Hosiden Corporation

Panasonic Corporation

Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Takayuki Nagata

Kazuhisa Yamamoto

Tatsuo Itoh

Hayato Kondo

Daisuke Sasaki

Takahisa Ohtsuji

Katsuhiko Asai

Shinichi Shikii

Yuta Kawakami

Kosuke Sasada

Kazuo Inoue

Shinichi Kadowaki

Akihiro Arai

Yasuo Nakai

Hideki Aikoh

Stephen William John

Joji Anzai

Takao Hayashi

Hideto Kobayashi

Akihito Shichida

Tetsuro Mizushima

Teruto Hirota

Yasunao Okazaki

Takao Asano

Toru Nakamura

Toru Imai

Jie Lin

Masaki Yamamoto

Kousei Sano

Hideki Nakata

Junichi Arai

Hironori Tomita

Eishin Mori

Yuki Takaoka

Tatsuhiro Kishi

Pinchu Yang

Akira Yamamoto

Yoshiaki Komma

Jun Ozawa

Tohru Nakamura

Hiroyuki Furuya

Koichi Kusukame

Takashi Ogura

Fumitomo Yamasaki

Akira Kurozuka

Akihiro Tanaka

Kenji Nakayama

Eiji Sato

Hiroshi Obi

Takeshi Ishikawa

Fumio Ohta

Motoki Hirose

Kosukei Sasada

A contactless power supply device includes a handle attachable and detachable with respect to a main body case at least partially covering a main body part including an electric unit, a power transmission module to be provided to protrude from the main body case, and having a power transmission coil electrified based on power supplied to the main body part, a power reception module housed in the handle to face the power transmission module when the handle is fixed to the main body case, and having a power reception coil contactlessly supplied with power via the power transmission coil, and a detection unit provided in the handle, driven based on the power supplied via the power reception module, and configured to detect whether the handle is being gripped.

Contactless power supply device for use with a handle and main body case

An electric wheelchair includes a main frame; a drivable wheel supported by the main frame; an electric motor disposed on the main frame and configured to drive the drivable wheel; a clutch configured to switch a power transmission path from the electric motor to the drivable wheel between an engagement state and a disengagement state; and a clutch operation handle configured to be moved in a predetermined range in an up-down direction. The clutch operation handle is configured to operate the clutch so as to be in: (i) one of the engagement state or the disengagement state when the clutch operation handle is stopped at a lowest position of the predetermined range; and (ii) the other of the engagement state or the disengagement state when the clutch operation handle is stopped at a highest position of the predetermined range.

Electric wheelchair

An assist garment is configured to be worn on a part of a human body and includes a plurality of garment-fitting actuators placed linearly along at least one end portion of a garment body and configured to be driven to extend and contract, a plurality of assisting actuators placed linearly on the garment body to cross the plurality of garment-fitting actuators and configured to be driven to extend and contract, and a controller configured to individually control driving of the plurality of assisting actuators and driving of the plurality of garment-fitting actuators.

Assist garment, method for controlling controller of assist garment, and recording medium

A mobile robot that autonomously travels includes a body that has a front surface, a driver that is disposed in the body and that drives travelling of the body, a base that includes a spring and that is connected to the body via the spring, and a distance measurer that is disposed at an upper part of the base. The base is connected to the body in such a way that the base is movable to be in a first state in which the laser range finder is located inside the body and a second state in which the laser range finder is located outside the body. The spring generates a force that pushes the base from a front surface of the body to an outside of the body.

Mobile robot and method of controlling mobile robot

The invention provides a shield shell that allows easy insertion of a circuit board or other insulator into the shield shell. A shield shellincludes a shell bodyand first and second position restrictorsand. The first position restrictoris provided at an edge portionof an insertion portof the shell bodyand is located inside the insertion port. The second position restrictoris provided in the shell bodyso as to oppose the first position restrictorwith a spacing in a Z-Z' direction. A distance in the Z-Z&#x2032; direction from the first position restrictorto the second position restrictoris substantially equal to, or slightly larger than, a distance in the Z-Z&#x2032; direction from a first faceto a second faceof a circuit board. When the circuit boardis inserted into the shell bodythrough the insertion port, the first position restrictorand the second position restrictorare abuttable on the first faceand the second face, respectively, of the circuit board

Shield shell, connector, mating connector, connection structure of connectors, and method for manufacturing connector

A cleaning robot includes an arm including a distal end portion to which a brush is attached, the arm extending in a first direction parallel to a horizontal direction, a driver connected to the arm, the driver including a first mechanism that moves the arm in the first direction, a second mechanism that moves the arm in a second direction parallel to a vertical direction perpendicular to the first direction, and a third mechanism that moves the arm in a third direction perpendicular to both the first direction and second direction, a controller configured to switch the orientation of the distal end portion between an orientation for cleaning a first target face of the object and an orientation for cleaning a second target face of the object, the first target face facing the first direction, the second target face facing the second direction.

Cleaning robot

A robot hand apparatus includes a first holder having a first sucking surface that is bendable at any position and configured to suck an object using negative pressure; a second holder arranged to oppose the first sucking surface of the first holder; and a driving mechanism configured to change a distance between the first holder and the second holder to sandwich the object between the first holder and the second holder.

Robot hand apparatus, robot hand system, and holding method

A robot hand apparatus includes a first holder having a bendable first sucking surface that sucks an object using negative pressure; and a second holder having a bendable second sucking surface that sucks the object using negative pressure. The first holder and the second holder are arranged such that the first sucking surface opposes the second sucking surface. When the first holder and the second holder hold the object, in a state in which the first sucking surface is bent at a first position and the second sucking surface is bent at a second position, the object is sucked to a region of the first sucking surface between the first position and a distal end of the first holder, and the object is sucked to a region of the second sucking surface between the second position and a distal end of the second holder.

A robot hand apparatus includes a holder having a bendable sucking surface that sucks an object; a magnetic elastic body arranged at the holder and formed of an elastic material containing magnetic particles; and a magnetic-field generator that is arranged at the holder and applies a magnetic field to the magnetic elastic body to change a coefficient of elasticity of the magnetic elastic body. When the magnetic-field generator applies a magnetic field to the magnetic elastic body, a flexible portion and a hardened portion having a bigger coefficient of elasticity than that of the flexible portion are formed in the magnetic elastic body. When the holder holds the object, in a state in which the sucking surface is bent at a position corresponding to the flexible portion, a region of the sucking surface between the position and a distal end of the holder sucks the object.

An assist garment worn on a part of a human body includes a plurality of garment-fitting actuators that are placed linearly along at least one end portion of a garment body and driven to extend and contract, a plurality of assisting actuators that are placed linearly on the garment body to cross the fitting actuators and driven to extend and contract, and a controller that individually controls the drive of the assisting actuators and the drive of the fitting actuators.

Vacuum cleaner

An optical fiber including a circuit board, a converter, an optical fiber, an external connecting part, and a pressable part. The circuit board includes first and second faces opposite to each other. The first face has first and second regions being different regions. The second face has third and fourth regions on the opposite side to the first and second regions, respectively. The converter is an opto-electronic or electro-optic converter on the first region of the circuit board. The optical fiber includes a leading end portion optically connected to the converter. A circuit on the first region of the circuit board is electrically connected to the converter. The external connecting part is disposed on the fourth region of the circuit board. The pressable part is fixed to the circuit board and positioned on the second region of the circuit board without contacting the converter, the optical fiber, or the circuit.

Optical fiber assembly and connection structure of optical fiber assembly and electronic device

An assist wear item is worn on a portion of a living body and has an inner surface brought into contact with the portion. The assist wear item includes assisting actuators, contact sensors, and a controller. Each assisting actuator is driven to expand and contract. The assisting actuators are linearly arranged along an expansion/contraction direction of a muscle at the portion. Each contact sensor detects a contact with an outer surface of the assist wear item. If the controller receives a detection result indicating a first contact from a first contact sensor among the contact sensors and receives a detection result indicating a second contact from a second contact sensor within a first time period after reception of the detection result indicating the first contact, the controller increases or decreases a driving power of expansion/contraction driving of an assisting actuator corresponding to the second contact sensor.

Assist wear item, control method for controller of assist wear item, and recording medium

An actuator body includes a tube that has a space therein and is wound spirally about a first axis. The tube has a plurality of first portions and a plurality of second portions, the tube has one or more grooves in at least one of an outer circumferential surface and an inner circumferential surface thereof, and the one or more grooves are provided spirally about a longitudinal axis of the tube, the space is in contact with the inner circumferential surface, and the outer circumferential surface is a surface opposite to the inner circumferential surface, each of the plurality of first portions has higher torsional rigidity than each of the plurality of second portions, the plurality of first portions are aligned along the first axis, and the plurality of first portions do not overlap the plurality of second portions.

Actuator body, method for driving actuator, and gripping hand using the same

An actuator includes a displaceable portion, first to fourth artificial muscles, a pressure adjuster that changes a pressure of a fluid filled in the first and second artificial muscles, an open-close valve that allows a fluid to flow into or out of the third and fourth artificial muscles, and a controller that drives the pressure adjuster and controls the open-close valve. Each of the first to fourth artificial muscles includes a coiled elastic tube. In an outer circumferential surface of the tube, grooves are helically formed about an axis of the tube. The tube is filled with a fluid. In the first artificial muscle, a direction in which the tube is coiled is opposite to a direction in which the grooves extend helically. In each of the second to fourth artificial muscles, a direction in which the tube is coiled is the same as a direction in which the grooves extend helically.

Actuator and method for driving the actuator

Growing community of inventors

Yao, Japan

Takayuki Nagata