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successful in the practical task of
inspection. These are probably the only
practically working underwater walking
robots in the world.

I saw

This is a part of the project for develop-
ing the "Total System of Advanced
Subsea Robot," which is a part of the
large-scale research and development
(R&D) project titled "Advanced Robot
Technology for the Hazardous Envi- Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
ronment," supported by the Ministry
of International Trade and Industry
(MITI). The objective of the Subsea
Robot project is to construct a robot
that can guide itself, keeping its posi-
tion and reference path in the presence
of tidal current disturbance, and can do
nondestructive testing and cleaning of
man-made structures like oil rigs. At
least the hardware development por-
tions were successfully concluded in
March 1991. This was a big national
project and its component tasks were
executed by numerous manufacturers
including Komatsu. Also, Komatsu is
developing and testing radio-controlled
bulldozers, which will be upgraded to
unmanned bulldozers. Electronics is
eagerly introduced in their construc-
tion machinery.

Port and Harbor
Research Institute

I am starting a joint research project, "Simulation and Control of Underwater Walking Robots," with this national institute. My partner is

Hidetoshi Takahashi, Chief
Robotics Laboratory

Port and Harbor Research Institute
Ministry of Transport
3-1-1 Nagase

Yokosuka 239, Japan
Tel: +81-468-44-5042
Fax: +81-468-42-9265

This institute has three underwater walking robots named "Aquarobos" that were developed for inspecting the depth and evenness of underwater manmade rock beds. Each of them have six legs with three degrees-of-freedom each. At least one Aquarobo is perfectly

Dr. Norimasa Kishi
Scientific Research Laboratory
Central Engineering Laboratories
Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
1 Natsushima-cho
Yokosuka 237, Japan
Tel: +81-468-62-5172
Fax: +81-468-65-4183
E-mail: kishi@nova.lab.nissan.co.jp

at his laboratory. Currently, their main
concern is man-machine interface in
car driving. However, as one of their
research activities, they have developed
an autonomously controlled vehicle,
Personal Vehicle System (PVS). This
is equipped with sonar and TV cameras
for external sensors. It is able to move
smoothly along white lines (camera
mode) or along guard rails (ultrasonic
mode), avoiding obstacles on straight
pathways, and is able to make turns at
intersections. In the camera mode, the
vehicle can travel at 60 km/h at straight
path portions. Although the boundary
conditions for the vehicle might be a
little simpler than the ones for the
experiments conducted in the Nav Lab
at Carnegie Mellon University, the
results by Nissan are also impressive in
this state of the art.

Sogo Security Service Co., Ltd.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][graphic][subsumed]

This company has been developing intelligent autonomous mobile robots for security guard services (see Figure 2), although it may still be a few years before they really introduce autono- Figure 2. Security Guard robot mous vehicles in their main tasks. Their autonomous robot has a map of indoor environment, a path planning ability,

(courtesy of Sogo

Security Service Co., Ltd.).

IBM Japan, Tokyo Research Laboratory

I visited Mr. Shigeki Ishikawa at his laboratory in downtown Tokyo to watch his mobile robot, which is controlled by fuzzy rules (see Figure 3). The robot's hardware system was well designed and packaged nicely. It followed a reference path and, in the presence of obstacles, avoids them without failure. However, its behavior seemed to contain some unnecessary time-consuming motions compared with the behavior of other vehicles that are controlled by conventional analytical methods. In my opinion, the precision of the vehicle's motion is not good, either. [Since the author is adopting conventional geometry and control theory for controlling his own vehicle, his opinions might not be objective.]

Figure 3. Mr. IB robot (courtesy of IBM, Japan).

Tokyo University, Department of Mechanical Engineering

I met

Prof. Hirochika Inoue
Dept of Mechanical Engineering
University of Tokyo
7-3-1 Hongo

Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113, Japan
Tel: +81-3-3812-2111
Fax: +81-3-815-8356
E-mail: inoue@jsk.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp

in his laboratory to discuss his multiple mobile robots. He has been constructing four identical mobile robots to carry out tasks in a cooperative manner. An example of the tasks is to carry an object with more than one robot to a destination. Although the robots seem to be still in the system development stage and they look like toys, his imagination and originality might lead this project to a new frontier. He is conducting numerous other experimental autonomous robot projects including image understanding ones.

Japan Marine Science and

Technology Center (JAMSTEC)

currently designing and constructing SHINKAI 11000, which will reach to the deepest sea bottom in the world. Dr. Hattori's group has been constructing and testing a flying saucer type autonomous underwater vehicle with six degrees-of-freedom (see Figure 4). The objective of the current project is to hover at a specified point using a light source that is placed on the sea bottom. A fuzzy control method is being used in this motion control problem. The saucer shape seems to make the hovering control mission easier as opposed to the conventional torpedoshaped underwater vehicles.

[graphic]
[graphic]

This is one of the most advanced Figure 4. Autonomous underwater

research centers in marine science. I was interested in its underwater vehicle project and saw

Dr. Mutsuo Hattori

Deep Sea Technology Dept Japan Marine Science

and Technology Center 2-15 Natsushima-cho Yokosuka 237, Japan Tel: +81-468-66-3811

Fax: +81-468-66-0970

JAMSTEC is well known for its manned research submersibles SHINKAI 2000 and SHINKAI 6500, which are able to dive to the depth of 2,000 and 6,500 meters, respectively. JAMSTEC

vehicle (courtesy of JAMSTEC).

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Let me mention two researchers who are active in autonomous robotics research, although my schedule did not permit me to visit their laboratories on this trip.

Prof. Shigeo Hirose

Dept of Mechanical Physics Tokyo Institute of Technology 2-12-1 Ookayama

Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152, Japan Tel: +81-3-3726-1111

is well known for his animal-type mobile robots. For instance, he has constructed quadruped walking robots that are able to climb staircases using tactile and/or image sensors. He has investigated a deep theory in gait control of walking robots. He has also constructed snaketype, wall-climbing, and ceiling-walking robots. Each of these mobile robots is the result of his incredible mechanical design abilities.

Prof. Tamaki Ura

Institute of Industrial Science University of Tokyo 7-22-1 Roppongi

Minato-ku, Tokyo 106, Japan Tel: +81-3-3402-6231 x2280 Fax: +81-3-3402-5078

has been developing the autonomous underwater vehicle PTEROA. PTEROA is able to dive to a depth of 2,000 meters and cruise for 1 hour. It saves energy loss by adopting an "underwater glider" type cruising mode. It dives using its own weight and, after it reaches to the deepest point, it disconnects its ballast to swim up to the sea surface. Ura is currently designing and constructing a functionally more powerful version of PTEROA.

Yutaka Kanayama received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Tokyo, Japan, in 1960, 1962, and 1965, respectively. He was a Professor in Computer Science at the University of Tsukuba from 1977-1984, where he worked in the field of theoretical computer science, artificial intelligence, and robotics. Since then he has been developing a family of autonomous mobile robots, "Yamabicos." He was with the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Department of Computer Science, Stanford University, from 1984-1986, where he joined the ALV research project. From 19861989 Prof. Kanayama directed the mobile robot project as Adjunct Professor in the Center for Robotic Systems in Microelectronics and in the Department of Computer Science at the University of California at Santa Barbara. In 1989 he joined the Department of Computer Science at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) in Monterey, California, as a professor. His current interests cover a wide spectrum from spatial reasoning theories to implementation of mobile vehicle systems. Prof. Kanayama is a member of the NPS Autonomous Underwater Vehicle project and is a principal investigator of the international joint project on the Autonomous Underwater Walking Robot with the Port and Harbor Research Institute in Japan.

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