Search

Artificial skin that simultaneously mimics sensory feedback and mechanical properties of natural skin holds substantial promise for next-generation robotic and medical devices. However, achieving such a biomimetic system that can seamlessly integrate with the human body remains a challenge. Through rational design and engineering of material properties, device structures, and system architectures, we realized a monolithic soft prosthetic electronic skin (e-skin). It is capable of multimodal perception, neuromorphic pulse-train signal generation, and closed-loop actuation. With a trilayer, high-permittivity elastomeric dielectric, we achieved a low subthreshold swing comparable to that of polycrystalline silicon transistors, a low operation voltage, low power consumption, and medium-scale circuit integration complexity for stretchable organic devices. Our e-skin mimics the biological sensorimotor loop, whereby a solid-state synaptic transistor elicits stronger actuation when a stimulus of increasing pressure is applied.

Talented musicians can deliver a powerful emotional experience to the audience by skillfully modifying several musical parameters, such as dynamics, articulation, and tempo. Musical robots are expected to control those musical parameters in the same way to give the audience an experience comparable to listening to a professional human musician. But practical control of those parameters depends on the type of musical instrument being played. In this study, we describe our newly developed music dynamics control system for the Waseda Anthropomorphic Saxophonist robot. We first built a physical model for the saxophone reed motion and verified the dynamics-related parameters of the overall robot-saxophone system. We found that the magnitude of air flow is related to the sound pressure level, as expected, but also that the lower lip is critical to the sound stability. Accordingly, we then implemented a music dynamics control system for the robot and succeeded in enabling the robot to perform a music piece with different sound pressure levels.

Although molecular bromine (Br2) is a useful brominating reagent, it is not easy to handle. Herein, we describe the preparation of a novel air-stable bromine complex prepared from 1,3-dimethyl-2-imidazolidinone (DMI) and Br2, which was identified to be (DMI)2HBr3 by spectral and X-ray techniques. This complex was then used to brominate olefins, carbonyl compounds, and aromatics, as well as in the Hofmann rearrangement. Yields of reaction products using this complex were almost the same or superior to those using other bromine alternatives.

This brief presents the lowest-current fully integrated sub-mm3 OOK transmitter, the transmission of which is modulated by its supply voltage. By combining the transmitter with a glucose fuel cell that functions as both the power source and sensing transducer, a self-powered continuous glucose monitoring system (CGMS) contact lens can be emerged. The prototype in 55-nm deeply depleted channel CMOS with on-chip inductor and antenna requires an average current of 6.1 nA under 0.32-V supply without any external signal, which demonstrates the potential for self-powered operation.

This paper proposes a self-powered disposable supply-sensing biosensor platform for big-data-based healthcare applications. The proposed supply-sensing biosensor platform is based on bio fuel cells and a 0.23-V 0.25- $\mu \text{m}$ zero- $V_{\text {th}}$ all-digital CMOS supply-controlled ring oscillator with a current-driven pulse-interval-modulated inductive-coupling transmitter. The fully digital, and current-driven architecture uses zero- $V_{\text {th}}$ transistors, which enables low voltage operation and a small footprint, even in a cost-competitive legacy CMOS. This enables converterless self-powered operation using a bio fuel cell, which is ideal for disposable healthcare applications. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed platform, a test chip was fabricated using 0.25- $\mu \text{m}$ CMOS technology. The experimental results successfully demonstrate operation with a 0.23-V supply, which is the lowest supply voltage reported for proximity transmitters. A self-powered biosensing operation using organic bio fuel cells was also successfully demonstrated. In addition, an asynchronous inductive-coupling receiver and an off-chip inductor for performance improvement were successfully demonstrated.

A solution of hydrogen bromide (HBr) in 1,4-dioxane was prepared and investigated for its ability to brominate alcohols, and hydrobrominate alkenes. This study revealed that the brominating ability of this HBr/1,4-dioxane solution is equal or superior to that of hydrobromic acid or HBr in acetic acid. The solution of HBr in 1,4-dioxane is robust, exhibiting no decomposition of the solvent, and retaining 97% of its original concentration, when kept at −25 °C for 30 days. This solution is a liquid alternative to HBr gas without protic solvents.

A design of gate-leakage-based timer using an amplifier-less replica-bias switching technique that can realize stable and low-voltage operation is presented. To generate stable oscillation frequency, the topology that discharges the pre-charged capacitor via a gate leaking MOS capacitor with low-leakage switch and logic circuits is employed. The test chip fabricated in 55-nm deeply depleted channel (DDC) CMOS technology achieves an Allan deviation floor of 200 ppm at a supply voltage of 350 mV in a 0.0022 mm2 area.

Robots are usually capable of carrying out one kind of specific task automatically at the same level with human. The mechanisms on those robot are designed only to adapt with conducting certain series of actions, and therefore, the same complexity as human body is not needed. The Waseda Anthropomorphic Saxophonist robot (WAS) is developed since 2007 to accomplish performing saxophone at the level of a human professional. However, the register it can perform is still limited and needs to be improved. In the research, we analyzed the movement of a saxophonist’s upper limbs and found out the significant joints he used when playing with table key, a group of keys on the saxophone used to perform lower register. As the result, a simplified model of robot limb was developed and its capability was verified by comparing with the experimental result.

Fluorous Yamaguchi (FY) reagents bearing a perfluoroalkyl chain were prepared and employed in esterification reactions; the yields were similar to those obtained with the traditional Yamaguchi (TY) reagent. Fluorous benzoic acids derived from the FY reagents were separated easily after the reaction. GC analysis revealed that the initial rates of reaction with the FY reagents were higher than those with the TY reagent. The acidities of benzoic acids produced from the FY and TY reagents were predicted by DFT to be similar (1.20 and 0.96, respectively).

This paper presents a constant-power inductive-coupling transmitter for power reduction. By applying a newly proposed auxiliary driving technique, which involves connecting additional transistor in parallel with a driving transistor, we realized the constant-power characteristics of the inductive-coupling transmitter. The auxiliary driving transistor functions only at low supply voltages, thereby saving waste power at high supply voltages. Tests conducted on a 65 nm silicon-on-thin-box test chip successfully demonstrate the constant power characteristics; the power consumed by the conventional inductive-coupling transmitter increases with the increase in the supply voltage.

Waseda Anthropomorphic Saxophonist No.5 (WAS-5) will be used in the music therapy of subjects with Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The impairment to recognize facial expression by ASD in other people causes problems when interacting with other people. WAS-5 will have a protocol to train the subjects to react with specific action to specific music then transfer that correlation to the expressions made by WAS5 through classical conditioning to differentiate expressions. This research has done a preliminary experiment with a mock program of the training program on normal people with positive effects. To effectively ensure subject fully perceive the facial expression of WAS-5, a gaze detection is also being developed using OpenCV and a USB camera. This research aims to improve the social skills of ASD subjects to better interact with other people. Further experiments with ASD subjects will be done with hardware upgrade.

This research is part of a WAS-5 robot project to make it possible to assist music therapist in treating Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) subjects. One of the challenges faced by ASD subjects is social skills where tempo matching is an important factor when interacting with other people such as conversations and physical activities. This research aims to develop a system that trains the subject to match the music tempo played by WAS-5 with a feedback system. The system evaluates the tempo of the subject’s movement and varies the tempo of the music in real-time to guide the subject in order to achieve tempo synchronization. Tempo has been successfully captured in this research through the use of Optical Flow with USB camera and achieved better accuracy using PID control. However, error is still present due to hardware limitations and human factors. Future works includes the fine tuning of the PID to lower error rate, hardware upgrade for better image acquisition, and preliminary experiments with a group of ASD subjects before implementation into actual therapy.

This paper presents a gate-leakage-based timer using an amplifier-less replica-bias switching technique that can realize stable and low-voltage operation with logic circuits based architecture. To generate stable oscillation frequency in low power operation, the topology that discharges the pre-charged capacitor via a gate leaking MOS capacitor with low-leakage switch is employed. The proposed amplifier-less replica-bias switching technique enables the low-voltage operation of the timer by tracking the discharging node of the capacitor and minimizing the leakages through the switch without analog circuits. The native NMOS header is implemented to reduce supply sensitivity of the timer. The test chip fabricated in 55-nm deeply depleted channel (DDC) CMOS technology achieves an energy efficiency of 25 pJ/cycle at a supply voltage of 350 mV with a body bias in a 0.0022 mm2 area, and 200-ppm Allan deviation floor.

A small-footprint, low-frequency and low-power timer is presented that exploits newly-proposed differential leakage technique. By using not only one leakage source but two leakage sources and exploits differentiated leakage current for charging capacitor, an inherent trade-off between small-footprint and low-frequency in the conventional gate leakage timer has been firstly resolved. The measured results using 55nm-DDC-CMOS prototype successfully demonstrated the highest FoM of the product of the capacitor area (0.072 μm2) and output frequency (0.11 Hz), that corresponds to 2121-times improvement compared to the conventional one while achieving low-power consumption (4.5 pW). The total footprint can be reduced to be 28 μm2, which enables low-cost yet low-power IoT edges. The scaling scenario shows that the proposed technique is familiar with technology scaling.

Purpose An endoscopic system is needed that presents informative images irrespective of the surgical situation and the number of degrees of freedom in endoscopic manipulation. This goal may be achieved with a virtual reality view for a region of interest from an arbitrary viewpoint. An endoscopic pseudo-viewpoint alternation system for this purpose was developed and tested. Method Surgical experts and trainees from an endoscopic surgery training course at the minimally invasive surgery training center of Kyushu University were enrolled in a trial of a virtual reality system. The initial viewpoint was positioned to approximate the horizontal view often seen in laparoscopic surgery, with \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$20^{\circ }$$\end{document}20∘ between the optical axis of the endoscope and the task surface. A right-to-left suturing task with right hand, based on a task from the endoscopic surgery training course, was selected for testing. We compared task outcomes with and without use of a new virtual reality-viewing system. Result There was a 0.37 mm reduction in total error (\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$p = 0.02$$\end{document}p=0.02) with use of the proposed system. Error reduction was composed of 0.1 mm reduction on the y-axis and 0.27 mm reduction on the x-axis. Experts benefited more than novices from use of the proposed system. Most subjects worked at a pseudo-viewpoint of around 34\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$^\circ $$\end{document}∘. Discussion Suturing performance improved with the new virtual reality endoscopic display system. Viewpoint alternation resulted in an overview that improved depth perception and allowed subjects to better aim the marker. This suggests the proposed method offers users better visualization and control in endoscopic surgery.

Fluorous Yamaguchi (FY) reagents bearing a perfluoroalkyl chain were prepared and employed in esterification reactions; the yields were similar to those obtained with the traditional Yamaguchi (TY) reagent. Fluorous benzoic acids derived from the FY reagents were separated easily after the reaction. GC analysis revealed that the initial rates of reaction with the FY reagents were higher than those with the TY reagent. The acidities of benzoic acids produced from the FY and TY reagents were predicted by DFT to be similar (1.20 and 0.96, respectively).

We developed and evaluated a visual compensation system that allows surgeons to visualize obscured regions in real time, such that the surgical instrument appears virtually transparent. The system consists of two endoscopes: a main endoscope to observe the surgical environment, and a supporting endoscope to render the region hidden from view by surgical instruments. The view captured by the supporting endoscope is transformed to simulate the view from the main endoscope, segmented to the shape of the hidden regions, and superimposed to the main endoscope image so that the surgical instruments look transparent. A prototype device was benchmarked for processing time and superimposition rendering error. Then, it was evaluated in a training environment with 22 participants performing a backhand needle driving task with needle exit point error as the criterion. Lastly, we conducted an in vivo study. In the benchmark, the mean processing time was 62.4 ms, which was lower than the processing time accepted in remote surgeries. The mean superimposition error of the superimposed image was 1.4 mm. In the training environment, needle exit point error with the system decreased significantly for experts compared with the condition without the system. This change was not significant for novices. In the in vivo study, our prototype enabled visualization of needle exit points during anastomosis. The benchmark suggests that the implemented system had an acceptable performance, and evaluation in the training environment demonstrated improved surgical task outcomes in expert surgeons. We will conduct a more comprehensive in vivo study in the future.