Robot and the Elastic Mind

Athlete Robot is a bipedal robot with an artificial musculoskeletal system to perform sprint running. The pneumatic artificial muscles are used for the system. The configuration of the muscles in the robot is compatible with the human. The spring-like property of the human lower leg during running is modeled as an elastic blade foot. We demonstrate that the real bipedal robot is able to run for several steps.

H2 sensor is a unique contact/proximity sensor for the human body. Just by carrying the tiny device, it detects human-to-human contact such as shake-hands, hug, high five, cheek kissing and contact in anywhere on the body. The device measures weak electro-magnetic field around the body and its changes. We demonstrate several applications of the sensor: an human synthesizer for converting physical distance between people to electric music, an game system using player's body as the controllers, etc.

Archi/e Machina is a prototype of interactive and robotic architecture. This is a collaborative work with Yosuke Ushigome. It is based on a domed tensegrity structure using 21 rods and 84 wires. Twelve of the wires are replaced with pneumatic muscles. The Archi/e Machina changes shape of its bulk like creature in response to the environmental information.

Bionic Engine is a soft engine powered by clean compressed air. The engine is covered with white fake fur and has a heartbeat. The motorcycle displayed here is the prototype of expected future products that links machine and organism.

Good‐bye feet is a machine which extends your body image. The body image is how you perceive your body, including your height, shape, and weight. By replacing your eyes with stereo cameras, the machine cheats your brain. It’s a brand‐new experiment that the body suddenly became 5m height. Though you could see and move your feet, they would be so far off. "Good‐bye feet!"

Gemotion Screen is a moving soft display that changes its shape physically in synchronization with the graphics on the screen. This is a collaborative work with a computer graphics artist Yoichiro Kawaguchi. The screen consist of flexible fabric and linear actuator array.

Mowgli is a pneumatically actuated bipedal robot. The McKibben pneumatic muscles are used for the system. Mowgli can reach jump heights of more than 50% of its body height. As a legged robot with multiple DoFs, the performance is extremely high. We also shows that Mowgli can learn to jump and land on the level ground within 150 trials.

A walking quadruped robot. The robot has only passive reflex. The leg thrust the ground independently when the joint angle is changed by drawing a leash. The locomotion is not programmed but emerged from interaction between the robot body and the environment. It is inspired by the area of embodied cognitive science.

A robot hand is driven by pneumatic muscles and tendon wires. The mechanism for bending and stretching the finger is very close to human forearm. Because of the muscle's mechanical softness, this hand is able to have shake hands with the human safely. We also proposed the remote shake-hands system with this robot hand.