Nara Institute of Science and Technology

Jun Ueda

Tsukasa Ogasawara

Ming Ding

Yutaka Ishida

In one embodiment of the present invention, a driving force calculating device calculates a driving force so that a desired load is applied on a muscle while a power assisting device assists and/or resists a predetermined motion. A driving force calculating section of a driving force calculating device calculates a driving force of each driving section according to a joint torque table on joint torque necessary for a rotational motion and an assigned muscle force table on an assigned muscle force input to a muscle force input section. For the calculation is used a muscle/artificial muscle integrated model data integrally including musculoskeletal model data on a musculoskeletal model of a human and artificial muscle model data on an artificial muscle model of the power assisting device. The driving force is calculated through optimization using Crowninshield performance function under constraint conditions of the joint torque and the assigned muscle force.

Driving force calculating device, driving force calculating method, power assisting device, program, and computer-readable storage medium

A tactile sensor of an embodiment of the present invention includes: a sensing section having an elastic member at a portion which contacts a measurement target; an image acquiring section for acquiring as image information the state of a contact surface of the measurement target and the elastic member, before and after application of an external force tangential to the contact surface; a deformation analyzing section for analyzing deformation information of the contact surface, based on the image information acquired by the image acquiring section; an external force detecting section for detecting the external force applied tangential to the contact surface; and an estimating section for estimating a slippage margin between the measurement target and the elastic member, based on (I) the deformation information of the contact surface, which information acquired by the deformation analyzing section, (II) the external force detected by the external force detecting section, and (III) an object constant of the elastic member. With this tactile sensor, slippage margin can be simply but accurately estimated.

Tactile sensor and use thereof

A driving force calculating device () includes: a setting information acquiring section () which acquires (a) muscle specifying information that specifies a target muscle, which is a muscle whose function is assisted or resisted by a driving section and (b) a target value of muscle force to be produced by the target muscle at the time of rotational motion under assistance or resistance of the driving section; and a target muscle force evaluating section () which acquires an estimated muscle force table () and musculoskeletal model data () and evaluates the feasibility of the target value of the target muscle. With this arrangement, it is possible to reduce time required to calculate a driving force of the driving section of the power assisting device.

Driving force calculating device, driving force calculating method, power assisting device, driving force calculating program, and computer-readable storage medium

Growing community of inventors

Ikoma, Japan

Jun Ueda