There is an urgent need to incorporate the perspectives of culturally diverse groups into AI developments. We present a novel conceptual framework for research that aims to expand, reimagine, and reground mainstream visions of AI using independent and interdependent cultural models of the self and the environment. Two survey studies support this framework and provide preliminary evidence that people apply their cultural models when imagining their ideal AI. Compared with European American respondents, Chinese respondents viewed it as less important to control AI and more important to connect with AI, and were more likely to prefer AI with capacities to influence. Reflecting both cultural models, findings from African American respondents resembled both European American and Chinese respondents. We discuss study limitations and future directions and highlight the need to develop culturally responsive and relevant AI to serve a broader segment of the world population.

In this paper, we propose a novel hands-free interface for robot-assisted operation. Surgeons use both hands during surgery, making difficult for them to operate the display. However, by using a modality other than the hands to operate the display, the surgeon can check the necessary information for the operation in real time. Therefore, we developed a system that recognizes breath from the temperature change on the mask surface. Then, we compared the proposed system with a directly recognized breath method. Consequently, the proposed method had the same performance as directly recognized breath method and minimized the risk of contamination. We believe that the application of our developed system will contribute to the improvement of safety and efficiency in the medical field.

The COVID-19 pandemic has popularized telework using video chat tools. Although video chat tools allow people to communicate each other in remote locations, psychological distance is longer than face-to-face communication, which may lead to a lack of intimacy. Previous studies have shown that interfaces combining video chat, VR, and robots with handshakes can improve the sense of closeness. However, few studies have focused on the sense of closeness in interfaces combining VR and robots. In this study, we proposed a multimodal interface combining VR and a robotic arm and verified whether shaking hands with a remote partner in VR could shorten the psychological distance compared to video chat. The results showed that the psychological distance was predominantly shorter in VR communication than in video chat communication; however, a handshake using robotic arm did not shorten the psychological distance compared to a handshake without a robotic arm. These results indicate that spatial distance is shorter in VR than in video chat and that robotic arms must be made more human-like.

In this paper, we describe development of the multi-axial micromanipulation organized by versatile micro robots using micro tweezers. To conduct microscopic operations, a unique locomotion mechanism composed of four piezoelectric actuators and two electromagnets is proposed. Here two legs arranged to cross each other are connected by four piezoelectric actuators so that the robot can move in any direction, i.e. in X and Y directions as well as rotate at the specified point precisely in the manner of an inchworm. To manipulate micro objects by these versatile micro robots, we have developed micro tweezers driven by 3 piezoelectric actuators. We have also developed an electromagnetic spherical micromanipulator to position the micro tweezers. The electromagnetic spherical micromanipulator rotates in yaw, roll and pitch directions independently. The electromagnetic spherical micromanipulator is a 1-inch cube size, so we can easily attach them on top of the versatile micro robots. We have developed the multi-axial micromanipulation organized by 3 versatile micro robots with the electromagnetic spherical micromanipulator and micro tweezers. The whole manipulation device is very small, 200 mm in diameter and 70 mm in height, so we can easily attach the device to micro processing instruments even if the working area is very small. This device has 21 DOF with less than 100 nm resolution. In experiments, we have demonstrated flexible handling of miniscule glass spheres with a diameter of 20 mum. We have also succeeded in fixing miniscule glass spheres on a sample table by an ultraviolet cure adhesive. The design procedure, basic performance and micro-assembling applications of this tiny robot are also discussed as part of the new field of micro robotics requiring especially high precision in certain regions.

In this paper, we describe the design and development of a positioning and compensation device for a versatile micro robot. To provide microscopic operations, the versatile micro robot has developed. The robot can move in any direction in the manner of an inchworm. However many positioning errors exist because of an assembling error in the four piezoelectric actuators and two electromagnets. We need an automatic positioning device for more accurate work. Motion compensation is also highly required for more effective work. This robot is very small, so it can easily be set to work with the various devices. The positing device should also be small so that we can carry the device easily and set it up in a narrow working area. In this report, we propose a USB camera based positioning device with special compensation function. In experiments, we succeeded in controlling the robot on an octagonal path with controlling the posture angle freely. When we compensate for the motion, the positioning time becomes 60 % compared to that of no compensation. The design procedure, basic performance and biomedical application are also discussed as an advance in the new field of micro-robotics used in precision regions.

In this paper, we describe the newly-developed microscopic operation system assisted by one cubic inch sized micro robots under an inverted microscope. These micro robots, which are composed of piezo elements, are capable of moving in any direction, i.e. in X and Y directions as well as precisely rotate at the specified point. And they can convey several surgical fine tools such as a holding pipette and injection pipette so that they can execute flexible operations in a bio-cell while the well-trained operator can conventionally manage this operation. To automate these operations in the bio-cell, the tiny robots can be navigated and positioned by the combination of two styles of coordination measurement. At first as a coarse navigation manner, several micro robots can be guided into the range of the microscope from the arbitrary positions based on the analog signal feedback used by a PSD sensor. And then the microscopic operations can be carried out by monitoring the position of fine tools by analyzing the microscopic images obtained from the CCD camera. The experimental results show that the proposed system succeeds in maneuvering these small robots to provide microscopic operations.

This paper describes a feature calibration scheme for use in embedding and detecting watermarks in document images. Such watermarks have a variety of uses, including copyright protection, content identification, and tamper-proofing. In general, a watermark is encoded as a displacement of certain features that can be extracted from target document images. One of the technical challenges is reliable detection of the displacement when images are distorted by print-and-scan processes. We propose a calibration method that uses the difference between a two features extracted from two sets of partitions arranged symmetrically. Since this method counter-balances the cumulative effects on the features of distortions added in the print-and-scan process, the displacement can be reliably detected. The feasibility of the method was investigated by using the average width of character strokes is used as a feature.