Head motion was measured by 3D motion capture, and HMC was estimated by deriving a relation between head motion and cerebral blood flow, where the pitch angle was found to be suitable for estimating HMC. In this research, an assumption was made that cerebral blood flow caused by neural activity and that caused by postural change were additive, and thus HMC was eliminated by subtraction.
  • 森 友揮, 田中 孝之, 金子 俊一
    ヒューマンインタフェース学会論文誌 The transactions of Human Interface Society 14 1 293 - 301 ヒューマンインタフェース学会 2012年 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • 日下 聖, 田中 孝之, 今村 由芽子
    Hippophile 0 47 27 - 33 日本ウマ科学会 2012年01月 [査読無し][通常論文]
  • Andre Rosendo, Takayuki Tanaka, Shun'ichi Kaneko
    Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics 24 2 291 - 297 2012年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    In this paper, we developed a power assist system to help users on carrying heavy loads. This system uses the user input force and position to generate an aiding force, reducing the burden on carrying heavy loads. We adopted a semi-active methodology, combining an active with a passive element, aiming to match the best traits from both, and also considering a lighter motor, which makes the system reach its limit force. To control this lightly actuated semi-active system we proposed a proportional controller which has its gain tuned accordingly to the yank value this is calculated by the derivative of the force. The controller method herein amplifies the system response whenever the user intends to change his movement, producing a better handling of the system and saving actuator power for either periodical or non-periodical movements. Future applications may involve creating a light assist system for portable applications or assist in heavy industrial environments.
  • Takashi Kusaka, Takayuki Tanaka, Shun'ichi Kaneko, Hidekazu Kajiwara
    2012 IEEE/RSJ INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INTELLIGENT ROBOTS AND SYSTEMS (IROS) 758 - 763 2012年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    This paper describes an analysis of the power assist and the skill assist effects of a semi-active assist mechanism based on an energy control. For this mechanism, we have developed a soft and flexible power assist device that consists of an elastic material and a small direct current motor. The assist force is then the elastic force, which is controlled by adjusting the length of the elastic material by means of the motor. The skill assist is based on a motion correction method of periodic motions that was developed in a previous study. The control method can provide both power assist and skill assist affects. In this study, we analyze the adequacy of the power assist when simultaneously applying the skill assist.
  • Motoki Nakano, Takayuki Tanaka, Shun'ichi Kaneko
    2012 IEEE/ASME INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ADVANCED INTELLIGENT MECHATRONICS (AIM) 1111 - 1116 2012年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    Recently, a number of studies have focused on the musculoskeletal systems of the human arm and foot with the aid of human-machine systems. The studies aim to evaluate the spec of manipulators or analyze the characteristic of the human. We focus on the fact that some postures reduce the effort necessary for the application of force from the musculoskeletal systems. In this research, we aim to apply the systems to the power assist system. Using a musculoskeletal model, we propose the Compensation Considering Posture (CCP) method, which adjusts the assist ratio, and consequently the applied force, in accordance with the arm position of the operator. Then we applied it to a standard valve used in fire fighting operations as the one link manipulator. In this regard, operation responsiveness changes when the output force is reduced with a correct arm position. CCP improves valve maneuverability by providing additional assistance in such cases, and ensures that operation responsiveness is uniform regardless on arm position. In conducting an experimental verification of the proposed method, first we measured the arm position of the operator in real time by using a musculoskeletal simulator. Next, we quantitatively defined the reduction of the output force according to the arm position as an output force level. Finally, we determined the appropriate amount of compensation by normalizing the applied force with the maximum output force level. The effectiveness of this method was experimentally confirmed using visual tracking.
  • Hisashi Igawa, Takayuki Tanaka, Shun'ichi Kaneko, Tatsumi Tada, Shin'ichi Suzuki, Isao Ohmura
    38TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON IEEE INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS SOCIETY (IECON 2012) 2567 - 2572 2012年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    The vastness of vineyards in Hokkaido makes it hard for workers to eradicate weeds. To solve this problem, the aim of the current research has been to develop a weeding robot with a multi-link manipulator that uses a stereo camera system as a visual sensing tool for recognizing grape stems. However, the accuracy of this technique is lacking due to unavoidable measurement errors from the stereo camera system. In consideration of this problem, a method that defines the grape stem area has been devised. Additionally, to compensate for errors in the visual sensing technique, a tactile sensing technique has been employed that can haptically recognize a grape stem by means of a multi-link manipulator. In this paper, a robust sensing system is reported that analyzes the displacement of a grape stem to detect it base position such that weeding can be performed.
  • Yumeko Imamura, Takayuki Tanaka, Yoshihito Suzuki, Kazuki Takizawa, Masanori Yamanaka
    2011 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics 2011年12月
  • 瀧澤一騎, 田中孝之, 吉成哲, 奈良博之, 柴田啓介, 鈴木善人
    体力科学 60 6 797 - 797 (一社)日本体力医学会 2011年12月01日 [査読無し][通常論文]
  • 柴田啓介, 田中孝之, 瀧澤一騎, 吉成哲, 鈴木善人
    体力科学 60 6 765 - 765 (一社)日本体力医学会 2011年12月01日 [査読無し][通常論文]
  • 瀧澤一騎, 吉成哲, 奈良博之, 鈴木善人, 田中孝之
    体力科学 60 4 468 - 469 2011年08月01日 [査読無し][通常論文]
  • 岡崎 伸哉, 田中 孝之, 金子 俊一, 高氏 秀則, 高地 伸夫, 山田 光晴
    電気学会論文誌. D, 産業応用部門誌 = The transactions of the Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. D, A publication of Industry Applications Society 131 4 522 - 530 一般社団法人 電気学会 2011年04月01日 [査読無し][通常論文]
     
    This study aims to establish an error model for a stereo measurement system by considering camera vibration. In stereo measurements, we can approximate the measurement error distribution in images as a uniform distribution. Therefore, the parameters of the measurement error distribution are the mean value µ and the standard deviation σ, while the amplitude A and the frequency F are regarded as the parameters of the camera vibration. In order to verify the relationships between the parameters of the measurement error distribution and those of the camera vibration, we performed an experiment using a vibration-testing system. The results of the experiment showed that the vibration did not affect µ. Moreover, we found a positive correlation between σ and A as well as a negative correlation betweenσ and F. Using these relationships, we estimated the parameters of the measurement error from the parameters of the camera vibration.
  • Yumeko Imamura, Takayuki Tanaka, Yoshihito Suzuki, Kazuki Takizawa, Masanori Yamanaka
    Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics 23 6 978 - 990 2011年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    We are developing a passive power assist device, "Smart Suit Lite." Smart Suit Lite is a compact, lightweight power assist device that utilizes the elastomeric force of elastic materials. We have developed a "motion-based assist method" in order to design Smart Suit Lite for particular motions. We have also developed an extended musculoskeletal model which has "Skin segments" that aid in analyzing assistive force. In this paper, we target the movements of caregivers. From three-dimensional motion data and an extended musculoskeletal model, we analyze human muscle forces and assistive forces. We then design the arrangement and properties of the elastic materials, based on the motion-based assist method. Finally, we verify its assistance effect through basic experiments.
  • Yuki Mori, Takayuki Tanaka, Shun'ichi Kaneko
    Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics) 6771 1 462 - 469 2011年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    In this paper, we describe the influence of vibratory adaptation on vibration perception and its correction method. Vibration strength after change depends on the vibration frequency before change even if the vibration frequency itself does not change. We found that the higher the vibration frequency before change, the weaker the perceived vibration strength. To correct this perception gap, the frequency before change is fed back to the KI model that expresses the vibratory adaptation. We performed a simulation to show that output of the KI model is able to express changes in vibration caused by adaptation. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.
  • Takashi Kusaka, Takayuki Tanaka, Shun'ichi Kaneko, Hidekazu Kajiwara
    2011 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics, ROBIO 2011 2187 - 2192 2011年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    This paper describes a skill assist method based on an energy control that employs a semi-active assist mechanism. For this mechanism, we have developed a soft and flexible power assist device that consists of elastic materials and a small DC motor. The assist force is the elastic force of the elastic materials, and this force is controlled by adjusting the length of the elastic materials by means of the DC motor. In our previous study, we confirmed that this mechanism has high power assist effectiveness. In this study, we consider correction of user motion correction by the semi-active assist mechanism in order to provide skill assist. We consider the motion to be an energy state and control the motion through energy control. © 2011 IEEE.
  • Hiroyuki Nara, Takayuki Tanaka, Yumeko Imamura, Satoshi Yoshinari, Yasuhiro Nakajima, Shun'ichi Kaneko
    2011 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics, ROBIO 2011 1579 - 1584 2011年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    Our purpose in this study is to achieve an independent life and a social involvement for the elderly using KEIROKA (fatigue-reduction) Technology which makes it possible to improve the quality of chores and occupations by removing excessive strain and tiredness. Along the way, various assistant technologies for work and task supports have been suggested. However, they are used for evaluation of short-term effects and their design and assessment in a long-term standpoint are not performed. Therefore, final purpose in this research is to examine the possibility to evaluate KEIROKA(fatigue-reduction) Technology using Musculo-Skeletal Dynamics Simulator. So, experiments were performed to measure movements of subject using a conventional shovel with straight-line hilt and a UD shovel with flexural hilt by using three-dimensional motion analysis system and analyzed the physical strain caused by differences of shovels using Musculo-Skeletal Dynamics Simulator. © 2011 IEEE.
  • Fumiya Shibukawa, Takayuki Tanaka, Shun'ichi Kaneko
    2010 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics 2010年12月 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • Motoki Nakano, Shunichi Kaneko, Takayuki Tanaka, Koichi Yamano
    2010 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics 2010年10月 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • Self-localization of a mobile robot on irregular ground using a laser range finder
    Naohito Takasuka, Takayuki Tanaka, Shun'ichi Kaneko, Tatsumi Tada, Shin'ichi Suzuki
    2010 World Automation Congress 1 - 6 2010年09月 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • A method of trajectory generation to vehicle robot under unknown environment
    D. Nagahara, S. Takahashi, T. Tanaka, S. Kaneko
    Proceedings of World Automation Congress 2010年09月 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • 田中孝之
    映像情報Industrial 42 8 41 - 47 2010年08月 [査読無し][招待有り]
  • 森 友揮, 田中 孝之, 金子 俊一
    ヒューマンインタフェース学会論文誌 12 2 103 - 111 ヒューマンインタフェース学会 2010年05月25日 [査読無し][通常論文]
  • Andre Rosendo, Takayuki Tanaka, Shuńichi Kaneko
    2010 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics, ROBIO 2010 1104 - 1109 2010年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    Power Assisting Systems are developed to directly aid human beings. They can predict user intention and produce assistive force to aid the user in tasks, such as lifting and handling of heavy loads. In this paper, a Semi-Active Assist System that considers force limitations is proposed. Physical simulations, such as Active and Passive, and the actuator limitation is discussed. Lastly the Low-powered controller is compared with the normal controller, and the results are obtained. The Low-powered actuator can successfully assist the user and can be used as remote assisting systems in future applications. © 2010 IEEE.
  • Shin'ya Okazaki, Takayuki Tanaka, Shun'ichi Kaneko, Hidenori Takauji, Nobuo Kochi, Mitsuharu Yamada
    2010 International Symposium on Optomechatronic Technologies, ISOT 2010 2010年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    Camera vibration in recorded video is a problem with both handheld and stationary devices that vibrate due to wind and other external forces. To facilitate the development of a robust stereo system that is immune to such camera vibration, this study aims to study establishes an error model for a stereo measurement system by considering camera vibration. In stereo measurements, we approximate the distribution of measurement error in images as a uniform distribution. Given this approximation, parameters of the distribution of measurement error are mean value μ and standard deviation σ, whereas amplitude A and frequency F are parameters of camera vibration. To verify the relationship between these parameters, we performed experiments using a vibration testing system. Results indicated that the vibration did not affect the mean value μ. We also found a positive correlation between standard deviation σ and amplitude A as well as a negative correlation between standard deviation σ and frequency F. Based on these findings, we estimate the parameters of measurement error by the camera vibration parameters and establish our proposed error model. © 2010 IEEE.
  • Norihiro Kobayashi, Takayuki Tanaka, Shun'ichi Kaneko
    IECON 2010 - 36TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON IEEE INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS SOCIETY 2010年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    The purpose of this study is to develop a method to control power-assist systems with an energy regeneration system that achieves the desired load-reduction ratio even if torque saturation occurs. In this article, we use the ratio of the assist-force impulse to the operator-force impulse as an indicator to evaluate the control method. The proposed method predicts the needs of the operator and delives the desired load-reduction ratio by anticipating deficient impulses via the reliability of predicted power requirements.
  • Yoshio Fukuda, Maria Feng, Yuto Narita, Shun'ichi Kaneko, Takayuki Tanaka
    2010 IEEE SENSORS 1928 - 1931 2010年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    This study develops a vision-based displacement measurement system for remote monitoring of vibration of large-size structures such as bridges and buildings. The system consists of one or multiple video cameras and a notebook computer. With a telescopic lens, the camera placed at a stationary point away from a structure captures images of an object on the structure. The structural displacement is computed in real time through processing the captured images. A robust object search algorithm developed in this study enables accurate measurement of the displacement by tracking existing features on the structure without requiring a conventional target panel to be installed on the structure. The efficacy of the system in remote measurement of dynamic displacements was demonstrated through a shaking table test and a field experiment on a long-span bridge.
  • Assist Force Control of Smart Suit for Horse Trainers Considering Motion Synchronization
    T. Kusaka, T. Tanaka, S. Kaneko, Y. Suzuki, M. Saito, H. Kajiwara
    International Journal of Automation Technology 3 6 723 - 730 2009年12月 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • Hisashi Igawa, Takayuki Tanaka, Shun'ichi Kaneko, Tatsumi Tada, Shin'ichi Suzuki
    2009 35th Annual Conference of IEEE Industrial Electronics 2009年11月 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • Improving Maneuverability of Power-Assisted Valve for Fire Engines Based on Prediction of Valve Opening Time
    Motoki Nakano, Takayuki Tanaka, Shun’ichi Kaneko, Koichi Yamano, Yoichiro Tsutsui
    Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics 21 5 628 - 634 2009年10月 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • Human Joint Motion Recognition Using Ultrasound Pulse Echo Based on Test Feature Classifier
    Yoichiro Tsutsui, Takayuki Tanaka, Shun’ichi Kaneko, Yukinobu Sakata, Maria Q. Feng
    Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics 21 5 597 - 606 2009年10月 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • 田中 孝之, 齊藤 宗信, 鈴木 善人
    デサントスポ-ツ科学 30 163 - 171 石本記念デサントスポ-ツ科学振興財団事務局 2009年06月 [査読無し][通常論文]
  • LI Yuan, 高氏秀則, 大村功, 金子俊一, 田中孝之
    精密工学会誌(CD-ROM) 75 5 650 - 656 2009年05月05日 [査読無し][通常論文]
  • 浦野 貴裕, 金子 俊一, 高氏 秀則, 田中 孝之, 前田 俊二, 渋谷 久恵, 吉田 実
    電気学会論文誌. C, 電子・情報・システム部門誌 = The transactions of the Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. C, A publication of Electronics, Information and System Society 129 5 778 - 785 一般社団法人 電気学会 2009年05月01日 [査読無し][通常論文]
     
    A novel algorithm for rotational registration of dot-cloud data based on Local Consistency of Point Dispersion considering defect types (color LCPD) is proposed. In this approach, a new measurement of the local consistency of the distribution of the dot clouds in both data sets is developed, which can then be combined into a weighted-metric based on the importance of the defect types. This method is expected to be effective and robust in the registration of randomly distributed, inconsistent observations. It has been shown to converge to the true solution in a variety of cases involving both real and simulated data.
  • Robust Focusing using Orientation Code Matching
    Yuan Li, Isao Ohmura, Hidenori Takauji, Shun'ichi Kaneko, Takayuki Tanaka
    Electronic Letters on Computer Vision and Image Analysis 7 3 101 - 114 2009年 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • Assist force control of smart suit for horse trainer considering motion synchronization and postural stabilization
    Takashi Kusaka, Takayuki Tanaka, Shun'ichi Kaneko, Yoshihito Suzuki, Munenobu Saito, Shuji Seki, Naohisa Sakamoto, Hidekazu Kajiwara
    ICCAS-SICE 2009 - ICROS-SICE International Joint Conference 2009, Proceedings 770 - 775 2009年 
    This paper describes the assist force control of semi-active assist system "Smart Suit" for horse trainer. We developed a soft and flexible power assist device named "Smart Suit" for reducing horse trainers' physical fatigue in their horse training works in order to prevent their spine or legs injuries. The smart suit is a kind of semi-active and flexible power assist devices. In order to gain the suitable assist force for periodical horse trainers' motion, the assist force control method based on the periodical input control was developed in this study. Also, for stabilizing their horse riding motion, we developed the assist force control method considering their dynamic stability by controlling their center of gravity on the zero moment point (ZMP)which is the dynamic stable point. © 2009 SICE.
  • Fumiya Shibukawa, Takayuki Tanaka, Shun'ichi Kaneko
    IECON: 2009 35TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF IEEE INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOLS 1-6 35th Vol.6 4010 - 4015 2009年 [査読無し][通常論文]
     
    In this study, we propose a multi-portal human interface (M-HI) as an innovative human interlace for power assist systems. M-HI allows users to apply force anywhere in the power assist system. This paper describes the concept, the design, the algorithm and possible applications of M-HI. In addition, this paper demonstrates the effectiveness of M-HI with respect to expanding the maneuverable workspace of power assist systems containing multi-DOF manipulators.
  • 中原 和哉, 高氏 秀則, 金子 俊一, 田中 孝之, 清水 将志, 宮下 行雄, 大村 功
    電子情報通信学会論文誌. D, 情報・システム = The IEICE transactions on information and systems (Japanese edition) 91 3 793 - 802 一般社団法人電子情報通信学会 2008年03月01日 [査読無し][通常論文]
     
    圃場での大きなスリップなどが避けられないスプレイヤ(散布機)やハーベスタ(収穫機)などの農作業機の実速度をロバストに計測するためのシステムを開発することを目的とする.従来のタコメータ形式の計測ではなく,地面の移動量を画像照合により間接的に測定する.その際,方向符号照合法に基づくことにより,天候不良,圃場の状態変動などの影響を排除したロバスト計測を実現した.試作システムを農耕用トラクタに搭載し,雨天や作業内容が異なる実圃場において速度計測実験を行うことにより有効性を検証した.
  • 坂田 幸辰, 金子 俊一, 田中 孝之
    電子情報通信学会論文誌. D, 情報・システム = The IEICE transactions on information and systems (Japanese edition) 91 1 89 - 100 一般社団法人電子情報通信学会 2008年01月01日 [査読無し][通常論文]
     
    本論文では,ノンパラメトリックなパターン分類器として提案されたテスト特徴分類器(TFC)の識別性能の改良と,その実応用における可能性を検証することを目的とする.TFCでは,分類に有効な特徴量の組合せであるプライムテスト特徴(PTF)に投影された入力未知パターンに対して同時に最近傍法による識別を行い,それらの認識結果に基づく投票処理の集票スコアにより入力パターンを識別する.本手法では,PTFの特性に基づいた重み係数による重み付き投票処理を行う.これにより,各PTFの機能がより効果的に発揮され分類器の性能向上が期待できる.更に提案手法を逐次学習アルゴリズムへ拡張する.実データによる実験結果により本手法の有効性を確認した.
  • Li Yuan, Hidenori Takauji, Shun'ichi Kaneko, Takayuki Tanaka, Isao Ohmura
    Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering 7266 2008年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    This paper proposes a novel scheme for image focusing by introducing a new focus measure based on self-matching methods. A unique pencil-shaped profile is identified by comparing the similarity between all patterns extracted around the same position in each scene. Based on this profile, a new criterion function called Complementary Pencil Volume (CPV) is defined to evaluate focused or defocused scenes based on similarity rate of self-matching, which visually represents the volume of a pencil-shaped profile. Among matching methods, Orientation Code Matching (OCM) is recommended due to its invariance with regards to illumination and contrasts. Several experiments using a telecentric lens are implemented to demonstrate the efficiency of proposed measures. Outstandingly, comparing OCM-based focus measure with conventional focus measures shows that OCM-based focus measure is robust against changes of brightness or illuminations and contrast. Using this method, pan-focused images are composed and depth information is represented by comparing the focused and defocused region in the scenes both under high and low contrast or illumination conditions. © 2008 SPIE.
  • Shin'ya Okazaki, Takayuki Tanaka, Syun'ichi Kaneko, Hidenori Takauji
    Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering 7266 2008年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    This study aims to establish an error model of the stereo measurement system considering a camera vibration. In the stereo measurement, we can approximate a distribution of measurement error in image by a normal distribution. Therefore, a parameters of the distribution of measurement error are average μ and standard deviation σ. A parameters of the camera vibration are considered amplitude A and frequency F. In order to verify relationships during the parameters of the distribution of measurement error and the parameters of the camera vibration, we experiment using vibration testing system. We imposed simple harmonic motion to the camera. As the result of experiment, the camera vibration didn't affect averageμ/. We found positively correlation between standard deviation σ and amplitude A. And, we found negatively correlation between standard deviation σ and frequency F. We consider about these correlation theoretically. And, we establish error model to estimate the parameter of the measurement error from the parameter of the camera vibration. Moreover, we define existing probability of object using the parameter of the measurement error. © 2008 SPIE.
  • Fan Zhang, Akihiko Matsushita, Shun'ichi Kaneko, Takayuki Tanaka
    Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering 7266 2008年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    Due to the area of the vineyard in Hokkaido is extremely large, it is very difficult and hard to eradicate weeds by human being. In order to solve this problem, we developed a dynamic image measure technique, which can be applied to the weeding robots in vineyards. The outstanding of this technique is that it can discriminate the weed and the trunk correctly and efficiently. Meanwhile, we also attempt to measure the root of trunk accurately. And a new method to measure the blocked trunk of grapes in vineyards has also been developed in this paper. © 2008 SPIE.
  • Takayuki Tanaka, Yuta Satoh, Shun'ichi Kaneko, Yoshihito Suzuki, Naohisa Sakamoto, Shuji Seki
    2008 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CONTROL, AUTOMATION AND SYSTEMS, VOLS 1-4 1707 - + 2008年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    We have been developing "Smart Suit" as a soft and light-weight wearable power assist system. A prototype for preventing low-back injury in agricultural works and its semi-active assist mechanism have been developed in the previous study. The previous prototype succeeded to reduce about 14% of average muscle fatigues of body trunk in waist extension/flexion motion. In this paper, we describe a prototype of smart suit for supporting waist and knee joint, and its control method for preventing the displacement of the adjustable assist force mechanism in order to keep the assist efficiency.
  • 筒井洋一郎, 早瀬一彦, 田中孝之, 金子俊一, FENG Maria Q
    精密工学会誌(CD-ROM) 73 11 1273 - 1278 2007年11月05日 [査読無し][通常論文]
  • 浦野 貴裕, 金子 俊一, 高氏 秀則, 田中 孝之, 前田 俊二, 渋谷 久恵, 吉田 実
    電子情報通信学会論文誌. D, 情報・システム = The IEICE transactions on information and systems (Japanese edition) 90 10 2798 - 2806 一般社団法人電子情報通信学会 2007年10月01日 [査読無し][通常論文]
     
    照合指標のない光学・磁気ディスクメディアのような回転媒体における新しいロバスト回転照合アルゴリズムLocal Consistency of Point Dispersion (LCPD)法を提案する.これは個々の点データ周りの局所的範囲における他点群データとの分布の一貫性を評価し,その局所的評価値は重みを設定して累積するアプローチに基づいている.提案手法の例外値に対するロバスト性について,点群データの分類に基づく定性的な考察を行っている.提案手法が例外値データの含有に対して,高いロバスト性を有し,しかも良好な収束性能を実現していることを,シミュレーション,及び実データに基づく実験によって示す.
  • 筒井洋一郎, 田中孝之, 金子俊一, FENG Maria Q
    精密工学会誌(CD-ROM) 73 9 1062 - 1067 2007年09月05日 [査読無し][通常論文]
  • 浦野 貴裕, 金子 俊一, 高氏 秀則, 田中 孝之
    画像電子学会誌 = Imaging & Visual Computing The Journal of the Institute of Image Electronics Engineers of Japan 36 4 417 - 425 一般社団法人 画像電子学会 2007年07月25日 [査読無し][通常論文]
     
    方向符号差分ヒストグラム(OCDH)に基づき回転不変かつ計算コストの低いロバストな画像照合法を提案する.画素近傍の明度変化の勾配から得られる方向符号は,ハイライトや陰影などの明度変動対して強いロバスト性を有する.画像上の2点から得られる方向符号の差分は,回転不変特徴を持ち,本手法では,そのヒストグラム(OCDH)を照合に利用する.高速な回転不変照合実現のため,照合の候補位置をOCDHにより推定し,推定された候補位置に対して画像間の回転角度推定,ならびに方向符号を用いた確認処理を行う.
  • 高橋秀典, 田中孝之, 金子俊一
    精密工学会誌(CD-ROM) 73 6 671 - 676 2007年06月05日 [査読無し][通常論文]
  • Yoichiro Tsutsui, Yukinobu Sakata, Takayuki Tanaka, Shun'ichi Kaneko, Maria Q. Feng
    2007 IEEE SENSORS, VOLS 1-3 1205 - 1208 2007年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    We propose a new method for simultaneous joint torque and angle recognition in dynamic motion by using ultrasound echo. Test Feature Classifier has been employed as a classifier. Ultrasound is emitted from the surface of skin and it is reflected inside of living body. Feature values for the recognition are extracted from the reflected wave. The feature value changes as the movement of the muscle relating to the target joint motion. Therefore the joint movement can be recognized based on the feature value. We carried out a experiment of the recognition of the movement of human elbow joint. The task was to classify the test data set into its correct torque class and angle class based on the feature values. The feature value was the rectified integration value on each 6 blocks cut out from the ultrasound echoes. The rate of correctly classified data was 0.74 in the result of the torque recognition. That of in the angle recognition was 0.82. Some data were classified into incorrect classes, however, these data were classified into classes near the correct class. This results shows that the recognition by the proposed method were successful.
  • Shunsuke Kawaai, Takayuki Tanaka, Shunichi Kaneko
    OPTOMECHATRONIC SYSTEMS CONTROL III 6719 OH719 - OH719 2007年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    In a conventional power assist system, an operation direction and power of a manipulator were adjusted when operator looked at a state and position of an operation object. So, position of an object is acquired by a visual sensor, and not only follows operation of human, but sets up a work route between an operation object and a manipulator. And an end-effector is guided to an object so that an operator can operate manipulator smoothly to an object. In this paper, the work path creation using the potential that suits an operator is proposed. A near work path is set up according to an end-effector orbit that an operator draws, and by guiding to an object aims at the improvement in maneuverability of a power assist.
  • Shin'ya Okazaki, Takayuki Tanaka, Syun'ichi Kaneko, Akihiko Matsushita
    2007 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CONTROL, AUTOMATION AND SYSTEMS, VOLS 1-6 1860 - 1864 2007年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    This study aims to develop an environment recognition method for a mobile robot using visual information in irregular ground. A mobile robot can. autonomous movement, an environment recognition and object tracking by using visual information. But researches using visual information do riot consider irregular ground. Visual information have errors in irregular ground. There are handling method by image processing technology, but that have limitations. So, We realize an environment recognition using visual information in irregular ground. We describe a relationship desparity errors between measurement errors of stereo method. Next, we measure distribution of disparity errors and propose correction method by disparity errors. We experiment moving on. flat surface and irregular ground and. verified effectiveness correction method by disparity errors.
  • Yuan Li, Isao Ohmura, Hidenori Takauji, Shun'ichi Kaneko, Takayuki Tanaka
    PROCEEDINGS OF SICE ANNUAL CONFERENCE, VOLS 1-8 749 - + 2007年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    This paper has proposed a novel and robust scheme of image focusing by introducing a new measure of focusing based on Orientation Code Matching. (hereinafter,OCM) A unique pencil-shape profile has been found through comparing the similarity between any patterns extracted at the same position within their own scenes. Based on this profile, a new evaluation function, named Complemental Pencil Volume, (hereinafter, CPV), is defined and calculated to represent local sharpness of images, either in or out of focus. Then through a designed local-scope searching algorithm, the maximum of CPV, which corresponds to the just focused image, is searching in this schema. The proposed method of focusing can be applied to cases of ill-condition with low contrast observations. Experiment results show that the OCM-based focusing is very robust to change of brightness and even more irregularities in the real imaging system, like dark condition and so on.
  • Y. Domae, H. Takauji, S. Kaneko, T. Tanaka, H. Okuda, M. Hashimoto
    PROCEEDINGS OF SICE ANNUAL CONFERENCE, VOLS 1-8 737 - + 2007年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    We propose a novel three-dimentional measurement approach of flexible cables for factory automation appliations, such as cable handling, connecter insertion without conflicts with cables by using robotic arms. The approach is based on motion stereo with a vision sensor. To solve stereo correspondence problem efficiently, feature point extraction from cables and a robust texture matching based feature tracking is applied. Additionally, by using stability analysis of the feature point tracking, defective feature points can be rejected and stable 3-D shape reconstruction is achieved. In our experiments, shapes of arch-like cables have been measured to an accuracy of 5mm. It is enough to find connecters without conflicts with the cables.
  • Yukiyasu Domae, Haruhisa Okuda, Hidenori Takauji, Shun'ichi Kaneko, Takayuki Tanaka
    OPTOMECHATRONIC SYSTEMS CONTROL III 6719 2007年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    We propose a novel three-Dimensional measurement approach of flexible cables for factory automation applications, such as cable handling, connecter insertion without conflicts with cables by using robotic arms. The approach is based on motion stereo with a vision sensor. Laser slit beams are irradiated and make landmalks on the cables to solve stereo correspondence problem efficiently. These landmark points and interpolated points having rich texture are tracked in a image sequence, and reconstructed as the cable shape. For stable feature point tracking, a robust texture matching method which is Orientation Code Matching 5 and tracking stability analysis are applied. In our experiments, arch-like cables have been reconstructed with an uncertainty of 1.5 % by this method.
  • Yuan Li, Isao Ohmura, Hidenori Takauji, Shun'ichi Kaneko, Takayuki Tanaka
    EIGHT INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON QUALITY CONTROL BY ARTIFICIAL VISION 6356 2007年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    This paper has mainly discussed about two problems, object focusing and depth measurement. First, we propose a novel and robust scheme of image focusing by introducing a new measure of focusing based on Orientation code matching. A new evaluation function, named Complemental pencil volume, CPV, is defined and calculated to represent local sharpness of images, either in or out of focus, by comparing the similarity between any patterns extracted at the same position within their own scenes. An identified and unique maximum or peek, which means exact match, is searched during the scheme. The proposed method of focusing can be applied to the cases of ill-condition scenes with low contrast observations. Experiments show that the OCM-based focusing is very robust to change in brightness, and to even more irregularities in the real imaging system, like dark condition. Second, based on this robust focusing technique, we applied it to an image sequence of an object surface to measure the depth of profile. A simple plane object surface has been implemented to demonstrate the basic approach. The results showed the successful and precision depth measurement of this object.
  • Io Nakayama, Hidenori Takauji, Shun'ichi Kaneko, Takayuki Tanaka
    OPTOMECHATRONIC COMPUTER-VISION SYSTEMS II 6718 71804 - 71804 2007年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    This paper proposes a new method to estimate distortion for template matching. Matching object images from scenes to pre-obtained reference images is necessary for robot mobility, but matching error due to distortion of object images remains a problem. There are two measures of distortion: "scale" which represents the distortion of distance from an object to the robot determined using a camera, and "directional distortion" which represents the distortion of direction that is due to the relative postures and positions of objects to the mobile robot. The latter is considered to involve rotation around the vertical axis, the y-axis, of the image plane. The paper proposes the Orthogonal Projection Distortion method (OPD) to estimate directional distortion and uses it with the image correction method to improve similarity. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach experimentally using actual images.
  • Takashi Kawamura, Takayuki Tanaka
    2007 IEEE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MECHATRONICS 83 - + 2007年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    The Robot contest competition was started 7years ago. It is expected that this competition will encourage undergraduate students to head venture business and/or to keep venture mind. This paper reports the concept and scheme of the competition.
  • Yuan Li, Hidenori Takauji, Shunichi Kaneko, Takayuki Tanaka, Isao Ohmura
    OPTOMECHATRONIC COMPUTER-VISION SYSTEMS II 6718 2007年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    This paper has proposed a novel and robust scheme of image focusing by introducing a new measure of focusing based on Orientation Code Matching. (hereinafter, OCM) A unique pencil-shape profile has been found through comparing the similarity between any patterns extracted at the same position within their own scenes. Based on this profile, a new evaluation function, named Complemental Pencil Volume, (hereinafter, CPV), is defined and calculated to represent local sharpness of images, either in or out of focus. Then through a designed local-scope searching algorithm, the maximum of CPV, which corresponds to the just focused image, is searching in this schema. The proposed method of focusing can be applied to cases of ill-condition with low contrast observations. Experiment results show that the OCM-based focusing is very robust to change of brightness and even more irregularities in the real imaging system, like dark condition and so on.
  • 鈴木 洋輔, 田中 孝之, フェン マリア Q., 諸麦 俊司
    計測自動制御学会論文集 42 8 982 - 990 計測自動制御学会 2006年08月31日 [査読無し][通常論文]
  • 梅枝 真守, 梶原 秀一, 田中 孝之, 金子 俊一
    計測自動制御学会論文集 42 8 974 - 981 計測自動制御学会 2006年08月31日 [査読無し][通常論文]
  • 高橋 秀典, 田中 孝之, 金子 俊一
    計測自動制御学会論文集 42 7 719 - 726 計測自動制御学会 2006年07月31日 [査読無し][通常論文]
  • 高氏 秀則, 金子 俊一, 田中 孝之
    精密工学会誌論文集 = Journal of the Japan Society for Precision Engineering Contributed Papers 72 4 487 - 493 公益社団法人精密工学会 2006年04月05日 [査読無し][通常論文]
     
    This paper aims to propose a fast image searching method from environmental observation images even in the presence of scale changes. A new scheme has been proposed for extracting feature areas based on a robust image registration algorithm called Orientation code matching. Extracted areas are stored as template images and utilized in image searching. As the number of template images grows, the searching cost becomes a serious problem. Additionally, changes of viewing positions cause scale change of an image and matching failure. In our scheme, richness in features is important for feature area generation and the entropy is used to evaluate the variety of edge directions which are stable to scale change of the image. This characteristic contributes to limitation of searching area and reduction in calculation costs. Scaling factors are estimated by orientation code density which means the percentage of effective codes in fixed size areas. An estimated scaling factor is applied to matching a scale of template images to one of observation images. Some experiments are performed in order to compare computation time and verify effectiveness of estimated scaling factor using real scenes.
  • 前孝宏, 金子俊一, 田中孝之
    精密工学会誌(CD-ROM) 72 4 481 - 486 2006年04月05日 [査読無し][通常論文]
  • 高氏秀則, 金子俊一, 田中孝之
    精密工学会誌(CD-ROM) 72 4 487 - 493 2006年04月05日 [査読無し][通常論文]
  • 前 孝宏, 金子 俊一, 田中 孝之
    精密工学会誌論文集 = Journal of the Japan Society for Precision Engineering Contributed Papers 72 4 481 - 486 公益社団法人精密工学会 2006年04月05日 [査読無し][通常論文]
     
    An efficient algorithm for binary template matching is proposed. For efficient search, object images to be checked is divided into two regions: R-region and P-region. In R-region, an upper limit of correlation coefficients can be derived as an interval estimation based on mathematical analysis of correlations of the object image and a pivot image. In P-region, another interval estimation is formalized based on the number of white and black pixels in a template and the object image. By use of these interval estimations, a scanning-type upper limit estimation of correlation coefficients can be formalized for the efficient search algorithm. Experiments show the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed search algorithm.
  • Autonomous and robust structuring of real environment by searching complex regions
    Hidenori Takauji, Io Nakayama, Shunichi Kaneko, Takayuki Tanaka
    International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences - ISPRS Archives 36 2006年 
    This paper aims to propose a fast image searching method from environmental observation images even in the presence of scale changes. A new scheme has been proposed for extracting feature areas as tags based on a robust image registration algorithm called Orientation code matching. Extracted tags are stored as reference images and utilized in tag searching. As the number of tags grows, the searching cost becomes a serious problem. Additionally, change in viewing positions cause scale change of an image and matching failure. In our scheme, richness in features is important for tag generation and the entropy is used to evaluate the diversity of edge directions which are stable to scale change of the image. This characteristic contributes to limitation of searching area and reduction in calculation costs. Scaling factors are estimated by orientation code density which means the percentage of effective codes in fixed size tag areas. An estimated scaling factor is applied to matching a scale of reference images to one of observation images. Some experiments are performed in order to compare computation time and verify effectiveness of estimated scaling factor using real scenes.
  • Yukiyasu Domae, Hidenori Takauji, Henrik Stier, Shunichi Kaneko, Takayuki Tanaka
    International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences - ISPRS Archives 36 2006年 
    We present a feature extraction and tracking method which is based on pure rich texture analysis and has robustness under irregular conditions, such as illumination change, deformation of objects and so on. The method is composed mainly of two algorithms: Entropy Filtering and Orientation Code Matching (OCM). Entropy filter points up areas of images being messy distribution of orientation codes. The orientation code is determined by detecting the orientation of maximum intensity change around neighboring eight pixels. The areas being extracted by the entropy filter doesn't depend on edges and gradations of images and has robustness against illumination change and motion of objects. Therefore, we can say the areas have”pure rich texture” and are suitable for tracking based on visual information. And then, OCM, a template matching method using the orientation code, is applied to track templates being centered on the features and updates the templates each frame. OCM is speeded up by using the information of texture richness and motion of objects. Because of their large robustness, we can track the templates robustly under irregular conditions.
  • Shunji Moromugi, Shinichi Kumano, Mitsuaki Ueda, Takakazu Ishimatsu, Maria Q. Feng, Takayuki Tanaka
    2006 IEEE SENSORS, VOLS 1-3 388 - + 2006年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    An innovative sensor is developed to evaluate hardness of human soft tissue. This sensor provides easy and accurate hardness measurements based on a unique sensing mechanism. Hardness of soft materials is often evaluated by using international standards of hardness such as IRHD (International Rubber Hardness Degree) and durometer hardness. However the conventional scales based on these standards requires a stable pressuring condition to the target. Therefore, these scales cannot be used for targets that are in motion or targets that require quick measurement such as human muscles during exercises and a liver exposed at a surgery. The prototyped sensor has a compact body and allows continuous hardness measurement with an arbitrary pressing force. This sensor always monitors the force exerted on the sensor and automatically eliminates the unintended effect from the fluctuation of the pressing force. Therefore, continuous time series of the hardness data is real-timely available. This paper reports results of a test as well as the detail of the mechanism and data processing technique of the latest version of the sensor.
  • Kazuya Nakahara, Hidenori Takauji, Shun'ichi Kaneko, Takayuki Tanaka, Masashi Shimizu, Yukio Miyashita
    OPTOMECHATRONIC SENSORS, INSTRUMENTATION, AND COMPUTER-VISION SYSTEMS 6375 2006年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    Instead of tachometer-type velocity sensors, an effective method of estimating real-time velocities based on a robust image matching algorithm is proposed to measure real-time velocities of agrimotors or working machines, such as sprayers and harvesters, driven by them in real farm fields. It should be precise even they have any slipping, and stable and robust to many ill-conditions occurred in the real world farm fields, where the robust and fast algorithm for image matching, Orientation code matching is effectively utilized. A prototype system has been designed for real-time estimation of velocities of the agrimotors and then the effectiveness has been verified through many frames obtained from the real fields in various weather and ground conditions.
  • Lin Fu, Shun'ichi Kaneko, Takayuki Tanaka
    OPTOMECHATRONIC SENSORS, INSTRUMENTATION, AND COMPUTER-VISION SYSTEMS 6375 2006年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    Quality of local regions in the scene could be deteriorated by the effects of ill-conditioned lighting effects and reflection. We develop a method to improve the quality of local regions. The local region of the image is firstly selected by an algorithm that is based on similarity evaluation of the region. Then the histogram of brightness and saturation of the local region are expanded using the histogram equalization, both the brightness and saturation are improved. In the next step, based on the distance from the point selected by user, the improved data are combined with the original image. The local part of the image is naturally merged with the surrounding scenes.
  • Hidenori Takahashi, Takayuki Tanaka, Shun'ichi Kaneko
    OPTOMECHATRONIC SENSORS, INSTRUMENTATION, AND COMPUTER-VISION SYSTEMS 6375 2006年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    This study aims to expand a measuring range of stereovision system. In the previous paper,(1) the authors achieved a 3D motion capture system by using one camera with triangle markers, named as Mono-MoCap (MMC). MMC has two features. One is that MMC can measure 3D positions of subjects by using one camera on the basis of the perspective n point (PnP) problem. Another is that MMC does not need to recalibrate the camera parameters. In this paper, the authors apply MMC to binocular stereovision system for expanding its measurement range. MMC will solve the problem that stereovision system can not measure 3D positions of objects when even one camera does not capture the objects. In this study, 3D positions of three points where a geometrical relation each other is already-known will be measured by a stereovision. 3D position measurement by the stereovision is enabled by secondarily using MMC when a part of the object is hidden with one camera of the stereovision. Simulation and experimental results will show the effectiveness of the proposed method for expanding the measuring range of stereovision system.
  • T. Koyama, T. Tanaka, S. Kaneko, S. Moromugi, M.Q. Feng
    2005 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics 2 1669 - 1674 2005年10月 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    We have designed the Ultrasonic Muscle Activity Sensor as a small sensor device, and the sensor can be built in the Sensor Suit for human machine systems. Measuring a change of the ultrasonic in muscles with this sensor, we have shown it's possible to estimate muscle force. In this study, we aim to design the algorithm that estimates the joint torque of knee with ultrasonic muscle activity sensor. Beside, in order to attain the generality of sensor suit, we also aim to examine the influence of constitutional differences, such as a physique index and a rate of body fat. Furthermore, we tried to obtain the basic data in order to the construction of system which can adjust individual difference. © 2005 IEEE.
  • Y. Suzuki, S. Moromugi, T. Tanaka, S. Kaneko, M.Q. Feng
    2005 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics 2 1680 - 1685 2005年10月 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    The authors have developed innovative soft sensor suits embedded with electromyogram (EMG) and a variety of sensors for measuring human muscle activities. The sensor suits serve as a man-machine interface for human power amplification. This paper focuses on the EMG part of the sensor suits to study the fundamental issue of torque estimation based on the sensor readings. An innovative auto-calibration system is developed in this study based on multi-regression analysis and neural networks, where an universal database, rather than individual database for each operator, is proposed and as a result, the calibration time is dramatically decreased. The calibration system can also compensate for sensor positioning errors. In the end, the sensor suits are applied as a man-machine interface for a soft power amplifier composed of artificial muscles. The artificial muscles are successfully controlled using the torque information estimated by the EMG sensor suits. The relation between torque estimation errors on sensor suits and maneuverability of power amplifier is experimentally verified. ©2005 IEEE.
  • 高氏 秀則, 金子 俊一, 田中 孝之
    電気学会論文誌. C, 電子・情報・システム部門誌 = The transactions of the Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. C, A publication of Electronics, Information and System Society 125 6 926 - 934 一般社団法人 電気学会 2005年06月01日 [査読無し][通常論文]
     
    This paper aims to propose a new scheme for robust tagging for landmark definition in unknown circumstance using some qualitative evaluations based on Orientation code representation and matching which has been proposed for robust image registration even in the presence of change in illumination and occlusion. Necessary characteristics for effective tags: richness, similarity, and uniqueness, are considered in order to design an algorithm for tag detection. These qualitative considerations can be utilized to design simple and robust algorithm for tag definition in combination with the robust image registration algorithm.
  • Yoichiro Tsutsui, Takayuki Tanaka, Shun'ichi Kaneko, Maria Q. Feng
    Proceedings of IEEE Sensors 2005 310 - 313 2005年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    For ultrasonic muscle activity sensor(UMS), a new signal processing method was proposed. The proposed method improved correlation coefficient between estimated joint torque and actual torque from 0.987 to 0.999 in an experiment. UMS is a brand-new noninvasive sensor for muscle activity. In this sensor, ultrasound is emitted and detected by transducers, though electrical change is detected in electromyogram(EMG) which is a common sensing method for muscle activity. In previous study, we measured only one ultrasound from transmitter on opposite side. In this study, we made a transmitter switching circuit and measured ultrasound coming from another transducer. Knee joint torque was estimated with neural networks in experiment. Correlation coefficient between actual torque and estimated torque was calculated as the index of the accuracy. New method(Duplex UMS) showed higher correlation than existing method. The proposed method is effective to improve the accuracy of the torque estimation. © 2005 IEEE.
  • Takahiro Mae, Shun'ichi Kaneko, Takayuki Tanaka
    Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering 6051 2005年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    We propose an efficient template matching algorithm for binary image search. When we use template matching techniques, the computation cost depends on size of images. If we have large size images, we spend a lot of time for searching similar objects in scene image to template image. We design a scanning-type upper limit estimation that can be useful for neglect correlation calculation. For calculating the scanning-type upper limits, template and scene images are divided into two regions: P-region and P-region. In R-region, an upper limit of correlation coefficients can be derived as an interval estimation based on mathematical analysis of correlations of the object image and a pivot image. In P-region, another upper limit is formalized based on the number of white and black pixels in a template and the object image. By use of these upper limits, the scanning-type upper limit estimation of correlation coefficients can be formalized for the efficient matching algorithm. This upper limits estimation isn't over true values of correlation, so the accuracy of search by conventional search is the same as one by conventional search. The experiments with document images show the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed matching algorithm. In these experiments, computation time by the proposed algorithm is between 5 and 20% compare of the conventional search.
  • Yukinobu Sakata, Shun'ichi Kaneko, Takayuki Tanaka
    Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering 6051 2005年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    A novel successive learning algorithm is proposed for efficiently handling sequentially provided training data based on Test Feature Classifier (TFC), which is non-parametric and effective even for small data. We have proposed a novel classifier TFC utilizing prime test features (PTF) which is combination feature subsets for getting excellent performance. TFC has characteristics as follows: non-parametric learning, no mis-classification of training data. And then, in some real-world problems, the effectiveness of TFC is confirmed through way applications. However, TFC has a problem that it must be reconstructed even when any sub-set of data is changed. In the successive learning, after recognition of a set of unknown objects, they are fed into the classifier in order to obtain a modified classifier. We propose an efficient algorithm for reconstruction of PTFs, which is formalized in cases of addition and deletion of training data. In the verification experiment, using the successive learning algorithm, we can save about 70% on the total computational cost in comparison with a batch learning. We applied the proposed successive TFC to dynamic recognition problems from which the characteristic of training data changes with progress of time, and examine the characteristic by the fundamental experiments. Support Vector Machine (SVM) which is well established in algorithm and on practical application, was compared with the proposed successive TFC. And successive TFC indicated high performance compared with SVM.
  • Yoichiro Tsutsui, Takayuki Tanaka, Shun'ichi Kaneko, Maria Q. Feng
    Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering 6049 2005年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    We have proposed a brand-new noninvasive ultrasonic sensor for measuring muscle activities named as Ultrasonic Muscle Activity Sensor (UMS). In the previous paper, the authors achieved to accurately estimate joint torque by using UMS and electromyogram (EMG) which is one of the most popular sensors. This paper aims to realize to measure not only joint torque also joint angle by using UMS and EMG. In order to estimate torque and angle of a knee joint, muscle activities of quadriceps femoris and biceps femoris were measured by both UMS and EMG. These targeted muscles are related to contraction and extension of knee joint. Simultaneously, actual torque on the knee joint caused by these muscles was measured by using torque sensor. The knee joint angle was fixed by torque sensor in the experiment, therefore the measurement was in isometric state. In the result, we found that the estimated torque and angle have high correlation coefficient to actual torque and angle. This means that the sensor can be used for angle estimation as well torque estimation. Therefore, it is shown that the combined use of UMS and EMG is effective to torque and angle estimation.
  • Naohiro Sekiguchi, Takayuki Tanaka, Shun'ichi Kaneko
    Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering 6052 2005年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    We propose self-maintenance robot system as a method which realizes work for a long time without maintenance by the human workers. This system absorbs the change which occurs in robot's hardware by learning, and maintains working ability. We propose the two methods of learning changes in the physical information of the robot as methods which realizes the maintenance-free robot system. One is a method to learn robot's physical information based on the input and output information in the task practice from the no physical information of the robot by using a neural network which has a task common layer and a task independence layer. Other is a method to learn robot's physical information based on the difference in hoping action and actual action. In this report, we verify of these learning system by the computer simulation.
  • Yukiyasu Domae, Shun'ichi Kaneko, Takayuki Tanaka
    Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering 6051 2005年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    Feature extraction and tracking are widely applied in the industrial world of today. It is still an important topic in Machine Vision. In this paper, we present a new feature extraction and tracking method which is robust against illumination change such as shading and highlighting, scaling and rotation of objects. The method is composed mainly of two algorithms: Entropy Filter and Orientation Code Matching (OCM). The Entropy Filter points up areas of images being messy distribution of orientation codes. The orientation code is determined by detecting the orientation of maximum intensity change around neighboring 8 pixels. It is defined as simply integral values. We can extract good features to track from the images by using the Entropy Filter. And then, the OCM, a template matching method using the orientation code, is applied to track the features each frame. We can track the features robustly against the illumination change by using the OCM. Moreover, updating these features (templates) each frame allows complicated motions of tracked objects such as scaling, rotation and so on. In this paper, we report the details of our algorithms and the evaluations of comparison with other well-known feature extraction and tracking methods. As an application example, planer landmarks and face tracking is tried. The results of them are also reported in context.
  • Hidenori Takauji, Shun'ichi Kaneko, Takayuki Tanaka
    Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering 6051 2005年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    This paper aims to propose a fast image searching method from environmental observation images even in the presence of scale changes. A new scheme has been proposed for extracting feature areas as tags based on a robust image registration algorithm called Orientation code matching. Extracted tags are stored as template images and utilized in tag searching. As the number of tags grows, the searching cost becomes a serious problem. Additionally, change in viewing positions cause scale change of an image and matching failure. In our scheme, richness in features is important for tag generation and the entropy is used to evaluate the diversity of edge directions which are stable to scale change of the image. This characteristic contributes to limitation of searching area and reduction in calculation costs. Scaling factors are estimated by orientation code density which means the percentage of effective codes in fixed size tag areas. An estimated scaling factor is applied to matching a scale of template images to one of observation images. Some experiments are performed in order to compare computation time and verify effectiveness of estimated scaling factor using real scenes.
  • Takahiro Urano, Shun'ichi Kaneko, Takayuki Tanaka
    Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering 6051 2005年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    A rotation-invariant template matching scheme using Orientation Code Difference Histogram (OCDH) is proposed. Orientation code features based on local distributions of pixel brightness are substantively robust against furious change in illumination plays a main role in designing the rotation-invariant matching algorithm. Since every difference between any pair of orientation codes is invariant in rotation of an image, we can elaborate a histogram feature by use of the differences, which can aggregate effective clues for searching rotated images through simple procedures. With gray scale images as targets, rotation angles of an image can be accurately estimated by the proposed method. It is fast and robust even in presence of some irregularities as brightness change by shading or highlighting. We propose a two-stage framework for realizing the rotation-invariant template matching based on OCDH. In the first stage, candidate positions are selected through evaluation of OCDH at every position, and then in the second stage, they are tested by use of a verification also based on orientation code features. The effectiveness of the proposed matching method has been shown through many kinds of experiments designed with real world images.
  • Hidenori Takahashi, Takayuki Tanaka, Shun'ichi Kaneko
    Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering 6049 2005年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    This study aims to realize a motion capture for measuring 3D human motions by using Single camera. Although motion capture by using multiple cameras is widely used in sports field, medical field, engineering field and so on, optical motion capture method with one camera is not established. In this paper, the authors achieved a 3D motion capture by using one camera, named as Mono-MoCap (MMC), on the basis of two calibration methods and triangle markers which each length of side is given. The camera calibration methods made 3D coordinates transformation parameter and a lens distortion parameter with Modified DLT method. The triangle markers enabled to calculate a coordinate value of a depth direction on a camera coordinate. Experiments of 3D position measurement by using the MMC on a measurement space of cubic 2 m on each side show an average error of measurement of a center of gravity of a triangle marker was less than 2 mm. As compared with conventional motion capture method by using multiple cameras, the MMC has enough accuracy for 3D measurement. Also, by putting a triangle marker on each human joint, the MMC was able to capture a walking motion, a standingup motion and a bending and stretching motion. In addition, a method using a triangle marker together with conventional spherical markers was proposed. Finally, a method to estimate a position of a marker by measuring the velocity of the marker was proposed in order to improve the accuracy of MMC.
  • Yousuke Suzuki, Takayuki Tanaka, Maria Q. Feng
    Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering 6049 2005年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    Biogenic measurement has been studied as a robot's interface. We have studied the wearable sensor suit as a robot's interface. Some kinds of sensor disks are embedded the sensor suit to the wet suit-like material. The sensor suit measures a wearing person's joint, and muscular activity. In this report, we aim to establish an auto-calibration system for measuring joint torques by using EMG sensors based on neural network and sensor disks of a lattice. The Torque presumption was performed using the share neural network, which learned the data that formed the whole subject's teacher data. Additional training of the share neural network was carried out using the individual teaching data. As a result, that was able to do the neural network training in short time, high probability and high accuracy to training of initial neural network. Moreover, high-presumed accuracy was able to be acquired by this method Next, Sensor disks of a lattice was developed. EMG is measurable, checking the state of an electrode by that can measure biogenic impedance. That was able to measure EMG by sensor disks which has low impedance We measured EMG and joint torque by trial production sensor suit and torque measuring instrument. The predominancy of the torque presumption using the share neural network was check. We proposed Measurement system, which consists sensor disk of lattice. Experimental results show the proposed method is effective for the auto-calibration.
  • Y Fukuda, T Tanaka, MQ Feng, T Ishimatsu
    2005 IEEE SENSORS, VOLS 1 AND 2 814 - 817 2005年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    In recent years, information technology has made remarkable advancement and found increasing, applications in various fields. In the medical field, computer is playing a more important role in assisting the disabled. However, the interface between the disabled and a computer is usually composed of push button and touch sensors that are difficult of use. This research aims to develop a more user-friendly wearable interface using a MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical System) accelerometer and an optical fiber shape sensor that enable the disabled to use a computer more effectively. To demonstrate the application of this wearable interface, we developed several systems including a communication device for the disabled to control computer keyboards and appliances, and a rehabilitation device referred to as a data glove. The effectiveness of the interface is demonstrated through several field tests.
  • N Sekiguchi, T Tanaka, S Kaneko
    2005 IEEE/ASME INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ADVANCED INTELLIGENT MECHATRONICS, VOLS 1 AND 2 2005 Vol.2 1269 - 1274 2005年 [査読無し][通常論文]
     
    We propose self-maintenance robot system as a method which realizes work for a long time without maintenance by the human workers. This system absorbs the change which occurs in robot's hardware by learning, and maintains working ability. We use a neural network which has a task common layer and a task independence layer to learning. In this report, we verify of this learning system by the computer simulation and the experiment in the real field.
  • Muscle Stiffness Sensor to Control Assisting Device for the Disabled
    Shunji Moromugi, Yasuhiro Koujina, Seigo Ariki, Akira Okamoto, Takayuki Tanaka, Maria Q. Feng, Takakazu Ishimatsu
    Journal of Artificial Life and Robotics 8 1 42 - 45 2004年01月 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • Tsutsui Yoichiro, Tanaka Takayuki, Suzuki Yosuke, Feng Maria Q.
    The Abstracts of the international conference on advanced mechatronics : toward evolutionary fusion of IT and mechatronics : ICAM 2004 48 - 48 一般社団法人日本機械学会 2004年
  • T Hayashi, T Tanaka, MQ Feng
    RO-MAN 2004: 13TH IEEE INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP ON ROBOT AND HUMAN INTERACTIVE COMMUNICATION, PROCEEDINGS 637 - 642 2004年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    Wearable robots, especially power suits to enhance human activity are one of most interesting topics. This study aims to develop a power suit installing a variable stiffness mechanism. In a previous study, we showed the relation between impedance parameters of power suits and human performance, and verified the effectiveness of self impedance matching method using soft computings. In this paper, we conduct fundamental experiments in order to design a variable stiffness mechanism which can tune the stiffness of joint mechanically. Experimental results show the effectiveness of variable stiffness for improving human performance and reducting muscle fatigue. Moreover, we try to design the variable stiffness mechanism, and to verify the effectiveness by simulation.
  • H Takauji, S Kaneko, T Tanaka
    MACHINE VISION AND ITS OPTOMECHATRONIC APPLICATIONS 5603 71 - 80 2004年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    This paper aims to propose a new scheme for robust tagging for landmark definition in unknown circumstance using some qualitative evaluations based on Orientation Code representation and matching which has been proposed for robust image registration even in the presence of change in illumination and occlusion. Necessary characteristics for effective tags: richness, similarity, and uniqueness, are considered in order to design an algorithm for tag extraction. These qualitative considerations can be utilized to design simple and robust algorithm for tag definition in combination with the robust image registration algorithm.
  • 小山 猛, 田中 孝之
    フルードパワーシステム 34 5 128 - 133 日本フルードパワーシステム学会 2003年09月 [査読無し][通常論文]
  • Fibrous Optical Actuator Containing Photochromic Molecules
    Takayuki Tanaka, Naoto Yamagishi, Ryujiro Mitsui, Takashi Kawamura
    Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics 15 2 172 - 177 2003年04月 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • Soft Power Suit for Knee Motion Assistance
    S. Moromugi, Y. Koujina, S. Ariki, T. Tanaka, M. Q. Feng, T.Ishimatsu
    International Journal of Human-friendly Welfare Robotic Systems 4 4 13 - 19 2003年 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • T Koyama, T Tanaka, K Tanaka, MQ Feng
    2003 IEEE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION, VOLS 1-3, PROCEEDINGS 2362 - 2367 2003年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    In order to provide quality care for aged and disabled people without causing physical and mental burden to patients and nurses, we have been developing a prototype of a wearable typed robotic system named HARO (Human-Assisting RObot) that is operated by a nurse to amplify his or her physical power. This paper proposes a design method of force control system with consideration of transition of interaction force to a patient during certain nursing motion.
  • T Tanaka, S Hori, R Yamaguchi, MQ Feng, S Moromugi
    RO-MAN 2003: 12TH IEEE INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP ON ROBOT AND HUMAN INTERACTIVE COMMUNICATION, PROCEEDINGS 291 - 295 2003年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    Recently, many researchers are studying and developing various kinds of man-machine systems. Especially, a wearable robot, such as an exoskeleton power suit, is one of the most remarkable fields. In this field, more accurate and reliable sensing system for detecting human motion intention is strongly required. In most of conventional man-machine systems, torque sensors, tactile pressure sensors and EMG sensors are utilized in a man-machine interface to detect human motion intention. These sensors, however, have some limitations. For example, it is hard to install and secure torque sensors on the joints of a human body. It is not easy to correlate the data from a tactile pressure sensor to the human motion intention. Although the EMG sensor can detect human motion intention, the sensor system is complex and expensive, and suffers from electric noise. We have been developing an innovative sensor suit which, just like a wet suit, can. be conveniently put on by an, operator to detect his or her motion intention by noninvasively monitoring his or her muscle conditions such as the shape, the stiffness and the density. This sensor suit is made of soft and elastic fabrics embedded with arrays of AEMS sensors such as strain gauges, ultrasonic sensors and optical fiber sensors, to measure different kinds of human muscle conditions. In the previous paper, the muscle stiffness sensor for detecting musclar force was developed according to the fact that the muscle gains its stiffness as it is activated Its sperior performance was reported through experiments in which the sensor was applied for the assisting device for the disable. In this paper, the ultrasonic sensor disk is proposed as one of the sensor disks embedding the sensor suit. This sensor is based on an original principle and noninvasively detects activity of specific muscle. It is clear that the square of ultrasonic transmission speed is in proportion to the, elasticity of the object and in inverse proportion to the density. It is estimated that the elasticity and density of the muscle increase or decrease as the muscle is energized. Then, it is hereby expected that the muscular activity is measured by the ultrasonic sensor. In this study, the feasibility of an ultrasonic sensor for detecting muscular force is shown through experiments.
  • 金森 直希, 田中 孝之, 田中 一男
    日本機械学会論文集. C編 68 669 1467 - 1473 一般社団法人日本機械学会 2002年05月25日 [査読無し][通常論文]
     
    This paper addresses subjective evaluation for operating feeling in a haptic interface. The NASA-TLX method, which is mental workload index analysis, is employed to investigate operating feeling for various impedance parameters and task parameters. The result shows the existence of three patterns of human operation. The patterns correspond to viscosity-based operation, restoring force-based operation and inertia-based operation, respectively. We verify the existence of three patterns by analyzing force sensor data. Furthermore, the verification of three-pattern classification is also investigated by the semantic differential method and factor analysis.
  • Principle of Stable Running of An Unicycle Robot, Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics
    Takayuki Tanaka, Hisanobu Suzuki, Kazuo Tanaka
    Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics 14 1 37 - 45 2002年02月 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • Takeshi Koyama, Takayuki Tanaka, Kazuo Tanaka, Maria Q. Feng
    Proceedings - IEEE International Workshop on Robot and Human Interactive Communication 71 - 76 2002年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    In order to provide quality nursing care for bed-bound and disabled people without causing physical and mental stress to both patients and nurses, we have been developing a prototype of a human-assisting robotic system, referred to as HARO (Human-Assisting RObot), which is worn by an operator to amplify his or her power. This paper focuses on the suggestion of new evaluating method about assisting ability of a man-machine system based on muscular character, body mechanics and operator's link model. © 2002 IEEE.
  • Rights to Intellectual Property on R&D Results Conducted at University
    Kazuo Yamafuji, Takayuki Tanaka
    Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics 13 1 101 - 106 2001年 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • New Biological Real-time Pattern Extraction Emulating Fly's Behavior
    Takayuki Tanaka, Kazuo Yamafuji, Yasunori Yamazaki
    Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics 13 1 68 - 73 2001年 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • T Koyama, MQ Feng, T Tanaka
    INTEGRATION OF ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY IN THE INFORMATION AGE 9 227 - 234 2001年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    To provide quality nursing care for bedridden and disabled people without charging physical and mental stress to both patients and helpers, we have developed a prototype of a human-assisting robotic system, referred to as HARO (Human-Assisting RObot), which is worn by a helper to amplify his or her power. This paper suggests how to model and control the mechanical system of HARO that contacts with both an operator and a patient to realize certain care motions by the human-HARO system more safely.
  • Principle of Cat-Turn Motion and Realization of Cat-Turning by a Robot with Vertebrate-Type Backbones Driven by Rubber Actuators
    International Journal of Mechanics and Control 1 1 19 - 34 2001年 [査読無し][通常論文]
  • 小山 猛, 山藤 和男, 田中 孝之
    日本機械学会論文集. C編 66 651 3679 - 3684 一般社団法人日本機械学会 2000年11月25日 [査読無し][通常論文]
     
    In order to care bed-bound and disabled people without charging both patients and nurses with physical and mental stress, we have developed a robotic prototype of a human-assisting system, called the Human-Assisting RObot (HARO). It is requested that patients enjoy their daily life and cares without giving physical and mental burdens to nursing people. There are two ways to care the patients. One is to conduct the cares by an intelligent robot autonomously, another is to be performed by a human-assisting system. Since we believe it is necessary to combine humman's cognitive capability and robot's power, we have developed a robotic prototype of a human-assisting system as a wearable power assisting system including human's intention, skill and cognition. In this paper, the concepts based on the practical experiences of care, system design, developed robot and the exprimental results are described.
  • Wearable Human Assisting Robot for Nursing Use
    Takeshi Koyama, Maria Q. Feng, Takayuki Tanaka
    Machine Intelligence and Robotic Control 2 4 163 - 168 2000年 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • H.Z. Yang, K. Yamafuji, T. Tanaka, S. Moromugi
    International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology 16 8 582 - 590 2000年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    Development of a Robotic System Which Assists Unmanned Production Based on Cooperation between Off-line Robots and On-line Robots (3rd Report: Development of an off-line robot, autonomous navigation and detection of faulty workpieces in a vibrating parts feeder)
  • Takayuki Tanaka, Kazuo Yamafuji
    IECON Proceedings (Industrial Electronics Conference) 1 1237 - 1242 2000年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    Wc propose new biological real-time pattern extraction method. In order to extract objects from a frame image taken by a camera, many Virtual Flies (VFs) scattered in the CRT display are utilized. An individual VF composed of 3x3 pixels can freely fly in the display. Fundamental object extraction method is to detect objects just like flies sensing foods and swarming around them. Methodology realized by the softcomputing technology and experimental results are described in detail.
  • Improvement of Maneuverability of the Man-Machine System for Wearable Nursing Robots
    Satoki Morishita, Takayuki Tanaka, Kazuo Yamafuji, Naoki Kanamori
    Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics 11 6 461 - 467 1999年12月 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • 田中 孝之, 大井 純司, 山藤 和男
    日本機械学会論文集. C編 65 629 146 - 153 一般社団法人日本機械学会 1999年01月25日 [査読無し][通常論文]
     
    We have developing an intelligent mobile robot for service use which can be utilized as a "secretary or helper robot" during the day and "security guard or maintenance including floor-cleaning robot" at night in office buildings. When the service robot works or moves autonomously in an enviromnent including human beings, it should be able to recognize its environment on real time. In this paper, new biological object extraction method is developed. In order to extract objects from a frame image taken by a camera, many Virtual Flies (VFs) scattered in the CRT display are utilized. An individual VF composed of 3×3 pixels can freely fly in the display. Fundamental object extraction method is to detect objects just like flies sensing foods and swarming around them. Methodology and experimental results together with its application of Hand-Eye system using a robot manipulator are described in detail.
  • 田中 孝之, 山藤 和男, 渡邊 浩樹, 片江 毅
    日本機械学会論文集. C編 64 628 4702 - 4709 一般社団法人日本機械学会 1998年12月 [査読無し][通常論文]
     
    We have developing an intelligent mobile robot for service use which can be utilized as a "secretary or helper robot" in day time and "security guard or maintenance including floor-cleaning robot" in night in office buildings. Since the service robot works or moves autonomously living together with human being in office environments, it must be able to recognize its absolute position and environment. In this paper, we proposed two types of self positioning method based on a visual sensor. One is the global self positioning (GSP) which is realized by recognition of a room number plate. The another is Iocal self positioning (LSP) in which the position is calculated by the relation between the robot and three lighting landmarks, such as two exit lamps and a fire hydrant lamp in corridors. Experimental results show that proposed methods are very effective in self positioning for the autonomous mobile robot.
  • Unattended Production Based on Cooperation between Offline and Online Robot
    Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics 10 6 538 - 541 1998年 [査読無し][通常論文]
  • Soft computing algorithms for intelligent control of a mobile robot, Part 2: Path planning, navigation and technology operations
    T. Tanaka, J. Ohwi, L.V. Litvintseva, K. Yamafuji, S.V. Ulyanov
    Soft Computing 1 2 99 - 106 1997年06月 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • Soft computing algorithms for intelligent control of a mobile robot, Part 1: Direct human-robot communications and managing system for cooperative control
    T. Tanaka, J. Ohwi, L.V. Litvintseva, K. Yamafuji, S.V. Ulyanov
    Soft Computing 1 2 88 - 98 1997年06月 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • 田中 孝之, 山藤 和男, 高橋 秀典
    日本機械学会論文集. C編 63 605 211 - 218 一般社団法人日本機械学会 1997年01月25日 [査読無し][通常論文]
     
    We have developed an intelligent mobile robot for service use, which can be utilized as a "secretary-or helper-robot" by daytime and "robot for security guard or maintenance including floor cleaning" by night in office buildings. An autonomous locomotion control system of this service robot is organized by four functions, i.e., path planning, recognition of absolute position, locomotion control and learning navigation controller. In this paper, in order to move more appropriately and smoothly in environments including human beings and obstacles, we have examined the learning function by means of fuzzy neural network which tunes up membership functions for fuzzy locomotion control. By this method, the intelligent robot can learn the moving area autonomously. Results obtained by computer simulation show that the proposed method is very useful for autonomous locomotion control of the intelligent robot.
  • Intelligent Control of a Mobile Robot for Service Use in Office Buildings and Its Soft Computing Algorithms
    Takayuki Tanaka, Junji Ohwi, Ludmila V. Litvintseva, Kazuo Yamafuji, Sergei V. Ulyanov
    Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics 8 6 538 - 554 1996年12月 [査読有り][通常論文]
  • T Tanaka, J Ohwi, LV Litvintseva, K Yamafuji, SV Ulyanov, Kurawaki, I
    IROS '97 - PROCEEDINGS OF THE 1997 IEEE/RSJ INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INTELLIGENT ROBOT AND SYSTEMS: INNOVATIVE ROBOTICS FOR REAL-WORLD APPLICATIONS, VOLS 1-3 366 - 371 1996年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    The structure of hardware and software of Al control system of a mobile robot for service use are described. Hardware of a mobile robot for service use include an autonomous wheel vehicle and a five degree of freedom manipulator. Software of AI control system of a mobile service robot is based on soft computing including fuzzy control rules, fuzzy neural network and genetic algorithms. Intelligent control of cooperative motion between of an autonomous vehicle and a manipulator realize the flexible operations as navigation of a mobile robot in presence of static and dynamic obstacles, the processes Of Opening door in rooms and push button of elevator. New hierarchical structure of AI control system includes direct human-robot communication line based on natural language and cognitive graphics, and generator of virtual reality for simulation of artificial life conditions for mobile service robot. Simulation results and experimental results of navigation and technological operations with manipulator for mobile robot of service use in office building are described.
  • T Tanaka, Y Kojima, J Ohwi, K Yamafuji, SV Ulyanov
    RO-MAN '96 - 5TH IEEE INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP ON ROBOT AND HUMAN COMMUNICATION, PROCEEDINGS 170 - 176 1996年 [査読有り][通常論文]
     
    Since 1992, we have been developing the intelligent mobile robot for service use mainly utilized in office building. It is a Power Wheeled Steering type robot with a 5 degree of freedom (DOF) manipulator. It can move autonomously from one room to the others through different floors and buildings using elevators. In order to achive such operations, the robot must conduct cooperative motions using the locomotive mechanisms and the manipulator. Then it is necessary to develop an intelligent position control system for the cooperative control. In this paper, we explain an intelligent navigation control for by using fuzzy classifier system (FCS), GA and GA in continuous space (GAGS). Simulation and experimental results show that the proposed method is effective for technology operatins of the service robot, as opening door, closing door and pushing elevator button.
  • Intelligent Control of Mobile Robot for Service Use
    International Journal of Software and Systems 3 35 - 43 1996年 [査読無し][通常論文]
  • S.V. Ulyanov, K. Yamafuji, K. Miyagawa, T. Tanaka, T. Fukuda
    Proceedings 1995 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems. Human Robot Interaction and Cooperative Robots 1995年08月 [査読有り][通常論文]

MISC

書籍等出版物

  • 日本ロボット学会 (担当:分担執筆)
    コロナ社 2023年03月 (ISBN: 9784339046793) ix, 1072p
  • Humanoid Robotics: A Reference
    Eiichi Yoshida, Ko Ayusawa, Yumeko Imamura, Takayuki Tanaka (担当:分担執筆範囲:Toward New Humanoid Applications: Wearable Device Evaluation Through Human Motion Reproduction)
    Springer 2018年08月 (ISBN: 9400760450) 
    This chapter addresses a new application of humanoid robot for evaluation of wearable assistive devices. One of the issues for diffusion of assistive devices that has been developed recently is its objective and qualitative evaluation to validate its assistive effects. Human subject experiments that have frequently been used have several drawbacks such as heavy ethical procedures, repeatability, and subjectivity coming from tests with questionnaires. A humanoid robot with humanlike structure and shape has potential to be used as an “active mannequin.” By reproducing human motions based on a technique called retargeting, a humanoid robot can test wearable devices instead of a human. It has advantages as it can repeat the same motions to test the product under the same conditions, and it has no ethical risks. The largest advantage is its capacity of quantitative evaluation by measuring joint torques, which allows direct validation of supportive torque generated by the device. By taking an example of a supportive wear “Smart Suit Lite” supporting the user’s lower back by elastic bands, we will overview the evaluation framework of humanoid-based assistive device evaluation, including human motion retargeting, experimental device evaluation with humanoid HRP-4C, and validation of the accuracy of the results using an identification method.
  • 田中孝之, 諸麦俊司, 松野 文俊, 大須賀 公一, 松原 仁, 野田 五十樹, 稲見 昌彦 (担当:分担執筆範囲:センサ・アクチュエータとモデリング)
    近代科学社 2017年12月 (ISBN: 476490473X) 1024
  • 田中孝之, 人工知能学会, JSAI (担当:分担執筆範囲:パワーアシストスーツ)
    共立出版 2017年07月 (ISBN: 4320124200) 1579 1024-1025
  • 田中孝之, 日下 聖, 土谷圭央, 板生 清 (担当:分担執筆範囲:作業者の腰への負担計測と軽減に向けたセンサ内蔵ウェアの開発)
    サイエンス&テクノロジー株式会社 2017年04月 (ISBN: 4864281513) 519
  • 産業技術研究所ヒューマンライフテクノロジー研究部門 (担当:分担執筆範囲:パワードスーツ)
    朝倉書店 2013年10月 (ISBN: 4254201524) 506
  • 東日本大震災合同調査報告書編集委員会 
    日本機械学会, 丸善出版 (発売) 2013年 (ISBN: 9784888982320) 178-180
  • 山藤 和男, 田中 孝之 
    養賢堂 2002年 (ISBN: 4842503319)

講演・口頭発表等

担当経験のある科目(授業)

  • 電気制御システム実験北海道大学
  • 電気制御システム演習北海道大学
  • ヒューマンセントリックシステム特論北海道大学
  • 一般教育演習北海道大学
  • システム制御情報学特論北海道大学
  • 計測工学電気通信大学
  • 物理学電気通信大学,東京農工大学
  • ロボティクス北海道大学

所属学協会

  • IEEE   精密工学会   計測自動制御学会   日本機械学会   日本ロボット学会   IEEE   Japan Society of Precision Engineering   The Society of Instrument and Control Engineering   Japan Society of Mechanical Engineering   Robotics Society of Japan   

Works(作品等)

  • スマートスーツ研究会
    2007年 -2011年
  • 軽労化研究会
    2011年

共同研究・競争的資金等の研究課題

  • 日本学術振興会:科学研究費助成事業
    研究期間 : 2022年04月 -2025年03月 
    代表者 : 田中 孝之, 村井 昭彦
  • 日本学術振興会:科学研究費助成事業 基盤研究(B)
    研究期間 : 2018年04月 -2021年03月 
    代表者 : 栗田 雄一, 田中 孝之, 三木 則尚
     
    2018年度は,(1)身体負荷計測,努力感計測,心理負荷計測を含む身体・心理負荷のリアルタイム計測技術の開発,ならびに(2)負担規範のアシスト力の設計,ソフトアクチュエータを利用した運動アシストスーツの開発を含むソフトエグゾスケルトンスーツの開発を主に実施した.(1)については,筋電計測を活用した腰部身体負荷計測のプレ実験を行った.また,電極を用いた心理負荷計測を行うためのウェアラブルセンサ技術の開発を行った.これら開発は,研究分担者と連携して実施している.また運動アシストにおける運動主体感の変化を調べるために,空気圧人工筋による運動アシストのタイミングを早めたり遅らせたりしたときに,着用者が自分自身で体を動かしたかように感じるか(すなわち,運動主体感)がどのように変化するかを調査した.これらの結果は,運動支援デバイスのアシストタイミングを制御する際の設計指針に利用可能な知見である.(2)については,空気圧人工筋を利用したソフトなエグゾスケルトン・スーツのプロトタイプを開発した.これは,複数本の人工筋を両面テープつきのサポーターを利用することで人体の幅広い範囲に取り付けることが可能である.また,マイクロコンピュータ,小型空気圧源,小型電磁弁,バッテリーの組み合わせにより,比較的小型・軽量な構成で着用可能である.開発したスーツを利用して,スポーツ体験を拡張することを目的とした実験を実施した.レーザータグゲームにおける力フィードバックに応用したところ,着用者が激しく動く環境でも利用可能であることを確認した.
  • 日本学術振興会:科学研究費助成事業 基盤研究(B)
    研究期間 : 2017年04月 -2020年03月 
    代表者 : 田中 孝之, 島谷 康司, 栗田 雄一
     
    ウェアラブル運動知覚統合システムを開発し,運動機能,感覚機能の向上に対して,その効果を評価することを目的として,次の課題に取り組み,それぞれ成果を上げた. (1) 筋シナジーに基づく間接的運動教示インタフェース:骨盤底筋群と腹横筋の筋シナジー関係に基づいて,腹横筋の収縮活動をモニターに表示し,骨盤底筋群の活動として知覚させて,指示した筋収縮量に随意的に骨盤底筋群を収縮させる間接的運動教示インタフェースを構築し,実験的に有効性を確認した.本手法によるトレーニングにより,骨盤底筋群の運動知覚が容易になると共に,骨盤底筋群と腹横筋との筋シナジー関係が強化される新たな知見が得られた.本成果を国際会議,国内講演会にて発表した. (2) 力触覚刺激によるウェアラブル運動知覚インタフェース:上記(1)の視覚によるバイオフィードバックトレーニングの簡略化を目指し,腹横筋に突起物を押し付け,筋収縮に伴う筋硬さ変化を力触覚により知覚するウェアラブル間接的運動教示インタフェースを開発した. (3) 運動教示を取り入れたトレーニングプログラム設計:骨盤形状を2方向のレントゲン画像から計測し,骨盤姿勢を歩容から推定する,骨盤形状・姿勢の個人同定法を構築した.男女被験者の骨盤をMRI撮像して,提案手法の有効性を確認した.この成果を英文学術誌に掲載している.さらに,姿勢変化時の骨盤底筋群の活動を男女被験者で計測し,骨盤形状を個人同定した筋骨格動力学モデルで算出した筋活動と比較し,骨盤底筋群トレーニングのための最適姿勢の算出が可能であることを示し,個別のトレーニングプログラム設計の基礎構築を行った.
  • 日本学術振興会:科学研究費助成事業 基盤研究(C)
    研究期間 : 2012年04月 -2015年03月 
    代表者 : 田中 孝之
     
    自動車運転手の危険回避支援を目的として,振動刺激によって前方車両や障害物との距離情報を提示する振動インタフェースのための基盤技術を研究開発した. まず,振動感覚による適切な距離感覚提示を実現するために,走行速度を考慮した距離感覚と振動感覚をモデル化した.視覚情報では錯覚が生じるような環境においても,振動刺激によって,正確な距離感覚を提供できることを確認した.つぎに,前方車両への接近等,相対移動物体との距離感覚提示のための振動感覚ダイナミクスモデルを構築した.さらに,距離感覚と相対速度感覚の感覚順応モデルの構築と補正手法を構築し,より的確な情報伝達を可能にした.
  • 日本学術振興会:科学研究費助成事業 若手研究(A)
    研究期間 : 2006年 -2007年 
    代表者 : 田中 孝之
     
    装着者にあわせて増力装置の構造を最適化することでアシスト力を効率良く装着者に伝達し,アシスト効率を向上するためのアクチュエーション技術を開発する.2種類の可変構造システムを開発し,装着者の体格に対する増力装置のサイズの不適切さ,および動作中の増力装置のずれに起因するアシスト効率悪化の問題を解消した.また生体センサを用いて増力装置のずれを検出するセンサシステムを開発した. まず,アクチュエータユニットをスーツ要所に配置したジグに取り付けることで固定し,ジグとスーツを介して装着者にアシスト力を伝達する.各ジグ間のアクチュエータユニットのワイヤ長を手動調整することで,装着者の体格に増力装置を合わせる静的な可変構造システムを開発した. アレイ状EMGセンサを用いて,神経支配帯とセンサ情報との関係よりスーツのずれを計測するセンサシステムを開発した.ここで増力装置のずれがアシスト効率に大きく影響する.そこで,アクチュエータユニット取り付け部に装着者の体表面に密着するようにEMGセンサをアレイ状に取り付け,ホルダのずれを実時間で計測することができた.また,超音波による筋活動センシングによる動作計測システムを開発した.テスト特徴分類器に基づいて動作認識法を開発し,生体を透過した超音波から関節角度・トルクを認識する手法を確立した. 最後に,腰と膝を同時アシスト可能な増力装置を開発した.ここでは,アクチュエータユニットを腰部に2つ取り付け,腰と肩および腰と膝とをアクチュエータユニットで結び,腰と膝に補助力が得られるようにした.アクチュエータユニットのずれによってアシスト効率が低下することをシミュレーションと実験により確認した.さらに,2つのアクチュエータユニット間の位置を動的に制御することで,ずれを抑制する制御系を開発し,実験によってその効果を示した.
  • 葡萄園除草ロボットの研究開発
    研究期間 : 2006年
  • 日本学術振興会:科学研究費助成事業 基盤研究(C)
    研究期間 : 2003年 -2005年 
    代表者 : 田中 一男, 田中 孝之
     
    1 可変構造機械系のシステム記述法の開発 可変構造を有する機械系システムの記述方法を開発した。モデル作成には、sector nonlinearityの概念を利用して構造に応じた複数の非線形モデルを作成し、構造特性などを考慮してこれらの非線形モデルをスイッチングする手法を提案した。 2 可変構造機械系に対する制御手法の開発 1で開発した可変構造システムに対して有効な制御手法を開発した。開発した制御手法では、 (1)構造の切り替えにおいてエネルギーが保存されるシステム (2)構造の切り替えにおいて状態変数の値が保存されるシステム に対する安定化制御器の設計条件を導出した。 3 鳥ロボットの開発 鳥ロボットを開発し、視覚センサを搭載した。しかし、羽ばたきの振動のため、実際の飛行時には搭載した視覚センサからの画像情報にかなりの乱れが生じてしまった。そこで、一点支持の状態で、移動目標物に追従するような方向制御実験を行い、その有効性を示した。 4 可変構造機械系設計法の高度化 2の手法を鳥ロボット飛行制御へ適用するために、可変構造機械系のサブシステム切り替えの前後において、自由度や拘束条件が変化した場合にも対応可能な制御系設計条件を導いた。さらに、この成果をもとに、より実用的な可変構造機械系の設計法を開発した。 5 鳥ロボットの揚力安定化実験 鳥ロボットの揚力ダイナミクスモデルを同定し、制御系設計を行った。振り下げ時に速度を大きくしなるべく大きい上昇力を得るように、しかも、振り上げ時にゆっくりと振り上げて下降力をなるべく小さく抑えるような翼の目標軌道を生成し、それに追従させるような制御系設計を行った。揚力安定化実験によりその有効性を示した。
  • セミアクティブアシストに基づく筋力補助装置スマートスーツ
    共同研究
    研究期間 : 2004年
  • Smart Suit: Power Assist Device based on Semi-active Assist
    Cooperative Research
    研究期間 : 2004年
  • ユニバーサルデザインに基づく携帯型障害物検出デバイス
    研究期間 : 2003年
  • Portable Obstacle Detector based on Universal Design
    研究期間 : 2003年
  • 簡易装着型ヒューマンインタフェース「センサスーツ」
    研究期間 : 2002年
  • Wearable Human Interface "Sensor Suit"
    研究期間 : 2002年
  • 日本学術振興会:科学研究費助成事業 奨励研究(A)
    研究期間 : 1998年 -1999年 
    代表者 : 田中 孝之
     
    開発する対話型ペットロボットのシステムは,センサ系,認識系,処理系及び表出系に大別される.このうち,平成10年度は本ペットロボットの表出系となるぬいぐるみ型ハードウェアと処理系となる生物の神経回路ネットワークを模した対話型アルゴリズムの開発を行った. 平成11年度は,まずロボットシステムに視覚センサとしてCCDカメラを搭載し,対話の相手との相対関係および周辺情報を視覚情報により獲得するセンサ系・認識系を開発し,前年度の成果とあわせて統合的なプロトタイプシステムを開発した. 次に,人間の処理が本能と理性によるもので,その表出から内部心理状態を推測することが困難であるため,比較的本能的な処理・表出が行われているペット動物を対話の相手として用いることとした.具体的な対話としてペット動物との「遊び」を行うこととし,開発した対話型アルゴリズムによって人間とペット動物が遊ぶことに近い遊びができることを確認した. 以上の成果から,目的とした対話型ロボットのプロトタイプを開発し,生物との対話によりアルゴリズムの有効性を実証した.今後の課題として,人間の表出のように複雑な情報から,相手の内部心理状態を推測できるようなシステムの開発が望まれる.

産業財産権

  • 特許6586700:負荷検出装置、情報処理装置、負荷検出方法、および負荷検出プログラム  
    田中 孝之, 日下 聖, 土谷 圭央, 安田 雅彦, 根岸 易世, 古川 治, 根岸 恭子, 根橋 秀文, 安東 繁宏
  • 特開2019-023368:ウェアラブル装置、情報管理システム、駆動方法、およびアプリケーションプログラム  2019年02月14日
    田中 孝之, 岡本 仁志, 日下 聖, 伊藤 隆太郎
  • 特開2019-017878:計測装置、計測システム、計測方法、プログラムおよび携帯型端末  2019年02月07日
    田中 孝之, 金子 俊一, 日下 聖, 和田 恭坪, 山本 雅也
  • 特許6617519:補助スーツ  
    田中 孝之, 栗田 雄一
  • 特開2017-064203:保護装置並びに保護装置の制御方法及び制御プログラム  2017年04月06日
    田中 孝之, 酒井 裕司, 熊倉 祐一郎, 鈴木 善人
  • 特開2015-221178:トレーニング装置、トレーニング装置の制御方法及び制御プログラム  2015年12月10日
    野村 英史, 今井 茂, 山村 侑平, 中野 直樹, 田中 孝之, 今村 由芽子
  • 田中 孝之, 鈴木 善人  国立大学法人北海道大学, 株式会社スマートサポート  201103039765473966
  • 特許5505625:筋力補助具  2014年03月28日
    田中 孝之, 鈴木 善人, 吉成 哲, 前田 大輔, 山岸 暢  国立大学法人北海道大学, 株式会社スマートサポート  201103095200169365
  • 矢田 和也, 椎名 肖一, 上田 尚輝, 田中 孝之, 松本 浩輔  株式会社大林組, 国立大学法人北海道大学  201403009871663389
  • 田中 孝之, 中野 基輝, 山野 光一, 近藤 伸一, 関 修治, 坂本 直久  国立大学法人北海道大学, 株式会社モリタホールディングス  200903051596480607
  • 田中 孝之, 鈴木 善人  株式会社リープス  201003067142771377
  • 田中 孝之, 鈴木 善人  国立大学法人北海道大学, 株式会社スマートサポート  201103052766950470
  • 田中 孝之, 佐藤 悠太, 鈴木 善人, 坂本 直久, 関 修治  国立大学法人 北海道大学, 株式会社リープス, 株式会社モリタホールディングス  200903071513356544


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