Yoshiro Sakai

A new method of 3-D movie based on 2-D photo images for the virtual playing catch system

In this study, the authors propose a 3-D movie method based on 2-D photo images for the virtual playing catch system. In virtual system reality of visual information is the most important. A photo image is superior to a model made of polygons at the point of reality. So, the proposed method employs 2-D photo images of objects constructing a virtual world of that virtual system. These objects are a background, a partner and a ball. The partner and the ball move in the virtual world. To do so, their 2-D photo images are cut off from the video films in which these real objects were shot in advance. The images of the partner and the ball, the foreground objects, are sequently pasted on the background with binocular disparity. These composite images are separately presented to a players left and right eyes through a head mounted display (HMD). Thus, the player can see a 3-D movie of the partner and the ball in the virtual world. The proposed method has the advantage of simple and high reality. The performance of this method is demonstrated in this paper.

Human expert's visual inspection in fish drying

Fish drying is a manufacturing for which human skill is crucial. Automatization of that process is attempted by employing knowledge which is obtained from observing human experts way and performing necessary measurements. In every experiment, more than one hundred fishes were dried. And a vast amount of data was obtained. Thus a set of basic drying equations is obtained. Based on those experiments and outcomes, additional experiments were made in order to acquire information about fish appearance. Here in this paper, those results will be described. Two video cameras and a colorimeter were employed for measuring dryness, chromaticity and brightness. An experts procedure and judgement of products were introduced for automatizing the drying procedure. What factors can be applicable for evaluating dried fish is gradually understood by a novice, through observing a human experts way and sharing the same situations with him, again and again. Such ideas are rather directly utilized for determining necessary drying time and evaluating the quality of products.<<ETX>>

Experience-based vehicle operation

Abstract The basic idea behind the present methodology for automated automobile operation lies in building an experience-based system for state regulation of more general systems. In automobile operation, human skill is effective instead of academic knowledge, to quickly learn how to operate a real automobile; that is, experiencing, together with common sense. Control strategy is obtained by the vehicles own experiencing using a few pieces of basic common sense. That is, a piece of common sense works as a sort of qualitative rule. Thus, the vehicle will come to smoothly trace its desirable trajectory with accumulation of experience.

A Granulating Process Control System Based on Human Expertise.

In targeting the production process of the vulcanizing accelerator, a newly developed granulation control system is proposed for saving labor in the process and improving the quality of the product. The system is assembled referring to the experts procedure for the regulation of the granulating state that is made up of two images about the shape of pellets and the state of the granulating machine. To cope with these tasks, the proposed system includes the following two independent feedback controls. The shape of pellets is regulated through an image processing and a combined estimation with a neural network and a fuzzy model. Similarly, the state of granulating machine is also regulated by using fuzzy inference. Through the examination of the experimental results concerning the accuracy of the models and the following of the assembled system, it is confirmed that the system proposed is useful for practical applications.

Development of a Following-Type Force Display for the Virtual Catch-Ball System.

In our previous study, a virtual catch-ball system was designed. The virtual catch ball system consists of pitch ball, catch ball and Head Mounted Display (HMD) subsystems. For the catch ball subsystem, the force display of simple structure, large movable area, high safety and low cost is required. Some kinds of force display systems were already proposed by other researches so far. However, the motion range of those force displays is considerable small, or the large mechanical parts are necessary to attain enough motion space. In this study, the authors proposed a following-type force display for the virtual catch-ball system. The force display consists of a force unit, a rotary motion unit and a vertical motion unit. The proposed force display can generate the force in the different directions of the vertical and the horizontal plane, and the merits of this system are large motion range, high safety and low cost. The performance of the proposed force display is demonstrated by several basic experiment.

An analysis of catastrophic behavior as a cause of human error

Abstract It is shown that some catastrophic aspect is seen in human behavior. The notions of localization and experience sequence are utilized in order to provide the human operator a good circumstance in man-machine communication in the sense of human-oriented information processing.