A Retrofit Passive Foldable Snow Shoe for A Legged Robot to Walk on Snowfield

A new attachment for a legged robot to help walking on snowfield is proposed. The device works like a snowshoe for human and prevents the robot from sinking in or slipping on the snow surface. Comparing to a bipedal human, a multi-legged robot has much larger numbers of legs and their ranges of movement are limited. For this reason, it was difficult to attach a large foot without making leg collision or stepping on an adjacent foot. To overcome these problems, this paper proposes an automatic retraction and expansion mechanism of wide snow-contacting framings which are passively operated by gravitation. Also, for the problem of stepping on an adjacent foot, we propose a passive downward-deflection mechanism which allows the lower shoe to smoothly exit from the upper shoe. The experiments to examine the performance of movement on some snowfields and the measurement of slip resistance force showed the effectiveness of our design. The proposed shoe does not rely on any external control logic. Therefore, it is easily attached to many existing legged robots

Automated Evaluation of Coordinated Movement of Fingers Using Home Rehabilitation Device

Home rehabilitation is much in need in ageing societies. Especially, for hemiplegia patients who have paralysis at fingers, it is known that long continuous rehabilitation is effective for recovery. To automate home rehabilitation without the help of a medical specialist, it is desirable not only to provide a rehabilitation procedure but also to give the condition of the paralysis of the patient. In our previous studies, we proposed a robotic device to foster separative voluntary finger lift movement. The device mounts pressure sensors at each finger to monitor the degree of unwanted finger movements. However, it is not clear which is an effective way to measure the condition of paralysis by these finger pressure time series data. In this paper, we propose a new measurement method that is based on the “coordinated movement” of fingers. A patient is asked to perform 4 tasks: pinch2 (pinch movement by index finger and thumb), pinch3 (pinch movement by index, middle and thumb), grasp2 (grasp movement by the ring and little finger), and grasp3 (grasp movement by the middle, ring, and little finger). All pressure time series of finger movements are quantified their dissimilarities with data of standard healthy subjects. We found that the grasp3 has the largest correspondence relation with the degree of paralysis

Evaluation of Forearm Musclar Function of Hemiplegic Patients Using Displacement MMG

To realise an automated self-rehabilitation at home, it is necessary to provide proper feedback on the status of the recovery of the patient. In a simple finger rehabilitation, a fingertip force monitor is used to detect undesired and paralyzed movement, which is used to determine the degree of recovery. In contrast to the fingertip force, the balance of flexion and extension of finger muscles is another essential feature of the paralysis. However, simultaneous monitoring of flexor and extensor is impossible by using a single fingertip pressure sensor. Usually, EMG is used to monitor individual muscular activity. However, inexperienced home user will not be able to deal with electrodes properly. In this paper, we propose a device to monitor flexion and extension by a unit which is easy to handle. Also, we propose a method to derive a degree of recovery using the signals collected from this device. The results by data collected from healthy and stroke patients show the potential effectiveness of our method

Study on Building a Traceability System for Whale Meat

Whale meat has been one of traditional diets in Japan. However whaling is now prohibited except for the purpose of scientific research. Therefore it is important to keep an eye on poaching and to make distribution routes clear to obtain an international credibility. Then it is highly required to build a pilot traceability system and test it immediately. On the basis of this context, we made a study on building a traceability system for whale meat. This study will contribute to clamping down any illegal trades of whale meat, ensuring safety of foods and wining confidence by consumers. This study is composed of following three studies. 1) Development of a technology, which makes it possible consumers to know the whale meat's history from its production through distribution by cellular phone. 2) Development of a technology, which makes it possible to prevent other species or poaching meat from mixing into, or to prevent a weight of whale meat from being manipulated during distribution. We developed these three basic systems by an examination with flatfish. As the next stage, we intend to examine whale meat traceability system in the field this year.Keywords: cellular phone, traceability, distribution, marine products, Fisheries Economics, Fish Processing, Marketing, And Consumptio

Enabling Secured Traceability of Fishery Products Using 2D Code and Digital Encryption

Technologies that enable traceability for fishery products are increasing their demands. Recently proposed technologies are mainly based on disposal RF(IC) tags which are able to record information directly onto them. However, the current systems based on RF tags have problems of expensive price of tags, and weakness of reading information if applied onto surface of products containing much water, which prevents to construct practically feasible systems using the RF tags. To provide a traceability system that uses much inexpensive media and that assures as high security as the RF tags, we propose a system based on a combination of printed 2D codes and internet connection, with security control similar to on-line electronic transactions. The proposed system identifies a fishery product by giving it a unique serial ID, which is issued by a database server, and printed in 2D code onto a paper or a plastic plate, which is directly put on the product. All the trace information sent from client (producer, transporters, and retailer) via internet is associated to the ID and stored to the server. Since 2D code is able to be read by such as mobile phones with built-in camera, a consumer is able to get history of the product with a single scanning operation. For the weakness of printed codes against duplication by copying, we propose a method to identify its validity by digital encryption, along with identification by weight information. The system is assured its usability by a series of experiments conducted for the distribution of cultured flounder in Hakodate, Japan.Keywords: Mobile Phone, Fisheries Economics, Falsification, Brand Fish, 2D Code, Fish Processing, Marketing, And Consumption, TraceabilityKeywords: Mobile Phone, Fisheries Economics, Falsification, Brand Fish, 2D Code, Fish Processing, Marketing, And Consumption, Traceabilit