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Assistive Robotics Research Team
(Japanese/English)

Photo
Position, Name
Email (+@aist.go.jp)
Research field

Team leader

Hideyuki
TANAKA
hideyuki-tanaka
High accuracy visual marker, environmental structuring, robot vision, positioning
(Research topic 4)

Senior researcher

Isamu
KAJITANI
isamu.kajitani
Myoelectric robotic/prosthetic hands, research on development, evaluation and social implementation of assistive technology
(Research topics 1, 2, 3, 6, 7)

Senior researcher

Mamoru
SEKIYAMA
m.sekiyama
IoT, AAL, functional safety, standardization

Senior researcher

Kunihiro
OGATA
ogata.kunihiro
Modeling of human body and movement and assistive technology based on it
(Research topic 2, 5)

Senior researcher

Konami
IZUMI

izumi-k
Research on fabrication technology of "Wear Device" using flat knitting machines, and development of electric circuit and nuclear magnetic resonance device fabrication using various printing technology on 3D or curved surface

Senior researcher

Yumeko
IMAMURA
yumeko.imamura
Assistive technology and its biomechanical analysis

shinozaki.masayoshi
Biological characteristics measurement, Design and control of electronic circuits for measuring biological characteristics

Invited Researcher

Shigeo
OKAMOTO
shigeo.okamoto
Data utilization of medical, elderly care and healthcare information
(Research topic 3)

Technical Staff

Daisuke
GOTOU
gotou.daisuke
Non-invasive measurement using wearable sensors

Technical Staff

Toshiyuki
TSURUOKA
tsuruoka-t
Knit design for various flat knitting machines and knitting for functional knit fabric

Technical Staff

Akinori
IHARA
a.ihara

Technical Staff

Mika
OOSATO
mika.oosato

Technical Staff

Sachiko
TOBE
tobe.sahiko

Clerical Staff

Shizue
KIMURA
kimura-sz

With the aim of augmenting people's functioning, and improving QOL and service efficiency in an aged society, we will research and develop robotic technologies (assistive robotics, assistive technologies) that assist people in their daily lives, and aim to commercialize next-generation robotic devices that contribute to society. In addition to the development of sensors, measurement technologies, and technologies for physiological intervention, we are also developing technologies to assist for analyzing user's daily life to design devices, and to evaluate the safety and benefit of devices. We collaborate with companies in verification experiments and industrialization of technologies.
research overview

1. Evaluation and verification of nursing care robots

Evaluation and verification of nursing care robots

We are participating in the "Platform for the Development, Verification and Dissemination of Nursing Care Robots" project by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (secretariat: NTT DATA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT CONSULTING, Inc.) as one of the Living Labs. We are working on product evaluation and effectiveness verification of nursing care robots developed by companies, as well as support for demonstrations at nursing care sites, in collaboration with living laboratories and consultation services across the country, using an experimental environment that simulates and reproduces living spaces.

(Kajitani)

2. Measuring, analyzing and intervening in life using robots as probes

Measuring, analyzing and intervening
in life using robots as probes

We are developing a robotic nursing care device that is IoT-enabled, and using it to support life, we are also conducting research to measure and store life data by using it as a probe for living sensing of the elderly. We aim to design an appropriate support service using robots based on the data, and to intervene in our daily lives to provide better support services.

(Kajitani and Ogata)

3. Development and standardization of robotic device for elderly care

Robot Care Project

In AMED Robot Care Project, we support the development of robotic devices for elderly care and its standardization in the prioritized areas determined by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW). The purposes of the project are (1) the promotion of independent living of the elderly, (2) the reduction of care burden on the caregiver, and (3) the achievement of higher productivities in care business, by creating a new market of useful robotic devices. Our team contribute the project as a member of the standardization consortium.
(Robot Care Project Website)

(Kajitani and Okamoto)

4. Visual markers for highly accurate position and attitude estimation

High-accuracy visual marker

A visual marker is a tool for measuring position and attitude easily with a monocular camera. We have developed a visual marker whose pattern changes according to the viewing angle using a microlens array, and have achieved the world's most accurate estimation of position and attitude in the field of planar markers. We are currently working on the practical application of these markers, as well as applications in a wide range of fields such as robot control, measurement and augmented reality (AR).

(Tanaka)

5. Visualizing motion with images

Visualization of floor reaction force

For the disabled and elderly people to improve their walking function, it is important to understand the mechanical information of the body in real time. Therefore, we have developed a technology to visualize the reaction force acting on the sole of the foot in real time by combining the human posture information obtained from a distance imaging sensor such as KINECT with a dynamic model. We aim to contribute to the improvement of the quality of rehabilitation by easily converting human movement into data and presenting it intuitively to learners.

(Ogata)

6. Research on assistive technology

Powered prosthetic hand

We are conducting a wide range of research on engineering technologies to support the daily life of people with disabilities and elderly people. Examples include an evaluation tool for the user interface of powered prosthetic hands, a user interface for the people with severe disability, and the tools to support the people with higher brain dysfunction.

(Kajitani)

7. Research on social implementation

Not all of the engineering technologies that are researched and developed using advanced technologies are commercialized in society. For more engineering technologies to be used in society, we investigate issues in the process of their social implementation and analyze and model the social structure. We make use of findings based on behavioral science and define "information costs" as the amount of human activity related to "information" in our analysis.

(Kajitani)


Journal papers
  • Masayoshi Shinozaki, Daiki Saito, Keisuke Tomita, Taka-aki Nakada, Yukihiro Nomura & Toshiya Nakaguchi
    Usability evaluation of a glove-type wearable device for efficient biometric collection during triage
    Scientific Reports, vol.14, Article number: 9874 (2024), 30 Apr 2024.
  • Jumpei Oba, Sumiko Yamamoto, Kengo Ohnishi, Isamu Kajitani, Yaeko Shibata, Koki Asai
    "Effects of Single-handed and Dual-handed Tasks on Myoelectric Hand Prosthesis Operability of Unilateral Transradial Amputees"
    Asian Journal of Occupational Therapy, vol.18, issue 1, pp.39-46, 26 Mar 2022.
  • Kunihiro Ogata and Yoshio Matsumoto
    "Whole body sensing dummy of the elderly to evaluate robotic devices for nursing care"
    Advanced Robotics, vol.35, issue 8, pp.504-515, 24 Feb 2021.
International conference papers
  • Kunihiro Ogata, Shusuke Kanazawa, Hideyuki Tanaka, Takeshi Kurata
    "Basic Study of Upper Limb Movement Estimation and Function Evaluation including Shoulder Girdle by Multi-Sensing Flexible Sensor Wear"
    2022 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)
    23 Oct 2022.
  • Hideyuki Tanaka
    "Turning Any Object into an Input Device with a High-Accuracy Fiducial Marker"
    2022 IEEE/SICE International Symposium on System Integration
    12 Jan 2022.
  • Hideyuki Tanaka, Kunihiro Ogata
    "A High-Accuracy Fiducial Marker with Parallel Lenticular Angle Gauges"
    2021 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)
    1 Oct 2021.
  • Yasuko Kitajima, Isamu Kajitani, Mitsuhiro Nakamura, Keiko Homma , Yoshio Matsumoto and Jukai Maeda
    "Verifying the Usefulness of Monitoring Sensors Used by Caregivers in Nursing Homes"
    Digital Human Modeling and Applications in Health, Safety, Ergonomics and Risk Management. Posture, Motion and Health. HCII 2020.
    Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 12198, pp.531-546, Jul 2020.
  • Isamu Kajitani, Keiko Homma and Yoshio Matsumoto
    "Investigations on Monitoring Sensor Usage and Decision-Making: A Case Study in an Elderly Care Facility"
    Digital Human Modeling and Applications in Health, Safety, Ergonomics and Risk Management. Posture, Motion and Health. HCII 2020.
    Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 12198, pp.521-530, Jul 2020.
  • Hideyuki Tanaka
    "Ultra-High-Accuracy Visual Marker for Indoor Precise Positioning"
    Proc. The 2020 Int. Conf. Robotics and Automation (ICRA2020), pp.2338-2343, 2020.
  • Keiko Homma , Kiyoshi Fujiwara, Takuya Ogure and Isamu Kajitani
    "Development of Contact Safety Test Procedure for Defecation Assistance Devices"
    IEEE Global Conference on Life Sciences and Technologies, pp.153-156, Mar 2020.
  • Kunihiro Ogata and Yoshio Matsumoto
    "Estimating Road Surface and Gradient using Internal Sensors for Robot Assist Walker"
    2020 IEEE/SICE Int. Symp. on System Integration (SII2020), pp.826-831, Hawaii, USA, Jan 2020.
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