Handling of a constrained flexible object by a robot

科研費報告書収録論文(課題番号:07455416・基盤研究(B)(2)・H7～H9/研究代表者:内山, 勝/フレキシブル双腕ロボットの協調制御に関する研究

Cooperative control of a vibrating flexible object by a rigid dual-arm robot

科研費報告書収録論文(課題番号:07455416・基盤研究(B)(2)・H7～H9/研究代表者:内山, 勝/フレキシブル双腕ロボットの協調制御に関する研究

Stability of control system in handling of a flexible object by rigid arm robots

科研費報告書収録論文(課題番号:07455416・基盤研究(B)(2)・H7～H9/研究代表者:内山, 勝/フレキシブル双腕ロボットの協調制御に関する研究

Structural analysis of the starfish SALMFamide neuropeptides S1 and S2: The N-terminal region of S2 facilitates self-association

The neuropeptides S1 (GFNSALMFamide) and S2 (SGPYSFNSGLTFamide), which share sequence similarity, were discovered in the starfish Asterias rubens and are prototypical members of the SALMFamide family of neuropeptides in echinoderms. SALMFamide neuropeptides act as muscle relaxants and both S1 and S2 cause relaxation of cardiac stomach and tube foot preparations in vitro but S2 is an order of magnitude more potent than S1. Here we investigated a structural basis for this difference in potency using spectroscopic techniques. Circular dichroism spectroscopy showed that S1 does not have a defined structure in aqueous solution and this was supported by 2D nuclear magnetic resonance experiments. In contrast, we found that S2 has a well-defined conformation in aqueous solution. However, the conformation of S2 was concentration dependent, with increasing concentration inducing a transition from an unstructured to a structured conformation. Interestingly, this property of S2 was not observed in an N-terminally truncated analogue of S2 (short S2 or SS2; SFNSGLTFamide). Collectively, the data obtained indicate that the N-terminal region of S2 facilitates peptide self-association at high concentrations, which may have relevance to the biosynthesis and/or bioactivity of S2 in vivo

Discovery of Dual-Action Membrane-Anchored Modulators of Incretin Receptors

The glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) and the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptors are considered complementary therapeutic targets for type 2 diabetes. Using recombinant membrane-tethered ligand (MTL) technology, the present study focused on defining optimized modulators of these receptors, as well as exploring how local anchoring influences soluble peptide function.Serial substitution of residue 7 in membrane-tethered GIP (tGIP) led to a wide range of activities at the GIP receptor, with [G(7)]tGIP showing enhanced efficacy compared to the wild type construct. In contrast, introduction of G(7) into the related ligands, tGLP-1 and tethered exendin-4 (tEXE4), did not affect signaling at the cognate GLP-1 receptor. Both soluble and tethered GIP and GLP-1 were selective activators of their respective receptors. Although soluble EXE4 is highly selective for the GLP-1 receptor, unexpectedly, tethered EXE4 was found to be a potent activator of both the GLP-1 and GIP receptors. Diverging from the pharmacological properties of soluble and tethered GIP, the newly identified GIP-R agonists, (i.e. [G(7)]tGIP and tEXE4) failed to trigger cognate receptor endocytosis. In an attempt to recapitulate the dual agonism observed with tEXE4, we conjugated soluble EXE4 to a lipid moiety. Not only did this soluble peptide activate both the GLP-1 and GIP receptors but, when added to receptor expressing cells, the activity persists despite serial washes.These findings suggest that conversion of a recombinant MTL to a soluble membrane anchored equivalent offers a means to prolong ligand function, as well as to design agonists that can simultaneously act on more than one therapeutic target

Human postural dynamics in response to the horizontal vibration

The dynamic responses of human standing postural control were investigated when subjects were exposed to long-term horizontal vibration. It was hypothesized that the motion of standing posture complexity mainly occurs in the mid-sagittal plane. The motor-driven support platform was designed as a source of vibration. The AC Servo-controlled motors produced anterior/posterior (AP) motion. The platform acceleration and the trunk angular velocity were used as the input and the output of the system, respectively. A method was proposed to identify the complexity of the standing posture dynamics. That is, during AP platform motion, the subject's knee, hip and neck were tightly constrained by fixing assembly, so the lower extremity, trunk and head of the subject's body were individually immovable. Through this method, it was assumed that the ankle joint rotation mainly contributed to maintaining their body balance. Four subjects took part in this study. During the experiment, the random vibration was generated at a magnitude of 0.44m/s 2, and the duration of each trial was 40 seconds. Measured data were estimated by the coherence function and the frequency response function for analyzing the dynamic behavior of standing control over a frequency range from 0.2 to 3 Hz. Significant coherence values were found above 0.5 Hz. The estimation of frequency response function revealed the dominant resonance frequencies between 0.60 Hz and 0.68 Hz. On the basis of our results illustrated here, the linear model of standing postural control was further concluded

Transmission of the translational trunk vibration to the head-neck complex

The flexion-extension motion of the head-neck complex (HNC) in the trunk horizontal (fore-and-aft) vibration was investigated. It was assumed that the motion of the HNC only occurs in mid-sagittal plane. An electro-hydraulic vibrator was used as a source of vibration. The input acceleration and HNC angular velocity were measured whereas the trunk of the seated subject was fixed to the seatback. Accordingly, the acceleration of the vibrator was considered to be equal to that of the trunk. Six subjects took part in the experiment. They were exposed to the random motion at a magnitude of 1.60 ms-2 rms (root-mean-square) for 50 seconds. The coherence and frequency response function between the HNC angular velocity and the trunk horizontal acceleration were then obtained on 0.5 Hz to 10 Hz. Averaging the obtained transmissibilities allowed to represent an optimized frequency response corresponding to each of the subjects. It was found that the HNC behavior above 0.8 Hz was quasi-linear with a dominant resonance frequency between 0.8 Hz and 1.6 Hz. The variabilities of the results within and between subjects were investigated. It was further concluded that linear models could describe the HNC so that their orders should be selected in accordance with the frequency response function of the system as well as the objectives of modeling

Identification of the head-neck complex in response to trunk horizontal vibration

Provides experimental and theoretical information in the fields of quantitative analysis of behavior, quantitative physiological studies of information processing in receptors, neural systems and effectors, and computational studies of perceptual motor information processing tasks

Dynamics of the head-neck complex in response to the trunk horizontal vibration: Modeling and identification

Although many studies exist concerning the influence of seat vibration on the head in the seated human body, the dynamic response of the head-neck complex (HNC) to the trunk vibration has not been well investigated. Little quantitative knowledge exists about viscoelastic parameters of the neck. In this study, the dynamics of the HNC is identified when it is exposed to the trunk horizontal (fore-and-aft) vibration. The frequency response functions between the HNC angular velocity and the trunk horizontal acceleration, corresponding to four volunteers, are obtained in the frequency range of 0.5 Hz to 10 Hz. A fourth-order mathematical model, derived by considering a double-inverted-pendulum model for the HNC, is designed to simulate the dynamic response of the HNC to the trunk horizontal vibration. The frequency domain identification method is used to determine the coefficients of the mathematical model of the HNC. Good agreement has been obtained between experimental and simulation results. This indicates that the system, similar to the designed fourth-order model, has mainly two resonance frequencies. The viscoelastic parameters of the neck, including the spring and damping coefficients, are then obtained by use of the optimization method