The University of Tokyo

Seiko Instruments Inc

Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba

Panasonic Corporation

Olympus Corporation

Aisin Seiki Kabushiki Kaisha

Omron Corporation

Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Osaka University

Kyushu University

Meiji Co., Ltd.

Isao Shimoyama

Kiyoshi Matsumoto

Hidetoshi Takahashi

Minh-Dung Nguyen

Manabu Oumi

Yusuke Takei

Yoko Shinohara

Takeshi Uchiyama

Kazunori Hoshino

Kentaro Noda

Tohru Nakamura

Takahiro Omori

Shoichi Kobayashi

Akihito Nakai

Shuji Hachitani

Tetsuo Kan

Kazuo Watabe

Hidehiro Yoshida

Yasuo Sasaki

Masayuki Suda

Koichi Karaki

Tomoyuki Takahata

Masahito Honda

Yoshiharu Ajiki

Binh Khiem Nguyen

Minh Dung Nguyen

Thanh-Vinh Nguyen

Yusuke Tanaka

Kimihiko Nishioka

Chihaya Adachi

Akihiro Kasahara

Taro Takahashi

Takuya Tsukagoshi

Osamu Nishimura

Takashi Izuo

Masataka Shinogi

Yusuke Kosaka

Masaru Ishikawa

Minh Nguyen

Naritoshi Kanai

Hiroto Tamura

Yoshio Toyama

Yuji Iwata

Yoshihiro Kuroki

Masayuki Yahiro

Binh-Khiem Nguyen

Hoang-Phuong Phan

Koutaro Ishizu

Toshihiro Ohmori

Takashi Tachimura

Noboru Kiga

Kenta Kuwana

Eiji Iwase

Tetsuro Kan

Sumito Nagasawa

Akiko Hamada

Takahiro Tohyama

Tsuneo Chinzei

Hidemoto Nakagawa

Quang Khang Pham

Takanori Usami

A multi-axial tactile sensor for detecting forces in directions of three axes and a moment about at least one axis includes at least four sensor elements including at least three shearing force detecting elements having beam structures provided with a first resistive layer and a second resistive layer at specific portions, and at least one pressing force detecting element having a beam structure provided with a third resistive layer and a fourth resistive layer at specific portions, the beam structures of the four sensor elements being arranged on a sensor substrate so that their respective longitudinal directions are radially arranged, and the moment about at least one axis is detected based on outputs of two or more sensor elements being arranged at positions of rotational symmetry around the center of the radial arrangement of the plurality of sensor elements.

Multi-axial tactile sensor

According to one embodiment, a sensor includes a first structure body, a second structure body, and a detector. The first structure body includes a supporter, a deformable part supported by a first portion of the supporter, and a membrane part. At least a portion of the membrane part is connected to the deformable part and a second portion of the supporter. The second structure body is connected to the first structure body. A liquid is provided between the first structure body and the second structure body. The detector outputs a signal corresponding to a deformation of the deformable part.

Sensor including deformable part

According to one embodiment, a sensor includes first and second structure bodies, and a detector. The first structure body includes a supporter, and first and second deformable parts supported by the supporter. The second deformable part has at least one of a second length less than a first length of the first deformable part, a second width greater than a first width of the first deformable part, a second thickness greater than a first thickness of the first deformable part, a second Young's modulus greater than a first Young's modulus of the first deformable part, or a second spring constant greater than a first spring constant of the first deformable part. The second structure body is connected to the first structure body. A liquid is provided between the first and second structure bodies. The detector outputs a signal corresponding to a deformation of the first or second deformable part.

Sensor including deformable parts

Provided is a photodetector including: an organic semiconductor () having protrusions; a metal layer () added onto the organic semiconductor (), for promoting at least one of localized plasmon resonance and surface plasmon resonance in which electrons are excited through irradiation of detection light; and a semiconductor () forming a junction with the metal layer (), for allowing electrons excited through the plasmon resonance to pass through the junction () with the metal layer ().

Photodetector

According to embodiments, a sensor includes a structure body, a container, a liquid and a sensing unit. The structure body includes a supporter, and a film unit. The film unit includes a first region. The first region includes a first end portion supported by the supporter, and a first portion being displaceable. The film unit includes an opening. The container is connected to the structure body. A first space is defined between the film unit and the container. The liquid is provided inside the first space. The sensing unit senses a displacement of the first portion accompanying a displacement of the liquid.

Sensor

The travelling apparatus according to exemplary embodiments includes front wheels, which are driving wheels, an upper frame, first linear motion mechanisms configured to be extendable and retractable and couple the front wheels to the upper frame, middle wheels configured to be disposed at a back of the front wheels, second linear motion mechanisms configured to be extendable and retractable and couple a riding part to the middle wheels, rear wheels configured to be disposed at a back of the middle wheels, lower links configured to couple the middle wheels to the rear wheels, respectively, rear links configured to couple the lower links to the upper frame, and a third linear motion mechanism configured to change an angle between the upper frame and the rear links.

Travelling apparatus

A pressure sensor which detects variation in pressures, the pressure sensor including a cantilever which is bent according to a pressure difference between the inside and the outside of a cavity in a sensor main body, and an intra-lever gap which is formed on a proximal end portion of the cantilever. The proximal end portion is partitioned into a first support portion and a second support portion by an intra-lever gap in a second direction orthogonal to a first direction in which the proximal end portion and a distal end portion are connected to each other in plan view. A doped layer which is provided on a portion of the first and second support portions forms a first displacement detection portion and a second displacement detection portion. Lengths of the first and second displacement detection portions are shorter than those of the first and second supports along the second direction.

Pressure sensor

A pressure sensor which detects variation in pressure, the pressure sensor including a cantilever which bends according to a pressure difference between the inside and the outside of a cavity in a sensor main body, and a first gap, a second gap, and a third gap which are formed on a proximal end portion of the cantilever. The first to third gaps electrically partition the proximal end portion of the cantilever into a first support portion, a second support portion, a first displacement detection portion, and a second displacement portion in a second direction orthogonal to a first direction in which the proximal end portion and a distal end portion of the cantilever are connected to each other in plan view. The first and second displacement detection portions detect displacement according to the bending of the cantilever between the first and second support portion.

A pressure sensor includes a sensor main body having a cavity, a cantilever having a lever main body and lever support-portion, which is bent according to a pressure difference between the cavity and sensor outside main body, and a displacement detection unit detects cantilever displacement based on resistance variation in resistance values of the main body-resistance portion formed in the lever main body and lever-resistance portion formed in the lever support-portion. A division groove is formed in the lever support; the division divides the lever-resistance portion into a first resistance portion electrically connected to a detection-electrode in series and second resistance portion closer to other adjacent lever support-portion than the first resistance portion. The first resistance portion of the lever support-portion electrically connected to the detection-electrode via a parallel path of a first path passing through the main body-resistance portion and second path passing through the second resistance portion.

Cantilever pressure sensor with division portions for dividing lever resistance and having piezoresistor element

The present invention achieves a pressure-sensitive sensor which can detect information on a pressure, a sound pressure, acceleration, gas and the like, with high sensitivity. The pressure-sensitive sensor includes: a cantilever (); a frame () which is provided around the cantilever () and holds a base end of the cantilever (); a gap () formed between the cantilever () and the frame (); and a liquid () which seals the gap ().

Pressure-sensitive sensor

A pressure sensor includes a sensor body which has a first surface and a cavity with an opening in the first surface, a cantilever which has a base end portion supported on the first surface and a distal end portion provided to form a gap from a peripheral edge of the opening inside the opening, is flexurally deformed according to a pressure difference between an inside and an outside of the cavity, and is formed of a semiconductor material, and a displacement measurement unit which measures a displacement of the cantilever vibrating according to the pressure difference at a frequency larger than a lower limit frequency f(Hz) defined by Expression (1), where a width (&#x3bc;m) of the gap is represented by G, a volume (ml) of the cavity is represented by V, and a proportional constant is represented by k.&#xb7;()&#x2003;&#x2003;(1)

Pressure sensor having cantilever and displacement measurement unit

A gas sensor is proposed, which can detect a gas by a novel configuration while reduction in size is achieved. The gas sensor () does not need a light absorption path as in a prior art so that the size can be reduced correspondingly. Further, in the gas sensor (), a gas is absorbed in an ionic liquid (IL), and a dielectric constant of the ionic liquid (IL) that changes by absorbing the gas can be measured according to a change in light intensity that occurs by a surface plasmon resonance phenomenon in a metal layer (). Thus, the gas sensor () including the novel configuration that can detect a gas based on the change in the light intensity can be realized.

Gas sensor

To propose an oral cavity sensor capable of analyzing tongue movements in more detail than before. In an oral cavity sensor () which is even provided with a sensor element () having a mechanical configuration capable of measuring each of external force components in three axis directions, the sensor element () can be protected by an elastic body (), and the whole of the elastic body () is covered with the coating film () made of a biocompatible material. Thereby, the sensor element () and the elastic body () can be safely attached in an oral cavity (MT) of a subject (EXA), and can measure each of the external force components in the three axis directions. As a result, on the basis of the external force components in the three axis directions, complicated tongue movements at the time of mastication or swallowing in the oral cavity (MT) can be analyzed in more detail than before.

Oral cavity sensor

A tactile sensor and a multi-axial tactile sensor are provided, each of which is thin and can measure shearing force. A multi-axial tactile sensorincludes a sensor elementprovided in a plane substantially at the same level as the surface of a substrate, and an outer package membercovering around the sensor elementand transmitting external force to the sensor element. The sensor elementincludes a flexible beam() having at least one end supported by the substrate. The sensor elementdetects deformation of the beam(), the deformation being caused in the direction in parallel with the surface of the substrate

Tactile sensor and multi-axial tactile sensor

A gas sensor that can enhance gas detection sensitivity more than the conventional sensors with a simple configuration is proposed. An electric double layer including a gate insulating layer is formed in an ionic liquid (IL), a change of a state of the gate insulating layer in the ionic liquid (IL) that occurs by absorbing a gas is directly reflected in a source-drain current (I) that flows in a carbon nanotube (). Therefore, the gas detection sensitivity can be enhanced more than in the conventional sensors. Further, since the ionic liquid (IL) can be simply provided on a substrate () to be in contact with the carbon nanotube () and a gate electrode (), the configuration that chemically modifies a surface of the carbon nanotube with a plurality of polymers as in the conventional gas sensors is not needed, and the configuration can be simplified correspondingly.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Isao Shimoyama