Robot motion generation and navigation : What we can learn from rats

研究成果の概要 (和文) : 実環境で自律的に移動する移動ロボットの能力は非常に重要である。技術の進歩にも関わらず、複雑な環境でのロボットの自己推定、目標位置への移動は依然として途上の課題である。ラットは、周囲の環境の情報を手がかりに自分自身をローカライズすることによって、複雑な空間で正確かつ迅速に移動することがよく知られている。我々は、これらに基づき、ラットの脳信号をそれ自身の行動にマッピングすることによってラットの意思決定を模倣することをロボットが学習するアルゴリズムを開発した。アルゴリズムを実装 されたロボットは、複雑な環境で位置推定し移動するために、内部状態と外部センサ情報を統合することを学習できることを確認した。研究成果の概要 (英文) : The mobile robot ability to navigate autonomously in its environment is very important. Even though the advances in technology, robot self-localization and goal directed navigation in complex environments are still challenging tasks. It has been well known that rats accurately and rapidly navigate in a complex space by localizing themselves about the surrounding environmental cues. We developed an algorithm by which the robot learned to imitate the rat’s decision-making by mapping the rat’s brain signals into its own actions. Finally, the robot learned to integrate the internal states as well as external sensors to localize and navigate in the complex environment

Development of \u27\u27Bonten-Maru\u27\u27humanoid robot

This paper presents the status and research results of the ”Bonten-Maru” humanoid robot project. The main contributions of this project are on CORBA based control of humanoid robot,real time optimal gait generation, control of humanoid robot in a long distance using teleoperation system, operation of humanoid robot in emergency environments, and various humanoid robot motions. In order to verify our research results, we developed the ”Bonten-Maru” humanoid robot. Another important objective is to cooperate with different researchers on humanoid robots by:(1)making the control platform open;(2)easy to be extended;(3)easy to integrate programs in developed in different programming languages. We present the main of the ”Bonten-Maru” humanoid robot project published in more than 20 papers in international journals and conference proceedings

An autonomous trimming system of large glass fiber reinforced plastics parts using an omni-directional mobile robot and its control

This paper describes an automated trimming system of large glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) using an omni-directional wheeled mobile robot (WMR) and its path control method. In trimming GFRP parts, much glass fiber and plastic powder dust occur and it becomes bad visible in environment. It is necessary to correct dead-reckoning errors of the WMR in order to control its moving path. We have discussed an external correction method of the dead-reckoning errors for the WMR using ultrasonic sensor.<br /

Change in hippocampal theta oscillation associated with multiple lever presses in a bimanual two-lever choice task for robot control in rats.

Hippocampal theta oscillations have been implicated in working memory and attentional process, which might be useful for the brain-machine interface (BMI). To further elucidate the properties of the hippocampal theta oscillations that can be used in BMI, we investigated hippocampal theta oscillations during a two-lever choice task. During the task body-restrained rats were trained with a food reward to move an e-puck robot towards them by pressing the correct lever, ipsilateral to the robot several times, using the ipsilateral forelimb. The robot carried food and moved along a semicircle track set in front of the rat. We demonstrated that the power of hippocampal theta oscillations gradually increased during a 6-s preparatory period before the start of multiple lever pressing, irrespective of whether the correct lever choice or forelimb side were used. In addition, there was a significant difference in the theta power after the first choice, between correct and incorrect trials. During the correct trials the theta power was highest during the first lever-releasing period, whereas in the incorrect trials it occurred during the second correct lever-pressing period. We also analyzed the hippocampal theta oscillations at the termination of multiple lever pressing during the correct trials. Irrespective of whether the correct forelimb side was used, the power of hippocampal theta oscillations gradually decreased with the termination of multiple lever pressing. The frequency of theta oscillation also demonstrated an increase and decrease, before and after multiple lever pressing, respectively. There was a transient increase in frequency after the first lever press during the incorrect trials, while no such increase was observed during the correct trials. These results suggested that hippocampal theta oscillations reflect some aspects of preparatory and cognitive neural activities during the robot controlling task, which could be used for BMI

Special Issue on Intelligent Robots

robotic