PotPet: Pet-like Flowerpot Robot

ABSTRACT We propose a flowerpot-type robot called PotPet that helps users grow plants more effectively and enjoyably. PotPet acts autonomously like pets: it automatically moves to sunny places or approaches people when it requires water. Basically, PotPet consists of a "real" plant, several sensors to detect plant status, a robot with wheels for mobility, and a microcontroller to control the above devices. Here we explain the concepts and implementation of the PotPet

PotPet: Pet-like Flowerpot Robot

ABSTRACT We propose a flowerpot-type robot called PotPet that helps users grow plants more effectively and enjoyably. PotPet acts autonomously like pets: it automatically moves to sunny places or approaches people when it requires water. Basically, PotPet consists of a "real" plant, several sensors to detect plant status, a robot with wheels for mobility, and a microcontroller to control the above devices. Here we explain the concepts and implementation of the PotPet

TNF-α Suppresses Apelin Receptor Expression in Mouse Quadriceps Femoris-Derived Cells

Expression of the apelin receptor, APJ, in skeletal muscle (SM) is known to decrease with age, but the underlying mechanism remains unclear. Increased tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α levels are observed in SM with age and are associated with muscle atrophy. To investigate the possible interconnection between TNF-α elevation and APJ reduction with aging, we investigated the effect of TNF-α on APJ expression in cells derived from the quadriceps femoris of C57BL/6J mice. Expression of Tnfa and Apj in the quadriceps femoris was compared between 4- (young) and 24-month-old (old) C57BL/6J mice (n = 10 each) using qPCR. Additionally, APJ-positive cells and TNF-α protein were analyzed by flow cytometry and Western blotting, respectively. Further, quadricep-derived cells were exposed to 0 (control) or 25 ng/mL TNF-α, and the effect on Apj expression was examined by qRT-PCR. Apj expression and the ratio of APJ-positive cells among quadricep cells were significantly lower in old compared to young mice. In contrast, levels of Tnfa mRNA and TNF-α protein were significantly elevated in old compared to young mice. Exposing young and old derived quadricep cells to TNF-α for 8 and 24 h caused Apj levels to significantly decrease. TNF-α suppresses APJ expression in muscle cells in vitro. The increase in TNF-α observed in SM with age may induce a decrease in APJ expression

Interactive Earphone-jack accessory

スマートフォンの普及にともない，イヤホンジャックアクセサリと呼ばれるイヤホンジャックに差し込むタイプのスマートフォンアクセサリが普及しつつある．スマートフォンのイヤホン端子の多くはマイク入力を備えた4 極ミニプラグであり，外部デバイスを固定／給電／通信するのに適するが，入出力を備えたインタラクティブなイヤホンジャックアクセサリはほとんどない．そこで我々は，スマートフォンに差し込むことで駆動する，インタラクティブなイヤホンジャックアクセサリを提案する．With the spread of smartphones, earphone-jack accessories that are attached into the earphone jacks of the smartphones becomes popular. Common smartphone equips a 4-conductor (TRRS) jack for headsets that is suitable for physical connection, power supply, and communication with an external device. Nevertheless, most earphone jack accessories are not still interactive. Therefore, we propose an interactive earphone-jack accessory that can be used just by plugged to a smartphone

JewelryCircuit: Interactive accessories using common accessory parts

近年，電子工作と手芸を融合させたものづくりを支援する多くの研究／製品が登場しつつある．しかし，裁縫以外の手芸分野についてはまだ事例が少ない．我々は手芸の中でもアクセサリ作りに着目し，一般的なアクセサリパーツそのものを電子部品として活用することで外観を阻害せずにインタラクティブに動作するアクセサリを構築できる手法「JewelryCircuit」を提案する．本論文では，特に一般的なアクセサリチェーンに着目し，その電気的な特性を調査して，導線や張力センサ，ねじりセンサとしての性能を確認した．さらに，応用例として2 種類のインタラクティブ・アクセサリを試作した．Recently, many hardware toolkits for integrating crafts with electronic circuits have rapidly become popular. However, most of these toolkits focused on only sewing crafts. We propose a novel technique for integrating accessories with electronic circuits, JewelryCircuits, which can treat common accessory parts as electronic components like sensors. In this paper, we focused on common silver chains and explored their electronic characteristics through experiments. Finally, we have developed 2 prototypes of interactive accessories using our technique