In this study, a self-standing takeoff method was developed for a servo-driven flapping robot. This method does not use any additional mechanisms or external platforms to maintain the robot’s position before takeoff. In addition to its efficiency in terms of weight, this method is also relatively easy to implement. This takeoff method extends the function of the tail not only for longitudinal direction control during flight, but also as a base to support the standing posture of the flapping robot. The objective of this investigation was to determine the optimal parameters to be implemented in the self-standing takeoff algorithm. To enhance the probability of successful takeoff, an investigation was conducted into the various parameters that influence the self-takeoff process. The investigative process was initiated with a static experiment to determine the thrust generated by the flapping robot. Subsequently, the variables of the center flapping angle, timing adjustment, and initial flapping direction were examined. A series of indoor flight experiments were conducted to evaluate the self-standing takeoff performance of the flapping robot. The experiment tested two weighted robots, the first 43 g and the second 45 g (thrust/weight (T/W) ratios of 1.02 and 0.97, respectively). The results showed that the proposed takeoff method requires only a T/W ratio of 1.02 for takeoff, less than the 1.2 previously required.

This paper proposes a real-time feature extraction and segmentation method for a 3D point cloud. First of all, we apply Growing Neural Gas with Utility (GNG-U) to the point cloud for learning a topological structure. However, the standard GNG-U cannot learn the topological structure of 3D space environment and color information simultaneously. To this end, we then modify the GNG-U algorithm by using a weight vector. we propose a surface feature extraction and segmentation method by efficiently utilizing the topological structure. Our segmentation method is based on a region growing method whose similarity value uses the inner value of two normal vectors connected by the topological structure. We show experimental results of the proposed method and discuss the effectiveness of the proposed method.

We have been developing and researching chat robot for elderly people. This paper proposed category estimation for voice based chat robot system. Proposed method estimates a category of the user's utterance sentence. Category or topic estimation have been studied by many researchers, however voice base chat system needs a quick response. Therefore our system is simple method just using keyword match and previous dialogue history. This paper analyzed the validity of category estimation compares with manual annotation. Category estimation is a difficult task even if human, then each sentence were categorized by three annotator to 18 categories. In this research, we collected 13727 dialogue sentences from an experiment with ten elderly participants. As the result, 12783 sentences can be categorized (2 or 3 annotator categorized for the same category). We compare the categorized sentences and robot's estimated category. The robot categorized as same as human around 50%. This coincident ratio is depending on the category. “Society” category is difficult to categorize, but “go-out” and “music” can be categorized as around 60% ratio. In the future works, we have to analyze the similarity around 18 categories and how to control the number of categories.

Robot therapy, interaction with animal type robots, is expected to have psychological, physiological and social effects as well as animal therapy. However, design method for therapeutic robots is not examined enough yet. Especially, physical interaction (e.g. touch and hug) is key point of the robot; however appropriate behaviors are veiled. In this research, we tried to investigate when the robot should respond during physical interaction between human and robot.

The authors developed cloud based chat robot for exhilarating elderly people. Our robot is designed to keep users from being bored. Conventional chat robot systems use huge phrase database in advance. However, fixed phrase involves an immense amount of time and effort to make. The proposed system uses dialogue histories which are collected from users. This paper reports the effect of updating the phrase database by using histories.

In field studies, observation is often used to investigate natural behaviors of human subjects. However, it requires huge burden to observers. In order to solve the problem, we have proposed “Behavior Observation Robot” which can be a substitute for human observer. In order to observe natural behavior, the robot should avoid receiving much attention from the target subjects. In this study, we investigate attention responses against the robot's movements.

In this paper, the authors present a user-centered concept for the operation experience of human-robot interface. For showing a concrete concept of our research, we design an assistant robot system. There are several stages for developing this system. Firstly, it is to obtain user's data. The authors obtained static data from Internet, and activity data from capturing humans' a motion data. The authors adapt accelerator sensor and image data, to capture human motion. Secondly, the authors use association rule of data mining technique to find the hiding knowledge from user's data. The system can base on the found knowledge, which includes the relation about life patterns, psychological conditions and etc., to provide appropriate assistance. The system mainly includes the following steps: capture user's motion data by accelerator sensor and stereo camera in indoor environment, analysis captured motion data, found the hiding knowledge from user's data, recognize the environment through user's data, and based on these data and knowledge to provide service. In this paper, we design a human-centered assistant system for adapting to human-robot interface. The system not only uses static data, but also activity data using capture methods. We briefly describe the assistant robotic system's overall concept, and discuss the motion captures methods and knowledge finding. Simple experiment results will also be shown.

Robot therapy is expected to have psychological, physiological, and social effects similar to those of animal therapy. The therapeutic seal robot, PARO, is used in various facilities for the elderly, and its use spreading throughout the world. In previous studies, the effects of PARO were examined by various types of tests. However, the number of subjects in those studies was low. In this study, PARO was introduced in 10 facilities for the elderly, and 83 elderly individuals interacted with it under “the Nursing-care Robot Promotion Project” sponsored by Kanagawa prefecture, Japan. We reported the results of this experiment during the first week in RO-MAN 2013. This paper reports the follow-up results of this experiment for one month.

In field studies, psychological aspects and natural states of humans are evaluated and analyzed by behavior observation. To assure objectivity, a sufficient number of observers are required to record data. In addition, manual and automatic image analysis methods using video recordings are used in field observations. However, such methods are difficult to adapt to changes in position and occlusion of the subject. We propose the “Behavior Observation Robot” to solve such problems in field studies. We focused on the field study of robot therapy at a facility for the elderly to assess experimentally the proposed system.

Robot therapy is expected to have psychological, physiological, and social effects similar to those of animal therapy. The therapeutic seal robot, PARO, is used in various facilities for the elderly, and its use spreading throughout the world. In previous studies, the effects of PARO were examined by various types of tests. However, the number of subjects in those studies was low. In this study, PARO was introduced in 10 facilities for the elderly, and 83 elderly individuals interacted with it under “the Nursing-care Robot Promotion Project” sponsored by Kanagawa prefecture, Japan. This paper reports the results of this experiment during the first week.

Brain activities during interaction with a seal robot, “PARO,” and subsequent resting periods were measured by functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). In this study, there were two experimental tasks: interaction with PARO switched ON (PARO ON) and interaction with PARO switched OFF (PARO OFF) with a one-minute rest before and after the tasks. The results show significant decreased brain activities around the motor cortex area after the PARO OFF task compared with those during the PARO OFF task. These areas of the brain are supposed to be a function of planning, control, and execution of voluntary movement. This indicates that when participants touch and interact with PARO, they might voluntarily interact. Therefore, there was a reduction of brain activity in the brain areas related to the function of voluntary movement, the so-called “motor cortex area.” Conversely, there were significant decreased brain activities in the left side of the frontal areas after the PARO ON task compared with those during the PARO ON task. The results suggest that when participants interact with PARO, they might recognize the positive emotional gesture expression of PARO. Therefore, after interaction with PARO, brain activities in the areas related to happy emotion processing were reduced. The results explain the improvement of mood by interaction with PARO from of a physiological point of view.

Brain activity during interaction with seal robot “Paro” was measured by functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). In the pilot study, there were two experimental tasks: Interaction with Paro that was switched ON (Paro ON) and Paro that was switched OFF (Paro OFF) with one minute rest before and after the tasks. The results showed significant activations around the pre-motor area and the supplementary motor area (SMA) during Paro OFF task compared with rest condition before the task. These areas are supposed to be a function of initiating action. This indicates that when participants touched and interacted with Paro, they might intentionally interact. On the other hand, there were significant increased brain activations on both sides of the Sylvian fissure during Paro ON task compared with rest condition before the task. The results suggest that when participants interacted with Paro, they might recognize the emotional gesture expression of Paro. They might communicate with Paro naturally without intention of interaction.

In order to execute multiple tasks in offices and houses, robots require a large amount of information. If each item that is part of the ambience is endowed with some intelligence, robots can simply change the state of the item as requested by the item itself. We refer to such an ambience as “intelligent ambience (IA).” This paper describes a constitution method for designing an IA. We constructed two IA models - one comprised a drawer and a mobile robot and the other comprised two types of doors and a drawer, a device developed specially for this IA, and a humanoid robot. We also verified the effectiveness of the IA experimentally.

We conducted a questionnaire survey for owners of Paro, using the questionnaires sent with Paro when they purchased it. They answered the questionnaires voluntarily; therefore, the results may reflect the positive tendency of respondents who like Paro or like to play with Paro. In this study, the owners' attributes and interaction with Paro are analyzed for indications of robot design for human-robot interaction intended for home use. The results showed that about 70% of the respondents were female and over 60 years old, and most of them cannot keep pets because they worry about the pet's death and find pet care difficult. The pet type robots for the elderly may, therefore, need to be designed for easy care. The sense of touch and word recognition are also important functions for interactive pet type robot design, along with its facial expressions and physical reactions to express emotions. Furthermore, taking into account of improvements of the robot, the weight of Paro and the battery needs to be customized. It is expected that these results will help in designing pet type robots.

Robot therapy is expected to have psychological, physiological and social effects similar to animal therapy. The use of a therapeutic seal robot, Paro, in various facilities for the elderly is spreading around the world. However, caregivers use Paro freely, and the ways in which they use Paro differ among them. Therefore, the effects are influenced by their skills. A manual that shows effective ways to use Paro is needed. In this paper, such a manual that shows effective methods for robot therapy is developed and its effectiveness is evaluated in a preliminary study with one caregiver and two patients.

Recently, the development costs for robot software is becoming bigger and bigger. Especially, the robots which works with humans in the home and office environment are expected to have various functions according to its user's demand. Therefore, RT (Robotics Technology) Middleware developed by AIST offers the methods to develop desired robot system by combining RT Components. However, various kinds of RT Components are obviously necessary. In this paper, we introduce RT Components for home appliances which will achieve seamless integration with robot system. Moreover, in order to control the home appliances and robots easily, we developed ldquoAdvanced Appliance for Robot Interface (ACARI).rdquo Bedtime support system was developed as an example for the components and ACARI. The usefulness of home appliance components and ACARI were experimentally confirmed by an example system.

Questionnaires have been conducted to the owners of Paro in order to investigate people living with Paro at home. Although service robots such as AIBO have been commercialized and tend to be familiar with us, researches on owners' background are few. The owners of Paro answered the questionnaires and 85 feedbacks were obtained. The results showed that majority of the owners were females and have kept pets before, but cannot keep pets currently. Important factors for females to keep Paro seem to be not only ldquoCan touch and hugrdquo but also ldquotactile texturerdquo. In addition, although animal preference seems to influence the way to touch Paro; it does not influence the evaluation of Paro. This tendency seems to be due to different playing style. This paper presents the analyzed data of the effects of owners' sex difference and animal preference on interaction with Paro.

Structuring methods of ambient intelligence are becoming important issue in robotics field; such ambient intelligence can enable robots to adopt ubiquitous computing technologies by using GPS and the RFID tag, acquire the necessary information for working in offices and houses, and thereby work accordingly. There are two merits in putting information into an environment. Firstly, persons who develop each robot can minimize the installation of knowledge of the objects that the robot may use. The new knowledge of the objects are provided by the manufacturers of the object and the owners, designers, architects, or removers who structure the environment whenever the ambience changes. Secondly, in case of different robots, the same ambient intelligence can handle different kinds of robots. No one needs to customize each robot. Each robot is able to execute tasks using the common ambient intelligence.

This paper describes research on a ldquomental commitment robotrdquo. These robots have a different target audience to industrial robots, one that is not so rigidly dependent on objective measures such as accuracy and speed. The main goal of this research is to explore a new area in robotics, with the emphasis on human-robot interaction. In previous research, we classified robots into four categories, which related to their appearance. We then introduced a robot cat and a robot seal, which we evaluated by interviewing a large group of people. The results showed that physical interaction improved their subjective evaluation of the robots. Moreover, a priori knowledge of a subject has a considerable influence on the subjective interpretation and evaluation of mental commitment robots. In this paper, we asked several groups of subjects to evaluate the seal robot known as dasiaParopsila by answering questionnaires that were given out in exhibitions that were held in seven different countries; Japan, U.K., Sweden, Italy, Korea, Brunei and U.S. This paper reports the results of statistical analysis of the evaluation data.

Robot therapy for elderly residents in a care house has been conducted since June 2005. Two therapeutic seal robots were introduced and activated for over 9 hours every day to interact with the residents. This paper presents a progress report of this experiment. In order to investigate the psychological and social effects of the robots, each subject was interviewed by using the free pile sort method, and their subjective social network was analysed. In addition, the activities of the residents in public areas were recorded by video cameras during daytime hours (8:30-18:00) for over 2 months. Then, their social network was analysed from the video data objectively. The results showed that the density of the social networks was increased through interaction with the robots subjectively and objectively.

Robot therapy for elderly residents in a care house has been conducted since June 2005. Two therapeutic seal robots were introduced and activated for over 9 hours every day to interact with the residents. This paper presents the results of this experiment for two months. In order to investigate the psychological and social effects of the robots, each subject was interviewed by using the free pile sort method, and their social relationship was analysed. The results showed that the robots encouraged them to communicate with each other and then strengthened their social ties over the two months. In addition, the subjects accustomed to Paro and then they made personal relationship with Paro.

Robot therapy for elderly residents in a care house has been conducted since June 2005. Two therapeutic robots were introduced into a care facility, and activated for over 9 h each day to interact with the residents. This paper presents the results of the first month of this experiment. To investigate the psychological and social effects of the robots, each subject was interviewed, and their social network was analyzed. In addition, the activities of the residents in public areas were recorded by video cameras during daytime hours (8:30-18:00). For physiological analysis, residents' urine was obtained and analyzed for hormones 17-ketosteroid sulfate and 17-hydroxycorticosteroids. The experimental protocol was reviewed and approved by the ethical committee of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology. The results indicate that interaction with the seal robots increased their social interaction. Furthermore, the urinary tests showed that the reactions of the subjects' vital organs to stress improved after the introduction of the robots.

Robot therapy for elderly residents in a care house has been conducted from June, 2005. Two therapeutic seal robots were introduced, and activated for over 9 hours every day to interact with the residents. This paper presents a progress report of this experiment. In order to investigate psychological and social influences of the robots, each subject was interviewed, and their social network was analysed. In addition, their hormones in urine: 17 Ketosteroid sulfate (17-KS-S) and 17-hydroxycorticosteroids (17-OHCS) were obtained and analysed. The results indicate that the density of the social networks was increased through interaction with the seal robots. Furthermore, urinary tests showed that the reactions of the subjects' vital organs to stress were improved after the introduction of the robots

Robot therapy for elderly residents in a care house has been conducted since June 2005. Two therapeutic seal robots were introduced and activated for over 9 hours every day to interact with the residents. This paper presents the results of this experiment. In order to investigate the psychological and social effects of the robots, the activities of the residents in public areas were recorded by video cameras during daytime hours (8:30-18:00) for over 2 months. In addition, the hormones 17-Ketosteroid sulfate (17-KS-S) and 17-hydroxycorticosteroids (17-OHCS) in the residents' urine were obtained and analyzed. The results indicate that their social interaction was increased through interaction with the seal robots. Furthermore, the results of the urinary tests showed that the reactions of the subjects' vital organs to stress improved after the introduction of the robots

Robot therapy for elderly residents in a care house has been conducted since June 2005. Two therapeutic seal robots were introduced and activated for over 9 hours every day to interact with the residents. This paper presents the results of this experiment. In order to investigate the psychological and social effects of the robots, the activities of the residents in public areas were recorded by video cameras during daytime hours (8:30-18:00) for over 2 months. In addition, the hormones 17-Ketosteroid sulfate (17-KS-S) and 17-hydroxycorticosteroids (17-OHCS) in the residents' urine were obtained and analyzed. The results of the urinary tests showed that the reactions of the subjects' vital organs to stress improved after the introduction of the robots. Furthermore, the results of the case studies indicate that the residents' social interaction increased through interaction with the seal robots

A long-term experiment of robot assisted activity for elderly people has been conducted at a health service facility for the aged since Aug. 2003. Three therapeutic seal robots, Paro, were introduced there. This paper describes the results of the experiment for one year. Face scales that consist of illustrations of person's faces were used to evaluate person's moods. In addition, Geriatric Depression Scales were used to measure person's depression by questionnaires. As the results, feelings of the elderly people were improved by interaction with the seal robots.

Robot therapy for demented patients was conducted at a cranial nerve clinic. Two therapeutic seal robots, Paro, were introduced there. This paper describes the results of this experiment. DIMENSION (diagnosis method of neuronal dysfunction) was used to analyze recorded patient's EEG before and after 20 minutes of robot therapy. Questionnaire concerning impression of seal robots was also conducted. The results showed that their cortical neurons activity was improved by interaction with the seal robots, especially for patients who liked the robots.

This paper describes research on a "mental commit robot". These robots have a different target audience to industrial robots, one that is not so rigidly dependent on objective measures such as accuracy and speed. The main goal of this research is to explore a new area in robotics, with the emphasis on human-robot interaction. In previous research, we classified robots into four categories, which related to their appearance. We then introduced a robot cat and a robot seal, which we evaluated by interviewing a large group of people. The results showed that physical interaction improved their subjective evaluation of the robots. Moreover, a priori knowledge of a subject has a considerable influence on the subjective interpretation and evaluation of mental commit robots. In this paper, we asked several groups of subjects to evaluate the seal robot known as 'Paro' by answering questionnaires that were given out in exhibitions that were held in four different countries; Japan, U.K., Sweden and Italy. This paper reports the results of statistical analysis of the evaluation data.

A long-term experiment of robot assisted activity for elderly people has been conducted at a health service facility for the aged since Aug. 2003. Two therapeutic seal robots, Paro, were introduced there. This paper describes the first interim report of the experiment for three months. Face scales that consist of illustrations of person's faces were used to evaluate person's moods. In addition, geriatric depression scales were used to measure person's depression by questionnaires. As the results, feelings of the elderly people were improved by interaction with the seal robots.

Mental commit robots have been developed to provide psychological, physiological, and social effects in human beings through physical interaction. The appearance of these robots is designed to emulate real animals such as a cat or a seal. The seal robot was developed especially for therapeutic applications. Seal robots have been applied to assisting the activity of the elderly at a day service center. In order to investigate the effects of seal robots on elderly people, their mood was evaluated using face scales (which express moods by identifying the appropriate facial illustration) and questionnaires. Changes in reaction to stress in the elderly was measured using urinary tests. In addition, stress of nursing staff was investigated. Their mental state was evaluated using a "burnout scale." The day service center was provided with seal robots for five weeks. As a result, the feelings of elderly people improved by the interaction with the robots. Urinary tests showed that their ability to overcome stress were also improved. Moreover, the stress levels of the nursing staff decreased because the elderly people required less supervision when interacting with the robots. Consequently, the seal robots were judged to be useful at institutions for the elderly, such as the day service center.

This paper describes research on mental commit robot that seeks a different direction from industrial robot, and that is not so rigidly dependent on objective measures such as accuracy and speed. The main goal of this research is to explore a new area in robotics, with an emphasis on human-robot interaction. In the previous research, we categorized robots into four categories in terms of appearance. Then, we introduced a cat robot and a seal robot, and evaluated them by interviewing many people in Japan. The results showed that physical interaction improved subjective evaluation. Moreover, a priori knowledge of a subject has much influence into subjective interpretation and evaluation of mental commit robot. In this paper, 440 subjects evaluated the seal robot, Paro by questionnaires in an exhibition at Science Museum in London, UK. This paper reports the results of statistical analysis of evaluation data, and compares them with those obtained in Japan.

We have been developing mental commit robots that provide psychological, physiological, and social effects to human beings through physical interaction. The appearances of these robots look like real animals such as cat and seal. The seal robot was developed especially for therapy. We have applied seal robots to assisting activity of elderly people at a health service facility for the aged. In order to investigate psychological and social effects of seal robots to the elderly people, we evaluated elderly people's moods by face scales (which express person's moods by illustration of person's faces) and Profile of Mood States (which measures person's moods by questionnaires). Seal robots were provided into the facility for three weeks. As the results, feelings of elderly people were improved by interaction with the seal robots.

We have been developing mental commit robots that provide psychological, physiological, and social effects to human beings through physical interaction. The appearances of these robots look like real animals such as cat and seal. The seal robot was developed especially for therapy. We have applied seal robots to assisting activity of elderly people at a health service facility for the aged. In order to investigate psychological, physiological and social effects of seal robots to the elderly people, we evaluated elderly people's moods by Profile of Mood States (which measures person's moods by questionnaires) and urinary tests. Seal robots were provided into the facility for three weeks. As the results, moods of elderly people were improved by interaction with the seal robots.

We have been developing mental commit robots that provide psychological, physiological, and social effects to human beings through physical interaction. The appearances of these robots look like real animals such as cats and seals. We have applied mental commit robots to assisting the activity of elderly people at a day service center. In order to investigate the effect of mental commit robots on the elderly people, we evaluated elderly people's mood by face scales and questionnaires. In addition, the stress of nursing staff was investigated. We evaluated their mental poverty by a "burnout scale." Mental commit robots were provided in the day service center for five weeks. Results showed that feelings of elderly people were improved by interaction with the robots. Moreover, the nursing staff's mental poverty decreased because the elderly people spent their time by themselves with the robots. Consequently, mental commit robots are useful at elderly institutions like the day service center.

We have developed mental commit robots that can provide psychological, physiological and social effects to human beings through physical interaction. The appearances of these robots look like real animals such as cats and seals. We have applied the mental commit robots to assist activities of the elderly people at a day service center. In order to investigate the effect of the robots on the elderly people, and to analyze the factors that influence them, we evaluated elderly people's mood by questionnaires, and investigated their experience of breeding pets, interaction with the robots and so on. The mental commit robots were introduced at the day service center for five weeks. Results show that the feelings of the elderly people were improved by interaction with the robots. As for the analysis of factors that bring mental effects to the elderly, we found the "time of touch divided by number of touch" in 2/sup nd/ week, and "experiences of breeding pets" in 5/sup th/ week. We conclude that mental commit robots are useful at elderly institutions like the day service center, and the factors of mental effects on elderly people changed from freshness of stimuli of the robots to feelings of breeding the robots like real animals.

We have been working on research and development of a mental commit robot which aims to provide humans mental effects such as enjoyment and relaxation. In previous research, we have performed subjective evaluation of a mental commit robot by some interview forms. The results showed physical interaction improved subjective evaluations. Moreover, a priori knowledge of a subject had influence on subjective interpretation and evaluation. In this paper, we applied physiological measurements to investigate influence on a human of physical interaction with the mental commit robot. As physiological measurements, we applied the electrocardiogram, respiration rate and the electrodermal response. We measured mood state by the profile of mood states. The finding of an experiment showed changes in activities of the autonomic nervous system. In addition it was shown that there were some differences under mood states caused by contact with a texture.