
Research

Outline of Research Works
Our research fields are robotics/mechatronics and microsystems. At present, these two researches are separately conducted by two groups, e.g., robotics group and microsystems group, respectively. In the near future, however, these groups are planned to be united to one group, where it is aimed that many of robot functions are improved imitating human elaborated and dexterous sensor/actuator functions as far as possible using micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) technology.
MEMS:Micro Electro Mechanical Systems
Microneedle
- Observation of Mosquito's Penetrating Motion using High-speed Camera System
- Non-linear FEM Analysis for Inserting Needles to Viscoelastic Material
- MEMS fabrication of Needle Mimicking Mosquito's Stinger
- Computerized Actuation System for Cooperative Motion of Plural Needles
MEMS Vibration-Driven Energy Harvester
- High-performance Organic/Inorganic Electret
- Application of Highly Dielectric Material
- Lateral Type utilizing Fringe Electrical Field
- Vertical Type Generating High Power of Microwatt
- Fabrication of Comb-shaped Electret while Maintaining High Surface Potential
High-performance MEMS Sensors
- FET Sensor with Floating Gate for Inclinometer/Accelerometer/Force sensor
- Accelerometer using Fringe Electrical Field and Ferroelectri
- 3-Axis MR (Magnetoresistive) Sensor using a Permalloy Plate
Microfluidics
- Microvalve using Paraffin
Robotics
Vacuum gripper imitated Octopus sucker
- Sucker type flexible vacuum gripper
- Vacuum gripper with autonomous switchable microvalve array
MEMS Sensors/Actuators for Robotics
- Accelerometer, Tactile Sensor, Ultrasonic Sensor
- Soft Actuators using PVC Gel
Artificial Intelligence for Robotics
- Environmental Recognition using Visual Sensors such as Range Image Sensor
- Path Planning using Metaheuristic Algorithm or Reinforcement Learning
- Assembly Task with Contact State Recognition using Neural Networks
- Arrayed Sole Sensor for Legged Robot and Contact Force Detection using Neural Networks
RECS (Robot-Environment Compromise System) Concept
- Mobile Robot Capable of Traversing Small Step Equipped with 7-DOF Manipulator
- Ultraviolet/Infrared Invisible Marks for Easing Visual Recognition
Automatic Music Composition
- Application of GA and AdaBoost (Adaptive Boosting) Classifier to Music Composition