Takafumi Ienaga

A Proposal for Optimization Method of Vibration Pattern of Mobile Device with Interactive Genetic Algorithm

The vibration patterns are often used in mobile devices such as cellular phone, tablet computer and smartphone, etc. However, these vibration patterns are ready-made patterns. Most of the users do NOT use vibration pattern suited to each user’s preference and objectives to use. Interactive Evolutionary Computation (IEC) was known as effective method to create contents suited to each user, and IEC was applied for creating various media contents. This study proposes an Interactive Genetic Algorithm (IGA) creating vibration pattern. Although some previous IEC studies have tried to optimize media content related to sense of touch, an IEC method optimizing vibration pattern of mobile device have not been proposed. The proposed method will dedicate to use of the vibration pattern by improving its ability of notice and/or by enhancing its suitableness in preference.

Improvement study for measurement accuracy on wireless shoe-type measurement device to support walking rehabilitation

We have developed a shoe-type measurement device which is able to measure gait information such as step length, width and pressure distribution while daily living. We hypothesized that a walking rehabilitation system could be realized by combining shoe-type device and comprehensively display which showed analytical results for gait with real time operation. From evaluation to first trial manufacture, it was found that our system was effective to let the patients, physicians and physical therapists know quantitative gait information. However, it was also found that there were some problems such as insufficient measurement area. Then, hardware of device was redesigned to enlarge measurement area but measurement accuracy decreased. Therefore, improvement method which could decrease measurement error was proposed and the efficacy of proposition was revealed by experimental results.

Development of a shoe-type device for collecting gait information

We are developing a measurement device by means of which gait information can be obtained that cannot be obtained by existent devices. We are also evaluating the effectiveness of the device in rehabilitation programs. The final goal of our work is to realize a space where patients can exe- cute their rehabilitation routines at any time. In this paper, we report the outline of our novel measurement device. That is to say, we describe our real-time measurement technique for measuring the position and angle of the feet to obtain the gait information, as well as our method of presenting the gait in- formation.

Development of a direction indicating system for a tele-support for the visually impaired

It is difficult to indicate the direction of heading to the visually impaired travelers. In this study, we developed the direction indicating system using the tactile stimulation for a tele-support. Here, a tele-support is that a supporter at remote place receives information surrounding the user such as sound, view and location through the video phone, and explains to the user about users current location, direction, and how to find the direction of heading. Our system is composed of two subsystems. One is a local navigation system, which enables a traveler to know where he/she is. Another is a tele-support system, which enabled a support who is in remote place to indicate the direction of walking to a traveler. This paper describes about this developed system and the demonstration of it at an exhibition.

Improvement Research of Shoe-Type Measurement Device for a Walking Rehabilitation Support System

We have developed a shoe-type measurement device which is able to measure gait information such as step length, width and pressure distribution while daily living. We hypothesized that a walking rehabilitation system could be realized by combining shoe-type device and comprehensively display which showed analytical results for gait with real time operation. In this paper, based on the previous researches, real time operation for foot position measurement was realized by improving hardware and software. However, measurement error became larger than that in offline operation. The reason was thought to be time difference in synchronization which was necessary to realize wireless measurement system. By considering time difference, most measurement errors became smaller. In the next research, it would be necessary to decide time difference in any communication condition.

A Method for Event Handling on Robot Town Platform and a Sharable Personal Mobility Robot

This paper describes a method for Event handling on Robot Town platform and its application by using a wheelchair robot. To enable a sharable personal mobility robot system by using a motorized wheelchair on the market, vision sensors and RFID tags are distributed and are connected to a network. Sensor data are used by the robot for not only the event to perform self-localization but also the event of on-demand calling from the user. Experiments confirmed that wheelchair robots made decisions and completed tasks successfully by use of the method for event handling on Robot Town platform.