Robot Implementation Research Team

The team's researches include development of rubber-based soft sensors (smart rubber sensors) and soft actuators, as well as development of nursing-care assistant robots. Patient transfer is one of the most physically taxing tasks in nursing-care facilities. The team, together with other teams in the center, is developing robots conducting such physical work. Much attention is paid to safety, user-friendliness, and usefulness in various environments. The above-mentioned soft sensors and soft actuators are key elements to the realization of a soft and safe nursing care assistant robot that can interact with human-beings directly.

Research Fields

Engineering / Materials Sciences

Research Subjects

• Research and development of rubber-based soft tactile sensors
• Research and development of soft actuators
• Development of nursing-care assistant robots

Publications

1. K. Takashima, T. Noritsugu, J. Rossiter, S. Guo, and T. Mukai
   Curved Type Pneumatic Artificial Rubber Muscle Using Shape-Memory Polymer
   Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics, Vol.24, No.3, pp.473-479, 2012.6.
2. S. Sato, S. Guo, S. Inada, and T. Mukai
   Design of Transfer Motion and Verification Experiment of Care Assistant Robot RIBA-II
   Transactions of the Japan society of mechanical engineers, Vol.78, No.789, pp.595-608, 2012.5．
3. T. Mukai, S. Hirano, H. Nakashima, M. Yoshida, S. Guo and Y. Hayakawa
   Manipulation Using Tactile Information for the Nursing-Care Assistant Robot RIBA in Whole-Body Contact with the Object
   Transactions of the Japan society of mechanical engineers, Vol.77, No.782, pp.3794-3807 (2011)
4. T. Mukai, S. Hirano, H. Nakashima, Y. Sakaida, and S. Guo
   Realization and Safety Measures of Patient-Transfer by Nursing-Care Assistant Robot RIBA with Tactile Sensors
   Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics Vol.23, No.3, p360-369 (2011)