Bio-Robotics & Human-Mechatronics Lab.(Takafumi Matsumaru Lab.)
Professor Takafumi Matsumaru spearheads the Bio-Robotics & Human-Mechatronics Laboratory inside the Graduate School of Information, Production and Systems of the Waseda University in Japan. This lab is known as the Takufumi Matsumaru lab and aims to build better relationships and interaction between robots and humans. The university-based Japanese lab also aims to develop new functions for the robots in order for them to progress when they go out from the laboratory into the real world.
Through their various researches conducted inside the lab, Professor Matsumaru and rest of his colleagues hope that one day they can help both humans and the robots understand the other side much better. The professor, who has devoted much of his time to researching on robotics, possesses a lot of both theoretical and practical experience vital for the success of the laboratory.
The lab is responsible for the development of the HFAMRO-2 robot, which has been equipped with the Step-On-Interface or SOI. With the HFAMRO-2 mobile robot, researchers at the lab are studying the SOI application with mobility.
Furthermore, this robot has a couple of SOI which consist of a projector and a range scanner located on the mobile platform. Through these two SOIs, the robot’s projector shows the direction screen on a travel surface, and the 2D range scanner detects and measures the user’s learning to identify the selected button.
Other projects include Mobile robots with upcoming Operation Announcement function, like the PMR-5R robot that is equipped with state-of-the-art obstacle avoidance technology, allowing it to allay any obstacles that may lay on its path. The sensor surrounds the robot making it collision free.
The PMR-2 Eyeball robot, PMR-6 Arrow Robot, PMR-1 Light-ray robot, and the PMR-5 Projection robot are among the robots that Japanese university based lab have developed and are showing some promise.
