Qing Shi

Modulation of rat behaviour by using a rat-like robot

In this paper, we study the response of a rat to a rat-like robot capable of generating different types of behaviour (stressful, friendly, neutral). Experiments are conducted in an open-field where a rat-like robot called WR-4 is put together with live rats. The activity level of each rat subject is evaluated by scoring its locomotor activity and frequencies of performing rearing (rising up on its hind limbs) and body grooming (body cuddling and head curling) actions, whereas the degree of preference of that is indicated by the robot-rat distance and the frequency of contacting WR-4. The moving speed and behaviour of WR-4 are controlled in real-time based on the feedback from rat motion. The activity level and degree of preference of rats for each experimental condition are analysed and compared to understand the influence of robot behaviour. The results of this study show that the activity level and degree of preference of the rat decrease when exposed to a stressful robot, and increase when the robot exhibit friendly behaviour, suggesting that a rat-like robot can modulate rat behaviour in a controllable, predictable way.

Development of a Hybrid Wheel-Legged Mobile Robot WR-3 Designed for the Behavior Analysis of Rats

This paper presents the design and development of a bio-inspired mobile robot called WR-3 (Waseda Rat no. 3). The purpose of the robot is to work as an experimental tool to study social interaction between rats and robots. According to the results of the analysis of the motion of rats, their behavior can be divided into two phases: movement and interaction. Therefore, a novel hybrid mechanism that uses wheels during the movement phase and legs while interacting has been designed to actuate WR-3. Consequently, the robot can move at a high speed using its wheels, and reproduce the rats interaction behavior using its legs and other parts. Based on body structure of a mature rat, WR-3 has been designed with similar dimensions and shape as a mature rat, and the quality of the shape imitation has been verified by the experiments of a rats interestingness to the robot and stuffed rat. Evaluation experiments show that WR-3 is capable of reproducing a rats actions such as chasing, rearing, grooming, mounting, etc., similar to a real rat. Furthermore, preliminary social interaction tests with living rats reveal that WR-3 is to some extent able to evoke natural reactions form a real rat and is therefore able to perform a certain level of realistic interaction.

Design of operating software and electrical system of mobile robot for environmental monitoring

Environmental monitoring robot is a new method for approaching environmental monitoring. The main issue with the development of this is to develop accessible its system. Several studies have been conducted on the autonomous monitoring system and they performed well, however, almost they are costly and complex therefore be not considered well to be accessible design. The purpose of our work was to develop an accessible system and implement to root for other fields researchers. The objectives of the work were to design operating software and electrical system that could be easily used to operate the robot and monitor the environment as a monitoring system. The middle sections of the article introduce and describe specific information about these objectives. We also explain the results of its experimental implementations to an autonomous environmental monitoring robot named Waseda Animal Monitoring robot (WAMOT). An operating software and electrical system were successfully designed by using the existing infrastructure and product, especially, smartphone and public cloud server were used for making the robot easy to use. The developed method is significant, not only because it fills a gap in the mobile robot, but also because it makes possible to adapt to the conventional monitoring method such as monitoring post. Therefore, achieves the core concept of accessibility.

Development of experimental setup to create novel mental disorder model rats using small mobile robot

The number of patients with mental disorders is increasing in advanced countries. Many researchers are working to develop mental disorder model animals that contribute to development of new psychotropic drugs. However, we have some doubts about conventional mental disorder models. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to develop an experimental setup to create novel mental disorder model animals. We then developed a small mobile robot and a control system for the robot. Using them, we performed an experiment to develop a mental disorder model rat. In the experiment, we succeeded in developing a new depression model rat and also high activity model rat. These disorder models must be useful in the screening of new psychotropic drugs. In addition, the methodology we developed in this research will contribute to clarifying mechanisms of mental disorders.

Mechanism design and control strategies of an ankle robot for rehabilitation training

It has become a trend that ankle rehabilitation robots replace traditional therapist in rehabilitation field. Many ankle rehabilitation robots have been proposed for rehabilitation training by researchers. However, most of current researches are only focusing on providing the passive training. They not only ignore the active force training for patient, but also neglect the relationship between passive training and neurological rehabilitation. In this paper, an ankle robot combining active training and passive training, subjective awareness and objective training is proposed. The ankle physiological model and mechanism of ankle rehabilitation robot are described. The control strategies of advanced training modes, passive training and active training, subjective awareness and objective training are introduced. Finally, experiments are established to testify the mechanical performance of ankle robot. Furthermore, experiment of passive training and active training is held among healthy people and the result show a good stability of the control system.

Novel method of estimating surface condition for tiny mobile robot to improve locomotion performance

Environment recognition is an effective way for a mobile robot to move across rough terrain. In particular, this makes it possible to prevent a tiny mobile robot from getting stuck or turning over. Several studies have been conducted on environment recognition using a laser range finder or camera. However, almost all of these studies focused on obstacle detection or shape recognition, which cannot be used to recognize the surface condition such as slipperiness. The purpose of this work is to design a model for estimating the surface condition using a tiny mobile robot. We set slipperiness as one of the parameters for recognizing the surface condition, which is already used by terramechanics, along with two additional parameters, the hardness and unevenness. We find that a robot can roughly estimate the ground hardness by measuring the current peak of a motor and the unevenness from measuring the robot posture. By recognizing the surface condition, the robot can change the parameters of the controlling motor based on the ground characteristics. This new method for recognizing the surface condition is significant, not only because it fills gaps in the previous research, but also because it does not require any special sensors such as a laser range finder and does not consume a large quantity of energy. Therefore, it achieves a core objective of our environmental monitoring system using multiple mobile robot.

A Vision-Based Automated Manipulation System for the Pick-Up of Carbon Nanotubes

The ability to pick up a single carbon nanotube (CNT) from a bundle of CNTs is of great importance for nanodevice fabrication. In this study, we propose a nanorobotic manipulation system allowing automated pick-up of CNTs based on visual feedback. We used histogram thresholding for automatic binarization, and it clearly distinguished CNTs from the substrate and other impurities under various image brightnesses and contrasts. Furthermore, the CNT tip was successfully extracted by making use of the geometrical characteristics of the CNT. We designed a segment detection method to separate the CNT and atomic force microscope cantilever during overlapping. The contact detection between them was identified by evaluating the linearity of the fitted CNT curve. We also further analyzed the specific properties of point contact and linear contact, significantly improving the success rate of pick-up. Finally, the experimental results show that our method is highly promising for realistic fabrication of nanodevices.

Development of a novel quadruped mobile robot for behavior analysis of rats

In the domain of psychology and medical science, many experiments have been conducted referring to research on animal behaviors, to study the mechanism of mental disorders and to develop psychotropic drugs to treat them. Rodents such as rats are often chosen as experimental subjects in these experiments. However, according to some researchers, the experiments on social interactions using animals are poorly- reproducible. Therefore, we consider that the reproducibility of these experiments can be improved by using a robotic agent that interacts with an animal subject. We have developed a novel quadruped rat-inspired robot, the WR-2 (Waseda Rat No.2), based on the dimension and body structure of a mature rat. It is capable of reproducing the behaviors such as walking, mounting, rearing and grooming of the rat.

How to achieve precise operation of a robotic manipulator on a macro to micro/nano scale

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present state-of-the-art approaches for precise operation of a robotic manipulator on a macro- to micro/nanoscale. Design/methodology/approach This paper first briefly discussed fundamental issues associated with precise operation of a robotic manipulator on a macro- to micro/nanoscale. Second, this paper described and compared the characteristics of basic components (i.e. mechanical parts, actuators, sensors and control algorithm) of the robotic manipulator. Specifically, commonly used mechanisms of the manipulator were classified and analyzed. In addition, intuitive meaning and applications of its actuator explained and compared in details. Moreover, related research studies on general control algorithm and visual control that are used in a robotic manipulator to achieve precise operation have also been discussed. Findings Remarkable achievements in dexterous mechanical design, excellent actuators, accurate perception, optimized control algorithms, etc., have been made in precise operations of a robotic manipulator. Precise operation is critical for dealing with objects which need to be manufactured, modified and assembled. The operational accuracy is directly affected by the performance of mechanical design, actuators, sensors and control algorithms. Therefore, this paper provides a categorization showing the fundamental concepts and applications of these characteristics. Originality/value This paper presents a categorization of the mechanical design, actuators, sensors and control algorithms of robotic manipulators in the macro- to micro/nanofield for precise operation.

Micromanipulation for Coiling Microfluidic Spun Alginate Microfibers by Magnetically Guided System

Alginate hydrogel microfibers are a promising cell-laden module for three-dimensional (3-D) assembly to build cellular structures. However, it is still a challenge to manipulate them for microassembly. In this letter, we report a novel magnetic control method to handle this challenge. To enhance the controllability, we mix magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) into alginate solution, and then spin magnetic alginate microfibers (MAMs) by a microfluidic device. To achieve precise magnetic control, we establish a magnetically guided system composed of a magnetic tweezer with a needle tip and a glass micropipette mounted on two manipulation robots, respectively. Moreover, a series of experiments have been designed to obtain the optimized solenoid current and tip structure of magnetic tweezer. Furthermore, a manipulation of coiling MAM around a micropillar at the microscale can be experimentally demonstrated. Based on such manipulation, a microassembly of MAM can be finally achieved to form a tube-shaped microstructure for 3-D cell culture.