This paper deals with the software architecture of a rescue robot, named FDNet. This architecture provides the rescue robot with intelligence and flexibility. When this architecture is used, the robot system is described using networks. These networks are composed by data and processing units. The data, referred to as "data", is a distributed component. The processing units, referred to as "relation", are a distributed and parallel-processing component, which can refer to any existing Data. We consider nodes that can formally connect to any other node, and relations that can be organized according to human's or any other network's pattern. This architecture was called FDNet (flat-distributed networks for rescue robots). We describe proposition of the architecture and its implementation for a robot. Then, we report some experimental results. We provide this architecture for any intelligent rescue system.

In order to display delicate touch feeling of surface of some materials, active touch of human hand movements should be considered. In this paper, a wearable stimulation device that can produce various distributed stimuli on human skin in response to hand movements was developed using ICPF (Ionic Conducting Polymer gel Film) actuators. Characteristics of touch feel of roughness were measured using vibratory stimulation. The results showed that the threshold amplitude under active touch were smaller than under passive touch. A stimulation method which generate selective stimuli to sense receptors in accordance with velocities and accelerations of hand motions was proposed. It was confirmed experimentally that some kinds of pattern of driving waves express touch feels in response to hand movements.

This study presents a tactile feel display of virtual reality for subtle fine touch of clothes. The device developed using soft high polymer gel actuators could express subtle differences of touch of clothes, especially rough materials such as a towel and denim. Considering the superiority of vision in the multimodal sensational perception, a virtual tactile feel display integrated with visual information which express more real touch of cloth was proposed. In order to evaluate the influence of visual information adding to the tactile feel quantitatively, a factor analysis was performed using adjective pair scales. Factor analysis applied to the real materials showed that the roughness factor is highly correlated with the visual sensation although the softness factor is relatively independent from image information. The same analysis applied to the artificial tactile feel showed more complex results. It was confirmed that vision could help the recognition of tactile feel only when the characteristics of the material was expressed well by visual information although could also mislead tactile perception when visual information was not appropriate. The superiority of visual information was also evaluated by applying wrong visual information different from the artificial tactile feels.

Molluskan robots perform their tasks by freely deforming their shape like slugs and amoebas on the basis of soft actuator materials. This paper presents a new actuator model, Fukuhara-Tadokoro model of a high polymer actuator, ICPF (or IPMC) as a fundamental of design, fabrication, control and application of future molluskan robotics. Ionic migration in actuator material causes electric unbalance of sulfo groups producing lateral strain in addition to volume change by water unbalance. Simulation results show internal state change according to the motion principle.

Describes an interface for multi modal human robot interaction, which enables people to introduce a newcomer robot to different attributes of objects and places in the room through speech commands and hand gestures. The robot makes an environment map of the room based on knowledge learned through communication with human and uses this map for navigation. The developed system consists of several sections including: natural language processing, posture recognition, object localization and map generation. This system uses a combination of multiple sources of information and model matching to detect and track a human hand so that the user can point toward an object of interest and guide the robot to go near to it or locate that object's position in the room. The position of objects in the room is located by a monocular camera vision and depth from focus method.

It is difficult for the conventional tactile displays to express fine touch as a surface of cloth. A mechanical device appropriate for minute distributed stimuli on human skin does not exist. This paper proposes a ciliary device using soft high polymer gel actuators (ICPF) as a solution to this problem. This new device can generate various distributed stimuli to human sense receptors. It was experimentally confirmed that, combinations of vibratory stimuli of high frequency and low frequency produced complex tactile feels. Comparison of the artificial tactile feels and cloth material samples demonstrated that this device developed could display subtle distinction in the touch of cloth.

The ICPF (ionic conducting polymer gel film) actuator is a new high polymer gel actuator by which revolutionary robotic mechanisms are expected. Actuator models for CAE are essential to the robotic design. However, present black/gray-box models of ICPF cannot express its nonlinear characteristics with enough accuracy. In this paper, a white-box actuator model is proposed on the basis of physicochemical hypotheses on the motion principle which are supported at present. In this model, travel of sodium ions and water molecules in the actuator membrane is modeled. Internal stress is generated by swell and contraction of the gel by water content change, electrostatic force of fixed sulfonic acid groups, and momentum conservation effect. Simulation results show higher accuracy on transient response and nonlinear characteristics in comparison with conventional models.

The Great Hanshin-Awaji (Kobe) earthquake killed more than 6500 on January 17, 1995. Many people barely escaped from the debris and actively saved buried people. Rescue facilities are really important for robust social systems. Robotics and mechatronics are effective for advanced rescue equipment and systems. However, there has been little research and development performed until now. In order for robotics researchers to start, analysis of the tasks and requirements is necessary. In this research, the processes of rescue activities just after the disaster were investigated. Specifications of rescue robotic facilities are proposed on the basis of the analysis.

The system introduced in the paper estimates the 3D position of a human's head and face by using the depth from focus method. First the system locates the human's head and face by using motion detection, Hough transform and a statistical color model. Then by changing pan, tilt and zoom of camera we put the face in the center of the camera's field of view. Then we use information from focusing the ring of an autofocus camera to measure the distance between the human face and the camera. By having information about the absolute position of the camera and its pan and tilt angles we can compute the absolute position of the person in the room. In the case of a person with small motions, this system measures distance with less than a 10 cm error. The measurable distance range is from 90 cm up to 340 cm.

In order to design emotional actions of computer graphic characters, the authors analysed the actions of a Bunraku puppet which is manipulated by an expert of puppet manipulation. The puppet's action is decomposed into a main part which is the motion of the puppet's axis and the accompaniment which is the relative motion with respect to the motion of the axis. The emotional actions of the puppet are explained by the phase factor and the amplitude factor of the motion of the puppet's axis. Based on this analysis, a simple method to design emotional actions are obtained.

A redundant wire-driven parallel robot, the WARP manipulator, is a new robot mechanism which is suitable especially for high speed assembling of lightweight objects such as semiconductors. In this paper, a WARP manipulator was designed from the viewpoint of working space by considering conditions that the travelling plate must be abbe to generate arbitrary amounts of force and moment and the wires are not to be in contact. Simulation results of working space proved the validity of the design procedure described. A prototype of WARP manipulator was constructed. The kinematic parameters were calibrated for position control.

Presents a multi-degree-of-freedom (DOF) micro motion device developed using a soft gel actuator, ICPF. It is superior to conventional micromanipulators in softness and compactness. 3-DOF motion was realized by a parallel mechanism with 4 ICPF actuators, and 6-DOF motion was created by a 3-actuator mechanism. The 3-DOF device had a maximum displacement of 2 mm and a fast response up to 13 Hz. Experiments of teleoperation using a joystick proved that the device had enough ability for micromanipulation in which dynamic condition was important.

Essential points in robotic facilities for search and rescue at large-scale urban earthquakes were investigated. A parallel robot driven by multiple cables is proposed for transfer of debris. It is portable and is assembled rapidly in destroyed houses. An identification algorithm of mechanism parameters peculiar to this portable robot was studied. On the basis of identification error analysis, optimal number of measurement points and the size of an identification reference frame were obtained.

It is desirable that soft objects like organs are manipulated by soft actuation devices. This paper presents a newly developed device using a large number of actuator elements made of a soft gel material, which applies a distributed driving force on objects. The material used in the device is an ionic conducting polymer gel film and the structure of the elements is elliptical friction drive. Experimental results showed that an object placed on such a device could move at a speed of 0.62 mm/sec. This paper refers also to fundamental experiments and a concept for a more efficient drive.

Time series is composed of many pairs of values and times. The time means when the value appears. Suppose that we observe same phenomena plural times and obtain plural time series. Although the same values happen plural times, their appearing times fluctuate. The problem to correct these time fluctuation is called "time normalization". We propose a new method of time normalization and apply it to action time series of a Bunraku puppet.

The ionic conducting polymer gel film (ICPF) actuator is a perfluorosulfonic acid membrane plated with platinum on its both surfaces. It bends in water and in wet condition by applying a low voltage of 1.5 V to its surfaces. This phenomenon was discovered in 1992. The principle of the motion is still unknown. This paper discusses 2-dimensional linear approximate modelling of the ICPF actuator. The authors are proposing a dynamic model of the actuator consisting of an electrical stage, a stress generation stage and mechanical stage. In the stress generation stage, time derivative of current generates the internal stress with a second degree delay. Expansion and contraction of each surface induce bending motion in the mechanical stage. Simulation results were in agreement with actual responses.

The ICPF (ionic conducting polymer gel film) actuator, which has advantages such as low driving voltage, high speed, and capability for underwater motion, was discovered in 1992. This paper presents a new actuator element using an ICPF which generates an elliptic motion, as used in ultrasonic motors, to drive objects by friction. A method of forming a pattern of ICPF on a membrane was developed for production of the element. The experimental elements effectively functioned as driving devices and successfully drove a rotary motor as an application. Experiments and modeling revealed the relation of the resultant elliptic motion to control signals and design parameters.

Home robots must have actions with emotion, in order to cooperate with human being. To clarify "what is the emotional factor of actions", the actions of a Bunraku puppet are analyzed. The hypothesis that "the action is decomposed into the functional factor, the emotional factors and the random factors" is presented. This hypothesis is examined based on the experimental data of real actions of the puppet.

In this paper a motion planning method for mobile robots that coexist and cooperate with human beings to avoid collision is proposed. Human motion, which has large uncertainty, is predicted by a motion predictor using a stochastic process model to generate probability distribution maps of human existence. An evaluating function is defined considering the danger of collision and efficiency of trajectories. A genetic algorithm determines the robot trajectory by optimizing the function. This procedure is repeated for each sampling time. The robot moves maintaining high safety against various possible human motion. Simulation results revealed that robots can reach goals avoiding danger along appropriate trajectories and that this method is effective especially for the case where optimal trajectories dynamically vary according to change of human motion.

Complete equations of motion for 6-DOF direct drive wrist joint's based on the Stewart platform are derived and analyzed. Although the derived equations are highly complex, the dynamics of the wrist joint are simple if the centroid of the hand is close to the platform, and if the centroid; of the actuators are close to the base. In the case of a specific position and orientation of the platform, it is found that the dynamics of the actuators cancel each other and that the equations are simple because the actuators in the Stewart platform are placed in parallel. The equations are simple and so is the design of a controller for the wrist especially when the mechanism of the wrist joint is symmetrical and uses actuators.>