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Takahiro Hattori

Publications and source records attributed to Takahiro Hattori.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

Robust Brachiation on a Life-Sized Dual-Arm Robot Using Waypoint-Guided Reinforcement Learning

Brachiation is a form of locomotion in which primates move primarily using their arms, enabling traversal in environments without footholds. However, this motion requires highly coordinated whole-body movement and precise timing control for bar grasping and release. As a result, achieving robust behavior on life-sized robotic platforms remains challenging. In this study, we present a reinforcement learning-based method to realize brachiation on a life-sized dual-arm robot. The core of the proposed approach is Waypoint-Guided Reinforcement Learning (WGRL), a learning framework for inducing non-linear and complex motions. For high-difficulty tasks where imitation learning data are unavailable, WGRL guides behavior acquisition by sparsely specifying waypoints for the end-effector trajectory, while whole-body motion is generated through reinforcement learning. In addition, by integrating the waypoint-following guidance with rewards based on task success and mechanical energy, and training in an environment designed for Sim-to-Real transfer, the proposed method achieves both forward progression and motion stability. The acquired behavior is evaluated through Sim-to-Sim experiments under monkey-bar environments with geometric variations and hardware experiments, confirming robust brachiation including failure recovery behavior. This study provides effective learning design guidelines for realizing arm-based locomotion on life-sized robotic hardware and expanding the traversable workspace of robots.

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Detachable Wire Drive : Reconfigurable Robot Architecture with Shared Actuators

Reconfigurable robots offer significant potential for adapting to diverse tasks; however, conventional centralized architectures often require dedicated actuators for each module, leading to substantial increases in overall system weight, volume, and cost. To address these challenges, this paper presents the "Detachable Wire Drive," a reconfigurable robotic system that enables the sharing of heavy and expensive actuators across various morphologies. The core of this system is the "Wire Detach Unit," a mechanism designed to physically split and reconnect wire drive paths, allowing motors to be consolidated into a common base unit. We demonstrate the versatility of this approach by developing a 2-DOF rigid arm, a continuum arm, and two distinct grippers, all of which are interchangeably attached to, and driven by, a single shared actuator set. Experimental results validate the mechanical reliability of the detachment process and the control framework's ability to seamlessly manage transitions between configurations, highlighting a path toward more efficient and multi-functional robotic systems.

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Analysis of Various Manipulator Configurations Based on Multi-Objective Black-Box Optimization

Various 6-degree-of-freedom (DOF) and 7-DOF manipulators have been developed to date. Over a long history, their joint configurations and link length ratios have been determined empirically. In recent years, the development of robotic foundation models has become increasingly active, leading to the continuous proposal of various manipulators to support these models. However, none of these manipulators share exactly the same structure, as the order of joints and the ratio of link lengths differ among robots. Therefore, in order to discuss the optimal structure of a manipulator, we performed multi-objective optimization from the perspectives of end-effector reachability and joint torque. We analyze where existing manipulator structures stand within the sampling results of the optimization and provide insights for future manipulator design.

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REWW-ARM -- Remote Wire-Driven Mobile Robot: Design, Control, and Experimental Validation

Electronic devices are essential for robots but limit their usable environments. To overcome this, methods excluding electronics from the operating environment while retaining advanced electronic control and actuation have been explored. These include the remote hydraulic drive of electronics-free mobile robots, which offer high reachability, and long wire-driven robot arms with motors consolidated at the base, which offer high environmental resistance. To combine the advantages of both, this study proposes a new system, "Remote Wire Drive." As a proof-of-concept, we designed and developed the Remote Wire-Driven robot "REWW-ARM", which consists of the following components: 1) a novel power transmission mechanism, the "Remote Wire Transmission Mechanism" (RWTM), the key technology of the Remote Wire Drive; 2) an electronics-free distal mobile robot driven by it; and 3) a motor-unit that generates power and provides electronic closed-loop control based on state estimation via the RWTM. In this study, we evaluated the mechanical and control performance of REWW-ARM through several experiments, demonstrating its capability for locomotion, posture control, and object manipulation both on land and underwater. This suggests the potential for applying the Remote Wire-Driven system to various types of robots, thereby expanding their operational range.

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Design and Development of a Remotely Wire-Driven Walking Robot

Operating in environments too harsh or inaccessible for humans is one of the critical roles expected of robots. However, such environments often pose risks to electronic components as well. To overcome this, various approaches have been developed, including autonomous mobile robots without electronics, hydraulic remotely actuated mobile robots, and long-reach robot arms driven by wires. Among these, electronics-free autonomous robots cannot make complex decisions, while hydraulically actuated mobile robots and wire-driven robot arms are used in harsh environments such as nuclear power plants. Mobile robots offer greater reach and obstacle avoidance than robot arms, and wire mechanisms offer broader environmental applicability than hydraulics. However, wire-driven systems have not been used for remote actuation of mobile robots. In this study, we propose a novel mechanism called Remote Wire Drive that enables remote actuation of mobile robots via wires. This mechanism is a series connection of decoupled joints, a mechanism used in wire-driven robot arms, adapted for power transmission. We experimentally validated its feasibility by actuating a wire-driven quadruped robot, which we also developed in this study, through Remote Wire Drive.

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KLEIYN : A Quadruped Robot with an Active Waist for Both Locomotion and Wall Climbing

In recent years, advancements in hardware have enabled quadruped robots to operate with high power and speed, while robust locomotion control using reinforcement learning (RL) has also been realized. As a result, expectations are rising for the automation of tasks such as material transport and exploration in unknown environments. However, autonomous locomotion in rough terrains with significant height variations requires vertical movement, and robots capable of performing such movements stably, along with their control methods, have not yet been fully established. In this study, we developed the quadruped robot KLEIYN, which features a waist joint, and aimed to expand quadruped locomotion by enabling chimney climbing through RL. To facilitate the learning of vertical motion, we introduced Contact-Guided Curriculum Learning (CGCL). As a result, KLEIYN successfully climbed walls ranging from 800 mm to 1000 mm in width at an average speed of 150 mm/s, 50 times faster than conventional robots. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the introduction of a waist joint improves climbing performance, particularly enhancing tracking ability on narrow walls.

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PIMBS: Efficient Body Schema Learning for Musculoskeletal Humanoids with Physics-Informed Neural Networks

Musculoskeletal humanoids are robots that closely mimic the human musculoskeletal system, offering various advantages such as variable stiffness control, redundancy, and flexibility. However, their body structure is complex, and muscle paths often significantly deviate from geometric models. To address this, numerous studies have been conducted to learn body schema, particularly the relationships among joint angles, muscle tension, and muscle length. These studies typically rely solely on data collected from the actual robot, but this data collection process is labor-intensive, and learning becomes difficult when the amount of data is limited. Therefore, in this study, we propose a method that applies the concept of Physics-Informed Neural Networks (PINNs) to the learning of body schema in musculoskeletal humanoids, enabling high-accuracy learning even with a small amount of data. By utilizing not only data obtained from the actual robot but also the physical laws governing the relationship between torque and muscle tension under the assumption of correct joint structure, more efficient learning becomes possible. We apply the proposed method to both simulation and an actual musculoskeletal humanoid and discuss its effectiveness and characteristics.

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