The Brunnstrom stage is an important indicator of stroke patients' rehabilitation status, playing a crucial role in the diagnosis and treatment of patients. In response to the shortage of medical resources and the high cost of rehabilitation, we developed a Brunnstrom stage evaluation system that can be operated on household electronic devices. The system uses Kinema Tracer Motion Capture System to record the motions used by professional doctors to detect the patient's stage and compares the patient's motions with standard motions to determine the patient's stage. The effectiveness of the system is verified by experiments.

In the workplace, there are many tasks that are performed with the arms raised posture, and this movement causes shoulder and arm disorders. In this research, we developed an assistive device to reduce shoulder muscle fatigue during arm raising. The Remote Center of Motion (RCM) mechanism was used in this device to achieve a structure without a frame around the shoulder and to align the rotational axis of the machine with the rotational axis of the shoulder joint. The assist force of the device was determined by calculation to compensate the load torque generated around the shoulder when lifting the arm. The gas spring was selected as the power source of the device. The placement and selection of the gas springs were also determined by calculation. A prototype of the designed device was fabricated, and experiments were conducted to measure muscle activity during the arm raising operation and to evaluate the effectiveness of the assist. The subjects were three healthy male adults. The experimental results showed that muscle activity in the anterior deltoid was reduced by 38% compared to that without the device in the dynamic posture experiment.

Colonoscopy is the most useful method for detecting the colorectal cancer, however, it takes time to learn how to insert into colon deeply without pain for patients. Therefore, many researchers proposed self-propelled colonoscopy robots. In previous study, we developed a self-propelled colonoscopy robot with a worm gear mechanism. However, hard gears can damage the colon wall. Therefore, we focused on a compliant mechanism, and developed soft gears with elastic deformation. Soft Gears have a variety of potential applications, including a torque limiter. In this study, we propose a design parameter optimization method using a gear design software and a nonlinear modeling method using a finite element analysis (FEA) software, and report on their evaluation results.

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>Walking disorders are a major challenge for people with neuromuscular or musculoskeletal impairments, resulting in reduced mobility and quality of life. This paper addresses an approach to design a comprehensive mechanical walking assist that facilitates foot flexion and extension for the walking by applying the force at the ankle, while adjusting the walking motion and posture to a healthy pattern. The apparatus uses an offset slider crank mechanism to lift the foot and complete the dorsiflexion, and a four-bar linkage to assist the plantarflexion by using the action-reaction force from the lever kicks against the ground. The forefoot mechanical pressure sensor accommodates triggering to both motions, and the heel sensor acts as auxiliary releasing the lever. The experiments showed that both plantarflexion and dorsiflexion are assisted. The corresponding muscle activity for each motion is reduced, promoting a safer and healthier walking. The apparatus has the potential to improve the mobility and quality of life for who with walking disorders and impairments, and could be applied to other domains where mechanical assistance is required, promising a trend to walking rehabilitation with less cost, providing the reference for experiment configuration and further study.</jats:p>

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>To ensure the high quality of three-dimensional (3D) printed spur and helical gears, it is important to measure and identify errors in the base pitch introduced during the printing process. This study utilized the span measurement method to quantify the errors in the base pitch of Stereolithography apparatus (SLA) printed gears. Results showed that errors in z-overcure and shrinkage caused a series of tendencies that can guide the production of high-quality gears. Additionally, the study discussed the importance of choosing a suitable printing posture, which was determined through precision checks. Since 3D printed gear is not as symmetric as the traditional manufactured gear, the base pitch on both the left and right sides will be different, hence some explanations about it were provided along with the example. By understanding and addressing errors in the base pitch of 3D-printed gears, manufacturers can produce high-quality gears that meet the needs of various applications.</jats:p>

With the increase in the aging population, the demand for healthcare devices has increased. Among the aging population, many experience joint pain, muscle weakness, or poor balance. Without external help, such persons may have difficulty walking, fall easily, or experience poor quality of life. To provide this category of the population with the opportunity to exercise and walk safely and take care of themselves in daily activities, a stepper motor-powered walking assistive device is proposed and built. The device enables users with different heights to walk in suitable gaits; assists users to stand up, sit down, and step up or down stairs; automatically detects user’s intention using pressure sensors and potentiometers; and can be used outdoors for long periods. In this study, the effectiveness of the device is verified using muscle-activity measurements.

Owing to aging populations, the number of elderly people with limb dysfunction affecting their daily lives will continue to increase. These populations have a great need for rehabilitation training to restore limb functions. However, the current numbers of rehabilitation hospitals and doctors are limited. Moreover, people often cannot go to a hospital owing to external conditions (e.g., the impacts of COVID-19). Thus, an urgent need exists for telerehabilitation system for allowing patients to have training at home. The purpose of this study is to develop an easy-to-use system for allowing target users to experience rehabilitation training at home and to remotely receive real-time guidance from doctors. The proposed system only needs a monocular camera to capture 3D motions. First, the 2D key joints of the human body are detected; then, a simple baseline network is used to reconstruct 3D key joints from the 2D key joints. The 2D detection only has an average angle error of 1.7% compared to that of a professional motion capture system. In addition, the 3D reconstruction has a mean per-joint position error of only 67.9 mm compared to the real coordinates. After acquiring the user’s 3D motions, the system synchronizes the 3D motions to a virtual human model in Unity, providing the user with a more intuitive and interactive experience. Generally, many telerehabilitation systems require professional motion capture cameras and wearable equipment, and the training target is a single body part. In contrast, the proposed system is low-cost and easier to use and only requires a monocular camera and computer to achieve real-time and intuitive telerehabilitation (even though the training target is the entire body). Furthermore, the system provides a similarity evaluation of the motions based on the dynamic time warping; this can provide more accurate and direct feedback to users. In addition, a series of evaluation experiments verify the system’s usability, convenience, feasibility, and accuracy, with the ultimate conclusion that the system can be used in practical rehabilitation applications.

As the population ages, the number of elderly people suffering from systemic diseases such as stroke increases. To address this problem, various wearable walking assistive robots have been developed to promote physical exercise for stroke prevention. Wearable assistive robots have shown the ability to improve human mobility. However, most of these robots are heavy, bulky, and impractical. In this study, we developed a compact ankle assistive robot for elderly users to promote walking exercise. By informing the user of correct motion and timing, the robot can guide the user to achieve a healthy gait by only assisting their ankle joint. The robot provides faster-than-ankle motion to allow the user to feel supported while walking. Users can adjust the robot’s assistance parameters through a graphical user interface (GUI) according to their needs. Furthermore, we proposed a gait-adaptive method for ankle assistive robots to adapt to the user’s changing gait. Hence, the robot can automatically adjust the parameters to provide more accurate walking assistance. Finally, the results of an evaluation experiment demonstrated the feasibility of human gait adaptation. The proposed methods have the advantages of low cost and easy implementation.

In this study, we developed a remote rehabilitation and evaluation system based on OpenPose and 3D reconstruction with a single RGB camera. The advantage of this system is low-cost and easy to use, it just needs a single RGB camera and a computer to achieve real-time and intuitive remote rehabilitation, and the training target is the whole body. Furthermore, this system provides the similarity evaluation of motions, which can feedback to users more accuracy and directly. Finally, a series of evaluation experiments showed the positive feasibility, and concluded that this system could be used in practical rehabilitation applications.

Hands play a very important role in humans, allowing us to grasp, touch, and manipulate objects. In previous studies, several types of pediatric prosthetic hand have been developed. However, a 2-DOF (Degree of Freedom) wrist joint that can move freely and intuitively like human wrist has not been developed. In this study, we developed a monolithic-structured multi-DOF pediatric prosthetic hand with a 2-DOF wrist. By using a compliant mechanism that uses deformation of an elastic hinge, the number of parts can be reduced while maintaining the degree of freedom. Therefore, the proposed structure is superior in terms of movability and assembly cost compared with conventional structure. Fingers and wrists are designed to achieve the human joint range of motion. In evaluation experiments, we confirmed that fingertip force for grasping and wrist strength in compression are sufficient for the specifications required in daily life. Finally, we fabricated a prototype using a 3D printer and demonstrated the feasibility of the proposed mechanism.

In recent years, with the development of robotic technology, prosthetic hands with sophisticated functions have been actively researched. On the other hands, in terms of size, number of parts, and customization, low-cost, functional pediatric prosthetic hand with compliant wrist joint hasn’t been developed yet. In this study, we developed a 2-DOF wrist joint for pediatric prosthetic hand using a compliant mechanism, constructed its design methodology, and conducted an evaluation experiment using a prototype. The proposed structure enables circular motion by combining four movements: flexion, extension, adduction, abduction, and succeeded in acquiring movability similar to the human skeletal structure by giving anisotropy to the arrangement of the elastic hinges. It can be manufactured monolithically, which is advantageous for mass production and assembly.

As the population ages, the number of the elderly with systemic diseases like stroke increases. In order to avoid strokes, various wearable walking assistance robots have been developed. However, the most of them are bulky, heavy, and poorly practical. For the elderly users in this study, we developed a compact ankle assistive robot to promote walking exercise. The robot can help the user establish a healthy gait by guiding proper motion and timing while just supporting the ankle joint. To assist users, the robot offers faster-than-ankle movements. With a graphical user interface (GUI), users can change the robot's settings to suit their needs. Furthermore, we proposed a gait-adaptive method for ankle assistive robots to adapt to the user’s changing gait for providing more accurate walking assistance. Finally, the evaluation experiment demonstrated the positive feasibility of gait adaptation. The advantages of the proposed methods include low cost and simplicity of implementation.

Individuals with neuromuscular or musculoskeletal impairments often face walking disorders, which significantly decrease their mobility and quality of life. This paper presents an approach to designing a mechanical walking assist that offers bilateral support for plantarflexion and dorsiflexion, supporting foot’s flexion and extension during walking by applying force at the ankle to adjust the walking motion and posture to a healthy pattern. To complete dorsiflexion, an offset slider crank mechanism lifts the foot, while a four-bar linkage assists plantarflexion by using the action-reaction force from the lever against the ground. The forefoot mechanical pressure sensor triggers both motions, and the heel sensor aids in releasing the lever for plantarflexion. Experimental results indicate that the apparatus provides assistance for both motions improving foot trajectories and ankle angle variation, leading to safer and healthier walking. This assist has the potential to improve mobility and quality of life for individuals with walking disorders, while also being applicable to other domains that require mechanical assistance, such as walking rehabilitation.

With its low birthrate, Japan currently faces an aging issue. As the senior population gradually increases, applying moderate daily exercise has been widely accepted as a key to ease the incidence of life-related diseases, such as cerebrovascular disease that leads to severe aftermath by causing unhealthy gait posture. An already productized active assistive device named RE-Gait^® uses a motor and pressure sensors to detect the force varying from forefoot to heel in walking, thereby aiding both plantarflexion and dorsiflexion for people who are unable to freely control their lower limbs. Corresponding torque output depending on individual physical conditions can be customized from physiotherapist’s site. By contrast, considering a larger torque production with short delay time and less weight, replacing the motor with springs is appropriate. Furthermore, given that the target user includes senior and able-bodied people who possess muscle functionalities, the proposed device reduces the amount of time spent on learning to maneuver the battery-powered type and allows them to walk freely with less concerns on adjusting parameters and battery level. Therefore, the full mechanical types appear to be appropriate. By implementing the ratchet–pawl combination, the necessary energy source used for driving the assistance can be obtained from the body weight. With the pair of mechanical pressure sensors that can store and release the body weight energy, assistance on the foot can be enhanced at each anticipated stage. Four sets of experiments, including Motion Capture to verify the ankle angle variation and electromyography (EMG) to muscle activities, are used to verify the effectiveness of the mechanical walking assistive device. Results show that the device effectively offers assistance to both plantarflexion and dorsiflexion. Comparison with and without attaching the device and trajectories from Motion Capture are all increased. Furthermore, compared with the percentage of maximum voluntary contraction (%MVC) for muscle acquired by EMG, the muscle activities clearly decline. The device effectively provide assistance to foot flexions.

This paper proposes a three-layer elastic cloth fabric mechanism for an assistive suit with adjustable structure (based on a two-layer non-adjustable structure) to achieve different assistive force profiles. This increases the assistive force on the lower-back muscle group and alleviates the undesired pre-tension that acts on a user when the rubber belt located on the back is pulled to provide a higher assistive force. With the lower pre-tension, users would not encounter body fatigue as rapidly as in the past. The adjustable feature enables the structure to provide a force that increases gradually to a high level over a short distance without pre-tension. An experiment involving the measurement of muscle activities is conducted to evaluate the variation in assistive force in the lower back by comparing the three-layer suit to the two-layer non-adjustable suit. The experimental results show that the new three-layer structure successfully assists without pre-tension in the lower-back muscle group similar to the two-layer structure with pre-tension. A simple questionnaire is also administered to collect feedback from participants on the differences between the three-layer suit and two-layer suit in terms of wearing perception. Over half of the participants reported that the perception of pre-tension in the three-layer suit is lower than that in the two-layer suit.

In response to the shortage, uneven distribution, and high cost of rehabilitation resources in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, we developed a low-cost, easy-to-use remote rehabilitation system that allows patients to perform rehabilitation training and receive real-time guidance from doctors at home. The proposed system uses Azure Kinect to capture motions with an error of just 3% compared to professional motion capture systems. In addition, the system provides an automatic evaluation function of rehabilitation training, including evaluation of motion angles and trajectories. After acquiring the user’s 3D motions, the system synchronizes the 3D motions to the virtual human body model in Unity with an average error of less than 1%, which gives the user a more intuitive and interactive experience. After a series of evaluation experiments, we verified the usability, convenience, and high accuracy of the system, finally concluding that the system can be used in practical rehabilitation applications.

The world’s aging population is increasing. The number of elderly individuals having walking impairments is also increasing. Adequate exercise is becoming necessary for them. Therefore, several walking assistive devices have been developed or are under development. However, elderly individuals may have low motivation for exercising, or they may experience physical damage by excessive fatigue. This study proposed a method to enable elderly individuals to exercise with a positive emotion and prevent damage such as muscle fatigue. We proposed a 3D human condition model to control the walking assistive device. It includes the arousal, pleasure, and fatigue dimensions. With regard to the arousal and pleasure dimensions, we used heartbeat and electromyography (EEG) signals to train a deep neural network (DNN) model to identify human emotions. For fatigue detection, we proposed a method based on near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to detect muscle fatigue. All the sensors are portable. This implies that it can be used for outdoor activities. Then, we proposed a walking strategy based on a 3D human condition model to control the walking assistive device. Finally, we tested the effectiveness of the automatic control system. The wearing of the walking assistive device and implementation of the walking strategy can delay the fatigue time by approximately 24% and increase the walking distance by approximately 16%. In addition, we succeeded in visualizing the distribution of emotion during each walking method variation. It was verified that the walking strategy can improve the mental condition of a user to a certain extent. These results showed the effectiveness of the proposed system. It could help elderlies maintain higher levels of motivation and prevent muscle damage by walking exercise, using the walking assistive device.

Ankle foot orthoses are mainly applied to provide stability in the stance phase and adequate foot clearance in the swing phase; however, they do not sufficiently assist during the entire gait cycle. On the other hand, robotic-controlled orthoses can provide mechanical assistance throughout the phases of the gait cycle. This study investigated the effect of ankle control throughout the gait cycle using an ankle joint walking assistive device under five different robotic assistance conditions: uncontrolled, dorsiflexion, and plantar flexion controlled at high and low speeds in the initial loading phase. Compared with the no-control condition, the plantar flexion condition enhanced knee extension and delayed the timing of ankle dorsiflexion in the stance phase; however, the opposite effect occurred under the dorsiflexion condition. Significant differences in the trailing limb angle and minimum toe clearance were also observed, although the same assistance was applied from the mid-stance phase to the initial swing phase. Ankle assistance in the initial loading phase affected the knee extension and ankle dorsiflexion angle during the stance phase. The smooth weight shift obtained might have a positive effect on lifting the limb during the swing phase. Robotic ankle control may provide appropriate assistance throughout the gait cycle according to individual gait ability.

We developed motor-less and small type of a walking assistive device. Most of previous walking assistive devices were motored type. However, when the motor is used, computer and buttery must be equipped, then it makes heavy weight and expensive. On the other hand, some motor-less type devices are mainly for plantarflexion assistance and used by able body people. To address this problem, we utilized spring and rachet mechanism, and equipped not only plantarflexion but also dorsiflexion assistance in one device. By using this device, we had an experiment to measure the trajectory and angle variation of ankle joint. From the results, it could be confirmed this device could be improved user’s gait for safety.

We have developed wearable chairs for various people. If an elderly person gets tired while walking, he/she can sit down and take a rest at any time, so that he or she can expand their range of motion. If a worker has to work in a crouching posture for a long time, using this device can reduce the burden on the body. This device is designed so that it can be stored as small as possible, and at the time of sitting, the support polygon is as large as possible, and the center of gravity is at the center. The muscle activity of the thigh was measured by changing the height of this chair. As a result, it was found that the lower the chair, the lower the muscle activity when sitting down, but the higher the chair, the lower the muscle activity when standing up, and the easier it is to stand up.

The increase of disabled people with leg-muscle problems has elevated the importance of wheelchairs. Most available wheelchairs capable of stepping over obstacles utilize wheels coupled with a double planetary gear structure, a crawler mechanism, or a rocker-bogie structure. Each of these mechanisms has different limitations and benefits. Two types of stair-climbing mechanisms are proposed and compared with a typical stair-climbing system composed of a double planetary gear structure. One is composed of a double planetary gear structure combined with a fixed crawler mechanism, and the other is composed of the same elements and a rotatable crawler. The evaluation of the stability and user comfortability of these systems is based on the amplitude and the weighted acceleration during the climb and descent of stairs. The theoretical trajectories are used to calculate the maximum amplitude and weighted acceleration. Experiments using scaled models are also conducted. The results indicate that both theoretical and experimental approaches proved that the mechanism composed of the rotatable crawler mechanism is the best option among the tested systems. Furthermore, a more stable descending operation is realized by switching to a single planetary gear structure. By considering stairs of different dimensions, the behavior of the mechanisms and the stability of the chosen system could also be assessed. The mechanism chosen in this study can stably transport the user while providing a comfortable experience; therefore, it is expected to improve the quality of life of wheelchair users.

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p><jats:bold>Background: </jats:bold>A close-fitting assisted walking device (RE-Gait) designed to assist ankle movements might be a novel approach for acquiring the forefoot rocker function in the gait cycle. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of using RE-Gait by evaluating the intramuscular coherence (IMC) of the two parts of the tibialis anterior muscles (TA) in the initial, mid, and terminal swing phase, which could indicate whether the common synaptic drive of motor neurons was populated.<jats:bold>Methods: </jats:bold>Seventeen healthy volunteers walked on a treadmill at a comfortable speed before, during, and immediately after 15-minute RE-Gait intervention (pre / RG / post). RE-Gait supported plantar flexion at toe lift-off in the terminal stance phase and dorsiflexion in the initial swing phase. Electromyograms of the right lower leg and gait parameters were analyzed for each session.<jats:bold>Results: </jats:bold>After RE-Gait intervention, the step length was significantly increased. IMC of the two parts of the TA muscles in the beta frequency band in the initial swing phase was significantly enhanced during RE-Gait intervention compared with pre session. In addition, IMCs in the beta and low-gamma frequency bands were significantly correlated with the enhancement ratio of the step length.<jats:bold>Conclusions: </jats:bold>These results suggest that robotic ankle planter flexion and dorsiflexion assistance in the pre- and initial swing phase would be effective for learning adaptively modified walking by activating corticospinal tracts. RE-Gait will be a useful tool for re-learning of gait with smooth switching with appropriate forefoot rocker function.</jats:p>

A tele-rehabilitation system that can achieve remote interaction between a physical therapist (PT) and a patient was developed. Patients need to execute rehabilitation exercises to maintain upper limb function. However, it is difficult for them to travel to hospitals without aid. This system is equipped with a PC and a Kinect sensor at the hospital side (i.e., the PT), and a PC and an upper limb assistive device in the patient’s home. The PT displays the motion in front of a Kinect sensor, which identifies the motion. In addition, the device on the home side assists the motion of the patient using the Internet. When the device receives a force higher than the safety value from the patient at any particular point on it, vibrators at the corresponding point on the PT’s arm start to vibrate. Thereby, the PT can identify the patient’s condition and limitations. The time delays in the transmission of data of device motion and the vibrators were measured and compared. As a result, the PT could identify the patient’s condition faster than the motion of the device.

To ensure the safety of elderly people with a walking assistive device during the ground-stair transition, a system which could automatically transfer the walking mode between level walking and stair climbing was proposed. A road condition detection system with a RGB-D Camera and ultrasonic sensors was utilized in this system. The walking mode transformation is triggered by the detection of environment change. When far approach the stairs, the RGB-D Camera is responsible for the stair detection. The ultrasonic sensors are used in the near-approach of stairs and stair traversal. The ultrasonic sensors were mounted on the toe and heel to find the upwards and downwards stairs respectively. During stair traversal, if the ultrasonic sensors find the foot of the device is too closed to the edge of stairs, the target trajectory will be higher and the stride will be adjusted to prevent collisions. The Impedance control was introduced to let the device trace the predefined walking trajectories. In experiments, the device changed walking modes successfully when getting close the stairs. The results engaged in three subjects showed that the foot height was increased compared without assistance. Thus a huge potential can be expected that this system can solve the adaptability of walking assistive devices to different surroundings.

To provide better guidance for patients or the elderly during the self-rehabilitation, a haptic system based on the asymmetric vibration was proposed. Due to the Non-linearity of Perception asymmetric vibration periodic movement can provide a sense of pushing and pulling. In order to better support human motion, we evaluated the sensitivity of different parts of the human body to this haptic assist. And by combining with the gyro-sensor through the contrast experiment, we compared the accuracy of motion learning with or without the haptic assist. The results of three subjects showed that the accuracy of motion learning was improved compared to without haptic assist. Therefore, the system has great potential in the guidance of patients' self-rehabilitation.

We developed a lifting up assistive suit with Magneto-rheological Elastomer: MRE. Previous type of the suit was used a rubber belt. When user wants to receive stronger assistance force, he/she inputted pre tension to it. Then the user received reaction force before bending his/her back, even though he/she didn’t work. To address this problem, a magnetic and viscoelastic rubber was proposed. In the coil, according to the value of the electrical current of the coil, the stiffness of this rubber was changed. The suitable silicone and iron powder were selected, and by installing into the lifting up assistive suit, we confirmed the effectiveness of the lifting assistance without pre tension from the EMG activity evaluation.

We developed a new stair walking assistive device for the elderly. By utilizing the phenomenon of the stretch reflex of the bi-articular muscle, user can raise his/her foot higher than the normal by only assisting the ankle joint. Then the can climb up stairs easily. On the other hand, to prevent bending the knee joint while climbing down, the wedge effect mechanism which was used multi-thread worm and helical gear was developed. The experimental results can be shown the effectiveness of them.

With the growing population of elderlies, the number of senior citizens coping with walking impairments is increasing. It is necessary for elderlies to do proper exercise to prevent systematic disease. Various type of walking assistant devices is invented for rehabilitation or exercise support. However, doing exercise needs high level of motivation to gain effective result. Maintaining a high level of motivation is a critical issue during exercises since it might involve pain, discomfort, or depression especially for elderlies. On the other hand, senior citizens have higher possibility get injury caused by over-exercising. Therefore, the purpose of this research is keeping positive emotion and body condition for senior citizens when they doing exercise using walking assistant device. In this research, we proposed a 3D human condition model to evaluate human emotion and fatigue condition. For emotion recognition, we proposed a Deep Neural Network (DNN) trained by electroencephalogram (EEG) signal and heartbeat signal. For fatigue detection, we proposed a new method by using portable near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). In addition, we also found the relationship in living habit and fatigue time. Based on the emotion evaluation system, we can propose a control strategy. By using the control strategy, user can keep doing exercise in high level of motivation while avoiding fatigue damage.

This study mainly aims to ensure the safety of elderly people with a walking assistive device during ground-stair transition. A system that could automatically transfer the walking mode of the assistive device after detecting the ground or stairs is proposed in this research. The assistive device utilizes impedance control to track the predefined walking motions (level and stair walking) that belong to healthy people. Therefore, the target user could be taught to walk safely while being assisted. Collisions and falls can easily happen during the transition from even ground to stairs. Thus, we propose a distance-detection system using ultrasonic sensors mounted at the toe and the heel of the feet to detect the changes in road conditions. Accordingly, the previous walking pattern automatically converses to stair climbing or level walking when the assistive device walking on the ground finds the stairs ahead or detects the ground during stair walking. The device motion is changed by switching the target trajectories. The walking trajectories during the transition for different roads are combined. When walking on stairs that are dangerous for the user, the gait is adjusted to prevent tripping and missing steps based on the measured distance from the feet to the stairs. The effectiveness of the system is verified through simulations and experiments. In the simulations, the device target trajectories could be successfully changed when the device walks toward distinct road conditions from any distance. Three subjects participated in the experiments on two types of stairs. The experimental results show that compared with the normal walking of subjects, the foot height increases after assistance, which makes stair walking safer. In conclusion, this method can solve the adaptability of walking assistive devices to different surroundings.

Proper exercise is suggested to the elderly for the prevention of a stroke. However, when the elderly do exercise, they are easy to feel mental and physical fatigue, such as weak emotion and muscle fatigue. These reasons make them the reduction of willingness for exercise and further cause a stroke. Thus, it is necessary to study the emotion and body condition of the elderly. The goal of this study is to make the elderly who can have positive emotion and better body condition for maintaining motivation during exercise. A new method considering emotion and muscle fatigue evaluation combined with a walking assistive device was proposed. We respectively studied the emotionwalking relationship, emotion promotion method, and muscle fatigue evaluation. In our previous studies, the emotion-walking relationship was confirmed. The emotion promotion method is proposed using walking strategies in this study. The findings exhibited that the emotion could be promoted to the positive area of the 2D emotion map. Furthermore, a new muscle fatigue evaluation method based on near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is proposed. The findings indicated that the muscle fatigue condition is observed by the difference between the concentration of oxygenated hemoglobin and the concentration of deoxygenated hemoglobin. After that, combining emotion recognition and muscle fatigue evaluation, the new three-dimension (3D) emotion-fatigue model was created to display the mental and physical conditions. Finally, this proposal can be used for various applications for the promotion of exercise and rehabilitation.

This paper proposes a close-fitting assistive suit, called e.z.UP^®, with a passive actuation mechanism composed of an adjustable structure. The suit can adequately assist the back and arm muscles of a user with the proposed layout of an arm assistive belt and a two-layer structure, respectively. With its lightweight characteristic (i.e., weighing 0.75 kg only), the proposed suit is portable and easy to wear without additional burden. By using the averaged Japanese body data, a simulation was conducted based on a human body model wearing our proposed suit to evaluate the layout of the arm assistive belt. The simulation results prove that the proposed suit can adequately assist the user’s arm muscles based on the user’s motion. An experiment involving the measurement of muscle activities is also implemented with seven young subjects and seven middle-aged subjects to evaluate the arm assistive belt and the two-layer structure. The experimental results reveal that the proposed suit can successfully and appropriately assist both the arm and back muscles simultaneously.

A walking assistive device which induces only ankle joint motion has been developed. This device is attached on the ankle joint and only assisting the motion of it at the adequate phase, whole leg can be raised spontaneously. It was already sold as a product “RE-Gait®” for hemiplegic patients walking training. Now the inexpensive version of both leg for the elderly is also developed, which can make users to improve their gait. Furthermore, we propose to control the device taken into account the emotion condition of the user to promote and continue walking. We developed the current emotion evaluation system expressed with two axes; arousal and pleasant, using physiological data. On the other hand, the gait also can be expressed with two axes; cadence and step length. By integrating this system and device, we confirmed the relation between the gait and emotion, and it can assist the users walking effectively.

To perform fast and precise tooth inspection, a portable gear surface diagnosis system using laser sensor was developed in previous research. While the accuracy and practicality of the system has been proved, the inspection process using magnet stand as setting device can be time-consuming. Hence this study aims to improve the efficiency of the laser sensor setting process between different gears using the portable gear surface diagnosis system. Our proposed setting device utilizing a manipulator mounted with a laser sensor head to control the sensor's position. The method to derive angles of manipulator joints was studied. With supporting software, the posture can be automatically derived using our calculation model according to gear parameters. Therefore, the placement of laser sensor became faster and the efficiency of our portable system improved.

This study aimed to keep the motivation of users and achieve better effectiveness of assistance for rehabilitation and exercise. When these assistive devices are used to assist elderly people, they are prone to negative emotion and muscle fatigue. Thus, we proposed a walking assistive device that considered emotion and body condition. In our research, the deep neural network was used to develop two-dimensional emotion recognition (pleasure and arousal) by analyzing the users’ brain waves and heartbeats. Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) was used to detect the users’ muscle fatigue by calculating the hemoglobin concentrations. As a result, the walking condition can be adjusted by the walking assistive device to maintain users’ positive emotion and nice body condition. On the contrary, the users’ current emotion and body condition can be promoted when the parameters of the assistant device are adjusted.

To enable the user move freely and stably without operating any control interfaces, we developed a motion prediction system based on logistic regression method for Kinect-based upper-limb assistive device. A probabilistic output is provided by classifying spatial vectors and performing the pre-trajectory with the highest probability, 85% of classification accuracy can be achieved.

The main objective of this research was to stabilize the motions of a walking assistive device on the stairs. We proposed a posture-compensated method suitable for the stairs and proved the proposed theory in simulations and experiments. To adapt elderly people to daily life, an assistive device that could support the walking motion and protect the users from falls was utilized. Because the target users needed to walk on the stairs where they could easily fall, the device adjusted posture to stabilize users. Zero-moment point (ZMP) was used to quantify the stability of the device. To prevent collisions during the compensation process, the assistive device maintained the stride length because the width of the stairs is invariable. The target positions of the device feet were moved the same distance. The projection of gravity and the inertia force was kept in support polygons that varied for different walking phases to remain stable. Particularly, in simulation, the virtual slope method was quoted to calculate the location of ZMP. In experiments, pressure sensors were employed to measure ZMP. The results of the experiments showed that the assistive device, employing the proposed method, guided the user to successfully maintain the ZMP on the footplate. In conclusion, the proposed method is available for stabilizing various assistive devices, especially for slow-walking motions on stairs.

To maintain a high level of motivation is a vital issue during rehabilitation because rehabilitation involves much pain, depression, and discomfort. To study the mental state of patients is necessary. A new assistive approach using emotion evaluation combined with an assistive walking device to maintain motivation during the rehabilitation is proposed. To realize it, the walking-emotion relationship within personal walking limitation (PWL) was explored at first. The results showed that when people walked by following the personal preferred walking ratio (PPWR), they were evoked the arousal emotion and kept the current valence emotion simultaneously; however, when people were not following PPWR to walk, the negative emotion was elicited. After that, subject was required to wear the assistive walking device to conduct the test, which aims to observe the emotion variation when subject walked at specific walking gait with an assistive device. We then are according to current emotion state to tune device. The findings show if people mistakenly use the device, unpleasant feeling would be elicited. When we properly tuning assistive device conforms to current gait, it can validly alleviate the negative emotion further becoming the positive emotion. From these results, we conclude that emotion can be affected by walking. By using walking-emotion evaluation to an assistive device, we can be according to users’ emotion to control device; also, we can use an assistive device to inspire users’ emotion to further maintain motivation. Finally, this assistive approach provides a useful treatment way for serving rehabilitation.

The muscle injuries of manual handling workers, caused by the repeated motion and heavy load in the daily tasks, strongly influence their quality of life. To prevent muscle injuries in many occupations, a close-fitting assistive suit weighing 0.75 [kg] with the passive actuation mechanism and adjustable structures is proposed to assist not only the back muscle but the arm muscle of manual handling workers according to the user intention. An experiment with electromyography for measuring the muscle activities is conducted with six subjects to practically confirm the effectiveness of the suit. The experimental results revealed and proved that the proposed suit can successfully and appropriately assist not only the arm but also the back muscle with a lifting-up motion, simultaneously.

There is a population in the world who loses the function of upper extremity due to the accidence or disease. The upper-extremity disorders significantly reduce the people's quality of life due to losing the ability to carry out the activities of daily living, which mostly require the upper-limb function. Therefore, the needs of the upper-limb assistance devices for the upper extremity increased. In this research, we proposed a motion intention recognition system based on the Kinect® v2 sensor. The sensor directly detected the user's motion and further control the device with the corresponding angles instead of using the pre-trajectory to control the device. Since the body dimensions have the individual difference, we considered the unconstrained user-device interface by using two pressure sensor trays on each robot arm to support the user's forearm and upper arm, respectively. The unconstrained user-device system can slightly compensate not only the individual difference but the control error. Therefore, the unconstrained user-device model was established to obtain the relationship between the user and the device, and further control the device using the recorded user's motion. Additionally, the Kinect® sensor can capture the coordination of human joints and further calculate the arm length of the user, which can realize the adaptivity of different user. To realize the real-time control and assistance, the Kalman filter which has prediction function was exploited. The feasibility of assistance was confirmed by the system response. The results proved that the proposed motion recognition system and the unconstrained user-device system can successfully provide adequate assistance with a lesser time delay compared with the system without Kalman filter.

With the increasing in the number of elderly people and the deterioration of their leg muscles, wheelchairs have become an important mean of transportation. In the market, most wheelchairs that can climb stairs use a crawler-type or double planetary gears' wheel. But the crawler has the disadvantages of being bulky and has big friction on the ground and double planetary gears' wheel will cause big shake while climbing stairs. Rocker-bogie is also a mechanism can step over high obstacles but cannot climb stairs. To climb stairs smoothly and safely, we designed a wheelchair that based on the three mechanisms with advantages of all of them. With linkage mechanisms, the wheelchair can also adjust the location of the center of gravity (COG) of the user for safer climbing. Additionally, the linkage mechanism can also assist the user to stand up, which is more helpful for the user of the wheelchair. It is composed of four-linkage and parallelogram mechanisms. To assist the user to stand up with the normal posture of a healthy elderly, three parameters were taken into account in the design of chair part: trajectory of COG, the change of the upper body angle and the trajectory of the hip joint of the user while standing up. From the simulation results, the torque of the knee and ankle joint of the user being assisted to stand up decreased much. From theoretical calculations and experiments of the scaled models, different new mechanisms were compared and the one that was able to climb stairs most smoothly and stably was chosen. The effectiveness of the new mechanism was confirmed.

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title>
<jats:p>The main target of this research is to assist the elderly people to walk on different road conditions independently. A method that can transform the walking motion of a walking assistive device between level walking and stair climbing automatically was proposed. To teach the target user how to walk correctly, we defined a trajectory that belongs to healthy people to help the user exercise. Stairs are common in various indoor situations and become a huge challenge for people with gait disorders. To extend the range of physical activity, walking trajectories in different surroundings were imported on the assistive device. Ultrasonic sensors were utilized to detect the distance between stairs and the swing foot. Based on the measured distance, the gait was modified according to a predefined safety distance that was determined experimentally. We also designed trajectory combination methods for changing the device motion patterns between ascending and descending stairs as the walking conditions change. The effectiveness of the system was tested through simulation. The results showed that the device smoothly shifted gait with the proposed methods in this paper. This method has the potential to solve the adaptability of various walking devices to different surroundings.</jats:p>

In this paper, we aimed to evaluate the relationship between walking and emotion. We utilized the two-dimension (2D) walking condition map and the 2D emotion map to confirm the tendency and correlation. From the results, we defined each walking gait corresponding to each emotional state. To valid use walking-emotion relationship, we proposed to use it as a new evaluation method combined with the assistive walking device. Thus, the patient can acquire an improved rehabilitation effect while using the assistive walking device. To significantly use this method, we suggested that the patient walks by following the personal walking limitation region. Therefore, they can control the emotion via the proposed evaluation method. By connecting two maps, the interaction maps were proposed. Finally, the proposed evaluation results can provide a valuable application for various assistive devices to maintain the motivation of the user while performing the rehabilitation. Two-way control (emotion controls walking and walking controls emotion) would be applied to the assistive walking device in future works.

【はじめに・目的】

歩行障害へのリハビリテーションとして，ロボット使用での歩行練習が注目されている．歩行補助装置RE-Gait®（株式会社 スペース・バイオ・ラボラトリーズ社製）は，足関節補助に特化した短下肢装具型の装置であり，感圧センサによって歩行位相を把握することで，各々の歩行動作に合わせて足関節の底背屈角度やタイミングを調整する機構を有している．本研究では，慢性期片麻痺患者に対し，本装置を１か月間使用した前後での歩容改善効果を検討すること，そしてその改善メカニズム検討することを目的とした．

【方法】

監視レベルで歩行可能であるが，異常歩行を呈する慢性期片麻痺患者14名（罹患期間：1-22年）を対象とした．対象者を無作為にRE-Gaitを使用した歩行練習を1日20分，週２回程度１か月間実施する群（以下，介入群），RE-Gaitは使用せず，20分間平地歩行トレーニングを行うコントロール群の2群に分類した．評価指標は，10m歩行による歩行速度ならびに歩幅，足圧の経時的変化，足関節背屈角度の経時的変化とした．さらに，改善のみられた対象者数名に対し，歩行改善のメカニズムを検討するために，RE-Gait使用前後での脊髄相反性Ia抑制ならびに体性感覚誘発電位を評価した．相反抑制評価は，脛骨神経刺激の直前（1-4ms前）に腓骨神経を刺激することで，ヒラメ筋から記録されるH反射の抑制の割合を評価した．体性感覚誘発電位は，脛骨神経へ2連発電気刺激を与え，頭皮上脳波電極から連発刺激による皮質応答の抑制の程度を評価した．本研究におけるRE-Gaitパラメータの設定では，前遊脚期での足関節背屈ならびに遊脚中期での足関節背屈を促すプログラムに設定した．

【結果】

介入群では，1か月の歩行練習により，歩行速度が増加し，顕著な外転歩行が軽減する等，歩容が大きく改善する対象者が多くみられた．神経生理学的検査の結果では，介入前は相反抑制が認められなかったが，介入直後には，1-2msの先行刺激の付加で顕著な抑制が認められた．また，体性感覚誘発電位は，介入直後に連発刺激による抑制が減少する結果となった．

【考察】

本研究では，慢性期片麻痺患者にRE-Gaitを1か月間継続使用することで多くの対象者で歩行速度の増加，歩容の改善が観察された．すなわち異常歩行が残存している場合でも，RE-Gaitを使用して歩行練習を反復することで，歩行動作の再学習につながり，歩容が改善する可能性が示された．また神経生理学的評価により，RE-Gait使用直後には，ヒラメ筋への抑制が脊髄および大脳皮質レベルで改善が認められた．この結果は，RE-Gaitで足関節の底背屈を適切に補助することにより，下肢筋緊張をコントロールできる可能性を示しており，今後はさらなるメカニズムの解明ならびにRE-Gaitの適応に関しての検討が望まれる．

【倫理的配慮，説明と同意】

本研究は，広島大学病院総合医療研究推進センター倫理委員会の承認を得て行った．計測に先立ち，被験者に課題内容を十分に説明し，書面にて同意を得て実施した．演者の河原，弓削はRE-Gaitの販売元である（株）スペース・バイオ・ラボラトリーズの取締役を兼務しているが，本研究の実施，データ入力，データ処理，解析などには直接関与していない，

The lift up assistance suit e.z.UP® was developed by collaborating academic-industry. At first the fundamental structure was proposed by academic from the recognition of the target field people’s demands. However, to achieve the quality of the suit which can be sold as a product, it is necessary to discuss with industry. They have various experience and knowledge how to finalize it practically. On the other hand, academic has to not only propose but also analyze to confirm how effective it is. By collaborating each other, the new and usable idea of the product are born. Finally, our suit was evaluated with electromyography while lifting up by young subjects. BB and PM muscles activity were decreased, and it could be confirmed the effectiveness of this suit.

This paper aims to explore the relationship between walking and emotion. We employed the two-dimension walking condition map and two-dimension emotion map to confirm their tendency and relation. According to the individual differences, we propose the personal walking ideal-line on the walking condition map. Then, we conduct the experiment by shifting the position on the personal walking ideal-line on walking condition map to stimulate the subject’s emotion. We thus can confirm the tendency and relation for connecting the walking and emotion. To valid use this tendency, we proposed to use it in the assistive engineering. As the results, we recommend patient should walk on their own personal walking-ideal-line, they can freely control the emotion by changing walking pattern. In conclusion, this method can be applied for various assistance devices to keep the motivation until they recover.

Many people lose the ability of upper limb due to accident or disease, which greatly influences their activities of daily living (ADL). In order to improve their quality of life (QoL), we developed a wheelchair-based upper-limb exoskeleton controlled by Kinect-based motion recognition system with predictive algorithm based on Kalman filter to assist upper-limb function in ADL. The Kinect was employed to design a human motion recognition system as the control input of the device. According to the angles data of user’s upper limb detected by Kinect, we established a 3-dimension dynamic model to calculate the necessary torques of each joint, in which we considered about inertia of human. We were able to control the assistance device by a real-time track. In addition, the Kalman filter was considered to overcome the time delay issue in this study. By using the established mathematical model in the prediction model and the updated model, we can predictively supply the assistance for upper-limb based on Kinect sensor.

The purpose of this study is to automatically convert the movement patterns of the walking assistive device in different surroundings. We proposed a system that can detect the change of the surroundings and assist the elderly and mild patients to adjust the gait. The impedance control method was utilized to make the user trace the predefined gait that belongs to healthy people. Thus, the user was taught to walk effectively. Ultrasonic sensors were used measured the distance between the foot and staircase. Based on the measured distance, the stride length was adjusted to prevent the collision to the stairs. In the transition phase of the stair climbing and the level walking, the walking trajectories of different patterns were combined. From simulation results, the device climbed on the stairs at the distinct distance from the user. This method has the potential to adapt various walking assistive devices to different surroundings.

There are many people around the world who cannot raise their arms by themselves due to the diseases or accidents, even though they can control their fingers. It will make the patients lose the function of activities of daily living (ADL) of upper-limb. In our previous research, an upper-limb assistance device had been proposed, which can be controlled by several control interfaces. However, those control interfaces require the users to operate by the other hand. According to the object position, the upper-limb motions do not have a certain trajectory. In this article, we focused on developing a Kinect-based upper-limb assistance device. We proposed the motion detection system based on Microsoft Kinect 2 to detect the human motion, and further control the device and assist the user’s upper limb. Based on the human intention, the assistive motions can be realized without preprogrammed trajectories. The motions of the device and user were confirmed by the simulation and experiment. By using the system, the users may overcome several motions in ADL without the preprogrammed trajectories.

We proposed a walking assistance apparatus for the disabled and elderly people, which is used for gait training and rehabilitation. We used the zero-moment point (ZMP) control method to ensure the stability of the walking assistance apparatus. Since users need to walk on stairs and the distance of every two staircases is invariable, the stride length of the apparatus is supposed to be constant. We compensated ZMP of the apparatus by adjusting the posture and the position of the center of gravity (COG). Thereby, the projection of gravity and inertia force maintain in the support polygon. From simulations, we can adjust the posture of the apparatus and user when instability occurs to prevent the user from stumbling. This method is suitable for walking on flat ground and stairs.

Due to worker injuries in industries such as nursing and construction, we have developed a tunable and concealable worker-wear assistance suit that consists of elastic belts to prevent arm muscle fatigue and injury in workers whose arms repeatedly perform motions upon their shoulders. According to the layout and the material of the belts, the suits may assist the user's arm without any electrical resources. To verify the feasibility and functionality of the layout and the structure of our proposed suits, simulations and experiments were employed. The simulation was conducted based on the average body dimensions of young Japanese people, and its results showed that the proposed suits may effectively assist the user's arm muscles. By measuring the muscles activities of six subjects wearing these suits and lifting a load of 10 kg, practically and concretely verifying the functionality of the suits, the results showed a 45% improvement ratio for their arm muscles. The proposed assistance suit can not only directly support and assist the elbow and shoulder j oint but also indirectly prevent lower back injury.

Considering the practical usage of the assistive walking device, the user usually encounters unexpected walking motion which induces equipped motor easily breakage. In this study, we designed a torque limiter as overload protection mechanism for an assistive walking device. The material sheet plays a key role in this torque limiter. This work used the NBR (nitril-butadiene rubber) as an ideal material since the material assessment results reveal it possesses the great transmitted torque and durability. To assess the practical applicability, this work integrates this torque limiter into our developed assistive walking device to conduct the walking trials. We observe that this torque limiter can continually sustain overload torque for over five minutes and does not break the gear. To conclude, a novel torque limiter design can achieve the same assisting motions as the original gear, and it can protect the servo motor against unexpected overload torque. Finally, by integrating a torque limiter, our assistive walking device can maintain long-term service lives; further, the users can freely utilize it to prompt exercise and conduct rehabilitation.

An upper limb assistance device was developed for the patients who are hard to raise their own arm by myopathy and workers who have to keep the posture raising their arm while working. By using Kinect, the angle variation of each joint of the user’s upper limb is measured, then the robot calculates the ideal assist posture of the robot arm using the linkage model, and control by compensating the posture according to the measured pressure values of the two trays on the arm. This device can accompany assist the user’s upper limb even though he/she behaves arbitrary motions. We carried out the experiment of measuring muscle activity, and the effectiveness was confirmed.

The aim of this study is to recognize human emotional state by multiple physiological signals. Our final target is to develop a real-time emotion recognition system, it has multiple uses in our daily life. With accurate and objective emotion analysis results, our method can provide useful treatment effect information to use robots or some assistant apparatus which service activities of daily living (ADL). In this research, we used normative affective stimuluses to elicit subjects’ emotional change and collected multiple physiological data, then analyze data use the method we proposed to grade the emotional state. The innovation of our research methods: we construct a deep neural network to deal with the physiological signal to recognize human emotional states. The experimental results show that the proposed methodology provides a recognition rate of 80% for different emotional states. The calculated results reveal that significant improvements with other traditional methods, e.g. SVM, K-Means, and Naive Bayes.

Considering the practical situations of the assistive device, user regularly encounters unbalance postures which induce unexpected load to break the elements of the servo motor. This study aims to design a torque limiter for protecting the assistive walking device against the unexpected load and extending the service lives. We applied sandwich structure design which arranged the material sheet between the output shaft and final gear. When the surface forces of the material sheet over the limit friction load, the output shaft slipped and protected the device simultaneously. Hence, the properties of material sheet play a key role in this torque limiter. We have developed two types (with/ without groove), and experimentally validate the friction torque performance of NBR and PVC materials by using these torque limiters. Finally, by assembling this torque limiter into our developed assistive walking device that can conduct the same actuating motions as the unmodified motor, and prevent the equipped motor broken from the unexpected load.

Due to the injuries of workers in several industries, such as nursing and construction, we developed a tunable and concealable worker-wear assistance suit consisting of elastic components to prevent the fatigue and injuries of the arm muscle for the workers whose arm repeatedly perform a motion upon their shoulder. By measuring the muscles activities of three subjects wearing this suit and lifting a load of 10 kg to practically verify the functionality of the suits, the results showed 43% improvement ratio at most on their arm muscles. The proposed assistance suit can not only directly support and assist the elbow and shoulder joint but also indirectly prevent the lower back injury.

The optimal control of standing up assistance device was discussed using musculoskeletal model with the elderly physical dimensions in average. The continuous process of human sit to stand movement was analyzed using a slicing method to simplify the process. Based on the discrete time series, the speed arrangement of a specified sit-to-stand movement was optimized with sequential quadratic programming. Based on the optimization results, output force or speed of the device can be scheduled, and assistance efficiency may be enhanced. In this paper, the torque of knee was emphasized in optimization. In future different criteria will be considered and an appropriate criterion for the optimization will be utilized to specialize for elders.

With the percentage of elderly people increasing every year, we proposed a walking assistance apparatus for disabled and elderly person, which is used for gait training and rehabilitation. We used zero-moment point (ZMP) control method to ensure stability of the walking assistance apparatus. Since users need to walk on stairs and the distance of every two stairs is invariable, the stride length of the apparatus is supposed to be constant. We compensated ZMP of the apparatus by adjusting the posture and the position of center of gravity (CoG). Thereby, the projection of gravity and inertia force can be maintained in the support polygon. From simulations and experiments, we can adjust the posture of the apparatus and user when instability occurs to prevent the user from stumbling. This method is suitable for walking on flat ground and stairs.

This chapter presents authors development work on walking assistant exoskeletons for gait training of patients and promotion exercise of the elderly. The first exoskeleton is a whole leg assisting device using a special parallel link mechanism. For gait training of motor palsy patients, a weight bearing lifter was attached, and an impedance control was tuned by using frequency entertainment. For the elderly, a torque controller taken into account the dynamics of both a user and the apparatus with real time acceleration data is developed. The second exoskeleton is a whole body assisting suit was developed by adding arm assistance to the whole leg apparatus. By assisting not only legs but also swinging arms, an increased cerebral activity of all areas can be expected via rehabilitation with the whole body exoskeleton. Finally, we developed a close-fitting type exoskeleton assisting only ankle joint, which leads to a product RE-Gait® in 2016. By utilizing the structure of bi-articular muscle and physiological phenomenon of stretch reflex, the user’s leg can be raised assisting only ankle joint. Experiments with by hemiplegic patients are enclosed, which show that abduct variation of the hip joint is decreased while the stride length is increased by using the device.

Emotional responses to colour stimuli are referred to as colour emotions, and their psychological constructs relating to colour attributes have been discussed in past studies. However, colour preference, one type of colour emotions, has yet to be explained due to cultural and sex differences. In the current study, we investigated an implicit attitude towards multi-colour stimuli, which was regarded as a colour emotion judged by unconscious mental processes. To extract the implicit attitude and compare it with the explicit one, we conducted affect misattribution procedure, a method of measuring attitudes in social psychology. We obtained emotional responses different from ones measured using semantic differential method in a previous study. We analysed the characteristics of the multi-colour stimuli using scores in computed by the affect misattribution procedure. Results revealed that the explicit attitude towards multi-colour stimuli was affected by their chroma and hue values. The current study provided fundamental knowledge to clarify the psychological construct of colour preference.

A walking assistance device for apoplexy patients has been developed. We developed a walking assistance device RE-Gait®, which assists the motion of the ankle joint while walking. The motor is controlled according to the walking phase grasped with the pressure sensors under the sole. It is already utilized as a product, for the gait training by so many hemiplegic patients. By using the technology of RE-Gait®, a new device for the able-bodied elderly to promote exercise was also developed. This is RE-Gait®Light, which is lower cost, very light, and easy to move. We proposed a new control method for this device, which is automatically tuned according to the condition of the emotion of the user. In this chapter, the evaluation results using this method are introduced.

Walking assistance apparatus “RE-Gait®” was developed as a product. It assists the ankle joint motion while walking according to the phase of the user. By using it, apoplexy patients improve the gait, and when able bodied people use it, they can be promoted walking exercise. However, even though the physical assistance is provided, the feeling of the user affects the effectiveness of the device. Then the new control method of the walking assistance device according to the emotion was proposed. The targeted user's emotion evaluates by the two dimensional map, whose axes is pleasant or not and arousal or not from the analyzed data of brain wave, EMG and heartbeat. On the other hand, the walking condition also can be expressed by the two dimensional map. By grasping the relation between emotion map and walking condition map, the device can be controlled the user's emotion. In this paper, the control method using this relation is proposed and the example of the usage is shown.

We proposed a method that promotes walking which uses a two-dimensional emotion map. In this method, a subject listened to a beat sound while walking. The beat was adjusted according to the condition of the subject, based on his/her comfortable walking frequency. Simultaneously, the walking velocity, the stride length, and the heart beat of the subject while walking was measured, and LF/HF was calculated from the result of measured heart beat. Furthermore, we asked them to give information on the condition of their feelings, from pleasant or not by 5 levels in each case of the beat sound. By using these data, a two-dimensional walking condition map and two-dimensional emotion map were made and we found the relation between these two maps. Therefore, according to the emotional condition of the targeted person while walking, this method can promote or restrain walking adequately, only adjusting the beat sound.

In the current study, we formulated ontological descriptions for emotional states of users using motion assistance apparatus. In our previous studies, we developed apparatus that assists the ankle joints of patients in neuro-rehabilitation. Although we have confirmed the apparatus can improve the gait of the patient while walking, we have to capture and manage patients’ emotions as feedback of the usage. The ontological descriptions provide a feasible framework for common understanding while sharing and using this knowledge. In future work, we will develop a subset of this framework for more practical usage, in addition to expanding the descriptions of emotional states. After that, we will assess the validity and utility for design and implementation of software and hardware applications using this subset.

Recently, the viewpoint of service has become widespread. In learning domains, service providers have been required to adopt the viewpoint and to provide values co-created by teachers and learners. However, production by a service provider means the generation of potential value, whereas usage by a service receiver implies the generation of real value. That is, a receiver creates value independent of the value generated by a provider. Indeed, value co-creation takes place in a joint sphere where providers and customers interact with each other. Thus, service providers must attempt to generate the potential value through service design and play a role of co-producer of the real value in the interactions between the providers and the receivers. In the current study, we developed an ontology to share the knowledge on value co-creation and the information related to the interactions between the providers and the receivers. In concrete terms, we proposed ontological descriptions of receiver states for sharing knowledge in learning service design, and conceptualized elements of consensus building and value co-creation, according to the conceptual model of value co-creation proposed in a previous study. In addition, concepts pertaining to academic emotions are also described to represent contents of consensus building. Then, we demonstrated instances of a consensus building, which is extracted from conversations during counseling by a teacher (mentor) and a learner. As a result, we obtained a metamodel for co-design processes in the learning service design, and a conceptual framework of the knowledge sharing on learning states including academic emotions by the ontological descriptions.

<p>We developed a new power assistance suit without the need for electricity. This suit is to support care worker's assistance behavior, e.g. lifting-up and holding motion. It is made of only rubber and nylon belts. This suit can assist the equipped person's arms and back with two kinds of equipped belts. One is for the waist, attached from the shoulder to the back of the knee via his/her back. The other is for the arms, attached from equipped person's forearm to the back of the knee via his/her back. To confirm the possibility of this suit, first, we interviewed medical doctors and physical therapists. Their comments were, it is important to adjust the length of each belt for an equipped person adequately, and it is effective for the assistance of motion in a half-sitting posture and in transfer motions between a bed and a wheel chair. Furthermore, we measured the variation of maximum output force and %MVC of the entire body muscles during lifting and holding motions using the suit and not. From the result, by using this suit, the maximum lifting weight of the equipped person was increased by over 8kg, and the arms and back of the equipped person were assisted effectively.</p>

We developed a device that promotes walking which uses a two-dimensional emotion map for the exercise of the elderly. This map was made with two axes, the horizontal axis was pleasant or unpleasant, with the vertical axis being arousal or not, same as the circumplex model of affect (J. A. Russell (1980)). This device has two means to promote walking. One is an ankle joint assistance system, which consists of a servo motor and a controller which can adjust the targeted walking cycle, the targeted angle of the ankle joint, and the sensitivity of the sensors which was attached under the sole. The other is a beat listening system. The beat listening system makes the beat sound, which is decided for the purpose of the user, and based on the walking cycle. The user listens to the beat sound using head phones. By combining and using these two means simultaneously, users can change their gait and emotion, therefore, they can continue to walk for a long time.

We developed a walking assistance apparatus RE-Gait® for not only the elderly but also apoplexy patients, which assist the ankle joint of the equipped person. By only assisting the ankle joint, the equipped person’s leg can be raised. To keep up the user’s motivation for exercise using this apparatus, it is necessary to assist not only physically but also mentally. Therefore we suggested the new method of promotion walking, using the walking assistance apparatus while listening to the beat sound, which was adjusted according to a two-dimensional emotion map. In this paper, the relation between emotion map and walking condition map is shown.

We developed a new method that can diagnose damage on a gear tooth surface using a laser beam without a rotary encoder. The method procedure is as follows: 1) The tooth bottom, the tooth tip and their two median values are detected using the differential values of the laser reflection data. 2) The gear rotation speed is calculated with these four positions, and interpolated according to the rotation fluctuation. 3) Using the calculated gear rotation speed, the measured data can be converted to the corresponding gear rotation angles. Thus we can diagnose the damage of the gear tooth surface precisely and can easily set up the experimental measurements without being influenced by rotational fluctuation. To confirm the validity of the method, we conducted the diagnosis experiment and we created contour maps to show the diagnosis accuracy variation according to the fluctuations of the amplitude and cycle. Based on these maps, we found that the diagnosis accuracy of the damage size is the same irrespective of the presence or absence of a rotary encoder. The diagnosis accuracy of the damage location without using a rotary encoder is lower than the result obtained using a rotary encoder because we assumed that the detection of the damage start point is delayed using this new method. Furthermore, we defined the limit using the conditions of this method from the sampling theorem; the validity of this definition could also be confirmed from the contour map.

We developed a motion assistance apparatus which can be used for neuro-rehabilitation of patients and for the promotion of exercise for the elderly. This apparatus assists only the ankle joints of the equipped person according to the posture of him/her while walking, getting up, sitting, and standing. By using this apparatus, the dorsiflexion and plantarflexion of the ankle joint of the equipped person can increase while walking. Therefore, this apparatus can prevent stumbling and promote walking and various motions.

We developed a method which can diagnose damage on a gear tooth surface by using laser beam without a rotary encoder. This method is as follows: 1) The tooth bottom, the tooth tip and their two medians are detected by the differentials of the laser reflection data. 2) The gear rotation speed is calculated with these four positions, and interpolated according to the rotation fluctuation. 3) By using the calculated gear rotation speed, the measured data can be converted corresponding to the gear rotation angle. Thus we diagnose gear tooth surface damage without being influenced by rotational fluctuation. We did diagnosis experiments and we made contour maps show diagnosis accuracy. From these maps, we got the following conclusions: 1) The accuracy of damage diagnosis is the same level regardless of the presence or absence of a rotary encoder. 2) The cycle of rotational fluctuation hardly affects the accuracy. 3) Bigger fluctuation amplitude makes the range accuracy worse, however the position accuracy improves.

An assistance apparatus for upper limbs for patients who can control their finger but they cannot lift up their arms themselves, for example myopathy and hemiplegic patients, was developed. This apparatus can support to do ADL (Activities of Daily Living) motions (for instance, eating, writing, putting on making up, wiping his/her face, and so on) themselves. To confirm the effectiveness of assistance ability, we measured muscle activity while using the device, and compared the %MVC data between using the device or not. As a result, the activity decreased up to 80%, and the effectiveness of this device could be confirmed. Finally, the influence of the cerebral activity according to the difference of the operators and input devices for operation was measured. As a result, to apply in Neuro-Rehabilitation, it is effective for a rehabilitant to input the motion with a joy stick or a push switch by him/herself.

We developed a walking assistance apparatus which can be used for neuro-rehabilitation of patients. This apparatus assists only the ankle joints of the equipped person while walking. The apparatus attaches the motor on the waist of the equipped person and the flexible shaft transmits the torque of the motor to the self lock less worm gear on the ankle joint. By using this apparatus, the dorsiflexion and plantarflexion of the ankle joint of the equipped patients could be increased while walking. Therefore, the heel contact could be recovered and stumbling could be prevented. Furthermore, the length of the stride of the equipped patients was increased and the posture was raised according to gait training with the apparatus. We found that this apparatus can improve the gait of the equipped person while walking.

A method which can diagnose damage on a tooth surface of a gear by using a laser beam without a rotary encoder was developed. This method is as follows: 1) The tooth bottom, the tooth tip and their two medians are found by the derivative values of the laser reflection data. 2) The gear rotation speed is calculated with intervals of these four positions, and each value of the gear rotation speed is interpolated by using spline interpolation to convert them to continuous values. 3) The gear rotation speed values are integrated to gear rotation angle values. 4) The gear rotation angle values replaced the horizontal axis of the laser reflection data, and the laser reflection data is a form in which they can be diagnosed. From the experimental result, the accuracies were similar to the diagnosis data with using our method and the data using a rotary encoder. Accordingly, diagnosing without a rotary encoder is available through the above-mentioned system. Attaching only one laser sensor module, we can diagnose gears automatically in various cases.

This assistance apparatus for upper limbs was developed for patients who can control their fingers but they cannot lift up their arms themselves. To realize various ADL motions themselves, we proposed to control the device using the targeted posture map for the mechanical arm. To be able to choose the appropriate input for each patient, various input interfaces; Push switch, Joy stick, and Sensor glove are equipped. We measured muscle activity while using the device, and compared the %MVC data between using the device or not. As a result, the activity decreased up to 80%, and the effectiveness of this device could be confirmed. Furthermore, we measured cerebral activity while using the device for rehabilitation with a NIRS. When the subject input the motion themselves with various interfaces, the cerebral activity increased more than when the data is input by a third person, especially, when the target motion was complex.

A walking assistance apparatus which can promote gait training for motor palsy patients and outdoor walking for the elderly was developed. We proposed the control method according to the purpose of the user. For example, to promote gait training, this apparatus can select the impedance control method. User's legs are assisted along the trajectory with the ideal gait as well as walking. To promote outdoor walking for the elderly, this apparatus can select the torque control method. The apparatus calculates the necessary torques of each joint according to the posture and motion of the apparatus and user. In the case of the impedance control method, by adjusting the natural frequency of the ideal dynamic equation for the flat steps under the soles, the user felt it was easier to walk by frequency entrainment. The torque control method proposed to use real-time acceleration data instead of using the template trajectory. By using this method, the subject could walk on the slope and stairs continuously. From the result, the impedance control method is good for gait training, and the torque control method is good for walk promotion.

An apparatus to assist elderly patients to stand up, as well as for the upper body to lean forward, has been developed. The mechanism of the apparatus enables to shift the person's center of gravity along an adequate trajectory during the standing up process, so as not to cause strain on the joints of the user's leg. On a basis of this concept, a bed type which supports from the back of the user was developed. To verify the validity of the apparatus, we performed interviews and measuring experiments of the body motion and of the center of gravity. We also found that checking both trajectories was important to the comfort of the subject. From the results, by using these apparatuses, the user can stand up easily and our hypothesis was confirmed.

We developed a novel power assistance suit without electricity. This suit is for support a helper's assistance behavior, e.g. lift-up motion, and which is made of only rubber and nylon belts. This suit can assist equipped person's arms and waist with two kinds equipped belts. One is for waist, attached from shoulder to the backward of the knee via his/her back. Other is for arms, attached from equipped person's fore arm to the backward of the knee via his/her back. To confirm the validity of this suit, at first, we curried out the hearing for medical doctors. As their comments, it is important to adjust the length of each belt for an equipped person adequately, and it is effective for the assistance of the motion in a half-sitting posture and transfer motions between a bed and a wheel chair. Furthermore, we measured the variation of maximum output force and %MVC of the entire body muscles while lifting and holding motion using the suit or not. From the result, by using this suit, the maximum lifting weight of equipped person was increased by 8kg, and the arm and leg of the equipped person were assisted effectively.

A walking assistance apparatus which can promote gait training for motor palsy patients and outdoor walking for the elderly was developed. We proposed the control method according to the purpose of the user. For example, to promote gait training, this apparatus can select the impedance control method. User's legs are assisted along the trajectory with the ideal gait as well as walking. To promote outdoor walking for the elderly, this apparatus can select the torque control method. The apparatus calculates the necessary torques of each joint according to the posture and motion of the apparatus and user. In the case of the impedance control method, by adjusting the natural frequency of the ideal dynamic equation for the flat steps under the soles, the user felt it was easier to walk by frequency entrainment. On the other hand, to promote outdoor walking of the user, this apparatus has to be used not only on the flat ground but also on stairs or slopes with freedom behaviors, and it has to make the user feel comfortable. To address this problem, the torque control method proposed to use real-time acceleration data instead of using the template trajectory. By using this method, the subject could walk on the slope and stairs continuously. Finally, %MVC of the user's EMG while walking equipped with this apparatus was measured, and the influence of the difference using between the impedance and torque control method was confirmed by interviewing the subjects. From the result, the impedance control method assisted the motion of kicking the ground, and the torque control method assisted the motion of raising-up the leg. Therefore, the impedance control method is good for gait training, and the torque control method is good for walk promotion.

This assistance apparatus for upper limbs was developed for patients who can control their fingers but they cannot lift up their arms themselves, for example myopathy and hemiplegic patients. The purposes of the research in this paper are as follows: 1) to design the simple shaped arm and make the easy control system taking into account the practical use of patients, 2) to confirm the decrease of muscle activity while using the apparatus as an ADL assistance device for myopathy patients, 3) to grasp the tendency of the cerebral activity while using the apparatus as a Neuro-Rehabilitation assistance device for hemiplegic patients. The mechanism of assistance is utilizes the differential gears to lose the weight and volume of the mechanical arm. That enabled us to configure three motors to drive two DOFs (Degrees of freedom) for the shoulder and one DOF for the elbow around the root of the mechanical arm. The arm can lift up to 4 kgf (39.2 N) at the tip of the extended arm, and each maximum angle velocity is 1.57 rad/sec. This arm has two support trays, for wrist and upper arm. Each tray is equipped with a pressure sensor at the contact point to the user's arm, and by using the measured result of these four sensors, the control computer can learn the status of the user's arms. Furthermore, to realize other ADL (activities of daily living) motions (for instance, eating, writing, putting on making up, wiping his/her face, and so on) themselves, we proposed to control the device using the targeted posture map for the mechanical arm. At first, various desired or necessary postures of the assisted arms for the equipped person are determined, and each posture is defined as a control target. Next, each target (which is relatively close) is mutually connected, and the map can be accomplished. However, most of user can use the device without watching the map, because each target in the map is connected with the input signal of the same direction, which the user wants to move his/her hand. To be able to choose the appropriate input for each patient, various input interfaces, for example, joy-stick, push buttons, sensor glove using bending sensors, and so on, are equipped. The muscle activity while using the device was measured, and compared the %MVC data between using the device or not. As a result, the activity decreased up to 60%, and the effectiveness of this device could be confirmed. Finally, to expand the usage of this apparatus to encompass Neuro-Rehabilitation as well, the cerebral activity while using the device for rehabilitation with a near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) was measured. Then the data from using the device or not, and input motion from a third person were compared. By using this device, the cerebral activity decreased especially when the target motion was complex. However, when the subject input the motion themselves, the cerebral activity increased more than the data is input by a third person, especially, according to the complexity of the target motion. Therefore, for use in Neuro-Rehabilitation, we found it was important for the subject to input the target motion him/herself.

【はじめに、目的】 近年，ニューロリハビリテーションの普及や，早期リハビリテーションを行う事を目的とし，臨床現場における歩行支援ロボットの必要性が高まっている．しかし，現在開発されている歩行支援ロボットは，トレッドミル上でのロボットが多く，トレッドミルの外に出る，自走式歩行支援ロボットとしての研究は少ない．また，自走式であっても，麻痺患者に必要な足関節の補助が無いとの難点がある．自走式歩行支援ロボットは，様々な環境での歩行練習が行えることから歩行困難者のADLや活動範囲の向上が期待できる．本研究では，自走式歩行支援ロボットが，歩行時の筋活動動態に与える影響について検討することを目的とする．【方法】 対象は，筋骨格系・神経系に障害のない健常学生男女8名とした．芝浦工業大学システム工学部機構学・ロボティクス研究室作製の自走式歩行支援ロボット（以下：本ロボット）を使用した．本ロボットは右下肢に装着し，筋電図は，TeleMyo2400（Noraxon社製，米国）を使用し，双極誘導にて測定した．動作の記録には，MyoVideo1.5.07（Noraxon社製，米国）を使用した．測定筋は，右前脛骨筋（M. Tibialis Anterior: 以下TA），右腓腹筋内側頭（M. Gastorocunemius Medial Head: 以下GC）とした．課題は，ロボット装着歩行と通常歩行（normal：以下N）とした．ロボット装着歩行は，補助の有無による影響を比較するため，電源を入れた状態（Robot on gait：以下R-off）と切った状態（Robot off gait：以下R-on）で行った．歩行は，10m歩行を各条件3往復行った．歩行速度は，任意の速度とするが，転倒防止やそれぞれの条件で歩行速度を一定にできるよう，十分練習を行って測定した．また，課題前に，各筋群の等尺性収縮の表面筋電図（maximum voluntary contraction: 以下MVC）を5秒間測定した． 表面筋電図の解析には，MyoResearch2.11.15（Noraxon社製，米国）を用いた．得られた波形を全波整流化し，100msec毎の二乗平均平方根（Root Mean Square:以下RMS）により平滑化した．また，波形の振幅はMVCを基に正規化し，N・R-off・R-onの条件間での変化を歩行周期ごとに%MVCの最大値を用いて対応のあるt検定を用いて比較した．有意水準は5%以下とした．歩行周期は，Loading Response（以下LR），Mid Stance（以下MSt），Terminal Stance（以下TSt），Pre Swing（以下PSw），Initial Swing（以下ISw），Mid Swing（以下MSw），Terminal Swing（以下TSｗ）に分割した．【倫理的配慮、説明と同意】 本研究は，広島大学大学院医歯薬保健学研究科保健学倫理委員会の承認を得て行った．また，対象者には，本研究の目的や方法等について十分な説明を行い，書面にて参加の同意を得た．【結果】 歩行周期の各相で，それぞれの筋について，N vs R-on，R-off vs R-onで対応のあるt検定を行った．TAでは，MStにおいてR-offよりもR-onで有意に高い筋活動が認められた（p<0.05）．GCでは，LRとTStにおいてNよりもR-onで有意に高い筋活動が認められた（p<0.05）．また，TAのLRにおける活動のピークはNよりもR-onで有意に遅くなった（p<0.05）．【考察】 本ロボットは，任意に歩行パターンを設定して歩行させることができ，今回の歩行プログラムは，足関節背屈を，heel contact後とtoe off後に補助しやすいものとした．また，足関節底屈を，TStで起こしやすいものとした．TAのMStにおいて，R-offよりもR-onでの筋活動量が増加したことは，本ロボットの足底踵部に設置された感圧センサを作動させるために，被験者が過剰に足関節を背屈させたためであると考えられる．GCのLRにおいて，NよりもR-onでの筋活動が増加したことは，足底全面が床に接地していないにも関わらず，本ロボットの補助によって，足底全面が接地した状態に近い状態になったため，抗重力筋活動が誘導された事が原因であると考えられる．更に，GCのTStにおいて，NよりもR-onでの筋活動が増加した．GCは，通常TStで最も活動するが，本ロボットが健常者であっても，通常の歩行周期で，筋活動を発揮するための補助をしたと考えられる．また，TAのLRにおける活動のピークは，NよりもR-onで有意に遅くなっており，通常歩行とは異なるタイミングで活動していることが示された．GCのTStでの筋活動量増加と，TAのLRでの活動のピークの遅れは，本ロボットによる制御が，歩行時の筋活動を変化させたことを示唆していると考える．【理学療法学研究としての意義】 本ロボットが，歩行時の筋活動を変化させたことが示唆された．本ロボットは，様々な環境での歩行練習に用いる事が可能であり，歩行困難者の歩行練習を行う際の，リハロボットとして応用されることが期待される．

We have developed a walking assistance device using an orthosis for neuro-rehabilitation of hemiplegic patients. In clinical trials, the users including MD and PT requested as follows: 1) Low cost (because an orthosis is generally expensive), 2) Adjustable for various users, 3) Easy to bend at the toe (because the sole of orthosis was made of hard plastic), 4) Can grasp the sole pressure without fail (inner sole type pressure sensor was apt to keep on pressing). To address these problems, we developed novel type of the walking device enabled to attach under the user's shoes directly, without using an orthosis. The soleplate of this device under the toe was configured the flexible rubber plate, therefore the user enabled to kick by his/her toe at the end of stance phase. Furthermore, this device equips four pressure sensors to evaluate user's gait posture precisely, and it can be diagnosed user's condition of bone alignment of the leg, e.g., varus or valgus knee. We can therefore suggest the feasibility of this device for gait training of hemiplegic patients using this diagnose method.

We developed a prototype for walking-assistance that serves as a next-generation vehicle or movable neuro-rehabilitation training appliance for elderly or motor palsy patients. Our prototype uses a novel spatial parallel link mechanism with a weight-bearing lift. The flat steps of the apparatus move in parallel with the ground; the apparatus supports complete leg alignment, including the soles of the feet, and assists walking behavior at the ankle, knee, and hip joints simultaneously. We proposed the control method to help prevent stumbling during walking by compensating the target point of grounded for a swing leg, taken into account the calculated targeted ZMP (Zero Moment Point). To obtain each ZMP, the apparatus and user, we proposed to make dynamics models of the apparatus and user individually, because this apparatus was restraint free type. To derive each dynamic equation for the apparatus and user precisely, the pressure sensors between the apparatus and user and between the apparatus and ground were attached. By comparing between the measured and calculated targeted ZMP data during walking, and using the difference data for the determination of the targeted gait width, we confirmed the feasibility of our method.

We have developed a walking assistance device for neuro-rehabilitation of hemiplegic patients. In clinical trials, the users including MD and PT requested as follows: 1) Low cost, 2) Adjustable for various users, 3) Easy to bend at the toe (because of the sole of orthosis was made of hard plastic), 4) Can grasp the sole pressure without fail (inner sole type pressure sensor was apt to keep on pressing). To address these problems, we developed novel type of the walking device, i.e. it is attached under the user's shoes directly. This device equips four pressure sensors to obtain user's walking phase and evaluate user's gait posture precisely. The soleplate of this device under the toe was exchanged to the flexible rubber plate, therefore the user enabled to kick by his/her toe at the end of stance phase. By using this device we confirmed that it could be improved the feasibility of walking assistance from the result of measured pressure sensor data.

We developed a new whole body motion support type mobile suit. This suit can be used separately for supporting the upper and/or lower limbs, for assisting in ADL (Activities of Daily Living). We also developed a mobile lifter system which can bear both the equipped person and the suit. This suit and the lifter can be used by motor palsy patients, people who have suffered a stroke, spinal-cord-injury patients, and people with central nerve disorders. Using this device, these patients can recover normal gait with no risk of falling. In this paper, the cerebral activity during walking using the suit and normal gait without the suit are compared. According to multiple trials with the suit on a treadmill, the activities of the premotor area sensory motor cortex decreased. Especially, while walking using the suit for supporting lower limbs without swinging arms, the cerebral activities of most of the areas decreased. This data shows that it bcomes ineffective for patients accustomed to the suit in rehabilitation. However, on the contrary, by walking while swinging bilateral arms (even though these arms were assisted by the suit), the activity in the supplementary motor area increased (this area of the brain is related with memory of motion). Furthermore, the cerebral activities while walking on a treadmill and while walking in a corridor with an outside view were compared using NIRS (Near-Infrared Spectroscopy). From the results of this experiment, we found it is most effective for gait training to actually walk and not stay fixed in one location. We also found it is important for patients to swing their arms during gait training in rehabilitation.

We have developed a method to diagnose damage using a laser beam. Our method can be explained as follows: First, a tooth surface is irradiated by a zonal laser beam from an oblique direction, and then the irradiated laser beam line is shifted along the surface of the tooth according to gear revolution. The variations of the laser reflection between the initial and the present conditions are compared. And then it can estimate the condition on the tooth surface such as initial or abnormal abrasion, pitting, spalling, etc. To apply this method for a helical gear, the arm for setting the laser sensor was assumed as the special closed-loop serial-linkage, and the structure of the arm was proposed. By using these proposals, the data calculated from laser reflection and measured with caliper were compared. As a result, we could diagnose the helical and/or profile shifted gear as well as a spur gear, and the difference was up to 8 [%].

We developed a new diagnostic method by using a laser beam. A tooth surface is irradiated by the zonal laser beam from an oblique direction, and then the irradiated laser beam line is shifted along the height of the tooth according to gear rotation. The variation of the voltage proportional to laser reflection between initial and present conditions are compared, and the condition of the tooth surface can be diagnosed for things such as initial or abnormal abrasion, pitting, etc. Furthermore, we developed a method of automatic and remote damage diagnosis on a gear tooth surface according to various gear specifications by using the angle-distance relation map which made from pre-measured data of same material and heat treatment, and taking into account the influence of adjacent teeth. The measured data agreed well with the predicted data made with this method, therefore we can diagnosis the condition of various products automatically.

Although the gearing of crossed helical gears theoretically takes place at a point, the contact point is spread over an elliptical area due to elastic deformation under loading. The contact stress between the tooth surfaces is comparatively high for this reason Furthermore, the sliding velocity on the tooth surfaces is higher than for other gears. For above mentioned reasons, crossed helical gears able to carry only small loads. To make the most of its good features, it is important to improve the load carrying capacity of crossed helical gears. To make the most of its good features, it is important to improve the load carrying capacity of crossed helical gears. Two factors, that is, high sliding velocity and high contact stress seem to be important, but here we limit the discussion to the contact stress state. It is worthwhile to examine the subject more closely. Also, it is important to understand the meshing geometry of crossed helical gears, since it forms the theoretical basis of the meshing geometry of other types of gearing. The contact ratio is an important criterion of load carrying capacity. The contact ratio increases as the normal generating pressure angle decreases. A high contact ratio was able to be obtained by adopting low normal generating pressure angle. The purpose of this paper is exactly to investigate the contact stress states on the tooth surface of crossed helical gears.

We developed a new whole body motion support type mobile suit. This suit can be used separately for supporting the upper and/or lower limbs, for assisting ADL (Activities of Daily Living). We also developed a mobile lifter system which can bear both the equipped person and the suit. This suit and the lifter can be used by motor palsy patients suffering from stroke, spinal-cord-injury, and central nerve disorders. Using this device, these patients can recover normal gait with no risk of falling. In this paper, the brain activity during walking using the suit and normal gait without the suit are compared. According to multiple trials with the suit, the activity of the premotor area decreased. In addition, by walking while swinging bilateral arms (even though these arms were assisted by the suit), the activity in the supplementary motor area increased (this area of the brain is related with memory of motion). Finally, the brain activity during walking on the treadmill and in the sightly long corridor are compared. From the result of this experiment, it is effective for gait training to walk with locomotion, because of the improvement the motivation for training. We can conclude that this suit is suitable to assist patients in walking. Therefore it is important for patients to swing their arms during gait training in rehabilitation.

Walking assistance is necessary for the elderly and patients who rehabilitate paralysis of apoplexy. In order to meet the social requests, a walking assistance apparatus used a spatial parallel link mechanism has been developed. Without making special constraints on person's legs the proposed apparatus can assist whole legs of a person including soles. And the aim for walk reconstruction of the paraplegic by using the impedance control the walk trajectory. As a next step, the developed torque control method to use for a walking assistance of the elderly person or a trainer who could independently walk. To calculate supporting torque using acceleration of leg points and we attached acceleration sensors to an ankle and a hip joint of the device. In the case of the beginning to walk acceleration does not occur, Therefore we suggested the method to using a template of acceleration. We confirmed the effectiveness of the method from the experiment torque data, which agreed well with the calculated data taken into account the dynamics of both the device and the sensor.

We have developed a prototype for a walking-assistance apparatus that serves as a next-generation vehicle or a movable neuro-rehabilitation training appliance for the elderly or motor palsy patients. Our prototype uses a novel spatial parallel link mechanism with a weight-bearing lift. Flat steps of the apparatus move in parallel with the ground
the apparatus supports the entire leg alignment (including soles of the feet) and assists walking behavior at the ankle, knee, and hip joints simultaneously. To estimate the walking phase of each leg of the equipped person, pressure sensors were attached under the thenar eminence and the heel of the sole and the pressure variation at each sensing point was measured. To determine the direction in which the equipped person is walking, a pressure sensor was attached to the flexible crural link. Motor palsy patients and those with muscle weakness can walk with the assistance of the apparatus. Patients who have ambulation difficulty can also use the apparatus with a weight-bearing lift that we developed. Using the apparatus with the weight-bearing lift prevents stumbling and enables input of walking movement to the brain motor area. The validity of the weight-bearing lift can be confirmed from the results of the measured % maximum voluntary contraction (MVC). © (2012) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.

We developed a new whole body motion support type mobile suit. This suit can be used separately for supporting the upper and/or lower limbs, for assisting ADL (Activities of Daily Living). We also developed a mobile lifter system which can bear both the equipped person and the suit. This suit and the lifter can be used by motor palsy patients suffering from stroke, spinal-cord-injury, and central nerve disorders. Using this device, these patients can recover normal gait with no risk of falling. In this paper, the brain activity during walking using the suit and normal gait without the suit are compared. According to multiple trials with the suit, the activity of the premotor area decreased. In addition, by walking while swinging bilateral arms (even though these arms were assisted by the suit), the activity in the supplementary motor area increased (this area of the brain is related with memory of motion). Finally, we can conclude that this suit is suitable for assisting patients in walking. Therefore it is important for patients to swing their arms during gait training in rehabilitation.

The repletion rate of guide dogs for visually handicapped persons is roughly 10% nationwide. The reasons for this low rate are the long training period and the expense for obtaining a guide dog in Japan. Motivated by these two reasons, we are developing guide-dog robots. The major objective is to develop an intelligent human-robot interface. This paper describes two novel interface algorithms and strategy to guide visually handicapped person. We developed new leading edge searching method, which uses a single laser range finder (LRF) developed to find the center of the corridor in an indoor environment. We also developed a new twin cluster trace method that can recognize the led-person's walking conditions measured by the LRF. The algorithm allows the guide-dog robot to accurately estimate and anticipate the led-person's next move. We experimentally verified these algorithms. The results show that the algorithms are reliable enough to enable the guide-dog robot and the led-person to maneuver in a complex corridor environment. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.

Walking assistance is necessary for the elderly and patients who rehabilitate paralysis of apoplexy. In order to meet the social requests, a walking assistance apparatus used a spatial parallel link mechanism has been developed. Without making special constraints on person's legs the proposed apparatus can assist whole legs of a person including soles. Furthermore, a lifter which can not only bear the weight both the apparatus and equipped person but also prevent equipped person to stumble was developed. By using this lifter, all subjects felt that the assist power of the apparatus and the height of the trajectory while swing phase was increased. Muscle activity of the TA, RF, GMH was decreased by wearing the apparatus. Finally, the concept of the walking ratio was introduced to the compensated method of the apparatus, and the walking cycle and walking width could be flexibly adapted at equipped person's will.

A Closed-Fitting-Type walking assistance device was developed. The device has actuators on board in a backpack. It uses a system of power transmission that used a Flexible-shaft and a Worm-gear. As a result, the device compacted size and reduced weight of each leg joints. In addition, as for the device, choice of an Ankle-Foot-Orthosis (AFO) and a Knee-Ankle-Foot-Orthosis (KAFO) is possible by a paralysis level. In order to practical use of the device, we improved the three points: "Compact-size and Light-weighting", Adaptability" and "A walk movement performance improvement". Then we gave a verification experiment to confirm the effectiveness of the device. As a result, the support effect of the device was confirmed by the feeling.

Flexible shaft is bent elasticically, then it is possible to change the direction of power transmission freely. It is made from some layers of wires and those wires are rolled alternately. Due to the construction, twisting properties are strongly depending on the direction in which the wires of external layer rolled. In this study, we measure the twisting properties of flexible shafts for both directions; one is the direction of the external layer rolled and one is opposite. The complex non-linear properties are considered using two kinds of the torsional rigidities separately; the first rigidity for lower torsional moment and the second rigidity for higher torsional moment. The second rigidities are measured accurately for both directions respectively. When the flexible shaft is bent, the first region of rigidity is gotten smaller.

A close fitting type walking assistance device was developed. This device is equipped with actuators in a backpack. The power of the actuator is transmitted to each leg joint with a flexible shaft and a worm gear. Therefore, the width and the weight of the device were reduced. In addition, this device can be transformed from Knee-Ankle-Foot-Orthosis (KAFO) to AnkleFootOrthosis (AFO) according to the level of paralyze condition of one's leg, by detaching the knee joint from the device. We improved it for a convenient utilization as follows: 1) compact and light weight, 2) flexibility of adjustment for various individual body sizes, 3) taking into account the gravity compensation according to each walking phase. To confirm the effectiveness of the device, a verification experiment of the gait training was performed to a healthy person. In evaluating the posture of gait, we measured the vertical height, the adduction and abduction angle of a hip joint. By wearing the device, the vertical movement of the hip is decreased by 8%, and the adduction and abduction angle movement of the hip joint is decreased by 30%. Furthermore, all subjects felt the assist power of the foot joint. As a result, the improvement of the posture of gait suggests that this device is effective for the rehabilitation.

Walking assistance is necessary for the elderly and patients who rehabilitate paralysis of apoplexy. In order to meet the social requests, a walking assistance apparatus used a spatial parallel link mechanism has been developed. Without making special constraints on person's legs the proposed apparatus can assist whole legs of a person including soles. Furthermore, the concept of the walking ratio was introduced to the compensated method of the apparatus, and the walking cycle and the length of the step could flexibly adapted at equipped person's will. Finally, a lifter which can not only lift up the weight both the apparatus and equipped person but also prevent equipped person to stumble was developed. By using this lifter, all subjects felt the assist power of the apparatus and the height of the trajectory while swing phase was increased, and the muscle activities of the TA, RF, GMH, was decreased. Thus we confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed control methods and lifter.

A prototype for a walking assistance apparatus for the elderly or rehabilitants of motor palsy patients was developed as a next-generation vehicle or movable neuro-rehabilitation training appliance, using a novel spatial parallel link mechanism and a bearing lift. The flat steps of the apparatus move in parallel with the ground
the apparatus can support entire leg alignment (including soles) and assist
walking behavior at ankle, knee and hip joints simultaneously. To respond to the variation of equipped person's walking velocity, the length of stride and walking cycle while walking with wearing the apparatus were compensated by using walking ratio. Therefore the apparatus can be controlled in response to equipped person's will. Next, we developed a control method of the apparatus by using impedance control, taking into account the dynamics of the apparatus and the legs of an equipped person, and assist ratio for the equipped person. By adjusting the value of natural angular frequency of the desired dynamic equation for the equipped person, this apparatus can assist walking according to the equipped person's desired response of the apparatus. Furthermore, motor palsy and muscle weakness patients can walk by themselves by using the apparatus
patients who have ambulation difficulty can use the apparatus with weight bearing lift that we developed. Using the apparatus with the weight bearing lift prevents stumbling and enables input of walking movement to the brain motor area. From the results of measured %MVC, the validity of the weight bearing lift was shown. Copyright © 2011 by ASME.

A prototype for a walking assistance apparatus for the elderly or motor palsy patients was developed as a next-generation vehicle or movable neuro-rehabilitation training appliance, using a novel spatial parallel link mechanism and a bearing lift. The flat steps of the apparatus move in parallel with the ground
the apparatus can support entire leg alignment (including soles) and assist
walking behavior at ankle, knee and hip joints simultaneously. In order to respond the variation of equipped person's walking velocity, the length of stride and walking cycle while walking with wearing the apparatus were compensated by using the relation of walking ratio. Therefore the apparatus can be controlled in response to equipped person's will. Motor palsy and muscle weakness patients can walk by themselves by using the apparatus
patients who have ambulation difficulty can use the apparatus with weight bearing lift that we developed. Using the apparatus with the weight bearing lift prevents stumbling and enables input of walking movement to the brain motor area. It is very effective for rehabilitation to use the apparatus with the weight bearing lift. This newly developed system facilitates motor palsy and muscle weakness patients in the rehabilitation program. © 2011 IEEE.

Walking assistance is necessary for elderly and persons who engage a heavy activity. In order to meet the social requests, a walking assistance apparatus used a spatial parallel link mechanism have been newly developed in this research. Without making special constraints on person's legs the proposed apparatus can assist whole legs of a person including soles. To utilize the apparatus for elderly in their life, it has to output the angle velocity same as the data of able bodied person. And the equipped person has to be able to walk in various environments (inclined road and stairs, and so on) at will. Therefore the apparatus was equipped an inclination sensor and an ultrasonic sensor, then the angle of the slope and the size of stairs are measured to generate the control signal. The apparatus was equipped a control unit and lithium-ion batteries, and could drive over one hour period. To stabilize the equipped parson's posture for horizontal direction, leaf springs were attached to prevent over-adduction of hip joint. To examine the effectiveness of the proposed apparatus, the muscle fatigue while walking with wearing the apparatus was evaluated for one hour by mean power frequency (MPF) of the measured data of electromyography. As a result, the MPF wearing the apparatus was on maintenance tendency, while the MPF without wearing the apparatus was shifted from high-frequency range to low-frequency range. Moreover, the muscle activity in walking up the stairs was evaluated by IEMG. Therefore, the effectiveness of the apparatus could be confirmed.

A walking assistance device using a flexible shaft was developed. A combination of the flexible shaft with a worm gear was successfully adopted on this device to modify its appearance simple and its size compact. This device is controlled with a hybrid-control system both torque and angle at ankle and knee joints. In this system, the torsional spring constant of the flexible shaft is taken into account to the control power and the rotating angle of the motor. To expand the area of where an equipped parson can walk with the device, a self-contained system that controlled with SH-4 microcomputer and actuators, which consisted of motors and gears, were put in the small backpack, and Lithium-ion battery was utilized. Therefore, the equipped parson and patient can freely walk both in and out of doors environment.

In this paper, we develop a baby buggy with new functions which improve road safety. For the development, we decide the concept of policy based on questionnaire survey for users. The questionnaire survey was carried out around the shopping mall close to Minami-Senju station in Arakawa-ku, Tokyo-Metropolitan. The survey point has some characteristics e.g., there is a large number of the vehicle traffic; there is a road connected with train stations; the baby buggy come and go with bicycles on a walkway, and so on. As the result of survey, we can found expectations for improvements of “the single-hand operation” which include a function of single-hand open/fold and straightforward progress. If the single-hand operation is possible, the user is possible to hold children in another hand. In same time, it is expected that the improvement of usability make user available to attend on children for road safety. Then, we developed new functions based on a buggy in the market. Those are the function of single-hand folding, the function of improved straightforward progress and the function of new self-standing. The first, we install a kick-bar. By this development, the single-hand folding is remarkably improved. Also, the kick-bar work as the leg of the self-standing when the buggy is folded. The second, we develop a function of handle-revolution. By this function, straightforward progress will be improved due to tentative combination of handles.

An apparatus to assist elderly patients to stand up, as well as leaning forward the upper body, has been developed. The mechanism of the apparatus enables to shift the person's center of gravity along an adequate trajectory during the standing up process, so as not to cause strain on the joints of the user's leg. The apparatus also assists a person to alter from standing or sitting posture to lying posture. Although the mechanism has multiple links and joints, only one actuator is required to transform the apparatus between aforementioned three postures. The length of each link of the mechanism has been determined from their effect on the backrest angle when each link in the mechanism length is changed. The torque of the hip and knee joints while using the apparatus can be calculated and compared with the data of a user not using the apparatus. We hypothesize that the output torque of the user while standing is decreased by using the apparatus.

We propose herein an in situ method to remotely diagnose gear-tooth damage using scattering of a laser beam. The proposed method provides early and accurate diagnosis of the gear-tooth-surface condition. A tooth surface is first irradiated at oblique incidence by a zone-covering laser beam, and the zone is scanned along the surface of the gear tooth by the rotation of the gear. By analyzing variations in laser scattering between benchmark data and the current data, we can estimate the condition of the gear-tooth surface in terms of abnormal abrasion, pitting, spalling, etc. To test the method, we used it to remotely detect gear-teeth pitting in an experiment during which we simultaneously measured the vibration and sound of the gearbox and pedestal. Our analysis shows that the laser-scattering measurements reveal pitting more clearly and at an earlier stage than does the vibration and noise measurements. Therefore, we conclude that the proposed method estimates the tooth-surface condition with sufficient accuracy to assess the lifetime of the gear. Furthermore, we used the proposed method to diagnose real gear-teeth in situ in practical gearboxes to verify that the method yields an accurate diagnosis of the tooth surface of a lubricated gear. We found that by attaching a cover to the laser receiver; the remote measurements were unaffected by the choice or method of lubrication. For force-feed lubrication, pitting was detected for every speed range under 1800 rpm. These results demonstrate that the proposed method can diagnose the tooth surface of lubricated gears in practical gearboxes. Finally, we developed an automatic damage diagnosis method that is capable of detecting pitting by analyzing the laser-scattering signal from damaged teeth combined with that from the same teeth prior to the damage.

An apparatus to assist elderly patients to stand up, as well as leaning forward the upper body, has been developed. The mechanism of the apparatus enables to shift the person's center of gravity along an adequate trajectory during the standing up process, so as not to cause strain on the joints of the user's leg. The apparatus also assists a person to alter from a standing or sitting posture to lying posture. Although the mechanism has multiple links and joints, only one actuator is required to transform the apparatus between aforementioned three postures. The length of each link of the mechanism has been determined from their effect on the backrest angle when each link in the mechanism length is changed. The torque of the hip and knee joints while using the apparatus can be calculated and compared with the data of a user not using the apparatus. We hypothesize that the output torque of the user while standing is decreased by using the apparatus.Mechanical Design

We have developed a walking assistance apparatus using a spatial parallel link mechanism. This apparatus was designed to assist in the rehabilitation of patients who have difficulty walking. The apparatus utilizes a compensating gravity mechanism that helps center gravity during the stance phase of walking. To confirm the effectiveness the mechanism, we compared the measured data of the height of the hip joint on the apparatus while walking between with the mechanism and without the mechanism, and measured the value of the force which lifted the upper body with the mechanism. From these results, it can be verified that the mechanism output the lifting force during the stance phase of walking, and the hip joint kept the adequate height while walking by using the mechanism.

We have developed two kinds of power assistance suits. One is for support a patient's activities of daily living, which was united two apparatuses between for the upper limbs and for the legs; these were driven with a motor. These apparatuses were already developed, and characterized in that equipped person can be assisted for arms and legs without fixation with the apparatuses. By using this suit, we can input the entire body motion to the equipped patient for the neuro-rehabilitation. The other is for support a helper's assistance behavior, which was made with rubber belt, and without electricity. This suit can assist lifting motion, especially for equipped person's arms and waist. To confirm the validity of this suit, we measured the variation of maximum output force, IEMG and %MVC of the entire body while lifting and holding motion. By using this suit, the maximum lifting weight of equipped person was increased by 8kg, and the arm and leg of the equipped person were assisted effectively.

A conceptual Guide-Dog Robot prototype to lead and to recognize a visually-handicapped person is developed and discussed in this paper. Key design features of the robot include a movable platform, human-machine interface, and capability of avoiding obstacles. A novel algorithm enabling the robot to recognize its follower's locomotion as well to detect the center of corridor is proposed and implemented in the robot's human-machine interface. It is demonstrated that using the proposed novel leading and detecting algorithm along with a rapid scanning laser range finder (LRF) sensor, the robot is able to successfully and effectively lead a human walking in corridor without running into obstacles such as trash boxes or adjacent walking persons. Position and trajectory of the robot leading a human maneuvering in common corridor environment are measured by an independent LRF observer. The measured data suggest that the proposed algorithms are effective to enable the robot to detect center of the corridor and position of its follower correctly.

【目的】重度歩行障害患者の早期歩行Ex．は，設営の煩雑さや多くのマンパワーを必要とすることから，臨床現場における歩行支援ロボットの必要性が高まっている．現在，研究されている歩行支援ロボットは，LokomatやGait trainerといったトレッドミル上での歩行支援ロボットが多く，モビルスーツ型自立歩行支援ロボットとしての研究はほとんど行われていない．モビルスーツ型自立歩行支援ロボットは，トレッドミル上の制限がなく，様々な環境での歩行Ex．が行えることから，歩行障害患者のADLや活動範囲の向上も期待することができる．そのため，現在開発中のモビルスーツ型自立歩行支援ロボット使用時の歩行と通常歩行の健常者における脳活動を比較し，脳機能の視点から歩行Ex.の場面に利用できる可能性を検討することを目的とした．<BR>【方法】対象は，同意の得られた筋骨格系・神経系に障害のない健常男性8名とした．近赤外分光法（near infrared spectroscopy；以下，NIRS)を用い，通常歩行とロボット装着歩行の脳酸素動態を比較した．課題は，安静30秒，歩行40秒，安静30秒のブロックデザインとし,各条件下で5回測定した．歩行速度は，対象者ごとに各条件下で最も快適な速度とした．また，ロボット装着歩行は，非免荷状態での歩行(full-weight robot gait；以下，FW)の他に，転倒と身体への荷重負荷を考慮し，全体重の25％の免荷状態での歩行(partial-weight robot gait；以下，PW)も測定した．NIRSのデータは， 0-10秒と90-100秒の平均を結んだ直線をベースラインとし，前頭前野や運動前野，補足運動野，感覚運動野の領域に分けて加算平均した．また，領域間の比較には，Suzukiらの方法を参考にeffect sizeを使用した． なお本研究は，広島大学大学院保健学研究科心身機能生活制御科学講座倫理委員会の承認を得て行った．<BR>【結果】歩行によって運動に関連する各領域のoxy-Hbが増加し，その増加量は通常歩行，PW，FWの順に大きかった．領域別では，運動前野での増加が最も大きかった．ロボット装着歩行は，PWでは通常歩行に類似したoxy-Hb変化パターンを示していたが，FWでは，前頭前野や補足運動野などの領域でも大きな変化を示した． <BR>【考察】ロボット装着歩行は，歩行に関与する脳領域，中でも運動前野に大きな活動を起こした．運動前野は，運動学習時に重要な役割を担っているといわれており，ロボット装着歩行が歩行動作の学習に役立つツールとなる可能性が示された．特に，免荷状態のロボット歩行では，通常歩行に近い脳活動パターンを示し，運動学習に有効なツールであると考えられた．非免荷状態のロボット歩行でも，同様な効果が期待できるが，現時点では，通常歩行ではあまり必要のない前頭前野の大きな活動なども増加する結果となった．今後，様々な観点からモビルスーツ型自立歩行支援ロボットとしての実用化に向けて更なる開発と研究を行っていきたい．

In Japan, repletion rate of guide dogs for visually-handicapped persons is at very low percentage of roughly 10% nationwide due to required long training period as well as uneconomic price in obtaining a guide dog. Motivated by these two reasons, we are currently developing a Guide-Dog Robot with major objective given to developing intelligence in human-guide-dog robot interface. In this paper, novel human-machine interface algorithm and strategy to lead visually-handicapped people is proposed. A new leading edge searching method intelligently incorporated with one leaser range finder (LRF) is developed and implemented in our prototype guide-dog robot. It is demonstrated in our experiment that with the new method, the robot not only is able to effectively recognize the led-person's walking conditions but also is able to accurately estimate the person's next move. With the new method and a LRF, robustness is improved and validated to allow the guide-dog robot and the led-person to maneuver in complex corridor environment.

There are many persons who lost their sight or hearing. And They want to get more flexibility for their activities. But there are very low supply assistance-dog. So, we started to serve a assistance-dog robot for handicap persons. In this paper, algorithm of obstacle detection with image processing and avoidance are proposed. Especially, the potential method is applied to Bar-Shape obstacles for estimating the coordinate. These validity of methods are shown with simulation and also experiment by using prototype robot with real-time processing. As a result, we found the choice of getting around Bar or not is easily to control with height of Bar with persons safety.

We developed a walking assist machine, which machine used a spatial parallel link mechanism for the elderly or workers. The flat steps of the assist machine move in parallel with the ground and can support the legs of a person including the soles. The machine was equipped various sensors, could turn around during walking and walk in a slope or stairs. Furthermore, the machine was mounted self-contained control system used a SH-4 microcomputer and Lithium-ion batteries. As a result, the equipped person can walk without limitation of the area where the machine can be used. The EMG while the equipped person walked on the stairs was measured, and the ratio of IEMG between the data while wearing and without wearing the machine, and MVC were calculated. As a result, the machine was effective to use during walking on the stairs for the lower leg (crural leg) of the equipped person.

We developed a new diagnostic method by using a laser beam from the point of view of remote diagnosis. Our method can be explained as follows : first, a tooth surface is irradiated by a zonal laser beam from oblique direction, and then an irradiated laser beam line is shifted along the height of the tooth according to gear revolution. The variations of the laser reflection between the initial and the present conditions are compared, and it can estimate a condition on the tooth surface such as normal or destructive wear, pitting, spalling, etc. To confirm the validity of our method, a pitting experiment was carried out, and at the same time the laser reflection was measured. As a result, the data of the laser reflection experiment revealed occurrence of the pitting apparent and early. Thus, it can be concluded that our method can accurately estimate the condition of a tooth surface and sufficiently assess the duration of the gear life.

This paper proposes a walking assist machine for the elderly or rehabilitants, which uses a spatial parallel link mechanism. Its flat steps move in parallel with the ground and can support the whole legs of a person including his/her soles. A prototype was developed, which was designed to assist the halfpower of walking. Its performance was evaluated by experimental load tests corresponding to the half weight of each leg. Furthermore, to confirm the validity of our supporting method, muscle activity of the leg while wearing the walking assist machine was evaluated by using the surface electromyography (EMG) and calculating the ratio of the integrated EMG (IEMG) with and without the walking assist machine. The experimental results show that the activities of the rectus femoris muscle and the tibialis anterior muscle were particularly decreased to approximately sixty percent by wearing the walking assist machine.

Ankle-foot orthoses (AFOs) are used in people who have difficulty of working as ankle contracture splints and foot drop splints. Although utilization of AFOs has been expanding, it is still questionable if functions and structures of AFOs are suitable. In this paper, a new active ankle-foot orthosis (AAFO), which is dynamically controlled linked with muscle activities, is proposed. To discuss functions of the AAFO, using the electromyographies (EMGs), muscle activities during dynamic balancing of a body and changing of muscle activities with fatigue are considered. As the results, it's shown that to assist femoris muscles additionally to the tibialis anterior muscle is important as the function of the AAFO.

A method for predicting gear noise produced by a gear system was developed. This method calculates the distribution of sound pressure around the gearbox and identifies the areas from which noise radiates intensely. According to the sound-power level calculated from this pressure distribution, a low-noise gearbox was designed by adding ribs. The appropriate adding points were then calculated from the viewpoint of mass variation. It was found that to decrease the noise, ribs should be added in two places : (i) along the line with maximum curvature through the antinode of the gearbox's vibration mode or (ii) the minimum-length line which crosses the most contour lines through the maximum point of the sound-pressure contour map. It was also found that in the case of a gearbox with a vibration mode in which the gearbox side faces vibrate in opposite directions, noise can be effectively reduced by connecting the ribs on both side faces.

Ankle-foot orthoses (AFOs) are used in people who have difficulty of working as ankle contracture splints and foot drop splints. Although utilization of AFOs has been expanding, it is still questionable if functions and structures of AFOs are suitable. In this paper, a new active ankle-foot orthosis (AAFO), which is dynamically controlled linked with muscle activities, is proposed. To discuss functions of the AAFO, using the electromyographies (EMGs), muscle activities during dynamic balancing of a body and changing of muscle activities during fatigue are considered. As the results, it's shown that to assist femoris muscles additionally to the tibialis anterior muscle is important as the function of the AAFO.

We developed a quadruped robot which can take various postures, e.g. lying on the floor and kneeling. When the limbs are free from supporting the body of the robot, they can serve as arms. Up to two limbs can be freed from supporting the body when the robot kneels. The motion of the robot is constrained if it maintains current contact with the floor. The paper analyzes possible motions of the robot to maintain current contact. We show that even if the same parts of the robot are in contact with the floor, there exist singular postures at which the body of the robot has an additional degree of freedom.

A method for predicting gear noise from the vibration step to the sound-generation step of a complete gear system, including a gearbox, was developed. This method consists of three separate steps: gear-vibration analysis by an in-house program, gearbox-vibration analysis by an FEA program, and sound-radiation analysis by a commercial software. By using this method, it can obtain the vibration behavior of the gear and gearbox, and the distribution of the sound-pressure around the gearbox and identify the areas from which noise radiates intensely. To validate the method, we measured the displacement of a gear shaft, the acceleration of points on the surface of the gearbox, and the sound-pressure levels around the gearbox. The measured results agreed well with the corresponding calculations. According to the calculated noise, a low-noise gearbox was designed by adding ribs near the antinodes of the gearbox's vibration mode.

The increasing demand for quiet gear systems has created the need for precise analysis of gear-drive vibration. Furthermore, these days, noise should be predicted during product design. In response to these needs, the authors have developed a new method for predicting the vibration and noise of a total gear system, including not only multi-stage gear pairs but also shafts, pedestals, and a gearbox. The method consists of three separate analyses : three-dimensional gear-vibration analysis, FEA (finite element analysis) of gearbox vibration, and BEA (boundary element analysis) of the sound field. To verify the effectiveness of the method, sound-pressure levels at two points in the horizontal and the vertical directions from the experimental apparatus's gearbox were measured. These measurements agreed well with the corresponding calculated levels by developed analysis method. It can thus be concluded that the method can accurately predict vibration and noise and sufficiently assess the noise radiated and propasated through air. It can therefore be utilized for designing a low-noise gearbox by determining the area from which the noise is radiated intensively.

A new method for calculating the three-dimensional vibration behavior of a multi-stage helical gear system including a gearbox has been developed. This method utilizes three-dimensional multi -stage gear vibration analysis and FEM analysis. The calculated three-dimensional vibration of gears is used in a FEM model, which gives the vibration responses of the gearbox. The calculated and measured eigen frequencies and vibration responses of the gearbox agree well. For obtaining precise vibration responses of the gearbox, therefore, it is shown to be effective to consider the modeling of gear shaft, gear meshing, bearing and leg of gearbox in FEM analysis.

We have developed a new method for building a vibration model of an actual gear-drive system. Each gear has six degrees of freedom: three translational and three rotational motions. Stiffness matrixes representing each gear shaft and tooth meshing were made and overlapped into one stiffness matrix for the whole system. This enabled easy modelling of complex gear-drive systems such as multi-stage gears and branched gears. The results are in good agreement with experimental results with respect to the major resonance frequencies and vibration modes.

An analysis method to predict the 3-dimensional vibration behavior of a multistage helical gear system is proposed. The method considers 6-degrees of freedom for each gear and introduces variables indicating the tooth deflection and the torsional angle between drive mechanism elements, i.e., couplings and a motor. The calculated and measured results for the helical gears and the torsional vibration of drive mechanism elements were compared. The calculated eigen frequiencies and vibration responses agreed well with the experimental results. The usefulness of this method was shown.

The increasing demand for quiet gears has created an increasing demand for precise analysis of gear drive vibration. There has been a lot of research on gear vibration analysis; most of which was dealt with a single gear pair. This report shows a new method for building a vibration model for an actual gear drive system. Each gear has six degrees of freedom; three translational motions and three swing motions. Stiffness matrixes for each gear shaft and for tooth meshing were made and overlapped into a stiffness matrix for the total system. This enabled easy modelling of the complex gear drive systems; such as multistage gears and branched gears. The results are in good agreement with experimental results with respect to the major resonance frequencies and vibration modes.

This paper discusses design and control issues for a robot with integrated locomotion and manipulation which can take various postures. This work is motivated by the fact that persons can take various postures and can work while being in those postures. We show a prototype of four legged twelve joint robot employing timing-belt mechanism. Each leg can be used as a manipulator when it is free from providing the support to the body of the robot. At most two legs are free when the robot stands on its knees. This paper formulates feasible motions of the robot maintaining contact with a supporting plane or the floor. This kinematic analysis is useful to determine whether the robot needs to lift its legs in order to change its postures or not.