Performing general human behavior by experts' navigation is expected to be realized as wearable and ubiquitous technologies and computing develop. For simple, ordinary behavior, a person does not need the assistance of an expert. However, if one is standing next to an injured/ill person, one needs the instruction on performing first aid treatment from an expert. The wearer of the wearable behavior navigation system will be able to conduct first aid treatment as an expert would. We have developed the wearable behavior navigation systems using Augmented Reality technology, mainly for the navigation of the first aid treatment and for escape from dangerous areas, such as a building on fire. The effectiveness of the wearable navigation systems has been evaluated by a number of experiments. In this paper, the basic mechanism to realize general human behavior navigation is presented, along with the concrete configuration of the prototype of the navigation systems, and the experimental evaluation.

Snakes are very unique animals that have distinguished motor function adaptable to the most diverse environments in terrestrial animals regardless of their simple cord-shaped body. Revealing the mechanism underlying this distinct locomotion pattern, which is fundamentally different from walking, is significant not only in biological field but also for applications in engineering field. However, it has been difficult to clarify this adaptive function, emerging from dynamic interaction between body, brain and environment, by previous scientific methodologies based on reductionism, where understanding of the total system is approached by analyzing specific individual elements. In this research, we aim at revealing the mechanisms underlying this adaptability by the use of the constructive methodology, in which biological system models reflecting biological knowledge is used as a tool for analysis of the total system. In this report, we present development of system models, i.e. a dynamics simulator and a robot, constructed based on biological data obtained from dissection, CT-imaging, kinematics measurements and EMG measurements. By constructing mechanical models based on anatomical studies and applying control input designed according to EMG and kinematics measurements into the models, locomotion similar to living snakes was achieved and remaining problems in the models were clarified.

With advances in wearable computing, wearable virtual reality and wearable robotics have become popular areas of research. In the present study, we consider the case in which an expert in first aid treatment at a remote critical care center receives an image from an assistant/cooperator who is with a patient, i.e., the sharing of visual information between an expert and an assistant. A head-mounted camera worn by the assistant is used to capture visual information related to the patient and his/her surroundings. The expert directs the assistant to provide the desired visual information. Information of the status of the patient, the surrounding environment, and the situation can be obtained from the shared visual information. The assistant should make observations according to the directions of the expert. However, these persons are not required to be tightly linked/synchronized at all times, but only when necessary. There are primarily two behaviors in visual information sharing, namely, searching and staring behaviors. The proposed asynchronous visual information sharing system with image stabilization can separate these two behaviors and can reduce the stress of both the expert and the assistant in visual information sharing. This system consists of three components: image stabilization, virtual viewing direction operation, and relative orientation display. We experimentally evaluate the performance of virtual viewing direction operation, image stabilization, and asynchronous visual information sharing of the proposed system.

The capability to perform specific human tasks with the assistance of expert navigation is expected to be realized through the development wearable and ubiquitous computing technology. For instance, when an injured or ill person requires first-aid treatment, but only non-experts are nearby, instruction from an expert at a remote site is necessary. A behavior navigation system will allow the user to provide first-aid treatment in the same manner as an expert. Focusing on first-aid treatment, we have proposed and developed a prototype wearable behavior navigation system (WBNS) that uses augmented reality (AR) technology. This prototype WBNS has been evaluated in experiments, in which participants wore the prototype and successfully administered various first-aid treatments. Although the effectiveness of the WBNS has been confirmed, many challenges must be addressed to commercialize the system. The head-mounted displays (HMDs) used in the WBNS have a number of drawbacks, for example, high cost (which is not expected to decrease in the near future) and the time required for an ordinary user to become accustomed to the display. Furthermore, some individuals may experience motion sickness wearing the HMD. We expect that these drawbacks to the current technology will be resolved in the future; meanwhile, a near-future remote behavior navigation system (RBNS) is necessary. Accordingly, we have developed RBNSs for first-aid treatment using off-the-shelf components, in addition to the WBNS. In this paper, the basic mechanisms of the RBNS, experiments investigating the demonstration of expert behavior, and a comparative study of the WBNS and the RBNSs are presented.

As devices such as computers, sensors and motors have decreased in size, wearable computing has become an increasingly active area of research. Guidance of general human behavior by expert navigation is expected to be realized through the development of wearable computing. We aim to apply this technology to first-aid treatment. If an injured or ill person requires first-aid treatment but only non-experts are nearby, guidance from an expert at a remote site would be necessary. We focus on the sharing of visual information between a first-aid expert at a remote critical care center and a non-expert at the patient's location. Visual information about the remote site is captured by a head-mounted camera worn by the assistant and is shared with the expert, thus providing rich information on the status of the patient, the environment and the situation. In a typical master-slave configuration, the shared visual information is tightly linked between the expert and the assistant; that is, the assistant views what the expert wants to see. However, a tight link or synchronization is required only in certain situations, rather than at all times. The aim of this research is to develop a virtual viewing direction operation system with image stabilization for asynchronous visual information sharing between an expert and an assistant. The proposed system consists of three main parts: image stabilization, virtual viewing direction operation and the relative orientation display. The effectiveness of the developed system was confirmed experimentally.

In robot teleoperation a robot works as a physical agent at a remote site for a robot operator. There are mainly two tasks such as environment recognition using visual information and robot control according to the recognition in robot teleoperation using camera images. In this paper we propose a teleoperation method for a mobile robot through a virtual robot. In the proposed method we manage above two tasks in the same manner which are usually treated separately. This method is an intuitive robot teleoperation method where an operator do not need to concern about robot body orientations and can absorb difference of robot driving mechanisms. That is this method frees an operator from being bothered from controlling a robot and the operator can concentrate on where he/she intends to go. This method mainly consists of two technologies: an omni-directional image stabilization technology and automatic robot orientation control. The conducted experiments show effectiveness of the proposed method.

Common wheeled robots face many difficulties when traveling in complex environments, especially its incapability to climb over obstacles higher than its wheel radius. Many alterations were made to these robots to allow them to travel in rough terrains or conquer high obstacles, nevertheless, most designs are complex in nature and lost several original wheeled robot advantages by gaining others. In this paper, we propose a novel wheeled type robot with variable structure functionality. It is designed with simple structure consisting of three main robot parts, the main body, the left and right wheel-arm units. The robot could achieve five locomotion modes that allows the robot to travel in various environments and climb over high obstacles. Moreover, the fast-speed advantage in flat floor condition that common wheeled robot originally hold is still remained. The confirmation of the effectiveness of the robot's maneuverability is shown by several experimental results

Robots are useful for search and detection missions for trapped victims after disasters due to their abilities enter places where human rescuers cannot go without risking their own lives. We have experienced and found much knowledge about rescue robots while participating in the RoboCup Rescue Competitions. In this paper we introduce examples of "effective multiple robot cooperative activities" and "a study of the number of robots and operators in a multiple robot team" from our experiences in these competitions.

Given a pair of stream images of a dynamic scene with multiple moving object, how does the scene look like from a new viewing position in between two reference cameras? We tackle this interpolation problem using layered representation of the scene in this paper. The dynamic scene is separated into two different layers; a static background layer and a dynamically changing foreground layer. The foreground layer is further separated into sublayers according to the correspondences of each object in the scene. Different interpolation methods are used for the background and foreground layers. The joint view triangulation method is used for the background layer and interpolation using a local transformation of each object is used for the foreground layer. View interpolation of a dynamic scene is achieved by combining these separately interpolated background and foreground layers. Obtained photo-realistic interpolated images are presented.

Position control of an underactuated manipulator that has one passive joint is investigated. The dynamic constraint caused by the passive joint is second-order nonholonomic. Time-scaling of the active joint trajectory and bi-directional motion planning from the initial and the desired configurations provide an exact solution of the positioning trajectory. The active and passive joints can be positioned to the desired angles simultaneously by swinging the active joints only twice. Feedback control constrains the manipulator along the planned path in the configuration space. Simulation and experimental results show the validity of the proposed methods.

Studies motion planning from one zero velocity state to another for a three-joint robot in a horizontal plane with a passive revolute third joint. Such a robot is small-time locally controllable on an open subset of its zero velocity section, allowing it to follow any path in this subset arbitrarily closely. However some paths are "preferred" by the dynamics of the manipulator in that they can be followed at higher speeds. We describe an algorithm that plans collision-free paths in the robot's configuration space, where the motions correspond to dynamically preferred robot motions. Thus the problem of planning fast trajectories in the robot's six-dimensional state space is reduced to the computationally simpler problems of planning paths in the three-dimensional configuration space and time-scaling the paths according to the manipulator dynamics. Implementation on an underactuated manipulator is described.

We study the juggler skill called the "butterfly". Starting with a ball resting on the palm of his/her open hand, a skilled juggler can accelerate and shape his/her hand so that the ball rolls up the fingers, over the top, and back down to the back of the hand. This paper describes a robotic implementation of the butterfly. The combined hand shape and motion set the rolling motion of the ball, and we find that the shape and motion parameters enter the dynamic equations in a similar way. We define parametrized spaces of hand shape and motion, and using a simulation based on the rolling equations, we identify shape and motion solutions that roll the ball from one side of the hand to the other. We describe an implementation of the butterfly on our planar dynamic manipulation testbed FLATLAND. This example is our first step toward exploring the roles of shape and motion in dynamic manipulation.

Control of a manipulator with a passive joint which has neither an actuator nor a holding brake is investigated. The manipulator has three degrees of freedom in a horizontal plane, with the third joint being passive. The dynamic constraint on the free link is shown to be second-order nonholonomic. Controllability of the system is proved by constructing examples of the input trajectories from arbitrary initial states to arbitrary desired states, considering the motion of the center of percussion of the link. Trajectories for positioning are composed of simple translational and rotational trajectory segments. The trajectory segments are stabilized by nonlinear feedback control. Simulations and experimental results show the effectiveness of the planned trajectory and the feedback control law.

Feedback control of a manipulator with a passive joint which has neither an actuator nor a holding brake is investigated. The manipulator has three degrees of freedom in a horizontal plane, with the third joint being passive. The dynamic constraint on the free link is 2nd-order nonholonomic. A trajectory for positioning is composed of simple translational and rotational trajectory segments. The trajectory segments are stabilized by nonlinear feedback, considering the motion of the center of percussion of the free link. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the feedback control.

Cooperative transportation of an object by two or more mobile robots requires each robot to exert an appropriate force to support and move the object, to move along the object, and to maintain its attitude. A mechanically unstable robot, such as a wheeled inverted pendulum, needs to control the force and follow the object as standing stably against the force in an integrated manner. We call this a cooperative behavior. To realize this behavior of a wheeled inverted pendulum, we built control systems to estimate the external force and maintain standing and to exert a specified force. We applied them to a wheeled inverted pendulum. Experiments were conducted of cooperative transportation between a human and the robot. In the future, we aim to realize cooperative transportation by two wheeled inverted pendulums using the control systems.