Toyama Laboratory
The Toyama Laboratory in the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology is part of the university’s Mechanical System Engineering Department and is geared towards researching an ultrasonic motor and various applications, which includes medicine and a wearable robot suit.
Based in Koganei Tokyo, Japan, the laboratory is responsible for the Spherical Ultrasonic Motor, which generates 3D Degrees of Freedom (DOF) like eyes and wrists. This Japanese laboratory is also developing a power assist suit, which utilizes the ultrasonic motor design, that will be especially helpful to the elderly and those that need special attention.
To further explain what this Japanese laboratory has been doing, detailed descriptions of some of their research are shown below:
Ultrasonic Motor: This research deals with a relatively new concept where the motor does not require any coil or magnets. The motor’s driving force comes from an ultrasonic vibrator. Here, AC voltages are applied to the piezoelectric elements attached to the stator; subsequently, the stator produces the travelling wave, resulting to some elliptical motion and powering the motor.
Spherical Ultrasonic Motor (SUSM): This project is one of the lab’s original masterpieces. It features some of the Ultrasonic Motor’s characteristics. This machine can rotate in 3 DOF. In order to create DOF with the SUSM, three electromagnetic motors are needed, making the machine very intricate and big. However, the SUSM can create 3 DOF using a single actuator and can be made compact.
Wearable Agri Robot: The University, with its aim to boost the technology related to the country’s agriculture, created a device which will help the aging population, especially those involved in agriculture. The wearable agri robot aims to help people by taking off some of the load in a farmer’s everyday grind.
This device, which posses a small, low speed, high torque ultrasonic motor, is installed on the wearer’s shoulders, elbows, waist and knees, assisting in the movement of the wearer. Using this machine, the farmer can lift more than 20 kilograms of load.
TR Motor: This device is a type of piezoelectric actuator, which was developed inside the Toyama Laboratory, and possesses 2 Degrees of Freedom movements, which are translation and rotation. According to the lab, this motor is easy to produce and can easily be made compact.
Aside from these four projects, the Toyama Laboratory, headed by Professor Shigeki Toyama and Assistant Zhiheng Jiang, has other projects and research which are aimed to help people with their everyday tasks utilizing the technology on hand. The laboratory was also part of the 2009 International Robot Exhibition held November 25 to 28.
