UMEDACHI, Takuya | Shinshu University Researcher Directory

Academic Organization	Academic Assembly　School of Science and Technology　Institute of Textile Science and Technology	TEL	+81-268-21-5379
Education and Research Organization	Faculty of Textile Science and Technology　Division of Machinery and Robotics	FAX	N/A
Position	Associate Professor	Mail Address	umedachi＠shinshu-u.ac.jp
Address	3-15-1, Tokida, Ueda City 386-8567	Web site	https://www.ftst.jp/umedachi-lab

Profile

Research Field: Soft-bodied robotics
Control and systems engineering
Keywords:Biologically inspired robot , ソフトロボティクス , 結合振動子系 , 真正粘菌変形体 , 自律分散システム

Academic Societies: Academic Societies
日本機械学会
日本ロボット学会

Academic Background: Graduate School
Nagoya University , (Department of Computational Science and Engineering , Graduate School of Engineering) , 2005

College
Nagoya University , (Department of Engineering) , 2003

Degree
博士（工学） , 東北大学

Research Career: Research Career
2016-2019 , The University of Tokyo, Lecturer
2014-2016 , Tufts University, Dept. of Biology, JSPS Overseas Research Fellow
2012-2014 , Tufts University, Dept. of Biology, JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow (PD)
2011-2012 , Hiroshima Univ., Dept. of Mathematical and Life Sciences, JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow (PD)

Research

Books, Articles, etc.: Articles
Origami-based Invaginatable Soft Vacuum Actuators with Optimized Creases that Avoid Bending Stress Concentration
Sensors and Materials,35(9):3109-3109 2023(Sep. 14)
Author:Keisuke Kayama; Noriyasu Iwamoto; Takuya Umedachi

A single motor-driven continuum robot that can be designed to deform into a complex shape with curvature distribution
ROBOMECH Journal,10(1) 2023(Jul. 19)
Author:Daiki Yoshikawa; Masahiro Shimizu; Takuya Umedachi
Abstract:Abstract This paper proposes a method to deform a continuum robot into a complex shape with distributed curvature using a single motor drive. This continuum robot can be deformed to a desired shape by placing tendon guides at appropriate intervals. We used several target shapes, including clothoid and sin curves, as well as a circular curve of constant curvature and confirmed that the deformed shapes match them both in the simulation and prototype. This paper proposes two models of continuum robots. One is the Plain Model in which the tendons are parallel to the rod and the Penetration Model in which the tendon penetrates to the rod. By placing the penetrating position(s), this continuum robot can be deformed into a shape with inflection point(s). We designed a mathematical model to simulate the deformed shape of the prototype to obtain the proper placement of the guides and penetration point(s). Through the optimization, it was able to find the parameters that, in most cases, result in the error of less than $$4\%$$ between the target and deformed shapes on simulation. We applied these conditions to the prototype and evaluated the errors, which were approximately $$10\%$$, the same as the related works that use a conventional constant curvature model. We think that the results of this paper can be applied to reduce the number of actuators required and the size and weight of continuum or biomimetic robots.

A Crawling Robot That Utilizes Propagation of Deformation Waves of a Bistable Lattice Actuated by a Single Motor
2023 IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft) 2023(Apr. 03)
Author:Yuto Horioka; Masahiro Shimizu; Takuya Umedachi

Upside-Down Brachiation Robot Using Elastic Energy Stored Through Soft Body Deformation
IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters,7(4):11291-11297 2022(Oct.)
Author:Kisuke Nonoyama; Masahiro Shimizu; Takuya Umedachi

Planar Conformal Deformation of Robotic S-Isothermic Surface
IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters,7(4):11531-11536 2022(Oct.)
Author:Noriyasu Iwamoto; Daiki Kusakabe; Takuya Umedachi

Printable Origami Bistable Structures for Foldable Jumpers
2022 International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) 2022(May 23)
Author:Tung D. Ta; Zekun Chang; Koya Narumi; Takuya Umedachi; Yoshihiro Kawahara

Diverse Behaviors of a Single-Motor-Driven Soft-Bodied Robot Utilizing the Resonant Vibration of 2D Repetitive Slit Patterns
IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters,7(2):992-999 2022(Apr.)
Author:Satoshi Iyobe; Masahiro Shimizu; Takuya Umedachi

A Printable Soft-bodied Wriggle Robot with Frictional 2D-anisotropy Surface
Journal of Information Processing,30:201-208 2022
Author:Tung D. Ta; Takuya Umedachi; Michiyo Suzuki; Yoshihiro Kawahara

Dynamic Model Identification for Insect Electroantennogram with Printed Electrode
Sensors and Materials,33(12):4173-4173 2021(Dec. 20)
Author:Naoki Yamada; Hirono Ohashi; Takuya Umedachi; Masahiro Shimizu; Koh Hosoda; Shunsuke Shigaki

Continuum Robotic Caterpillar with Wirelessly Powered Shape Memory Alloy Actuators
Soft Robotics,7(6):700-710 2020(Dec. 01)
Author:Colm Mc Caffrey; Takuya Umedachi; Weiwei Jiang; Takuya Sasatani; Yoshiaki Narusue; Ryuma Niiyama; Yoshihiro Kawahara
Abstract:Wireless power transfer (WPT) has the significant potential for soft-bodied continuum robots to extend the operational time limitlessly and reduce weight. However, rigid power receiver coils, widely used in WPT, hinder the continuum deformation of the robot, and as a result, the function realization using the continuum deformation (e.g., locomotion) is impaired. Therefore, this article introduces that a soft-bodied continuum robot can be designed by using thin film receiver coils and an inductively coupled wireless powering solution without sacrificing the continuum deformation and locomotion ability. A system is described for powering and controlling a soft robotic caterpillar consisting of nothing more than its continuum structure, actuators, and thin/flexible power receiving coils.

Caterpillar-inspired soft robot that locomotes upside-down by utilizing environmental skeleton
Engineering Research Express,2(3):035022-035022 2020(Sep. 03)
Author:Masahiro Morishima, Takuya Umedachi, Yoshihiro Kawahara
Abstract:Abstract Caterpillars do not process skeleton inside its body; instead, they utilize the environment, e.g., branches, to maintain the posture against gravity. This strategy is also beneficial for soft-bodied robotic artifacts, which allows us to simplify the body and control design. This paper presents a soft-bodied crawling robot able to locomote in an upside-down condition. The critical finding is producing tension in the soft body is necessary for the soft robot to realize environmental skeleton and robust locomotion, which is demonstrated with numerical experiments and the prototype, even when the weight is added. The design way can be useful for the other soft-bodied robots that have difficulties supporting the weight and maintain the posture under gravity, e.g., when climbing upside-down condition. The results shed new light on how to design a mechanical and control system for soft-bodied robots, e.g., electric wire/cable maintenance robot, a tree-climbing robot, and a viaduct monitoring robot.

Ramus: A Frequency-Multiplexed Power Bus for Powering, Sensing and Controlling Robots
IEEE ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION LETTERS,5(3):4126-4132 2020(Jul.)
Author:Nishizawa, Yuki; Sasatani, Takuya; Ishige, Matthew; Narusue, Yoshiaki; Umedachi, Takuya; Kawahara, Yoshihiro
Abstract:IEEE ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION LETTERS

Balloon-like coupling between head and posterior in a caterpillar
ADAPTIVE BEHAVIOR,29(4) 2020(Mar. 06)
Author:Okuya, Fuminori; Umedachi, Takuya; Kawahara, Yoshihiro

In-Hand Small-Object Counting from Tactile Sensor Arrays Installed on Soft Fingertips.
3rd IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics(RoboSoft),:272-277 2020
Author:Matthew Ishige; Takuya Umedachi; Yoshihisa Ijiri; Yoshihiro Kawahara

A Multigait Stringy Robot with Bi-stable Soft-bodied Structures in Multiple Viscous Environments.
IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems(IROS),:8765-8772 2020
Author:Tung D. Ta; Takuya Umedachi; Yoshihiro Kawahara

Blind Bin Picking of Small Screws Through In-finger Manipulation With Compliant Robotic Fingers.
IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems(IROS),:9337-9344 2020
Author:Matthew Ishige; Takuya Umedachi; Yoshihisa Ijiri; Tadahiro Taniguchi; Yoshihiro Kawahara

Exploring Behaviors of Caterpillar-Like Soft Robots with a Central Pattern Generator-Based Controller and Reinforcement Learning
Soft Robotics,6(5):579-594 2019(Oct. 01)
Author:Matthew Ishige; Takuya Umedachi; Tadahiro Taniguchi; Yoshihiro Kawahara
Abstract:Due to their flexibility, soft-bodied robots can potentially achieve rich and various behaviors within a single body. However, to date, no methodology has effectively harnessed these robots to achieve such diverse desired functionalities. Controllers that accomplish only a limited range of behaviors in such robots have been handcrafted. Moreover, the behaviors of these robots should be determined through body-environment interactions because an appropriate behavior may not always be manifested even if the body dynamics are given. Therefore, we have proposed SenseCPG-PGPE, a method for automatically designing behaviors for caterpillar-like soft-bodied robots. This method optimizes mechanosensory feedback to a central pattern generator (CPG)-based controller, which controls actuators in a robot, using policy gradients with parameter-based exploration (PGPE). In this article, we deeply investigated this method. We found that PGPE can optimize a CPG-based controller for soft-bodied robots that exhibit viscoelasticity and large deformation, whereas other popular policy gradient methods, such as trust region policy optimization and proximal policy optimization, cannot. Scalability of the method was confirmed using simulation as well. Although SenseCPG-PGPE uses a CPG-based controller, it can achieve nonsteady motion such as climbing a step in a simulated robot. The approach also resulted in distinctive behaviors depending on different body-environment conditions. These results demonstrate that the proposed method enables soft robots to explore a variety of behaviors automatically.

Self-organizing cell tactile perception which depends on mechanical stimulus history
ADVANCED ROBOTICS,33(5):232-242 2019(Mar. 23)
Author:Shimizu, Masahiro; Minzan, Kosuke; Kawashima, Hiroki; Miyasaka, Kota; Umedachi, Takuya; Ogura, Toshihiko; Nakai, Junichi; Ohkura, Masamichi; Hosoda, Koh

Caterpillar-Inspired Crawling Robot Using Both Compression and Bending Deformations.
IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters,4(2):670-676 2019
Author:Takuya Umedachi; Masahiro Shimizu; Yoshihiro Kawahara

Actuation Frequency-dependent Automatic Behavioral Switching on Caterpillar-inspired Crawling Robot.
IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics, RoboSoft 2019, Seoul, South Korea, April 14-18, 2019,:167-171 2019
Author:Takuya Umedachi; Masahiro Shimizu; Yoshihiro Kawahara

Inkjet Printable Actuators and Sensors for Soft-bodied Crawling Robots.
International Conference on Robotics and Automation(ICRA),:3658-3664 2019
Author:Tung D. Ta; Takuya Umedachi; Yoshihiro Kawahara

How to Make Useful Soft-bodied Robots Inspired by Animals
Journal of the Robotics Society of Japan,37(1):12-15 2019
Author:Takuya Umedachi

日本ロボット学会第115回ロボット工学セミナー実施報告書
日本ロボット学会誌,37(1):67-68 2019
Author:梅舘拓也

Design of Frictional 2D-Anisotropy Surface for Wriggle Locomotion of Printable Soft-Bodied Robots.
2018 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, ICRA 2018, Brisbane, Australia, May 21-25, 2018,:6779-6785 2018
Author:Tung D. Ta; Takuya Umedachi; Yoshihiro Kawahara

Caterpillar-inspired crawling robot on a stick using active-release and passive-grip elastic legs.
IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics, RoboSoft 2018, Livorno, Italy, April 24-28, 2018,:461-466 2018
Author:Takuya Umedachi; Yoshihiro Kawahara

Learning Oscillator-Based Gait Controller for String-Form Soft Robots Using Parameter-Exploring Policy Gradients.
2018 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, IROS 2018, Madrid, Spain, October 1-5, 2018,:6445-6452 2018
Author:Matthew Ishige; Takuya Umedachi; Tadahrio Taniguchi; Yoshihiro Kawahara

Origami Robots with Flexible Printed Circuit Sheets.
Proceedings of the 2018 ACM International Joint Conference and 2018 International Symposium on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing and Wearable Computers,:392-395 2018
Author:Dongchi Lee; Kazuya Saito; Takuya Umedachi; Tung D. Ta; Yoshihiro Kawahara

Response to various periods of mechanical stimuli in Physarum plasmodium
JOURNAL OF PHYSICS D-APPLIED PHYSICS,50(25):254002-254002 2017(Jun.)
Author:Takuya Umedachi; Kentaro Ito; Ryo Kobayashi; Akio Ishiguro; Toshiyuki Nakagaki
Abstract:Response to mechanical stimuli is a fundamental and critical ability for living cells to survive in hazardous conditions or to form adaptive and functional structures against force(s) from the environment. Although this ability has been extensively studied by molecular biology strategies, it is also important to investigate the ability from the viewpoint of biological rhythm phenomena so as to reveal the mechanisms that underlie these phenomena. Here, we use the plasmodium of the true slime mold Physarum polycephalum as the experimental system for investigating this ability. The plasmodium was repetitively stretched for various periods during which its locomotion speed was observed. Since the plasmodium has inherent oscillation cycles of protoplasmic streaming and thickness variation, how the plasmodium responds to various periods of external stretching stimuli can shed light on the other biological rhythm phenomena. The experimental results show that the plasmodium exhibits response to periodic mechanical stimulation and changes its locomotion speed depending on the period of the stretching stimuli.

Modelling Oscillatory Behaviour of Slime Mould
Advances in Physarum Machines,Emergence, Complexity and Computation book series (ECC, volume 21):479-488 2017
Author:Umedachi, Takuya; Ishiguro, Akio

Gait control in a soft robot by sensing interactions with the environment using self-deformation
Royal Society Open Science,3(12):160766-160766 2016(Dec.)
Author:Takuya Umedachi; Takeshi Kano; Akio Ishiguro; Barry A. Trimmer
Abstract:All animals use mechanosensors to help them move in complex and changing environments. With few exceptions, these sensors are embedded in soft tissues that deform in normal use such that sensory feedback results from the interaction of an animal with its environment. Useful information about the environment is expected to be embedded in the mechanical responses of the tissues during movements. To explore how such sensory information can be used to control movements, we have developed a soft-bodied crawling robot inspired by a highly tractable animal model, the tobacco hornworm Manduca sexta . This robot uses deformations of its body to detect changes in friction force on a substrate. This information is used to provide local sensory feedback for coupled oscillators that control the robot's locomotion. The validity of the control strategy is demonstrated with both simulation and a highly deformable three-dimensionally printed soft robot. The results show that very simple oscillators are able to generate propagating waves and crawling/inching locomotion through the interplay of deformation in different body parts in a fully decentralized manner. Additionally, we confirmed numerically and experimentally that the gait pattern can switch depending on the surface contact points. These results are expected to help in the design of adaptable, robust locomotion control systems for soft robots and also suggest testable hypotheses about how soft animals use sensory feedback.

Softworms: the design and control of non-pneumatic, 3D-printed, deformable robots
Bioinspiration & Biomimetics,11(2):025001-025001 2016(Mar. 10)
Author:T Umedachi; V Vikas; B A Trimmer
Abstract:Robots that can easily interact with humans and move through natural environments are becoming increasingly essential as assistive devices in the home, office and hospital. These machines need to be safe, effective, and easy to control. One strategy towards accomplishing these goals is to build the robots using soft and flexible materials to make them much more approachable and less likely to damage their environment. A major challenge is that comparatively little is known about how best to design, fabricate and control deformable machines. Here we describe the design, fabrication and control of a novel soft robotic platform (Softworms) as a modular device for research, education and public outreach. These robots are inspired by recent neuromechanical studies of crawling and climbing by larval moths and butterflies (Lepidoptera, caterpillars). Unlike most soft robots currently under development, the Softworms do not rely on pneumatic or fluidic actuators but are electrically powered and actuated using either shape-memory alloy microcoils or motor tendons, and they can be modified to accept other muscle-like actuators such as electroactive polymers. The technology is extremely versatile, and different designs can be quickly and cheaply fabricated by casting elastomeric polymers or by direct 3D printing. Softworms can crawl, inch or roll, and they are steerable and even climb steep inclines. Softworms can be made in any shape but here we describe modular and monolithic designs requiring little assembly. These modules can be combined to make multi-limbed devices. We also describe two approaches for controlling such highly deformable structures using either model-free state transition-reward matrices or distributed, mechanically coupled oscillators. In addition to their value as a research platform, these robots can be developed for use in environmental, medical and space applications where cheap, lightweight and shape-changing deformable robots will provide new performance capabilities.

Decentralized Control of 1D Crawling Locomotion by Exploiting ‘TEGOTAE’ from Environment
Proc. of The First International Symposium on Swarm Behavior and Bio-Inspired Robotics(SWARM2015),:279-282 2015(Oct.)
Author:Takeshi Kano; Hironori Chiba; Takuya Umedachi; Akio Ishiguro

TEGOTAE-based control for one-dimensional crawling locomotion
Proceedings of The 7th International Symposium on Adaptive Motion of Animals and Machines (AMAM2015) 2015(Jun.)
Author:Takeshi Kano; Hironori Chiba; Takuya Umedachi; Akio Ishiguro

Decentralized Control of 1D Crawling Locomotion That Exploits Cutaneous Sensory Feedback
日本機械学会ロボティクス・メカトロニクス講演会（ROBOMEC2015），講演論文集(CD-ROM),:2A2-S03 2015(May)
Author:千葉大徳; 加納剛史; 梅舘拓也; 石黒章夫

Enhancing adaptability of amoeboid robot by synergetically coupling two decentralized controllers inspired by true slime mold
Adaptive Behavior,23(2):109-121 2015(Mar. 10)
Author:Takuya Umedachi; Shunya Horikiri; Ryo Kobayashi; Akio Ishiguro
Abstract:Autonomous decentralized control is a key concept for understanding the adaptive and versatile behaviors of living systems. To establish a design methodology for such a controller for robotic systems, we have proposed a fully decentralized control system, inspired by biochemical oscillators in true slime mold ( Physarum polycephalum), which allows a modular robot to exhibit adaptive and versatile behaviors. However, in real living systems, many adaptation mechanisms with different time constants co-exist without conflict in the body (e.g., reflex, learning, growth and evolution); this contributes to the amazingly resilient and intelligent behaviors of living systems. It is well known that in true slime mold, long time-scale morphological changes coexist with the oscillatory behavior stemming from biochemical oscillators. In the present study, we have designed a mathematical model and real physical robot in which two decentralized controllers are incorporated. Numerical and experimental results show that by combining the controllers with different time constants, a robot can use the proposed model to successfully negotiate a narrow aisle by deforming its body shape dynamically.

Soft-bodied amoeba-inspired robot that switches between qualitatively different behaviors with decentralized stiffness control
Adaptive Behavior,23(2):97-108 2015(Jan. 20)
Author:Takuya Umedachi; Kentaro Ito; Akio Ishiguro
Abstract:The goal of this research is to understand the underlying mechanism of the behavioral diversity of animals and then use the findings to build truly adaptive robots. Behavioral diversity is an inherent feature of all animals, and it is also important for robots to perform adaptively in unknown and dynamically changing environments. This feature enables animals to select adaptive behavior from among versatile behaviors. However, most designers have avoided or ignored behavioral diversity while constructing artificial systems, with the aim of achieving highly optimized performance in specific environments for given tasks; this leads to vulnerability of these systems to environmental changes. To understand how behavioral diversity can be embedded into artificial systems, we focus on a large amoeba-like unicellular organism, i.e., the plasmodium of true slime mold ( Physarum polycephalum), in this study. Despite the absence of a central nervous system, the plasmodium exhibits various types of locomotion (i.e., exploratory, taxis, and escape behaviors) and switches its behavior depending on the environment. Inspired by this primitive yet intelligent living organism, we build a modular robot that exhibits exploratory and taxis locomotions, and spontaneously switches between them in a fully decentralized manner according to the situation encountered. The results are expected to shed new light on a design scheme for life-like robots that exhibit amazingly versatile and adaptive behaviors.

Soft-bodied Amoeboid Robots Maneuvered by Fully Decentralized Control Inspired by Plasmodium of True Slime Mold
Journal of The Society of Instrument and Control Engineers,54(4):242-247 2015
Author:UMEDACHI Takuya

Decentralized-Controlled Amoeboid Robot with High Deformability Inspired by Plasmodium of True Slime Mold
日本機械学会ロボティクス・メカトロニクス講演会（ROBOMEC2014），講演論文集(CD-ROM),:1A1-V01 2014(May)
Author:堀切舜哉; 梅舘拓也; 石黒章夫

Morphological Computation with Hydrostatic Interaction between Mechanosensory Oscillators
E-book on Opinions and Outlook on Morphological Computation,:119-130 2014
Author:Umedachi, Takuya; Ishiguro, Akio

True-slime-mould-inspired hydrostatically coupled oscillator system exhibiting versatile behaviours
Bioinspiration & Biomimetics,8(3):035001-035001 2013(Aug. 27)
Author:Takuya Umedachi; Ryo Idei; Kentaro Ito; Akio Ishiguro
Abstract:Behavioural diversity is an indispensable attribute of living systems, which makes them intrinsically adaptive and responsive to the demands of a dynamically changing environment. In contrast, conventional engineering approaches struggle to suppress behavioural diversity in artificial systems to reach optimal performance in given environments for desired tasks. The goals of this research include understanding the essential mechanism that endows living systems with behavioural diversity and implementing the mechanism in robots to exhibit adaptive behaviours. For this purpose, we have focused on an amoeba-like unicellular organism: the plasmodium of true slime mould. Despite the absence of a central nervous system, the plasmodium exhibits versatile spatiotemporal oscillatory patterns and switches spontaneously among these patterns. By exploiting this behavioural diversity, it is able to exhibit adaptive behaviour according to the situation encountered. Inspired by this organism, we built a real physical robot using hydrostatically coupled oscillators that produce versatile oscillatory patterns and spontaneous transitions among the patterns. The experimental results show that exploiting physical hydrostatic interplay—the physical dynamics of the robot—allows simple phase oscillators to promote versatile behaviours. The results can contribute to an understanding of how a living system generates versatile and adaptive behaviours with physical interplays among body parts.

Analysis of Spontaneous Pttern Switching of Fluid-Mass-Conserving Coupled Oscillator System Inspired by True Slime Mold
第25回自律分散システムシンポジウム資料集,:43-46 2013(Jan.)
Author:伊藤賢太郎; 出井遼; 梅舘拓也; 小林亮; 石黒章夫

Highly Deformable Amoeboid Robot That Negotiates Environments by Using Pseudopods
第25回自律分散システムシンポジウム資料集,:139-144 2013(Jan.)
Author:出井遼; 梅舘拓也; 伊藤賢太郎; 小林亮; 石黒章夫

A Fluid-Filled Soft Robot That Exhibits Spontaneous Switching Among Versatile Spatiotemporal Oscillatory Patterns Inspired by the True Slime Mold
Artificial Life,19(1):67-78 2013(Jan.)
Author:Takuya Umedachi; Ryo Idei; Kentaro Ito; Akio Ishiguro
Abstract:Behavioral diversity is an essential feature of living systems, enabling them to exhibit adaptive behavior in hostile and dynamically changing environments. However, traditional engineering approaches strive to avoid, or suppress, the behavioral diversity in artificial systems to achieve high performance in specific environments for given tasks. The goals of this research include understanding how living systems exhibit behavioral diversity and using these findings to build lifelike robots that exhibit truly adaptive behaviors. To this end, we have focused on one of the most primitive forms of intelligence concerning behavioral diversity, namely, a plasmodium of true slime mold. The plasmodium is a large amoeba-like unicellular organism that does not possess any nervous system or specialized organs. However, it exhibits versatile spatiotemporal oscillatory patterns and switches spontaneously between these. Inspired by the plasmodium, we built a mathematical model that exhibits versatile oscillatory patterns and spontaneously transitions between these patterns. This model demonstrates that, in contrast to coupled nonlinear oscillators with a well-designed complex diffusion network, physically interacting mechanosensory oscillators are capable of generating versatile oscillatory patterns without changing any parameters. Thus, the results are expected to shed new light on the design scheme for lifelike robots that exhibit amazingly versatile and adaptive behaviors.

A Swimming Machine Driven by the Deformation of a Sheet-Like Body Inspired by Polyclad Flatworms
Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems,8064:390-392 2013
Author:Toshiya Kazama; Koki Kuroiwa; Takuya Umedachi; Yuichi Komatsu; Ryo Kobayashi
Abstract:A swimming robot driven by the deformation of a sheet-like body was developed, inspired by polyclad flatworms. The robot consists of a soft oval rubber sheet and three motors. Two motors operate the lateral flaps, and the third operates the body axis. The robot showed a variety of speeds and swimming patterns depending on parameter values such as the frequency and amplitude of flapping. We found that the robot moved at essentially the same speed with different swimming patterns. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Locomotion diversity in an underwater soft-robot inspired by the polyclad flatworm
2013 IEEE/RSJ INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INTELLIGENT ROBOTS AND SYSTEMS (IROS),:2083-2083 2013
Author:Toshiya Kazama; Koki Kuroiwa; Takuya Umedachi; Yuichi Komatsu; Ryo Kobayashi
Abstract:The underwater soft-robot inspired by polyclad flatworms has been developed. The oval, flat, soft body of the flatworm was represented by a rubber sheet. The sheet was controlled by controls with three degrees of freedom to allow flapping of both the lateral sides and the body axis. Swimming patterns, such as swimming forward, hovering, and swimming backwards, were achieved by coordinated movement of the lateral side flaps and the body axis of the soft robot.

Realization of Hydrostatic Skeleton Robot That Exhibits Versatile Behaviors Inspired by Plasmodium of True Slime Mold
計測自動制御学会システムインテグレーション部門講演会予稿集（CD-ROM),:0944-0948 2012(Dec.)
Author:出井遼; 梅舘拓也; 伊藤賢太郎; 石黒章夫

内部流体を介して相互作用するモジュール結合系における自発的振動パターン間遷移
広島大学数理分子生命理学専攻第4回公開シンポジウム資料集,:P38-P38 2012(Sep.)
Author:伊藤賢太郎; 出井遼; 梅舘拓也; 石黒章夫

振動子に駆動されるシリンダー結合系に現れるパターン遷移
日本物理学会講演概要集,:21aAE-11-21aAE-11 2012(Sep.)
Author:伊藤賢太郎; 出井遼; 梅舘拓也; 石黒章夫

粘菌の振動パターン間遷移を説明するためのシリンダー結合モデル
第22回数理生物学会年会予稿集,:P-39-P-39 2012(Sep.)
Author:伊藤賢太郎; 出井遼; 梅舘拓也; 石黒章夫

真正粘菌変形体から着想を得た適応的運動機能を生み出す数理モデル
第22回数理生物学会年会予稿集,:P-21-P-21 2012(Sep.)
Author:梅舘拓也; 出井遼; 伊藤賢太郎; 石黒章夫

多様な時空間振動パターンを創発する真正粘菌様ロボット
第18回創発システム・シンポジウム講演資料集,:P39-P39 2012(Sep.)
Author:梅舘拓也; 出井遼; 伊藤賢太郎; 石黒章夫

質的に異なる振る舞いを状況依存的に発現可能なアメーバ様ロボットの自律分散制御
第30回日本ロボット学会学術講演会，予稿集(CD-ROM),:1D2-2-1D2-2 2012(Sep.)
Author:出井遼; 梅舘拓也; 伊藤賢太郎; 石黒章夫

Realization of a True Slime Mold-inspired Robot That Exhibits Versatile Spatio-temporal Oscillatory Patterns
第24回自律分散システム・シンポジウム予稿集,:169-174 2012(Jan.)
Author:出井遼; 梅舘拓也; 石黒章夫

Fluid-Filled Soft-Bodied Amoeboid Robot Inspired by Plasmodium of True Slime Mold
Advanced Robotics,26(7):693-707 2012(Jan.)
Author:Takuya Umedachi; Ryo Idei; Toshiyuki Nakagaki; Ryo Kobayashi; Akio Ishiguro
Abstract:This paper presents a fluid-filled soft-bodied amoeboid robot inspired by the plasmodium of the true slime mold. The significant features of this robot are 2-fold. (i) The robot has a fluid circuit (i. e., cylinders and nylon tubes filled with fluid), and a truly soft and deformable body stemming from real-time tunable springs-the former seals protoplasm to induce global physical interaction between the body parts and the latter is used for elastic actuators. (ii) A fully decentralized control using coupled oscillators with a completely local sensory feedback mechanism is realized by exploiting the global physical interaction between the body parts stemming from the fluid circuit. The experimental results show that this robot exhibits adaptive locomotion without relying on any hierarchical structure. The results obtained are expected to shed new light on the design scheme for autonomous decentralized control systems. (C) Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden and The Robotics Society of Japan, 2012

A True-Slime-Mold-Inspired Fluid-Filled Robot Exhibiting Versatile Behavior
Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems,7375:262-273 2012
Author:Takuya Umedachi; Ryo Idei; Akio Ishiguro
Abstract:Behavioral diversity is one essential feature of living systems in order to exhibit adaptive behavior in hostile and dynamically changing environments. However, classical engineering approaches strive to avoid the behavioral diversity of artificial systems to achieve high performance in specific environments for given tasks. The goals of this research include understanding how living systems exhibit behavioral diversity and use these findings to build robots that exhibit truly adaptive behaviors. To this end, we have focused on an amoeba-like unicellular organism, i.e., the plasmodium of true slime mold. Despite the absence of a central nervous system, the plasmodium exhibits versatile spatiotemporal oscillatory patterns and switches spontaneously between the patterns. Inspired by this, we build a real physical robot that exhibits versatile oscillatory patterns and spontaneous transition between the patterns. The results are expected to shed new light on the design scheme for life-like robots that exhibit amazingly versatile and adaptive behavior. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.

A Fluid-filled Deformable Robot That Exhibits Spontaneous Switching among Versatile Spatio-temporal Oscillatory Patterns Inspired by True Slime Mold
Proc. of the 5th International Symposium on Adaptive Motion of Animals and Machines (AMAM2011),:65-66 2011(Oct.)
Author:Takuya Umedachi; Ryo Idei; Akio Ishiguro

A Fluid-filled Soft Robot That Exhibits Spontaneous Switching among Versatile Spatio-temporal Oscillatory Patterns Inspired by True Slime Mold
Proc. of 2nd International Conference on Morphological Computation ICMC2011,:54-56 2011(Sep.)
Author:Takuya Umedachi; Ryo Idei; Akio Ishiguro

真正粘菌変形体が示す多様な時空間パターンの発現機序
第21回日本数理生物学会予稿集,:131 2011(Sep.)
Author:出井遼; 梅舘拓也; 伊藤賢太郎; 石黒章夫

Fully Decentralized Control Inspired by Plasmodium of True Slime Mold
第2回領域シンポジウム「越境する数学」?CREST研究報告会?,:40 2011(Sep.)
Author:梅舘拓也; 出井遼; 中垣俊之; 小林亮; 石黒章夫

A Fluidic-interacted Modular Robot That Exhibits Versatile Spatio-temporal Oscillatory Patterns Inspired by Slime Mold
第17回創発システム・シンポジウム予稿集,:127-130 2011(Sep.)
Author:梅舘拓也; 出井遼; 石黒章夫

Simulation of a Soft-bodied Fluid-driven Amoeboid Robot That Exploits Thixotropic Flow
Proc. of 2011 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation,:5123-5128 2011(May)
Author:Takuya Umedachi; Masakazu Akiyama; Atsushi Tero; Akio Ishiguro

A Slime Mold-inspired Fluid-filled Robot That Exhibits Versatile Spatio-temporal Oscillatory Patterns
日本機械学会ロボティクス・メカトロニクス講演会（ROBOMEC2011）予稿集,:1A1-K05 2011(May)
Author:出井遼; 梅舘拓也; 石黒章夫

A Soft Deformable Amoeboid Robot Inspired by Plasmodium of True Slime Mold
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF UNCONVENTIONAL COMPUTING,7(6):449-462 2011
Author:Takuya Umedachi; Koichi Takeda; Toshiyuki Nakagaki; Ryo Kobayashi; Akio Ishiguro
Abstract:This paper presents a soft-bodied amoeboid robot inspired by plasmodium of true slime mold. The significant features of this robot are twofold: (1) the robot has truly soft and deformable body stemming from periodically expanding and contracting real-time tunable springs and a balloon, the former is used for an outer skin of the body and the latter serves as protoplasm in order to induce long-distance physical interaction between the body parts; and (2) a fully decentralized control using coupled oscillators with completely local sensory feedback mechanism is realized by exploiting the long-distance physical interaction. Experimental results show that this robot exhibits truly supple locomotion without relying on any hierarchical structure. The results obtained are expected to shed new light on how autonomous decentralized control may he designed.

Experimental Verification of Fully Decentralized Control Inspired by Plasmodium of True Slime Mold
Transactions of the Society of Instrument and Control Engineers,46(11):706-712 2010(Nov.)
Author:Takuya UMEDACHI; Koichi TAKEDA; Toshiyuki NAKAGAKI; Ryo KOBAYASHI; Akio ISHIGURO
Abstract:This paper presents a fully decentralized control inspired by plasmodium of true slime mold and its validity using a soft-bodied amoeboid robot. The notable features of this paper are twofold: (1) the robot has truly soft and deformable body stemming from real-time tunable springs and a balloon, the former is utilized as an outer skin of the body and the latter serves as protoplasm; and (2) a fully decentralized control using coupled oscillators with completely local sensory feedback mechanism is realized by exploiting the long-distance physical interaction between the body parts induced by the law of conservation of protoplasmic mass. Experimental results show that this robot exhibits truly supple locomotion without relying on any hierarchical structure. The results obtained are expected to shed new light on design scheme for autonomous decentralized control system.

Locomotion Control of an Amoeboid Robot That Exploits Thixotropic Flow
第53回自動制御連合講演会予稿集,:295-299 2010(Nov.)
Author:梅舘拓也; 秋山正和; 手老篤史; 石黒章夫

A Soft-bodied Fluid-driven Amoeboid Robot Inspired by Plasmodium of True Slime Mold
Proc. of 2010 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Systems,:2401-2406 2010(Oct.)
Author:Takuya Umedachi; Koichi Takeda; Toshiyuki Nakagaki; Ryo Kobayashi; Akio Ishiguro
Abstract:Animals exhibit astoundingly adaptive and supple locomotion under real world constraints. In order to endow robots with similar capabilities, we must implement many degrees of freedom, equivalent to animals, into the robots' bodies. For taming many degrees of freedom, the concept of autonomous decentralized control plays a pivotal role. However, a systematic way of designing such autonomous decentralized control system is still missing. Aiming at understanding the principles that underlie animals' locomotion, in our early studies, we focused on plasmodium of true slime mold, a primitive living organism, and extracted a design scheme for autonomous decentralized control system. In order to demonstrate the relevance of this design scheme, this paper presents a soft-bodied fluid-driven amoeboid robot inspired by plasmodium of true slime mold. The significant features of this robot are twofold: (1) the robot has fluidic circuit (i.e., cylinders and nylon tubes filled with fluid) and truly soft and deformable body stemming from real-time tunable springs, the former serves as protoplasm and the latter is used for elastic actuators; and (2) a fully decentralized control using coupled oscillators with completely local sensory feedback mechanism is realized by exploiting the long-distance physical interaction between the body parts stemming from the law of conservation of protoplasmic mass. The experimental results show that this robot exhibits truly supple locomotion without relying on any hierarchical structure. The results obtained are expected to shed new light on design scheme for autonomous decentralized control system.

Adaptive Behavior by Exploiting Tensegrity Structure
Proc. of The 3rd Student Organizing International Mini-Conference on Information Electronics Systems,:pp.174 F7P-10 2010(Oct.)
Author:Kazuya Suzuki; Masahiro Shimizu; Takeshi Kano; Takuya Umedachi; Akio Ishiguro

Decentralized Control That Exploits Global Interaction Stemming from Fluidic Circuit -Experimental Verification using a Soft-bodied Amoeboid Robot-
第28回日本ロボット学会学術講演会予稿集,:AC3N2-7 2010(Sep.)
Author:武田光一; 出井遼; 梅舘拓也; 中垣俊之; 小林亮; 石黒章夫

Modeling of Amoeboid Locomotion That Exploits Thixotropic Flow
第20回日本数理生物学会予稿集,:127P-10 2010(Sep.)
Author:梅舘拓也; 秋山正和; 手老篤史; 石黒章夫

Autonomous Decentralized Control of a Fluid-driven Amoeboid Soft Robot
第259回SICE東北支部研究集会,:259-9 2010(Jul.)
Author:Koichi Takeda; Ryo Idei; Takuya Umedachi; Toshiyuki Nakagaki; Ryo Kobayashi; Akio Ishiguro
Abstract:SICE東北支部研究奨励発表賞受賞

Orchestrating Large Degrees of Freedom -A Case Study with a Soft-bodied Amoeboid Robot-
Proc. of 9th International Conference on Unconventional Computation 2010(Jun.)
Author:Takuya Umedachi; Koichi Takeda; Toshiyuki Nakagaki; Ryo Kobayashi; Akio Ishiguro

原形質量保存則を活用した流体駆動型アメーバ様ソフトロボット
日本機械学会ロボティクス・メカトロニクス講演会（ROBOMEC2010）予稿集 2010(Jun.)
Author:武田光一; 梅舘拓也; 中垣俊之; 小林亮; 石黒章夫

Fully decentralized control of a soft-bodied robot inspired by true slime mold
Biological Cybernetics,102(3):261-269 2010(Mar. 04)
Author:Takuya Umedachi; Koichi Takeda; Toshiyuki Nakagaki; Ryo Kobayashi; Akio Ishiguro
Abstract:Animals exhibit astoundingly adaptive and supple locomotion under real world constraints. In order to endow robots with similar capabilities, we must implement many degrees of freedom, equivalent to animals, into the robots' bodies. For taming many degrees of freedom, the concept of autonomous decentralized control plays a pivotal role. However a systematic way of designing such autonomous decentralized control system is still missing. Aiming at understanding the principles that underlie animals' locomotion, we have focused on a true slime mold, a primitive living organism, and extracted a design scheme for autonomous decentralized control system. In order to validate this design scheme, this article presents a soft-bodied amoeboid robot inspired by the true slime mold. Significant features of this robot are twofold: (1) the robot has a truly soft and deformable body stemming from real-time tunable springs and protoplasm, the former is used for an outer skin of the body and the latter is to satisfy the law of conservation of mass; and (2) fully decentralized control using coupled oscillators with completely local sensory feedback mechanism is realized by exploiting the long-distance physical interaction between the body parts stemming from the law of conservation of protoplasmic mass. Simulation results show that this robot exhibits highly supple and adaptive locomotion without relying on any hierarchical structure. The results obtained are expected to shed new light on design methodology for autonomous decentralized control system.

Development of an Amoeboid Soft-bodied Robot That Exploits Law of Conservation of Protoplasmic Mass
第22回自律分散システム・シンポジウム 2010(Jan. 30)
Author:武田光一; 梅舘拓也; 中垣俊之; 小林亮; 石黒章夫

Taming Many Degrees of Freedom Fully Decentralized Control of a Soft-bodied Robot Inspired by True Slime Mold
The 2009 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems,SuT5:50-55 2009(Oct. 11)
Author:Koichi Takeda; Takuya Umedachi; Akio Ishiguro

Understanding Autonomous Decentralized Control of Many-Degree-of-Freedom from Amoeboid Locomotion
第15回創発システム・シンポジウム,:P02 83-86 2009(Aug. 08)
Author:武田光一; 梅舘拓也; 中垣俊之; 小林亮; 石黒章夫
Abstract:第15回創発システム・シンポジウムベストポスター優秀賞

Experimental Verification of a Soft-bodied Robot with Large D.O.F Inspired by True Slime Mold
ロボティクス・メカトロニクス講演会2009予稿集,:2A2-F22 2009(May 24)
Author:武田光一; 北村太一; 梅舘拓也; 中垣俊之; 小林亮; 石黒章夫

原形質量保存側を活用した大自由度アメーバ様ロボットの自律分散制御
リズム現象の研究会IV,:Poster5 2009(Jan. 23)
Author:梅舘拓也; 北村太一; 武田光一; 中垣俊之; 小林亮; 石黒章夫

Development of a Soft and Supple Robot Inspired from True Slime
第21回自律分散システム・シンポジウムProceedings 2009(Jan. 22)
Author:武田光一; 北村太一; 梅舘拓也; 中垣俊之; 小林亮; 石黒章夫

A Modular Robot Driven by Protoplasmic Streaming
Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems 8,8:193-202 2009
Author:Takuya Umedachi; Taichi Kitamura; Koichi Takeda; Toshiyuki Nakagaki; Ryo Kobayashi; Akio Ishiguro
Abstract:Self-reconfigurable robots are expected to exhibit various interesting abilities, such as adaptivity and fault tolerance. These remarkable abilities originate from the fact that their mechanical systems intrinsically possess very large degrees of freedom. This, however, causes a serious problem, i.e., controllability. To overcome this, autonomous decentralized control is expected to play a crucial role, as widely observed in living organisms. However, much is still not understood about how such decentralized control can be achieved. This is mainly because the logic connecting local behaviors to global behaviors is still not understood. In this study, we particularly focus on a very primitive living organism, slime mold (physarum polycepharum), since it is believed to employ a fully decentralized control based on coupled biochemical oscillators. We modeled a decentralized control algorithm based on coupled nonlinear oscillators and then implement this into a two-dimensional modular robot consisting of incompressible fluid (i.e., protoplasm) covered with an outer skin composed of a network of passive and real-time tunable springs. Preliminary simulation results showed that this modular robot exhibits significantly supple locomotion similar to amoeboid locomotion and that the exploitation of the "long-distant interaction" stemming from "the law of conservation of protoplasmic mass" performs some of the "computation" that the controller would otherwise have to carry out. As a consequence, adaptive amoeboid locomotion emerges without the need for any centralized control system. The results obtained are also expected to shed new light on how control and mechanical systems with large degrees of freedom should be coupled.

An Autonomous Decentralized Control of a Soft and Supple Robot Inspired from True Slime Mold
計測自動制御学会SI部門講演会SI2008予稿集,:139-140 2008(Dec. 05)
Author:北村太一; 梅舘拓也; 武田光一; 中垣俊之; 小林亮; 石黒章夫

A Fully Decentralized Morphology Control of an Amoeboid Robot by Exploiting the Law of Conservation of Protoplasmic Mass
IEEE/RSJ 2008 International Conference on Intelligent RObots and Systems,2008:1144-1149 2008(Sep. 22)
Author:Akio Ishiguro; Takuya Umedachi; Taichi Kitamura; Toshiyuki Nakagaki; Ryo Kobayashi
Abstract:2008 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Pasadena, CA, USA, May 19-23, 2008

Autonomous Decentralized Control of an Amoeboid Robot by Exploiting Global Interaction Stemming from Protoplasm
第26回日本ロボット学会学術講演会予稿集,:3H1-05 2008(Sep. 09)
Author:北村太一; 梅舘拓也; 武田光一; 中垣俊之; 小林亮; 石黒章夫

可変弾性要素と原形質量保存則を活用したアメーバ様ロコモーションの実現
第243回SICE東北支部研究集会,:243-6 2008(Jun. 20)
Author:北村太一; 梅舘拓也; 石黒章夫
Abstract:第243回SICE東北支部研究集会優秀発表奨励賞

An Amoeboid Locomotion That Exploits Real-Time Tunable Springs and Law of Conservation of Protoplasmic Mass
Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics,20(3):449-455 2008(Jun.)
Author:Takuya Umedachi; Taichi Kitamura; Akio Ishiguro
Abstract:Abstract: The control and mechanical systems of an embodied agent should be tightly coupled so as to emerge useful functionalities such as adaptivity. This indicates that the mechanical system as well as the control system should be responsible for a certain amount of computation for generating the behavior. However, there still leaves much to be understood about how such “computational offloading” from the control system to the mechanical system can be achieved. In order to intensively investigate this, here we particularly focus on the “softness” of the body, and show how the computational offloading derived from this property is exploited to simplify the control system and to increase the degree of adaptivity. To this end, we employ a two-dimensional amoeboid robot as a practical example, consisting of incompressive fluid (i.e. protoplasm) covered with an outer skin composed of a network of real-time tunable springs. Preliminary simulation results show that the exploitation of the “long-distant interaction” stemming from “the law of conservation of protoplasmic mass” allows us to simplify the control mechanism; and that adaptive amoeboid locomotion can be realized without the need of a central controller. The results obtained are expected to shed light on how control and mechanical systems should be coupled, and what the “brain-body-interaction” carefully designed brings to the resulting behavior.

An Autonomous Decentralized Locomotion Control of an Amoeboid Robot That Exploits the Law of Conservation of Protoplasmic Mass
第3回移動知シンポジウム 2008(Mar. 05)
Author:Takuya Umedachi; Taichi Kitamura; Akio Ishiguro
Abstract:（ポスター発表）

Adaptive Amoeboid Locomotion That Exploits Law of Conservation of Protoplasmic Mass
SICE 2007 PROCEEDINGS,:2150-2154 2007(Sep. 16)
Author:Takuya Umedachi; Akio Ishiguro

Amoeboid Locomotion That Exploits Real-time Tunable Springs and Law of Conservation of Protoplasmic Mass
Proc. of the 2nd International Symposium on Mobiligence,:263-266 2007(Jul.)
Author:Takuya Umedachi; Akio Ishiguro

Well-balanced Coupling between Control and Mechanical Systems via Real-time Tunable Springs -- A Case Study with a 2D Serpentine Robot --
ロボティクス・メカトロニクス講演会2007,:2A1-B11 2007(May 10)
Author:Wataru Watanabe; Takuya Umedachi; Akio Ishiguro

Development of a Real-Time Tunable Spring - Toward Independent Control of Position and Stiffness of Joints -
Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics,19(1):27-33 2007(Feb. 20)
Author:Takuya Umedachi; Yasutake Yamada; Akio Ishiguro
Abstract:Traditionally, robot control has been done typically by “highly precise control algorithms”: their joint angle trajectories are accurately determined at any time with vast amount of computation. This, however, causes serious problems, particularly in terms of adaptability and energy efficiency. On the other hand, an extreme approach has been gaining a lot of attention recently. A good instantiation is the passive dynamic walker, driven only by exploiting the intrinsic dynamics of its mechanical system. However, mechanical system is not everything as well as control system is not everything: “well-balanced” coupling between control and mechanical systems should be considered. In addition, the “meeting point” between the two systems should be varied according to the environment encountered. In light of these facts, this study particularly focuses on the stiffness of robots’ joints, since this strongly contributes to tuning the dominance relationship between control and mechanical systems. More specifically, the aim of this study is to develop a “Real-time tunable spring” that can smoothly change its elasticity without changing its natural length, allowing robot’s joints to change their position and stiffness independently.

Well-balanced Coupling between Control and Mechanical Systems Based on the Diversity in Motion Trajectory --A Case Study with a Bipedal Walking Robot--
第19回自律分散システム・シンポジウム資料,:233-238 2007(Jan. 29)
Author:Wataru Watanabe; Takuya Umedachi; Akio Ishiguro

A Development of a Fully Self-contained Real-time Tunable Spring
PROCEEDINGS OF IEEE/RSJ INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INTELLIGENT ROBOTS AND SYSTEMS,:1662-1667 2006(Oct. 09)
Author:Takuya Umedachi; Akio Ishiguro

Development of a Highly Implementable Real-time Tunable Spring - Application to an Antagonistically Driven Joint -
ロボティクス・メカトロニクス講演会2006,2006:1P1-B23-B23(1)"-"1P1-B23(4)" 2006(May 26)
Author:梅舘拓也; 田中直人; 山田康武; 石黒章夫
Abstract:Traditionally, robot control has been done typically by "highly precise control algorithms": the position of each movable body part is accurately determined at any time with vast amount of computation. This, however, causes serious problems, particularly in terms of adaptability and energy efficiency. On the other hand, an extreme approach has been gaining a lot of attention recently. A good instantiation is the passive dynamic walker, driven only by exploiting the intrinsic dynamics of its mechanical system. However, the mechanical system is not everything, just as the control system is not everything; "well-balanced" coupling between control and mechanical systems should be considered. In addition, the "meeting point" between the two systems should be flexibly varied according to the environment encountered. In light of these facts, this study intensively focuses on the stiffness of robots' joints, since this effectively influences the dominance relationship between control and mechanical systems. More specifically, the aim of this study is to develop a "real-time tunable spring" that can smoothly change its elasticity without changing its natural length, allowing robot's joints to change their position and stiffness independently.

Presentations
A Multigait Stringy Robot with Bi-Stable Soft-Bodied Structures in Multiple Viscous Environments
2020 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems 2020(Oct. 25)
Presenter:T. D. Ta, T. Umedachi, and Y. Kawahara

Blind Bin Picking of Small Screws Through In-finger Manipulation With Compliant Robotic Fingers
2020 IEEE/RSJ International Conference one Intelligent Robots and System (IROS) 2020(Oct. 24)
Presenter:Ishige, Matthew; Umedachi, Takuya; Ijiri, Yoshihisa; Taniguchi, Tadahiro; Kawahara, Yoshihiro

変形分布を可視化する多色パターン3D Printed Fabricの開発
第38回日本ロボット学会学術講演会(RSJ2020) 2020(Oct. 10)
Presenter:花岡航平; 清水正宏; 梅舘拓也

複数Living Hingeの共振を活用した単モータ駆動ロボットの多様な動き
第38回日本ロボット学会学術講演会(RSJ2020) 2020(Oct. 10)
Presenter:伊與部聡; 清水正宏; 梅舘拓也

Ramus: A Frequency-Multiplexed Power Bus for Powering, Sensing and Controlling Robots
IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics 4126-4132 2020(Apr. 20)
Presenter:Yuki Nishizawa, Takuya Sasatani, Matthew Ishige, Yoshiaki Narusue, Takuya Umedachi, Yoshihiro Kawahara

In-Hand Small-Object Counting from Tactile Sensor Arrays Installed on Soft Fingertips
IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics 2020(Apr. 06)
Presenter:Matthew Ishige, Takuya Umedachi, Yoshihisa Ijiri, Yoshihiro Kawahara

Demonstration of Teleoperated Bumblebee-Quadcopter System for Collision Avoidance
IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics 188-193 2020(Apr. 06)
Presenter:Shunsuke Shigaki, Masahiro Shimizu, Hiroki Kobayashi, Risa Ishiguro, Takuya Umedachi, Koh Hosoda

Electroantennography Measurement by Printed Electronics Electrode
2020 IEEE/SICE International Symposium on System Integration (SII) 2020(Jan. 12)
Presenter:Naoki Yamada, Shunsuke Shigaki, Masahiro Shimizu, Hirono Ohashi, Takuya Umedachi, Toshihiko Ogura, Koh Hosoda

ソフトロボットにおける外部環境を骨格として利用するための制御手法
2019年電子情報通信学会総合大会 2019(Sep.)
Presenter:森島正博; 梅舘拓也; 川原圭博

Soft-bodied caterpillar-like testbed developed with digital fabrication to close Vico’s loop (Invited talk)
2019 Living Machines Conference, Workshop: CLOSING VICO’S LOOP: ADDRESSING CHALLENGES IN SCIENCE AND SOCIETY WITH LIVING MACHINES 2019(Jul.)
Presenter:Umedachi, Takuya

Instant Inkjet Actuator and Sensor for Soft-bodied Crawling Robots
2019 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2019) 2019(May 20)
Presenter:Tung D. Ta, Takuya Umedachi and Yoshihiro Kawahara

Actuation Frequency-Dependent Automatic Behavioral Switching on Caterpillar-Inspired Crawling Robot
2019 2nd IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft 2019) 2019(Apr. 14)
Presenter:Umedachi, Takuya; Shimizu, Masahiro; Kawahara, Yoshihiro

Origami Robots with Flexible Printed Circuit Sheets
UbiComp '18: Proceedings of the 2018 ACM International Joint Conference and 2018 International Symposium on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing and Wearable Computers 2018(Oct.)
Presenter:Dongchi Lee, Kazuya Saito, Takuya Umedachi, Tung D. Ta, Yoshihiro Kawahara

Friction and Stride Variable Cylindrical Robot using Cylindrical Origami of Different Strength and One Actuator
The 7th International Meeting on Origami in Science, Mathematics and Education (7OSME) 2018(Sep. 08)
Presenter:Okuya, Fuminori; Umedachi, Takuya; Saito, Kazuya; Kawahara, Yoshihiro

段差を乗り越え壁面を登る尺取り虫を規範としたロボット
2018年電子情報通信学会総合大会 2018(Sep.)
Presenter:森田雅博; 梅舘拓也; T. D. Ta; 川原圭博

Caterpillar-inspired Crawling Robot on a Stick using Active-release and Passive-grip Elastic Legs
2018 IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft 2018) 2018(Apr. 24)
Presenter:Umedachi, Takuya; Kawahara, Yoshihiro

強化学習を用いた一次元ひも状ソフトロボットの力覚フィードバック機構の耐故障性の検証
2018年電子情報通信学会総合大会 2018(Mar. 20)
Presenter:石毛真修; 梅舘拓也; 谷口忠大; 川原圭博

形状記憶合金アクチュエータの収縮タイミング制御で這行運動を生成するシンプルな折紙型ロボット
第80回全国大会 2018(Mar. 13)
Presenter:李東池; 斉藤一哉; 梅舘拓也; 川原圭博

単一アクチュエータで直線状の物体上を進行する円筒折の内径の変化を用いたロボット
第80回全国大会 2018(Mar. 13)
Presenter:奥谷文徳; 梅舘拓也; 斉藤一哉; 川原圭博

Learning Oscillator-based Gait Controller for String-form Soft Robots using Parameter-exploring Policy Gradients
2018 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2018)2018 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2018) 2018
Presenter:Ishige, Mathew; Umedachi, Takuya; Taniguchi, Tadahiro; Kawahara, Yoshihiro

Robustness of locomotion speed by decentralized controlled anchoring timing
2017年度大会 2017(Nov.)
Presenter:Okuya, Fuminori; Umedachi, Takuya; Kawahara, Yoshihiro

イモムシ型ロボットの振動子モデルへ体長の制約の付加による影響の考察
第27回日本数理生物学会年会 2017(Oct. 06)
Presenter:奥谷文徳; 梅舘拓也; 川原圭博

東大・情報理工研究100連発～電子情報学専攻編～講演(3) 梅舘拓也・研究10連発(招待講演）
第16回情報科学技術フォーラム 2017(Sep. 12)
Presenter:梅舘拓也

柔らかさを活かしたソフトロボットの設計、製造、制御方策（招待講演）
第35回日本ロボット学会学術講演会 RSJ2017 2017(Sep. 11)
Presenter:梅舘拓也; 川原圭博

印刷技術で創るソフトロボット(招待講演）
H29年度第1回PE研究会/第223回JOEM共催研究会「IoTセンシング・デバイス」 2017(Jul. 27)
Presenter:梅舘拓也; 川原圭博

ソフトロボットと一括造形する大変形センサの開発 (3D deformation sensor molded with soft-bodied robot simultaneously)
第22回ロボティクスシンポジア 2017(Mar. 15)
Presenter:柴田直人; 梅舘拓也; 川原圭博; 浅見徹

イモムシ型ソフトロボットの柔らかさとロコモーションの関係
第29回自律分散システム・シンポジウム 2017(Jan. 30)
Presenter:梅舘拓也; Trimmer, Barry A.; 川原圭博

Autonomous Decentralized Control for Soft-bodied Caterpillar-like Modular Robot Exploiting Large and Continuum Deformation
2016 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2016) 2016(Nov. 11)
Presenter:Umedachi, Takuya; Trimmer, Barry A.

Decentralized Control of 1D Crawling Locomotion by Exploiting “TEGOTAE” from Environment
7th Int. Symposium of Adaptive Motion of Animals and Machines (AMAM2015) 2015(Jun. 21)
Presenter:Kano, Takeshi; Chiba, Hironori; Umedachi, Takuya; Ishiguro, Akio

Sensing Dynamic Properties and Interactions with the Environment: Proprioceptive Information for Soft-bodied Machines
7th Int. Symposium of Adaptive Motion of Animals and Machines (AMAM2015) 2015(Jun. 21)
Presenter:Umedachi, Takuya; Trimmer, Barry A

環境からの手応えを活用した一次元這行運動の自律分散制御
第293回計測自動制御学会東北支部研究集会 2015(Mar. 09)
Presenter:千葉大徳; 加納剛史; 梅舘拓也; 石黒章夫

皮膚感覚フィードバックを活用した一次元這行運動の自律分散制御則
ロボティクス・メカトロニクス講演会講演概要集 2015_2A2-S03_1-_2A2-S03_4 2015
Presenter:千葉大徳; 加納剛史; 梅舘拓也; 石黒章夫

Design of a 3D-Printed Soft Robot with Posture and Steering Control
2014 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2014) 2014(May)
Presenter:Takuya Umedachi; Barry A. Trimmer
Abstract:Abstract: Both postural maintenance and rhythm generation are keys to generating adaptive behavior in all animals. This is particularly evident in soft animals such as caterpillars, worm and flatworms that are capable of moving freely in all directions and adopting intricate postures. They can also exploit three-dimensional deformations and nonlinear structural properties to move in complex environments and to respond to external forces. These capabilities have inspired a new interest in using soft materials in robotic applications but highly deformable materials create significant design and control problems. In previous work the authors have developed a 3D-printed soft (3D-PS) robot, inspired by caterpillars, as a platform to investigate methods for controlling soft robots. The previous version of the robot is able to reproduce the different gait patterns (inching and crawling motion) of caterpillars by changing temporal difference in the rhythmic deformations of different body parts. In this paper, we have added posture control to the 3D-PS robot together with a steering capability. Experimental results show that although posture and steering are usually related, elastic and continuum properties of the soft body can produce more complex and versatile behaviors.

Autonomous Decentralized Control for Soft Bodied Robots Inspired by True Slime Mold
The 1st International Symposium on Brainware LSI 2014(Mar. 28)
Presenter:Takuya Umedachi

連続性・大変形性を活用したイモムシ型ソフトロボットの自律分散制御
第26回自律分散システム・シンポジウム 2014(Jan. 24)
Presenter:梅舘拓也; Barry A. Trimmer

真正粘菌変形体に着想を得た環境に応じて変形可能な自律分散型アメーバ様ロボット
ロボティクス・メカトロニクス講演会講演概要集 2014_1A1-V01_1-_1A1-V01_3 2014
Presenter:掘切舜哉; 梅舘拓也; 石黒章夫

Locomotion Diversity in an Underwater Soft-Robot Inspired by the Polyclad Flatworm
2013 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2013) 2013(Nov. 06)
Presenter:Toshiya Kazama; Koki Kuroiwa; Takuya Umedachi; Yuichi Komatsu; Ryo Kobayashi
Abstract:Abstract: The underwater soft-robot inspired by polyclad flatworms has been developed. The oval, flat, soft body of the flatworm was represented by a rubber sheet. The sheet was controlled by controls with three degrees of freedom to allow flapping of both the lateral sides and the body axis. Swimming patterns, such as swimming forward, hovering, and swimming backwards, were achieved by coordinated movement of the lateral side flaps and the body axis of the soft robot.

Highly Deformable 3-D Printed Soft Robot Generating Inching and Crawling Locomotions with Variable Friction Legs
2013 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2013) 2013(Nov. 06)
Presenter:Umedachi, Takuya; Vishesh, Vikas; Trimmer, Barry A.
Abstract:Abstract: Soft and continuum robots have the useful capability of adopting intricate postures and conforming to complex shapes. Furthermore, structures built from soft materials propagate mechanical energy from one part of the body to another, depending on its body shape, boundary condition, stiffness distribution, and so on. This makes the robots capable of producing a large number of force profiles to achieve useful behaviors and functionalities, even using a small number of actuators. Exploiting the soft mechanical property also enables to generate functional frictional forces, which is a key issue in controlling robot locomotion. In this paper, a highly deformable 3-D printed soft robot (PS robot) is presented, which is capable of generating complex, robust gaits on different inclines using a novel variable friction leg design. This design changes the frictional force depending on the robot posture and shape to facilitate robot locomotion. Shape memory alloy (SMA) coils are embedded into the robot in such a way that they act both as structural elements and actuators. This is the first soft robot platform produced by 3-D printing making fabrication simple and fast.

(no english title)
THE 31st ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE ROBOTICS SOCIETY OF JAPAN 2013(Sep. 06)
Presenter:Takuya Umedachi

A swimming machine driven by the deformation of a sheet-like body inspired by polyclad flatworms
The International Conference on Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems (Living Machines 2013) 2013(Jul. 29)
Presenter:Toshiya Kazama; Koki Kuroiwa; Takuya Umedachi; Yuichi Komatsu; Ryo Kobayashi

Caterpillar-like soft-bodied robot exploiting large-deformation continuum behavior
2013 International Workshop on soft robotics 2013(Jul. 14)
Presenter:Takuya Umedachi; Vikas Vishesh; Barry Trimmer

True-slime-mold-inspired hydrostatic-skeletal amoeboid aobot driven by fully decentralized control
6th International Symposium on Adaptive Motion of Animals and Machines (AMAM) 2013(Mar. 11)
Presenter:Takuya Umedachi; Ryo Idei; Kentaro Ito; Akio Ishiguro

真正粘菌に着想を得た流体質量保存結合振動子系における自発的パターン間遷移の解析
第25回自律分散システム・シンポジウム資料 2013(Jan. 26)
Presenter:伊藤賢太郎; 出井遼; 梅舘拓也; 石黒章夫

Highly Deformable Amoeboid Robot That Negotiates Environments by Using Pseudopods
第25回自律分散システム・シンポジウム資料 2013(Jan. 25)
Presenter:Ryo Idei; Takuya Umedachi; Kentaro Ito; Ryo Kobayashi; Akio Ishiguro

ヒラムシに着想を得た流体センシングと運動との相互フィードバック機構を持つ自律遊泳型ソフトロボットの構築
第25回自律分散システム・シンポジウム資料 2013(Jan. 25)
Presenter:風間俊哉; 黒岩光輝; 梅舘拓也; 小松雄一; 小林亮

Realization of Hydrostatic Skeleton Robot That Exhibits Versatile Behaviors Inspired by Plasmodium of True Slime Mold
SICE System Integration Division 2012(Dec. 18)
Presenter:Ryo Idei; Takuya Umedachi; Kentaro Ito; Akio Ishiguro

質的に異なる振る舞いを状況依存的に発現可能なアメーバ様ロボットの自律分散制御
THE 30TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE ROBOTICS SOCIETY OF JAPAN 2012(Sep. 17)
Presenter:Ryo Idei; Takuya Umedachi; Kentaro Ito; Akio Ishiguro

Mathematical Modeling of Adaptive Motor Function Inspired by True Slime Mold
Japan Society for Mathematical Biology Annual Meeting 2012 2012(Sep. 10)
Presenter:Takuya Umedachi

True-Slime-Mold-inspired Robot That Exhibits Versatile Spatio-temporal Oscillatory Patterns
第18回創発システムシンポジウム「創発夏の学校」 2012(Sep. 01)
Presenter:Takuya Umedachi; Ryo Idei; Kentaro Ito; Akio Ishiguro

A True-Slime-Mold-Inspired Fluid-Filled Robot Exhibiting Versatile Behavior
The International Conference on Boimimetic and Biohybrid Systems (Living Machines 2012) 2012(Jul. 12)
Presenter:Takuya Umedachi; Ryo Ide; Akio Ishiguro

A Large Degree-of-Freedom Modular Robot Exhibiting Versatile Behavior Inspired by Plasmodium of True Slime Mold
ROBOMEC2012 2012(May 29)
Presenter:Ryo Idei; Takuya Umedachi; Kentaro Ito; Akio Ishiguro

Realization of a True Slime Mold-inspired Robot That Exhibits Versatile Spatio-temporal Oscillatory Patterns
第24回自律分散システム・シンポジウム資料 2012(Jan. 28)
Presenter:Ryo Idei; Takuya Umedachi; Akio Ishiguro

振動子に駆動されるシリンダー結合系に現れるパターン遷移
日本物理学会講演概要集 67 2012
Presenter:伊藤賢太郎; 出井遼; 梅舘拓也; 石黒章夫

Autonomous Decentralized Control of Soft-bodied Robots Inspired by True Slime Mold
九州大学マス・フォア・インダストリ研究所ウィンタースクール数理モデルの産業・諸科学への活用 -数理モデルの夢- 2011(Dec. 02)
Presenter:Takuya Umedachi; Ryo Idei; Toshiyuki Nakagaki; Ryo Kobayashi; Akio Ishiguro

A Fluid-filled Deformable Robot That Exhibits Spontaneous Switching among Versatile Spatio-temporal Oscillatory Patterns Inspired by True Slime Mold
International Sympoium on Adaptive Motion in Animals and Machines (AMAM 2011) 2011(Oct. 12)
Presenter:Takuya Umedachi; Ryo Idei; Akio Ishiguro

A Fluid-filled Soft Robot That Exhibits Spontaneous Switching among Versatile Spatio-temporal Oscillatory Patterns Inspired by True Slime Mold
2nd International Conference on Morphological Computation (ICMC2011) 2011(Sep. 14)
Presenter:Takuya Umedachi; Ryo Idei; Akio Ishiguro

A Mathematical Model for Spacio-temporal Oscillatory Patterns of True Slime Mold
第21回日本数理生物学会年会 2011(Sep. 14)
Presenter:Ryo Idei; Takuya Umedachi; Kentaro Ito; Akio Ishiguro

Fully Decentralized Control Inspired by Plasmodium of True Slime Mold
第2回領域シンポジウム「越境する数学」−CREST研究報告会− 2011(Sep. 07)
Presenter:Takuya Umedachi; Ryo Idei; Toshiyuki Nakagaki; Ryo Kobayashi; Akio Ishiguro

A Fluidic-interacted Modular Robot That Exhibits Versatile Spatio-temporal Oscillatory Patterns Inspired by Slime Mold
第17回創発システム・シンポジウム「創発夏の学校2011」 2011(Sep. 03)
Presenter:Takuya Umedachi; Ryo Idei; Akio Ishiguro

A Slime Mold-inspired Fluid-filled Robot That Exhibits Versatile Spatio-temporal Oscillatory Patterns
ROBOMEC2011 2011(May 27)
Presenter:Ryo Idei; Takuya Umedachi; Akio Ishiguro

Simulation of a Soft-bodied Fluid-driven Amoeboid Robot That Exploits Thixotropic Flow
2011 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2011) 2011(May 12)
Presenter:Umedachi, Takuya; Akiyama, Masakazu; Tero, Atsushi; Ishiguro, Akio
Abstract:Abstract: Email Print Request Permissions Save to Project This paper presents a two-dimensional simulation model of an amoeboid robot that exhibits locomotion in a decentralized manner. The significant feature to note is that the model does not control friction between parts of the robot and ground explicitly but exploits passive dynamics of the inner fluid of the robot, i.e., thixotropic flow, in order to generate locomotion. Thixotropy is a very interesting rheological property of a fluid to form a gelled structure over time when not subject to shearing and then to liquefy when agitated, which is observed in protoplasmic streaming of amoeba and plasmodium of true slime mold. Simulation results show that embedding this passive dynamics induces morphological positive feedback mechanism, leading to convection of the inner fluid, which in turn generates locomotion without relying on any hierarchical structure. The results obtained are expected to shed new light on revealing the secret of how decentralized control should be designed.

Locomotion Control of an Amoeboid Robot That Exploits Thixotropic Flow
第53回自動制御連合講演会 2010(Nov. 04)
Presenter:Takuya Umedachi; Masakazu Akiyama; Atsushi Tero; Akio Ishiguro

A Soft-bodied Fluid-driven Amoeboid Robot Inspired by Plasmodium of True Slime Mold
2010 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2010) 2010(Oct. 20)
Presenter:Takuya Umedachi; Koichi Takeda; Toshiyuki Nakagaki; Ryo Kobayashi; Akio Ishiguro
Abstract:Abstract: Animals exhibit astoundingly adaptive and supple locomotion under real world constraints. In order to endow robots with similar capabilities, we must implement many degrees of freedom, equivalent to animals, into the robots' bodies. For taming many degrees of freedom, the concept of autonomous decentralized control plays a pivotal role. However, a systematic way of designing such autonomous decentralized control system is still missing. Aiming at understanding the principles that underlie animals' locomotion, in our early studies, we focused on plasmodium of true slime mold, a primitive living organism, and extracted a design scheme for autonomous decentralized control system. In order to demonstrate the relevance of this design scheme, this paper presents a soft-bodied fluid-driven amoeboid robot inspired by plasmodium of true slime mold. The significant features of this robot are twofold: (1) the robot has fluidic circuit (i.e., cylinders and nylon tubes filled with fluid) and truly soft and deformable body stemming from real-time tunable springs, the former serves as protoplasm and the latter is used for elastic actuators; and (2) a fully decentralized control using coupled oscillators with completely local sensory feedback mechanism is realized by exploiting the long-distance physical interaction between the body parts stemming from the law of conservation of protoplasmic mass. The experimental results show that this robot exhibits truly supple locomotion without relying on any hierarchical structure. The results obtained are expected to shed new light on design scheme for autonomous decentralized control system.

Modeling of Amoeboid Locomotion That Exploits Thixotropic Flow
第19回日本数理生物学会 2010(Sep. 16)
Presenter:Takuya Umedachi; Masakazu Akiyama; Atsushi Tero; Akio Ishiguro

Orchestrating Large Degrees of Freedom –A Case Study with a Soft-bodied Amoeboid Robot–
Unconventional Computation 2010(Jun. 23)
Presenter:Takuya Umedachi; Koichi Takeda; Toshiyuki Nakagaki; Ryo Kobayashi; Akio Ishiguro

A Fluid-driven Amoeboid Robot That Exploits Law of Conservation of Protoplasmic Mass
ROBOMEC2010 2010(Jun. 15)
Presenter:Koichi Takeda; Takuya Umedachi; Toshiyuki Nakagaki; Ryo Kobayashi; Akio Ishiguro

Taming Large Degrees of Freedom -A Case Study with an Amoeboid Robot-
International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2010) 2010(May 06)
Presenter:Takuya Umedachi; Koichi Takeda; Toshiyuki Nakagaki; Ryo Kobayashi; Akio Ishiguro
Abstract:Abstract: Animals exhibit astoundingly adaptive and supple locomotion under real world constraints. In order to endow robots with similar capabilities, we must implement large degrees of freedom, equivalent to animals, into the robots' bodies. For taming large degrees of freedom, the concept of autonomous decentralized control plays a pivotal role. However, a systematic way of designing such autonomous decentralized control system is still missing. Aiming at understanding the principles that underlie animals' locomotion, in our early studies, we focused on true slime mold, a primitive living organism, and extracted a decentralized control scheme. In order to validate this control scheme, this paper presents a soft-bodied amoeboid robot inspired by true slime mold. Significant features of this robot are twofold: (1) the robot has truly soft and deformable body stemming from real-time tunable springs and a balloon, the former is used for an outer skin of the body and the latter serves as protoplasm; and (2) a fully decentralized control using coupled oscillators with completely local sensory feedback mechanism is realized by exploiting the long-distance physical interaction between the body parts stemming from both the softness of the body and the law of conservation of protoplasmic mass. Experimental results show that this robot exhibits truly supple locomotion without relying on any hierarchical structure. The results obtained are expected to shed new light on design scheme for autonomous decentralized control system.

Development of an Amoeboid Soft-bodied Robot That Exploits Law of Conservation of Protoplasmic Mass
第22回自律分散システム・シンポジウム資料 2010(Jan. 30)
Presenter:Takuya Umedachi; Koichi Takeda; Toshiyuki Nakagaki; Ryo Kobayashi; Akio Ishiguro

1A1-E20 A Fluid-driven Amoeboid Robot That Exploits Law of Conservation of Protoplasmic Mass
ロボティクス・メカトロニクス講演会講演概要集 2010
Presenter:TAKEDA Koichi; UMEDACHI Takuya; NAKAGAKI Toshiyuki; KOBAYASHI Ryo; ISHIGURO Akio
Abstract:This paper presents a soft-bodied fluid-driven amoeboid robot inspired by plasmodium of true slime mold. Significant features of this robot are twofold: (1) the robot has fluidic circuit (i.e., nylon tubes filled with fluid) and truly soft and deformable body stemming from real-time tunable springs, the former serves as protoplasm and the latter is used for elastic actuators; and (2) a fully decentralized control using coupled oscillators with completely local sensory feedback mechanism is realized by exploiting the long-distance physical interaction between the body parts induced by the la...

Fully Decentralized Control of a Soft-bodied Robot Inspired by Plasmodium of True Slime Mold
SSI2009 2009(Nov. 24)
Presenter:Takuya Umedachi; Koichi Takeda; Toshiyuki Nakagaki; Ryo Kobayashi; Akio Ishiguro

Taming Many Degrees of Freedom -Fully Decentralized Control of a Soft-bodied Robot Inspired by True Slime Mold-
IROS 2009 Mobiligence: Social Adaptive Functions in Animals and Multi-Agent Systems 2009(Oct. 11)
Presenter:Koichi Takeda; Takuya Umedachi; Toshiyuki Nakagaki; Ryo Kobayashi; Akio Ishiguro

Understanding Autonomous Decentralized Control of Many-Degree-of-Freedom from Amoeboid Locomotion
第15創発システム・シンポジウム 2009(Aug. 08)
Presenter:Takuya Umedachi; Koichi Takeda; Toshiyuki Nakagaki; Ryo Kobayashi; Akio Ishiguro

Experimental Verification of a Soft-bodied Robot with Large D.O.F. Inspired by True Slime Mold
ROBOMEC2009 2009(May 26)
Presenter:Koichi Takeda; Takuya Umedachi; Toshiyuki Nakagaki; Ryo Kobayashi; Akio Ishiguro

2A2-F22 Experimental Verification of a Soft-bodied Robot with Large D. O. F. Inspired by True Slime Mold
ロボティクス・メカトロニクス講演会講演概要集 2009(May 25)
Presenter:TAKEDA Koichi; KITAMURA Taichi; UMEDACHI Takuya; NAKAGAKI Toshiyuki; KOBAYASHI Ryo; ISHIGURO Akio
Abstract:This paper presents a soft-bodied amoeboid robot inspired by true slime mold. Significant features of this robot are twofold: (1) the robot has highly soft and deformable body stemming from real-time tunable springs and a balloon, the former is utilized as an outer skin of the body and the latter serves as protoplasm; and (2) a fully decentralized control using coupled oscillators with completely local sensory feedback mechanism is realized by exploiting the long-distance interaction between the body parts stemming from the law of conservation of protoplasmic mass. Experimental results show...

真正粘菌をモチーフとした大自由度ソフトロボットの実機開発
第21回自律分散システム・シンポジウム資料 2009(Jan. 23)
Presenter:武田光一; 梅舘拓也; 中垣俊之; 小林亮; 石黒章夫

A Modular Robot Driven by Protoplasmic Streaming
The 9th International Symposium on Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems 2008 (DARS2008) 2008(Dec. 17)
Presenter:Takuya Umedachi; Koichi Takeda; Toshiyuki Nakagaki; Ryo Kobayashi; Akio Ishiguro

Development of a Soft and Supple Robot Inspired by True Slime Mold
第9回計測自動制御学会(SICE) システムインテグレーション部門講演会 2008(Dec. 05)
Presenter:Taichi Kitamura; Takuya Umedachi; Koichi Takeda; Toshiyuki Nakagaki; Ryo Kobayashi; Akio Ishiguro

A Fully Decentralized Morphology Control of an Amoeboid Robot by Exploiting the Law of Conservation of Protoplasmic Mass
IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems Workshops/Tutorial 2008(Sep. 22)
Presenter:Akio Ishiguro; Takuya Umedachi; Taichi Kitamura; Toshiyuki Nakagaki; Ryo Kobayashi

Autonomous Decentralized Control of an Amoeboid Robot by Exploiting Global Interaction Stemming from Protoplasm
RSJ2008 2008(Sep. 11)
Presenter:Taichi Kitamura; Takuya Umedachi; Koichi Takeda; Toshiyuki Nakagaki; Ryo Kobayashi; Akio Ishiguro

Understanding Autonomous Decentralized Control from Amoeboid Locomotion
第14回創発システム・シンポジウム 2008(Aug. 19)
Presenter:Takuya Umedachi; Taichi Kitamura; Koichi Takeda; Toshiyuki Nakagaki; Ryo Kobayashi; Akio Ishiguro

Realization of An Amoeboid Locomotion That Exploits Real-time Tunable Springs and Law of Conservation of Protoplasmic Mass
第243回SICE東北支部 2008(Jul. 20)
Presenter:Taichi Kitamura; Takuya Umedachi; Toshiyuki Nakagaki; Ryo Kobayashi; Akio Ishiguro

Development of an Amoeboid Robot that Exploits the Law of Conservation of Protoplasmic Mass
ROBOMEC2008 2008(Jun. 07)
Presenter:Taichi Kitamura; Takuya Umedachi; Akio Ishiguro

2A1-G01 Development of an Amoeboid Robot that Exploits the Law of Conservation of Protoplasmic Mass
ロボティクス・メカトロニクス講演会講演概要集 2008(Jun. 06)
Presenter:KITAMURA Taichi; UMEDACHI Takuya; ISHIGURO Akio
Abstract:The control and mechanical systems of an embodied agent should be tightly coupled so as to emerge useful functionalities such as adaptivity. This indicates that the mechanical system as well as the control system should be responsible for a certain amount of computation for generating the behavior. However, there still leaves much to be understood about how such "computational offloading" from the control system to the mechanical system can be achieved. In order to intensively investigate this, here we particularly focus on the "softness" of the body, and show how the computational offloadi...

A Fully Decentralized Control of an Amoeboid Robot by Exploiting the Law of Conservation of Protoplasmic Mass
IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA2008) 2008(May 21)
Presenter:Takuya Umedachi; Taichi Kitamura; Akio Ishiguro
Abstract:Abstract: The control and mechanical systems of an embodied agent should be tightly coupled so as to emerge useful functionalities such as adaptivity. This indicates that the mechanical system as well as the control system should be responsible for a certain amount of computation for generating the behavior. However, there still leaves much to be understood about how such “computational offloading” from the control system to the mechanical system can be achieved. In order to intensively investigate this, here we particularly focus on the “softness” of the body, and show how the computational offloading derived from this property is exploited to simplify the control system and to increase the degree of adaptivity. To this end, we employ a two-dimensional amoeboid robot as a practical example, consisting of incompressive fluid (i.e. protoplasm) covered with an outer skin composed of a network of real-time tunable springs. Preliminary simulation results show that the exploitation of the “long-distant interaction” stemming from “the law of conservation of protoplasmic mass” allows us to simplify the control mechanism; and that adaptive amoeboid locomotion can be realized without the need of a central controller. The results obtained are expected to shed light on how control and mechanical systems should be coupled, and what the “brain-body-interaction” carefully designed brings to the resulting behavior.

An Autonomous Decentralized Locomotion Control of an Amoeboid Robot That Exploits the Law of Conservation of Protoplasmic Mass
2008第3回移動知シンポ 2008
Presenter:Takuya Umedachi; Taichi Kitamura; Akio Ishiguro

Adaptive Amoeboid Locomotion That Exploits Law of Conservation of Protoplasmic Mass
SICE Annual Conference 2007 2007(Sep. 20)
Presenter:Takuya Umedachi; Akio Ishiguro
Abstract:Abstract: This paper intensively discusses how adaptive locomotion under unstructured and dynamically changing environment can be realized from the perspective of long-distance interaction and local interaction dynamics induced in bodies. To this end, we have focused on the most primitive yet flexible locomotion, amoeboid locomotion. Slime mold and amoeba are well known to exhibit remarkably adaptive behaviors, such as avoiding hazardous condition, and approaching nutrients and humidity, by dynamically changing their morphology. These behaviors induced so-called amoeboid movement, which is driven by the flexible epitheca (i.e. outer skin) and the protoplasm despite of the absence of a central nervous system or specialized organs. In light of these facts, we have conducted simulations of an amoeboid robot, particularly focusing on epitheca consisting of “real-time tunable springs” and “law of conservation of protoplasmic mass”, the former of which is used to deal with “local interaction dynamics” and the latter of which is used to deal with “long-distance interaction”. Simulation results indicate that the proposed model can induce highly adaptive locomotion according to the situation encountered by dynamically changing its morphology.

Amoeboid Locomotion That Exploits Real-time Tunable Springs and Law of Conservation of Protoplasmic Mass
The 2nd International Symposium on Mobiligence 2007(Jul. 20)
Presenter:Takuya Umedachi; Akio Ishiguro

2A1-B11 Well-balanced Coupling between Control and Mechanical Systems via Real-time Tunable Springs : A Case Study with a 2D Serpentine Robot
ロボティクス・メカトロニクス講演会講演概要集 2007(May 11)
Presenter:WATANABE Wataru; UMEDACHI Takuya; ISHIGURO Akio
Abstract:This study is intended to intensively discuss how control and mechanical systems should be coupled by taking a 2D serpentine robot consisting of multiple body segments as a case study. In order to realize "well-balanced" coupling between control and mechanical systems, we have investigated the role of multiarticular muscles, which specify the long-distance correlation between the body segments, in the generation of behavior. Preliminary simulation results indicate that a certain degree of long-distance correlation derived from the multiarticular muscles enhances the adaptability and the con...

2A1-G02 An Amoeboid Robot That Exploits Real-time Tunable Springs and Law of Conservation of Protoplasmic Mass
ロボティクス・メカトロニクス講演会講演概要集 2007(May 11)
Presenter:UMEDACHI Takuya; ISHIGURO Akio
Abstract:This paper is intended to intensively discuss how intelligence of real-time adaptability can be designed from perspective of "embodied system". One of the significant features of our approach is that we explicitly exploit an "emergent phenomenon" stemming from the interaction between control and mechanical dynamics in order to control locomotion in real time. To start from simplicity, we focus attention on locomotion of a protozoan organism, e.g., slime mold and amoeba, which exhibits remarkably intelligent behaviors, such as avoiding hazardous condition, approaching nutrients and humidity,...

Well-balanced Coupling between Control and Mechanical Systems by Exploiting Real-time Tunable Springs : A Case Study with a 2D Serpentine Robot
自律分散システム・シンポジウム資料 = SICE Symposium on Decentralized Autonomous Systems 2007(Jan. 29)
Presenter:WATANABE Wataru; UMEDACHI Takuya; ISHIGURO Akio

Development of Real-time Tunable Spring for Autonomous Moble Robots and next-generation Information Electronics
The Join International Conference of 4th International Symposium on System Construction of Global-network-oriented Information Electronics and Student-organizing International Mini-conference on Information Electronics System 2007(Jan. 25)
Presenter:Takuya Umedachi; Akio Ishiguro

An Amoeboid Robot That Exploits Real-time Tunable Springs and Law of Conservation of Protoplasmic Mass
Robomec2007 2007
Presenter:Taichi Kitamura; Takuya Umedachi; Akio Ishiguro

Development of a Fully Self-contained Real-time Tunable Spring
2006 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems 2006(Oct. 11)
Presenter:Takuya Umedachi; Akio Ishiguro
Abstract:Abstract: Traditionally, robot control has been done typically by “highly precise control algorithms”: the position of each movablebodypartisaccuratelydeterminedatanytimewithvast amount of computation. This, however, causes serious problems, particularly in terms of adaptability and energy efficiency. On the other hand, an extreme approach has been gaining a lot of attention recently. A good instantiation is the passive dynamic walker, driven only by exploiting the intrinsic dynamics of its mechanical system. However, the mechanical system is not everything, just as the control system is not everything; “well-balanced” coupling between control and mechanical systems should be considered. In addition, the “meeting point” between the two systems should be flexibly varied according to the environment encountered. In light of these facts, this study intensively focuses on the stiffness of robots’ joints, since this effectively influences the dominance relationship between control and mechanicalsystems. More specifically, the aim of this study is to develop a “real-time tunable spring” that can smoothly change its elasticity without changing its natural length, allowing robot’s joints to change their position and stiffness independently.

1P1-B23 Development of a Highly Implementable Real-time Tunable Spring : Application to an Antagonistically Driven Joint
ロボティクス・メカトロニクス講演会講演概要集 2006
Presenter:UMEDACHI Takuya; TANAKA Naoto; YAMADA Yasutake; ISHIGURO Akio
Abstract:Traditionally, robot control has been done typically by "highly precise control algorithms": the position of each movable body part is accurately determined at any time with vast amount of computation. This, however, causes serious problems, particularly in terms of adaptability and energy efficiency. On the other hand, an extreme approach has been gaining a lot of attention recently. A good instantiation is the passive dynamic walker, driven only by exploiting the intrinsic dynamics of its mechanical system. However, the mechanical system is not everything, just as the control system is no...

1P2-S-005 Development of a Real-time Tunable Spring : Toward Independent Control of Position and Stiffness of Joints(Flexible Mechanism,Mega-Integration in Robotics and Mechatronics to Assist Our Daily Lives)
ロボティクス・メカトロニクス講演会講演概要集 2005(Jun. 09)
Presenter:Umedachi Takuya; Kishi Hiroaki; Yamada Yasutake; Ishiguro Akio

ER流体を用いた可変弾性要素の開発(フレキシブルメカニズム)
ロボティクス・メカトロニクス講演会講演概要集 2004 2004
Presenter:梅舘拓也; 青木猛; 増渕雄一; 土井正男; 石黒章夫

MISC
ソフトロボットにおける外部環境を骨格として利用するための制御手法
電子情報通信学会大会講演論文集(CD-ROM),2019 2019
Author:森島正博; 梅舘拓也; 川原圭博

円筒折を用いた単一アクチュエータで直線上の物体上を進行するロボット
第80回全国大会講演論文集,2018(1):145-146 2018(Mar. 13)
Author:奥谷文徳; 梅舘拓也; 斉藤一哉; 川原圭博
Abstract:ロボットを用いた電線のメンテナンスロボットなど、直線状の物体上に沿って移動するロボットが存在する。そのようなロボットを我々は折り紙で実現する手法を提案する。直線上の物体を包み込むように円筒折を配置し、その展開と収縮で移動する。円筒折は折れると内径が小さくなる構造である。内径が小さくなることで直線状の物体を把持する。異なる剛性の円筒折を組み合わせることで、最も剛性の小さい円筒折から順に折れ、最も剛性の小さい円筒折から展開する。これにより、ロボットを伸縮させるだけで、剛性が小さい円筒折の方向に進行する。形状記憶合金や、内部への気体の封入で駆動することで、ロボットの軽量化が可能である。

形状記憶合金アクチュエータの収縮タイミング制御で這行運動を生成するシンプルな折紙型ロボット
第80回全国大会講演論文集,2018(1):349-350 2018(Mar. 13)
Author:李東池; 斉藤一哉; 梅舘拓也; 川原圭博
Abstract:本研究では,折紙のように1枚のシートからの折り曲げのみで構成される3次元の体躯に,アクチュエータとしての形状記憶合金を付けることで実現する,伸縮運動により這行運動をするシンプルなイモムシ型ロボットを実装する。このロボットは機械的機構が簡潔で,極めて安価に作製可能であり,伸縮の波の伝播方向を変えるだけでロボットの進行方向を制御することも可能である。本稿では,この折り紙ロボットの体節伸縮の波伝播運動のメカニズムに着目し,折り目の構造及び形状記憶合金が発生させる力の大きさとタイミングを分析し,効率的な這行運動を生成可能なパターンを見つけ出す。

段差を乗り越え壁面を登る尺取り虫を規範としたロボット
電子情報通信学会大会講演論文集(CD-ROM),2018 2018
Author:森田雅博; 梅舘拓也; TUNG Ta Duc; 川原圭博

2A1-K01 A Large Degree-of-Freedom Modular Robot Exhibiting Versatile Behavior Inspired by Plasmodium of True Slime Mold(Robotic Systems Based on Autonomous Decentralized Architecture)
ロボティクス・メカトロニクス講演会講演概要集,2012:"2A1-K01(1)"-"2A1-K01(4)" 2012(May 27)
Author:IDEI Ryo; UMEDACHI Takuya; ITO Kentaro; ISHIGURO Akio
Abstract:This paper presents a mathematical model of a mobile modular robot that spontaneously switches locomotion patterns, inspired by plasmodium of true slime mold. Significant features of this robot are threefold: (1) each module of the robot has a truly soft and deformable body, stemming from elastic elements, filled with fluid, (2) these several identical modules are physically connected with fluid-filled tubes, which induces long-distance interaction between the modules; and (3) by exploiting the physical interaction between the body parts, a fully decentralized control using phase oscillators with completely local sensory feedback mechanism is realized. The preliminary simulation results show that altering softness of the body part according to the amount of attractant allows the robot to change locomotion direction spontaneously in a fully decentralized manner. The results obtained are expected to shed new light on the design scheme for life like robots that exhibit versatile, agile and adaptive behavior.

2A1-G02 An Amoeboid Robot That Exploits Real-time Tunable Springs and Law of Conservation of Protoplasmic Mass
ロボティクス・メカトロニクス講演会講演概要集,2007:"2A1-G02(1)"-"2A1-G02(4)" 2007(May 11)
Author:UMEDACHI Takuya; ISHIGURO Akio
Abstract:This paper is intended to intensively discuss how intelligence of real-time adaptability can be designed from perspective of "embodied system". One of the significant features of our approach is that we explicitly exploit an "emergent phenomenon" stemming from the interaction between control and mechanical dynamics in order to control locomotion in real time. To start from simplicity, we focus attention on locomotion of a protozoan organism, e.g., slime mold and amoeba, which exhibits remarkably intelligent behaviors, such as avoiding hazardous condition, approaching nutrients and humidity, and solving a maze. These behaviors are based on amoeboid movement, which is driven by the flexible epitheca and the protoplasm in the absence of a central nervous system or specialized organs. In light of these facts, we made a simulation model, particularly focusing on epitheca consisting of "real-time tunable springs" and "low of conservation of protoplasmic mass", the former of which is used to deal with local interaction dynamics and the latter of which is used to deal with global interaction dynamics. Simulation results indicate that the proposed model can induce highly adaptive locomotion according to the situation without losing the coherence of the entire system.

1P2-S-005 Development of a Real-time Tunable Spring : Toward Independent Control of Position and Stiffness of Joints(Flexible Mechanism,Mega-Integration in Robotics and Mechatronics to Assist Our Daily Lives)
ロボティクス・メカトロニクス講演会講演概要集,2005:120-120 2005(Jun. 09)
Author:Umedachi Takuya; Kishi Hiroaki; Yamada Yasutake; Ishiguro Akio

Development of a Real-time Tunable Elastic Element with ER Fluid
ロボティクス・メカトロニクス講演会講演概要集,2004:111-111 2004(Jun. 18)
Author:Umedachi T; Aoki T; Masubuchi Y; Doi M; Ishiguro A

Shinshu University Researcher Directory

UMEDACHI Takuya

Profile

Research

UMEDACHI　Takuya