This workshop is dedicated to discuss and explore the specific interdisciplinary aspects of Bodily human robot interaction, and establish a common ground for this area as a recognized and continued research topic. Bodily interaction with robots and robotic devices is partially established in niche applications such as exoskeletons, assistive devices and advanced machines for physical training where bodily interaction is the application. Bodily interaction is expected to develop a broader role in human robot interaction, for instance in manufacturing and in social and entertainment robotics. The direct exchange of force and motion in bodily interaction create a range of engineering challenges, but also entwine engineering directly with topics that traditionally reside in the realm of health and humanistic science, from biomechanics to human's social responses to the prompting and responses of physical interaction.

Robot usage in the fields of human support and healthcare is expanding. Robotic devices to assist humans in the self-feeding task have been developed to help patients with limited mobility in the upper limbs but the acceptance of these robots has been limited. In this work, we investigate how to quantitatively evaluate the comfort of an eating assistive device by estimating the interaction forces between the human and the robot when eating. Rather than using expensive or commercially unavailable devices to directly measure the forces involved in feeding, we use an accelerometer to estimate these forces, which are calculated using a previously observed estimation of the system mass and the measured acceleration during the feeding process. We experimentally verify our concept with a commercially-available eating assistive device and a human subject. The evaluation results demonstrate the feasibility of our approach.

Up to now, there are different kinds of robot-assisted ultrasound diagnostic systems proposed in the last decade. However, the compensation of the ultrasound probe position according to the patient movement is still one of the most important and useful functions required for those systems. For this purpose, in this research, we aim at developing an automated diagnostic system for the measurement of the wave intensity which is usually measured at the common carotid artery. In particular, in this paper, we focus on proposing a robust visual servoing method for tracking out-of-plane motion for a robot-assisted medical ultrasound diagnostic system by using a conventional 2D probe. A robotic device which manipulates the ultrasound probe firstly scans a small area around the target position and records several B-mode images at a regular interval. In order to track the out-of-plane motion, an inter-frame block matching method has been proposed and implemented on the Waseda-Tokyo Women's Medical-Aloka Blood Flow Measurement System No. 2 Refined (WTA-2R). A set of experiments was proposed to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. From the experimental results, we could confirm its robustness while doing the task with real human tissues.

In recent years advanced robotic technology has seen more use in the medical field to assist in the development of efficient training systems. Such training systems must fulfill the following criteria: they must provide quantitative information, must simulate the real-world conditions of the task, and assure training effectiveness. We developed Waseda Kyotokagaku Airway series to fulfill all of those requirements. The WKA series we had developed does not consider external appearance such as patient skin, or internal appearance such as the pharynx, larynx, and esophagus. Moreover, the tongue mechanism of the previous system can not precisely measure the force applied by medical devices and cannot simulate muscle stiffness. In addition, the mandible mechanism of the previous system could not adequately reproduce various airway difficulties or apply force control. For these reasons, we propose the WKA-4, which has high-fidelity simulated human anatomy, and we have improved the mechanism over the previous system. We have also attached a lung to the proposed system to improve simulation of the real-world conditions of the task. In this paper, we present how to design several organs with various embedded sensors and actuators, for a conventional patient model with high-fidelity simulated human anatomy. We also present the control system for the WKA-4. Finally, we present a set of experiments carried out using doctors as subjects, and they gave their valuable opinions about our system.

Many patients suffer from swallowing disorders (dysphagia). There are many treatments for these disorders, such as swallowing therapy, surgery, and dietary modification. In our study, we focuse on dietary modification, a common approach. Normally, the swallowing is affected by food bolus properties such as hardness, stickiness and rheological characteristics, and dietary modifications can prevent swallowing disorder patients from suffering dysphagia (aspiration), as well as promote good nutrition. Based on these facts, our goal is to find foods which do not cause dysphagia, and develop food for swallowing disorder patients accordingly. Therefore, we are proposing an in-vitro Dynamic VFSS (Video Fluorographic Swallowing Study) simulation system which uses advanced robotics technology to mimic the dynamic process of swallowing and monitors the status and movement of the food bolus inside the system, for objective evaluation of the swallowing process. The dynamic VFSS simulation system consists of a head, mandible, neck, tongue, pharynx, and larynx which reproduce human anatomy. It is driven by 16 actuators with wire driving mechanisms. In this paper, we will present the dynamic VFSS simulation unit in detail. In addition, we will detail a set of the experiments carried out to determine whether food bolus properties can affect dysphagia or not. To observe the movement of the food bolus, we use a Video Fluoroscopy (VF) unit. The results of the experiments show that thickened boluses have a tendency to leave residue in the epiglottic vallecula. In contrast, liquids cause less residue, and increase the risk of dysphagia (aspiration). Moreover, this study shows that the frontal image, as well as the lateral image, is important for evaluating residual food in the oral- pharyngeal space.

Our research is related to the development of an anthropomorphic saxophonist robot which reproduced the human organs involved during the saxophone playing. This research approach aims in understanding the human motor control from an engineering point of view and enabling the communication between humans and robots in musical terms. In a previous research, we have presented the Waseda Saxophonist Robot No. 2 (WAS-2) which improved the design of the lip and finger mechanisms. In addition, a feed-forward air pressure with dead-time compensation and an overblowing correction controller were implemented. However, the range of pressure was too limited to reproduce dynamic effects of the sound (i.e. decrescendo, etc.), a delay on the response of the finger mechanism was detected (due to the use of a wire-driven mechanism) and deviations on the pitch during the saxophone playing were observed. Therefore; in this paper, we present the Waseda Saxophonist Robot No. 2 Refined (WAS-2R). In particular the shape of the oral cavity has been re-designed to increase the sound pressure range and potentiometers were embedded on the fingers to reduce the dynamic delay response of the wire-driven mechanism. In addition, a Pressure-Pitch Controller has been implemented to reduce the deviation of the sound pitch by implementing a feedback error learning algorithm for a Multiple-Input Multiple-Output system. A set of experiments were proposed to verify the effectiveness of the re-designed mechanisms and the improved control strategy. From the experimental results, we could confirm the improvements to extend the sound pressure range to reproduce the decrescendo effect, to reduce the response delay from the finger mechanism as well as the deviations on the sound pitch.

Since 2007, the research on the anthropomorphic saxophonist robot at Waseda University aims in understanding the human motor control from an engineering point of view as well as an approach to enable the interaction with musical partners. As a result of our research, last year we have introduced the Waseda Saxophonist Robot No. 1 (WAS-1), composed of 15-DOFs that reproduced the lips (1-DOF), tonguing (1-DOF), oral cavity, lungs (2-DOF) and fingers (11-DOFs). However, even that the mouth mechanism of WAS-1 was useful in order to adjust the pitch of the saxophone sound, the range of sound pressure was too narrow. Thus, no dynamic effects of the sound can be reproduced (i.e. crescendo and decrescendo). Moreover, the finger mechanism was designed only to play from C3-C#5. On the other hand, a cascade feedback control system has been implemented in the WAS-1; however, a considerable delay in the attack time to reach the desired air pressure was detected. Therefore, in this paper, the Waseda Saxophone Robot No. 2 (WAS-2) which is composed by 22-DOFs is detailed. The lip mechanism of WAS-2 has been designed with 3-DOFs to control the motion of the lower, upper and sideway lips. In addition, a human-like hand (16 DOF-s) has been designed to enable to play all the keys of the instrument. Regarding the improvement of the control system, a feed-forward control system with dead-time compensation has been implemented to assure the accurate control of the air pressure. A set of experiments were carried out to verify the mechanical design improvements and the dynamic response of the air pressure. As a result, the range of sound pressure has been increased and the proposed control system improved the dynamic response of the air pressure control.

In this paper, we present a robotic system which automatically searches and detects the longitudinal section of the carotid artery using a conventional medical ultrasound diagnostic system. In order to obtain a clear image of the carotid artery ready for medical diagnosis, the authors developed real-time image processing algorithms to detect the carotid artery and tissue layers of its walls in the B-mode ultrasound images. Sequential patterns of the ultrasound probe trajectory for scanning the surface of the neck and searching the carotid, were implemented and tested on the Waseda-Tokyo Women's Medical-Aloka Blood Flow Measurement Robot System No. 1 Refined II (WTA-1RII). An experiment with eleven volunteers was carried out and the results show that the system obtained clear images of the carotid artery in 91% of the trials.

Recently, in medical field, different training methods for medical staff have been proposed. However, the lack of knowledge on the real improvements of trainees makes difficult the real effectiveness of those proposed methods. Therefore, we are proposing an Active Training system for the effective medical training. The Active training system is characterized by providing quantitative information of the trainee's performance of the task to the trainee, simulating real-world conditions of the task, and assuring training effectiveness. In order to fulfill each of these characteristics, we have developed Waseda Kyotokagaku Airway No.3 (WKA-3) which makes it possible to obtain quantitative information for the trainee's performance and reproduce the various cases, individual differences for the airway difficulties for the simulating real-world conditions of the task. In this paper, we are proposing a patient scenario generation which can reproduce the characteristics of the patient simulating real-world conditions of the task for WKA-3. In emergent situation or surgical operation, the characteristics of patients are presented in the three parameters such as: patient initial conditions, time variant status change, and reflex action. By adjusting, and combining each of the three parameters, we can reproduce the various patient scenarios. In this paper, we also state how to generate the Patient Scenario Generation using the position control and virtual compliance control. Finally, a set of experiments has been carried out to the doctor subjects in order to verify effectiveness of the proposed Patient Scenario Generation, and discuss the doctors about the result of the experiments.

An active training system is characterized by providing quantitative information of the trainee's performance of the task to the trainee, simulating real-world conditions of the task, and assuring training effectiveness. For this purpose, the authors have been developing an Airway management training system. In particular, we have previously presented an evaluation model system to acquire quantitative information for the trainee's performance, and an actuated model system for real-world conditions of the task. In order to fulfill all of the characteristics of the active training system; in this paper, we would like to propose an integrated system, Waseda Kyotokagaku Airway No.3 (WKA-3) which integrates the function of both system models. For this reason, we have focused on embedding sensors and actuators with the link drive mechanism and the wire drive mechanism to a conventional patient model towards the development of a patient robot. In this paper, we present WKA-3 how to design the mechanism and how to redesign several organs to embed the sensors for the measurement of the trainee's performance. A set of experiment have been carried out to doctor subjects using the WKA-3 to verify the effectiveness of the proposed system by asking doctors to evaluate the proposed system.

The flutist robot WF-4RIV at Waseda University is able to play the flute at the level of an intermediate human player. So far the robot has been able to play in a statically sequenced duet with another musician, individually communicating only by keeping eye-contact. To extend the interactive capabilities of the flutist robot, we have in previous publications described the implementation of a Music-based Interaction System (MbIS). The purpose of this system is to combine information from the robot's visual and aural sensor input signal processing systems to enable musical communication with a partner musician. In this paper we focus on that part of the MbIS that is responsible for mapping the information from the sensor processing system to generate meaningful modulation of the musical output of the robot. We propose a two skill level approach to enable musicians of different ability levels to interact with the robot. When interacting with the flutist robot the device's physical capabilities / limitations need to be taken into account. In the beginner level interaction system the user's input to the robot is filtered in order to adjust it to the state of the robot's breathing system. The advanced level stage uses both the aural and visual sensor processing information. In a teaching phase the musician teaches the robot a tone sequence (by actually performing the sequence) that he relates to a certain instrument movement. In a performance phase, the musician can trigger these taught sequences by performing the according movements. Experiments to validate the functionality of the MbIS approach have been performed and the results are presented in this paper.

Since 2007, our research is related to the development of an anthropomorphic saxophonist robot, which it has been designed to imitate the saxophonist playing by mechanically reproducing the organs involved for playing a saxophone. Our research aims in understanding the motor control from an engineering point of view and enabling the communication. In a previous paper, the Waseda Saxophone Robot No. 2 (WAS-2) which is composed by 22-DOFs has been presented. Moreover, a feedback error learning with dead time compensation has been implemented to control the air pressure of the robot. However, such a controller couldn't deal with the overblowing effects (unsteady tones) that are found during a musical performance. Therefore; in this paper, the implementation of an Overblowing Correction Controller (OCC) has been proposed and implemented in order to assure the steady tone during the performance by using the pitch feedback signal to detect the overblowing condition and by defining a recovery position (off-line) to correct it. Moreover, a saxophone sound evaluation function (sustain phase) has been proposed to compare the sound produced by human players and the robot. A set of experiments were carried out to verify the improvements on the musical performance of the robot and its sound has been quantitatively compared with human saxophonists. From the experimental results, we could observe improvements on the pitch (correctness) and tone stability.

The research on Music Playing-Instrument Humanoid Robots (MP-HRs) has a long tradition in the research field of robotics since the development of the humanoid pianist robot WABOT-2 developed at Waseda University (1984). Since then, several researchers have been aiming for the better understanding of the human musical performance. For this purpose, different mechanical designs and cognitive functions have been implemented on them. A particular interest was given to wind instruments as a research approach for understanding human breathing mechanism. Nowadays, different kinds of automated machines and humanoid robots have been developed for playing wind instruments to understand the human motor control from an engineering point of view. Moreover, the importance of studying the ways of enabling the interaction between musicians-humanoid is being attracting several researchers from different research fields. As a long-term research goal, we are aiming to enable wind playing-instrument humanoid robots to display motor dexterities and high-level perceptual capabilities to interact with other musician partners. In this paper, we present our current research achievements on the development of an anthropomorphic saxophonist robot and the implementation of a musical-based interaction system tested on an anthropomorphic flutist robot.

The emerging field of medical robotics aims to introduce intelligent tools to assist a physician. The main challenges for developing efficient medical robotic training systems are simulating real-world conditions of the task and assuring training effectiveness. High anatomic fidelity has been achieved in current systems. However, those training systems are designed to reproduce specific conditions of the task (passive training). In this research, we are focusing in developing an airway management training systems designed to reproduce various cases of difficult airway. Such difficulties (i.e. restricted mouth opening, various shapes of oral cavity including tongue swallowing, etc) may provoke traumas on different organs of the patient during an emergency situation. For this purpose, the authors have proposed the development of more advanced training tools. For this purpose, we have focused in embedding sensors and actuators to a conventional patient model towards the development of a patient robot (in previous research, authors have presented the evaluation model which embeds sensors). In this paper, we present an airway training system which embeds actuators into a mannequin. In particular, the mechanism design of the Waseda Kyotokagaku Airway No.2 (WKA-2) is detailed. The WKA-2 is composed of twelve active and one passive degrees of freedom; which are designed to reproduce the various cases of difficult airway. For this purpose, the WKA-2 reproduces the human muscles around the upper airway based on a wire driving mechanisms (a total of sixteen wires are used). In particular, the head of the model is composed of a tongue and mandible with translational and rotational movements around kinematic axis. In addition, we present the details of the kinematic model of WKA-2 which enable the robot to reproduce the airway difficulties. Finally, we presented the design of a tension sensor designed to measure the applied tension on each of the wire driving mechanism of WKA-2. As preliminary experiments, we reproduce several cases of difficult airways using WKA-2.

The research on the development of musical performance robots has been particularly intensified on the last decades. In fact, the development of anthropomorphic robots able of playing musical instruments have been served as a mean for understanding the human motor control from an engineering point of view as well as understanding how to enable the communication between human and robots from an emotional point of view. In particular, our research aims in the development of an anthropomorphic saxophonist robot which is able not only of performing a musical score; but also to interact with other musical performance robots (i.e. Waseda Flutist Robot) at the emotional level of perception. In this year, we have focused on the mechanical design of an anthropomorphic robot Waseda Saxophonist Robot No. 1 (WAS-1); which has been designed for playing an alto saxophone. WAS-1 has a total of 15-DOFs which mechanically reproduces the following organs involved during the saxophone playing: lips (1-DOF), tongue (1-DOF), oral cavity, lungs (air pump: 1-DOF and air valve: 1-DOF) and fingers (11-DOFs). In order to verify the effectiveness of the production of sound, a set of experiments have been proposed. In particular, the characteristics of air flow-pressure, level of mechanical noise, and the ripple effect ratio are presented. Finally, a qualitative evaluation of the sound produced by WAS-1 is presented and discussed. From the experimental results, we have confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed mechanisms to produce the saxophone sound.

The emerging field of medical robotics is aiming in introducing intelligent tools to perform medical procedures. In particular, robotic researchers have been proposed advanced medical training systems to enhance motor dexterities of trainees. An efficient medical training system should be designed to simulate real-world conditions and to assure their effectiveness as the representation of the motor skills often differs among trainees. Up to now, several training simulators have been developed by medical companies designed to reproduce with high fidelity the human body. However, such devices are not designed to provide any information to trainees. Therefore, we have proposed the development of a patient robot which embeds sensors and actuators into a conventional human model. Due to its complexity, as a first approach; we are presenting the development of a suture training system designed to simulate the real-world task conditions as well as providing quantitative assessments. In particular; the Waseda-Kyotokagaku Suture No.2 Refined II is presented, which includes a new evaluation function to provide more detailed information of the task. A set of experiments were proposed to analyze the performance of trainees. From the experimental results, we could confirm its effectiveness to detect differences of the performance of trainees.

In recent years, due to the increasing rate of elderly people in Japan, the needs to detect adults' diseases at the early stage becomes a high priority. In particular, an increased interest in detecting heart and cerebrovascular diseases at an early stage may allow clinicians to begin treatment sooner, when interventions are generally more effective and less expensive. Recently, the wave intensity (WI) has been proposed as a new hemodynamic index that provides information about the dynamic behavior of the heart and the vascular system and their interaction. However; the repetitiveness and accuracy of the WI measurement depend on the precision of the positioning of the ultrasound probe. Therefore a positioning device for ultrasound probe is required. Such a device should not only be used to keep the position but also for the fine positioning of the probe. For this purpose, at Waseda University, we have proposed the development of a robot system to assist a carotid blood flow measurement using ultrasound diagnostic equipments. In this paper, the development of Waseda-Tokyo Women's Medical-Aloka Blood Flow Measurement System No. 1 Refined II (WTA-1RII) is detailed. The system consists of an ultrasound diagnostic device, a 6-DOFs parallel link manipulator, a serial link passive arm, ball joint, and a joystick type controller. The WTA-1RII has improved the design of the gravity compensation mechanism. In addition, a genetic algorithm has by implemented to determine the optimal link's position of the 6-DOFs parallel manipulator to increase the workspace. Finally, a set of experiments were carried out to determine the usability of the proposed system.

The Waseda flutist robot is able to play the flute at the level of an intermediate human player. This ability opens a wide field of possibilities to research human-robot musical interaction. This research is focused on enabling the flutist robot to interact more naturally with musical partners in the context of a Jazz band. For this purpose a musical-based interaction system (MbIS) has been proposed to enable the robot to process both visual and aural cues coming throughout the interaction with musicians. In a previous publication, we have concentrated on the implementation of visual communication techniques. We created an interaction interface that enabled the robot to detect instrument gestures of partner musicians during a musical performance. Two computer vision approaches were implemented to create a two-skill-level interface for visual human-robot interaction in a musical context. In this paper we focus on the aural perception system of the robot. The method introduced here enables the robot to, a suitable environment provided, detect the tempo and harmony of a partner musician's play, with a specific focus on improvisation. We achieve this by examining the rhythmical and harmonic characteristics of the recorded sound. We apply the same approach to amplitude and frequency spectrum, thus, in the former case tracking amplitude transients. In the latter case, as we focus on communication with monophonic woodwind instruments, we follow the most prominent peak in the frequency spectrum. We specifically use a similar technique for the audio analysis as we did for our previous research on motion tracking. From the experimental results, we have shown that after implementing our algorithm the robot is able to correctly recognize a number of rhythms and harmonies. It is able to engage in a simple form of stimuli and reaction play with a human musician.

The rapidly increase of personal robotic platforms and their applications in Japan represents a great challenge for universities to introduce undergraduate students the basic knowledge required to develop intelligent automated mechanisms. For this purpose; in this paper, we are presenting our approach to introduce first year undergraduate students of the Department of Modern Mechanical Engineering the basics of robotics systems. In order to foster the creativity of undergraduate students of engineering fields, we focused in developing an education tool designed to introduce at different educational levels the principle of developing mechatronic systems. In particular, the development of an inverted pendulum mobile robot Waseda Wheeled Vehicle No. 2 (WV-2R) has been proposed. Different kinds of experiments were proposed to confirm the possibility of implementing controllers as well as changing physical properties of the system to observe differences on the response of the system. From the experimental results, we could confirm the effectiveness of the proposed systems to control the angle of pendulum respect to the body base as well as by changing the radius of the wheel.

During several decades, the research at Waseda University has been focused on developing anthropomorphic robots able of performing musical instruments. More recently, the authors have succeeded in developing a human-like robot able of playing the alto saxophone. As a result of our research efforts, the Waseda flutist robot WF-4RIV and the Waseda saxophonist robot WAS-1 have been designed to reproduce the human player performance. Therefore, as a long-term goal, we are proposing to enable the interaction between musical performance robots (i.e. robots orchestra). Such approach may enable us not only to propose new ways of musical expression, but also we may contribute to the better understanding of some of the mechanisms that enable the communication of humans in musical terms. In general terms, the communication of humans within an orchestra is a special case of conventional human social behavior. Rhythm, harmony and timbre of the music played represent the emotional states of the musicians. Of course, we are not considering a musical performance robot (MPR) just as a mere sophisticated MIDI instrument. Instead, its human-like design and the integration of perceptual capabilities may enable to act on its own autonomous initiative based on models which consider its own physical constrains. Due to the complexity of our long-term goal, in this paper, we are presenting our first steps towards enabling the interaction between musical performance robots. In particular, the details of the musical performance control systems are detailed. Thanks to the use of MIDI data, we performed preliminary experiments to enable a duet performance between the WF-4RIV and the WAS-1. We expect in the future; as a result of our research, we may enable a single anthropomorphic robot to perform different kinds of woodwind instruments as well as enable to interact at with level of perceptual capabilities (like human does).

The rapidly increase of personal robotic platforms and their applications in Japan represents a great challenge for universities to introduce undergraduate students the basic knowledge required to develop intelligent automated mechanisms. For this purpose; in this paper, we are presenting our approach to introduce first year undergraduate students of the Department of Modern Mechanical Engineering the basics of robotics systems. In particular, the details of curricula of the Mechatronics Laboratory (1) and (2) are explained. In both lessons, the students receive lectures of the content of each proposed topic and then, a set of practical experiments are done. On the other hand, in order to foster the creativity of undergraduate students of engineering fields, we focused in developing an education tool designed to introduce at different educational levels the principle of developing mechatronic systems. In particular, the development of an inverted pendulum mobile robot Waseda Wheeled Vehicle No. 2R (WV-2R) has been proposed. Regarding the Mechatronics Laboratory, questionnaires were proposed to obtain information from the students about their impressions of the lessons. From the comments collected from the questionnaires, we observed the advantages of the proposed curricula to introduce them about robot technology. On the other hand, different kinds of experiments were proposed to confirm the possibility of implementing controllers as well as changing physical properties of the system to observe differences on the response of the system.

The rapidly increase of personal robotic platforms and their applications in Japan represents a great challenge for universities to introduce undergraduate students the basic knowledge required to develop intelligent automated mechanisms, by introducing in simple and efficient ways the basic components of robots as well as their application for solving real-world problems. In Japan, the proliferation of amateur robot contests has been introduced to motivate their interest to get involved in the robotics field. This is not only the case for tournaments supported by local governments and private companies. Several universities along Japan have been implementing Project-Based Learning (PBL) within their curricula as introduction for Mechatronic. For this purpose, at Waseda University, we focused in developing an education tool designed to introduce at different educational levels the principle of developing mechatronic systems. In particular, the development of an inverted pendulum mobile robot Waseda Wheeled Vehicle No. 2 (WV-2R) has been proposed. In this paper, an overview of the research results is detailed. Even that in many universities around the world has been promoting the introduction of robotic technology, little discussion has been done to analyze from an ethical point of view. In this paper, some issues related to both Robot Education and Engineering Ethical Education are give based on experiences carried out in Japan. Then, some points regarding the integration of RoboEthics Education are pointed out for discussion.

Up to now, there is no widely accepted quantitative evaluation scheme. Nowadays, an objective structured clinical examination has been proposed as a modern type of examination often used in medicine to test skills such as medical procedures, etc. The assessment of skills is realized by practical exams, in which students are evaluated by experienced examiner using a check list. However, the examiner lacks of information which cannot be obtained trough the simple observation of the task. Thanks to the advances in robot technology in embedded systems, etc.; more advanced evaluation tools can be conceived. For this reason, at Waseda University, we have proposed the development of a patient robot as an advanced evaluation tool to provide more detailed information of the task. As a first approach of our long-term research target, we have proposed the development of a suture/ligature training system which provides quantitative information of the movement of a dummy skin as well as information of the quality of task. In this paper; we describe the functionalities of the newest version, the Waseda-KyotoKagaku Skin No.2 Refined (WKS-2R), which has been designed to provide quantitative information of the task. In addition, we are proposing a new evaluation function which includes performance indexes and weighting coefficients. As a first approach, the weighting coefficients were determined by using the discriminant analysis. A set of experiments were proposed to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed evaluation function. From the preliminary results, the evaluation function was useful in detecting differences among different levels of expertise as well as detecting improvements during the training process by computing the learning curve.

Up to now, different kinds of musical performance robots (MPRs) and robotic musicians (RMs) have been developed. MPRs are designed to closely reproduce the motor skills displayed by humans in order to play musical instruments. From this approach, MPRs are used as benchmarks to study the human motor control from an engineering point of view and to understand better the human-robot interaction from a musical point of view. In contrast, RMs are conceived as automated mechanisms designed to create new ways of musical expression from a musical engineering point of view. Our research, at Waseda University, has been focused on developing an anthropomorphic flutist robot. Our research aims in studying the human motor control from an engineering point of view, understanding the ways to facilitate the human-robot interaction and proposing new applications for humanoid robot in musical terms. As a result of our research, the Waseda Flutist Robot No.4 Refined IV (WF-4RIV) has been developed. In a previous research, we focused on improving the mechanical system in order to enhance the clarity of the sound. However, we require performing further improvements to the control system in order to enable the robot to autonomously improve the quality of the sound during the flute performance. For this purpose, we proposed to implement an auditory feedback control system on the flutist robot. The proposed system is composed by a music expressive generator, feed-forward air pressure control system and a pitch evaluation module. From the experimental results with the WF-4RIV, we could confirm the improvements on the flute performance.

The aim of this paper is to create an interface for human-robot interaction. Specifically, musical performance parameters (i.e. vibrato expression) of the Waseda Flutist Robot No.4 Refined IV (WF-4RIV) are to be manipulated. Our research is focused on enabling the WF-4RIV to interact with human players (musicians) in a natural way. In this paper, as a first approach, a vision processing algorithm, that is able to track the 3D-orientation and position of a musical instrument, was developed. In particular, the robot acquires image data through two cameras attached to its head. Using color histogram matching and a particle filter, the position of the musicianpsilas hands on the instrument are tracked. Analysis of this data determines orientation and location of the instrument. These parameters are mapped to manipulate the musical expression of the WF-4RIV, more specifically sound vibrato and volume values. We present preliminary experiments to determine if the robot may dynamically change musical parameters while interacting with a human player (i.e. vibrato etc.). From the experimental results, we may confirm the feasibility of the interaction during a performance, although further research must be carried out to consider the physical constraints of the flutist robot.

Our research aims to develop an anthropomorphic flutist robot as a benchmark for the better understanding of interaction between musicians and musical performance robots from a musical point of view. As a long-term goal of our research, we would like to enable such robots to play actively together with a human band, and create novel ways of musical expression. For this purpose, we focus on enhancing the perceptual capabilities of the flutist robot to process musical information coming from the aural and visual perceptual channels. In this paper, we introduce, as a first approach, a hands-free gesture-based control interface designed to modify musical parameters in real-time. In particular, we describe a set of virtual controllers, that a composer can manipulate through gestures of with a musical instrument. The gestures are identified by 2-D motion sensitive areas which graphically represent common control interfaces used in music production. The resulting information from the vision processing is then transformed into MIDI messages, which are subsequently played by the flute robot. In order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed gestural interface, we performed experiments to musically interact with musical partners. ¿From the experimental results we concluded that our method satisfies the technical and idiosyncratic requirements for being a suitable tool for musical performance.

Up to now, different kinds of musical performance robots (MPRs) have been developed. MPRs are designed to closely reproduce the required motor skills displayed by humans in order to play musical instruments. Our research, at Waseda University, has been focused on developing an anthropomorphic flutist robot. In this year, we have succeeded in developing the Waseda Flutist Robot No.4 Refined IV (WF-4RIV); which has improved the design of the mouth mechanism and reproduced the anatomy of the human lips better. In addition, the control system was improved to enable the robot to autonomously improve the quality of the sound during performance. For this purpose, we proposed to implement a new performance control system. From the experimental results, we confirm the improvements on the flute sound produced by the robot.

Surgeons, during a medical intervention, perform different kinds of manual tasks with dexterity and precision. In order to assure the success of the intervention, medical students are trained several years using training models so that they can perform such tasks with accuracy to avoid any possible risk to patients. However, current training models are merely designed to imitate the surgical procedure without providing any further information about the how well the task was done. For that reason; in this paper, the development of a suture/ligature training system is proposed to imitate surgical procedures as well as provide quantitative information of the learning progress of trainees. As a first approach, a training system was designed to simulate the suture and ligature tasks. The proposed training system includes a skin dummy with an array of embedded photo interrupters to detect the movement of the skin dummy; without requiring any modification on the surgical instrument. In this paper, different task parameters were proposed to understand trainees' learning progress and different experiments were carried out to identify the evaluation parameters that may provide useful information about how well the task was performed. As a result from the experiments, the evaluation parameters for the suture and ligature were determined. Finally, an evaluation function was proposed and further experiments were proposed to verify its effectiveness. From the results of the experiments, we could effectively distinguish quantitatively the differences of skill levels between surgeons and unskilled persons as well as identifying the learning progress of trainees by plotting the learning curve

In this paper, the methodology for automatically generating an expressive performance on the anthropomorphic flutist robot is detailed. A feed-forward network trained with the error back-propagation algorithm was implemented to model the performance's expressiveness of a professional flutist. In particular, the note duration and vibrato were considered as performance rules (sources of variation) to enhance the robot's performance expressiveness. From the mechanical point of view, the vibrato and lung systems were re-designed to effectively control the proposed music performance rules. An experimental setup was proposed to verify the effectiveness of generating a new score with expressiveness from a model created based on the performance of a professional flutist. As a result, the flutist robot was able of automatically producing an expressive performance similar to the human one from a nominal score.

Airway management is provided by emergency medical technicians or anesthetists in order to save unconscious patients who are unable to breathe. Even though it is a basic technique, many accidents may occur when the procedure is not provided followed. In order to avoid any risks to patients, emergency medical technicians are required to practice airway management using training devices such as mannequins; which are designed to accurately reproduce the human anatomy. However, such training devices do not provide any quantitative information about the learning progress of trainees (passive training). For that purpose, we have proposed the development of a airway management training system which is designed to embed array of sensors so that quantitative information of trainees' performance can be acquired. In this paper, we are presenting the Waseda-KyotoKagaku airway No. 1 (WKA-1). The WKA-1 consists of three different kinds of array of sensors which are embedded into a conventional mannequin. In order to embed the array of sensors, we have simplified the design of some of the simulated organs (upper airway, oral cavity, tongue and teeth) of the mannequin. A set of evaluation parameters were proposed based on the information collected through the sensors. A set of experiments were proposed to experimentally verify the effectiveness of the proposed evaluation parameters to quantitatively detect differences among different levels of skills (anesthetists and unskilled persons).

Authors have proposed as a long-term goal, since 2004, the development of a patient robot which could serve for both training purposes as well as an evaluation tool of medical procedures. As a first approach, we have developed last year a suture and ligature training system named Waseda Kyotokagaku Suture No. 1 (WKS-1), which is composed by a commercial skin dummy with arrays of embedded sensors designed to acquire quantitative data of the task. The WKS-1 was designed to reproduce realistically the task conditions as well as providing objective assessment of the task performance. In particular, the proposed evaluation function considered the following performance indexes: time, displacement and force levels. By performing experiments with medical doctors and unskilled persons, we confirmed the effectiveness of WKS-1 to provide objective assessments of the task performance. However, the functionalities of WKS-1 were too restricted as few automatic procedures were implemented for the acquisition and processing of the collected data. Therefore; in this paper, we are presenting the Waseda Kyotokagaku Suture No. 2 (WKS-2). The WKS-2 has been designed to provide more detailed information of the task performance as well as improving its portability, connectivity, and usability. In addition, thanks to the design improvements on the WKS-2, we have proposed additional evaluation parameters to measure the quality of the suture (after the task has been completed). For this purpose, we proposed a image processing algorithm to automatically measure the width of sutures, the distance among them and the wound area. Preliminary experiments were carried out to verify its effectiveness.

Our research on the anthropomorphic flutist robot has been focused on understanding the human motor control, enabling the communication between human and robots, proposing novel applications for humanoid robots and introducing novel ways of musical expression. In this video, we are presenting the musical skills of the Waseda Flutist Robot. In particular, we are presenting the WF-4RIV; which is able of performing musical performances requiring basic as well as extended technical skills. Thanks to the most recent mechanical improvements, the WF-4RIV is able of performing musical scores that are commonly part of the repertoire of intermediate level players. In this video, we are presenting the WF-4RIV performing the Flight of the Bumble Bee, Le Cygne and Trois Duos de Mendelssohn et Lachner.

As a result from our research, the Waseda Flutist Robot is able of playing the flute nearly similar to an intermediate level flutist. In order to enhance the expressiveness of its performance, we are focusing our research on improving the mechanical design of the simulated organs as well as implementing automated algorithms for the generation of expressive music performance. In a previous research, we have developed a human-like vocal cord to improve the production of vibrato. In this paper, we are presenting the newest version of the flutist robot; where the lips, oral cavity and tonguing mechanisms were improved. Such improvements were proposed to effectively control the attack time and double tonguing. The attack time is useful to produce clear sounds and the double tonguing is an important articulation that helps players to produce shaped notes and smooth transitions between notes. The lips mechanism is composed by 3-DOFs which enables the accurate control of the air stream parameters (width, thickness and angle). The lips of the robot were designed more human-like by using a thermoplastic rubber (septon). The oral cavity was designed similar to the human one also made by septon. Inside the oral cavity, an improved tonguing mechanism was designed (1-DOF) to reproduce better the double tonguing technique. A set of experiments were performed to analyze the improvements on the dynamical properties of the sound while playing the flute.

The research on the anthropomorphic flutist robot, at Waseda University, has focused on clarifying the human motor control while playing the flute, proposing novel applications for humanoid robots and enabling the communication with humans at the emotional level. As a result of our research, the flutist robot is able of nearly reproducing the basic technical skills required to play the flute. Furthermore, some of the extended technical skills have been roughly simulated by the robot. However, in order to enhance the expressiveness of the robot's performance, still further improvements are required. In particular, in this paper, we focus our research on understanding better how to enhance the expressiveness of the flute performance by studying in more detail the vibrato, which is believe to be one of the most important ways of expressing feelings/ideas while performing the flute. For this reason, the newest version of the flutist robot, the Waseda Flutist Robot No.4 Refined III has been developed by focusing on improving the design of the lung and designing of a human-like vocal cord mechanism, which are believed to have a close relation in producing vibrato. The details of the new mechanism are given and experiments were conducted to understand the effect of the movement of diaphragm and glottis while producing vibrato.

The advances on robot technology, researchers are able designing human-like robots that are able of displaying more complicated motor skills as well as displaying some degree of intelligence. This robot could read a musical score and play a repertoire of 16 tunes on a keyboard instrument. In this talk, such research trends will be described based on the development of the Waseda Flutist Robot. This paper deals with 1) human-robot interaction: musical performance robots may aim in understanding how humans can communicate at the emotional level of perception. 2) human motor control: musical performance robots can be designed to nearly reproduce the anatomy/physiology of the human organs require for playing musical instruments. 3) art/entertainment: musical performance robots may contribute in finding new ways of musical expression that may have been hidden behind the rubric of "musical intuition". 4) education: musical performance robots may be used as education tools in order to transfer skills to unskilled persons.

One of the earliest motivations for developing humanoid robots centered on creating robots that may coexist with humans in environments created for human beings. For several years, at Waseda University, the development of the anthropomorphic flutist player has been focused on improving the musical interaction between the human and the robot to clarify the human flute playing and to propose novel assisted music teaching tools. In this paper, a new architecture for autonomously transferring skills from robot to human using the flutist robot is introduced. Furthermore, the new version of the flutist robot, the WF-4R (Waseda Flutist No.4 Refined) is presented; where the arm system was added to assure the positioning accuracy of the flute and the development of a melody recognition system to enable the robot to interact with students at the same logical level of perception. An experimental setup has been performed in order to verify the effectiveness of both mechanical and perceptual systems. As a result, using the arms system, we have assured the repetitiveness of the flute positioning. Furthermore, the implemented music recognition system was able to recognize the melody of flutist players (an overall recognition rate of 90%); demonstrating that HMM (usually used for speech recognition) is also effective for flute melody identification.

Since 1990, we have been developing anthropomorphic flutist robots, which are mechanically similar to human organs needed for playing the flute. The goal of this research is to clarify the flute playing mechanism from an engineering point of view and to enable the communication with humans at emotional level. The control of the air beam parameters for obtaining a good sound is very important. Such parameters are related mainly to the lips shape and its relative position respect to the flute embouchure hole. Then, the newest version of the anthropomorphic flutist robot WF-4 has been implemented by improving the design of each part of the robot (lips, lungs, neck, etc.). This new version has succeeded in the improvement of the flute sound quality and the sound conversion efficiency. We describe the mechanical features of the WF-4 and the experiments done for evaluating its musical performance.

The research of the anthropomorphic flutist robot at Waseda University, for more than ten years, has focused on reproducing as best as possible the human organs physiology involved on the human flute playing to clarify the mechanism from an engineering point of view. This research is based on the need to develop useful robots for practical uses in the human living environment. As a result of our research, the newest anthropomorphic flutist robot WF-4 (Waseda Flutist No. 4) with 24-DOF has been developed, which not only improved the expressiveness but reduced also the dimensions of all their mechanisms as closer to human size. The flutist robot is used as a tool to help a human professor to improve the sound quality of beginner flutist players. In such a case, the robot is not only used to reproduce human flute playing but to evaluate also pupil's performance and to provide useful verbal and graphical feedback in order to improve his/her performance. Therefore, while robot is transferring the basics of the skill to students; teacher is taking care about how to motivate them (student's psychology). An experimental setup was designed to compare the added value of using the flutist robot for teaching to beginner students against the conventional way of teaching. Students' performances have been analyzed through different methods. The results demonstrated that the performance of pupils were better when the robot was used.

The development of the anthropomorphic flutist robot was started since 1990. The aim of this research has been to reproduce the functionality of human organs to interact musically with humans and to clarify the mechanism involved in human flute playing from an engineering view point. The newest version of the flutist robot (WF-4) has improved considerably the functionality and human-like shape of the organs involved in the flute playing. Up to now, the flutist robot has been used to reproduce as best as possible the human performance, although it is desirable to be also useful to improve some of the required skills that beginner flutists must acquire; in this case, the sound quality. The robot could demonstrate several times the correct way of playing and provide useful feedback based on the analysis of the harmonic structure of the student's performance. Therefore, it becomes necessary to find performance indexes that enable the robot to classify and evaluate quantitatively learners' performances to provide feedback (verbal and/or visual) to correct their executions. In this paper, we briefly describe some of the improvements done on the newest version of the flutist robot and we present different ways how the robot can evaluate the human performance by an experimental setup.