In the past three years, there has been rapid progress in the use of drones in society. Drones, which were previously used only experimentally in various industrial fields, are now being used in earnest in everyday operations. Drones are becoming indispensable tools in several industrial fields, such as surveying, inspection, and agriculture. At the same time, there has also been dramatic progress in autonomous drone technology. With the advancement of image processing, simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM), and artificial intelligence technologies, many intelligent drones that apply these technologies are being researched. At the same time, our knowledge of multi-rotor helicopters, the main type of drones, has continued to deepen. As the strengths and weaknesses of multi-rotor helicopters have gradually become clearer, drones with alternate structures, such as flapping-wing drones, have come to attract renewed attention. In addition, the range of applications for drones, including passenger drones, has expanded greatly, and research on unprecedented drone operations, as well as research on systems and controls to ensure operational safety, is actively being conducted.

This special issue contains the latest review, research papers, and development reports on autonomous drones classified as follows from the abovementioned perspectives.
     · Research on drone airframes and structures
     · Research on drone navigation and recognition with a focus on image processing
     · Research on advanced drone controls
     · Research and development of drone applications

We hope that the readers will actively promote the use of drones in their own research and work, based on the information obtained from this special issue.

We are pleased to announce that the 13th Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics Best Paper Award (JRM Best Paper Award 2020) has been decided by the JRM editorial committee.

The following paper won the JRM Best Paper Award 2020, severely selected from among all 77 papers published in Vol.31 (2019). The Best Paper Award ceremony was held on December 23, 2020 in hybrid style (both on-site and online; venue: Gakushi-Kaikan, Tokyo, Japan), attended by the authors and JRM editorial committee members who took part in the selection process. The award winners were given certificates and a nearly US$1,000 honorarium. Editorial committee members who participated online also congratulated them through Zoom.

We congratulate the winners and sincerely wish them success in the future.

JRM Best Paper Award 2020

Title: Navigation Based on Metric Route Information in Places Where the Mobile Robot Visits for the First Time

Authors: Asahi Handa, Azumi Suzuki, Hisashi Date, Ryohsuke Mitsudome, Takashi Tsubouchi, and Akihisa Ohya

J. Robot. Mechatron., Vol.31, No.2, pp. 180-193, April 2019

The Tsukuba Challenge is an open experiment of autonomous mobile robots in the real world. In its third stage since 2018, it is now to be held on a new course that starts at the Tsukuba City Hall. New tasks that require functions expected for autonomous travel in the real world have now been added, including passing checkpoints announced a day before the event, starting two vehicles simultaneously, traveling in an unmeasured environment, and strictly observing stop lines in the course. Also, in the spirit of the Tsukuba Challenge, the Nakanoshima Challenge, an open demonstration experiment project, has been held in the city of Osaka since 2018. As the only event in which autonomous mobile robots travel in the urban area of Osaka, the Nakanoshima Challenge is expected to identify new issues peculiar to autonomous navigation in real urban environments and to find solutions to them.

This special issue includes a review paper on the Tsukuba Challenge, four research papers on the results of experiments done in the Tsukuba Challenge, four research papers related to the Nakanoshima Challenge, and three development reports. This special issue provides its readers with the frontline issues and the current status of development of autonomous mobile robots in real-world environments. We hope that the innovative efforts presented in this special issue will contribute to the development of science and industry.

It is well known that fluid-powered systems are used practically in almost all industrial fields, including construction, manufacturing, transportation, among others.

Nowadays, the rapid growth in the development of the mechanical elements in fluid-powered systems, such as control valves, actuators, and sensors, and the rapid growth in control strategies have given rise to pioneering in some novel application fields in ways that were thought to be impossible a decade ago. High-precision positioning control using the compressible fluid of pneumatic driving systems and multi-legged robots equipped with standalone hydraulic components are simple examples. Moreover, soft robotics based on fluid-powered technologies has attracted attention not only in academia but also in human support fields, which will become more important as Japan’s society ages.

This special issue on “Fluid Powered System and its Application” includes one review paper and 22 other interesting papers related to the state of the art in the development of mechanical elements, total drive systems, motion control theory, and concrete applications of fluid-powered systems.

We thank all of the authors and reviewers of the papers and hope this special issue helps readers to develop fluid powered systems that will contribute to developments in the academia and industry.

Brain machine/computer interface (BMI/BCI) technologies are based on analyzing brain activity to control machines and support the communication of commands and messages. To sense brain activities, a functional NIRS and electroencephalogram (EEG) that has been developed for that purpose is often employed. Analysis techniques and algorithms for the NIRS and EEG signals have also been created, and human support systems in the form of BMI/BCI applications have been developed. In the field of rehabilitation, BMI/BCI is used to control environment control systems and electric wheelchairs. In medicine, BMI/BCI is used to assist in communications for patient support. In industry, BMI/BCI is used to analyze sensibility and develop novel games.

This special issue on Brain Machine/Computer Interface and its Application includes six interesting papers that cover the following topics: an EEG analysis method for human-wants detection, cognitive function using EEG analysis, auditory P300 detection, a wheelchair control BCI using SSVEP, a drone control BMI based on SSVEP that uses deep learning, and an improved CMAC model.

We thank all authors and reviewers of the papers and the Editorial Board of Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics for its help with this special issue.

The Science Council of Japan’s 2008 Report, “Aiming for a Zero Traffic Accidents Society,” states that “it is necessary to establish various driver assistance technologies based on the fact that most drivers make mistakes”; “for advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) technologies, cooperation between human operation and machine assistance, and social acceptability need to be evaluated”; and “new driver assistance by introduction of robotics technology and application of automated driving in specific operating domain should be considered in the near future.” A wide array of robotic technologies is expected to contribute to developing intelligent and advanced technologies for passenger and transport vehicles, as well as creating a rich future for the transportation of people and logistics. Over the past decade, researchers and engineers have attempted to achieve these goals. In 2015, the government announced a policy to make practical use and deployment of automated driving technologies by the year of Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. Now, looking toward the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, we organized a special issue of the JRM: “Innovative Robotics and Mechatronics Technology of Modern Passenger Cars for Zeroing Traffic Accidents.”

This special issue features 16 papers carefully written and reviewed by field specialists. We express our heartfelt appreciation to the authors and reviewers who have contributed their expertise to this issue.

We would also like to thank the members of the Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics board for giving us the unique opportunity to coordinate this issue.

MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) is a technology that is used to incorporate sensors, actuators, microstructures, and circuits on chips by using a combination of various technologies with semiconductor process. MEMS are also used in robotics and mechatronics since they can provide compact, low-cost functional components that play crucial roles in their respective systems. We would like to elaborate on the history of MEMS technology, whose initial development started around 1970.

In 1960s, Dr. Isemi Igarashi of Toyota Central R&D Labs., Inc. in Japan developed a semiconductor pressure sensor of piezo-resistance type. In 1980s, the pressure sensors were used to control automobile engines to clear exhaust gas regulations and thus contributed to solving environmental issues. In 1990s, semiconductor acceleration sensors were used for passive safety technologies to detect collision of automobiles and activate air bags, which resulted in decrease in traffic fatalities. In 2000s, an active safety system with gyro sensors was developed to detect and control spinning of a vehicle. In future, space recognition sensors with optical scanners to measure light propagation time and detect distance to an object will be used for autonomous driving.

For smartphones, a microphone, an acceleration sensor, and a gyro sensor are used in user interface, and a film bulk acoustic wave resonator (FBAR) is used in a wireless communication filter. For projectors, the built-in circuit of a mirror array system is used to move mirrors placed in an array. After the development of projectors, films have not been used in movie theaters.

MEMS are also widely used in medical and biological fields, such as blood pressure measurement. Esashi began research on a semiconductor ion sensor ISFET (ion sensitive field effect transistor) in 1971. ISFET detects ion concentration in electrolyte by exposing the insulating film of an insulated gate transistor to the liquid. He set up a prototyping facility when he was a graduate student and wrote only one paper on this research, although the prototyping facility was used afterwards. The ion sensor was certified under the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law after a 12-year application process and was used as catheter-type pH sensor to diagnose reflux esophagitis. MEMS are widely used for minimally invasive medical treatment, which causes minimum damage to human body. Moreover, MEMS are used as disposable sensors to prevent infection or as implanted devices.

In addition, MEMS are used for production inspection and scientific instrument, including scanning probe microscopes (SPMs), which observe atoms using extremely small nano-probes, and probe cards that simultaneously test several integrated circuits on a wafer using aligned probes.

When he was an associate professor, Esashi improved the prototyping facility that he made when he was a student and made a large scale integrated circuit (LSI). After he became a professor, he accepted researchers from more than 130 companies and developed MEMS using the prototyping facility to develop a product through the academia-industry collaboration. He realized integrated MEMS by combining LSI and MEMS. This includes a system of many tactile sensors attached on the body surface of a safe robot for real-time detection of contact through packet communication.

After he retired from the university, he developed a “prototype coin laundry,” which enables companies to do develop without having their own prototyping facility. The prototype coin laundry is a system where engineers can use the prototyping facility to develop devices, and the system has been managed by successors. Unlike integrated circuits for which standardization is easy, standardization of MEMS is challenging because of difficulty in development. It is necessary to access various knowledge for the development of MEMS, and he has made efforts to provide the knowledge.

Finally, we would like to thank authors who submitted papers to this Special Issue on MEMS for Robotics and Mechatronics as well as those who were involved in editing and reviewing the papers. We sincerely hope for further development in this field of research.

As social robot research is advancing, the interaction distance between people and robots is decreasing. Indeed, although we were once required to maintain a certain physical distance from traditional industrial robots for safety, we can now interact with social robots in such a close distance that we can touch them. The physical existence of social robots will be essential to realize natural and acceptable interactions with people in daily environments. Because social robots function in our daily environments, we must design scenarios where robots interact closely with humans by considering various viewpoints. Interactions that involve touching robots influence the changes in the behavior of a person strongly. Therefore, robotics researchers and developers need to design such scenarios carefully. Based on these considerations, this special issue focuses on close human-robot interactions.

This special issue on “Human-Robot Interaction in Close Distance” includes a review paper and 11 other interesting papers covering various topics such as social touch interactions, non-verbal behavior design for touch interactions, child-robot interactions including physical contact, conversations with physical interactions, motion copying systems, and mobile human-robot interactions. We thank all the authors and reviewers of the papers and hope this special issue will help readers better understand human-robot interaction in close distance.

Many wearable devices have been developed and are being currently used, owing to the miniaturization of computers and electronic devices and advancements in calculation processing algorithms. They have various uses and forms, for example, a power assist robot for reducing the burden of work, a wearable sensor for measuring the level of activity and health condition of people and animals, and so on. In Japan, wearable devices have attracted attention as an important technology in a human-centered society (Society 5.0) and can help realize economic development and address social problems. A society that can benefit from a wide range of wearable devices is being realized. This special issue covers robotics and mechatronics technologies for next generation wearable devices to realize such a society, including wearable systems and their elemental technology, AI, IoT, and other relative technologies.

We sincerely thank the authors for their fine contributions and the reviewers for their generous time and effort. We would also like to thank the Editorial Board of the Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics for their help with this special issue.

It is a well-known fact that Japan saw an annual average economic growth rate of over 10% from around 1955 to around 1973, its so-called “high-economic-growth period.” Japan’s rate was two to four times higher than that of Europe or the United States. During this period, Japan’s infrastructure (roads, bridges, tunnels, etc.) was rapidly developed nationwide, bringing Japan’s national average road pavement ratio in 2017 to over 80%, one of the highest rates in the world. Such rapid infrastructure development has made all of Japan a comfortable place to live. However, as Japan’s infrastructure is now becoming increasingly deteriorated, the structures nationwide must be inspected for soundness and should be repaired or rebuilt if any defects are found. As these structures are highly developed, the number of structures to be inspected becomes so numerous that the human-based inspection cannot keep up.

This situation has led to growing calls for artifact inspection systems that carry out inspection work more efficiently, and the Cross-ministerial Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP) was established, one of which is “Infrastructure Maintenance, Renovation and Management,” with Yozo Fujino as Program Director (SIP Infrastructure), having been implemented for five years since fiscal year 2014.

This Special Issue on Infrastructure Maintenance and Inspection Robotics has collected papers that propose a broad range of infrastructure maintenance/renovation/management technologies, especially those developed by SIP Infrastructure, in order to contribute to the further development of the field of infrastructure maintenance and inspection technologies.

In recent years, machine-learning applications have been rapidly expanding in the fields of robotics and swarm systems, including multi-agent systems. Swarm systems were developed in the field of robotics as a kind of distributed autonomous robotic systems, imbibing the concepts of the emergent methodology for extremely redundant systems. They typically consist of homogeneous autonomous robots, which resemble living animals that build swarms. Machine-learning techniques such as deep learning have played a remarkable role in controlling robotic behaviors in the real world or multi-agents in the simulation environment.

In this special issue, we highlight five interesting papers that cover topics ranging from the analysis of the relationship between the congestion among autonomous robots and the task performances, to the decision making process among multiple autonomous agents.

We thank the authors and reviewers of the papers and hope that this special issue encourages readers to explore recent topics and future studies in machine-learning applications for robotics and swarm systems.

Control engineering and sensing engineering improve productivity and save resources and energy in industry, and they are also deeply related to the solving greater societal, economic, and environmental problems. Control engineering and sensing engineering have become dynamic forces that enrich various phases of life through interdisciplinary or cross-sectional study. Furthermore, in recent years, due to the development of information technology, as symbolized by terms such as “big data” or “AI,” “sensing and control at a higher level” has become possible, premised by big data processing that is faster by orders of magnitude than conventional data processing. All this has increased the importance of control engineering and sensing engineering.

In response to the development of the fields of control engineering and sensing engineering associated with the advance of the “information society,” education in these fields has also needed to be enhanced. On the national scale, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology will introduce Japanese elementary school computational thinking education into elementary school in fiscal year 2020, and the new Courses of Study for High School Information Education in fiscal year 2022. At the same time, individual companies, educational institutions, etc. have also been experimenting with various forms of education in control engineering and sensing engineering. During these changing times, the most advanced studies related to the development of instruction and evaluation methods for educational materials on control engineering, sensing engineering, and control technology have been collected, and the present special issue was planned.

This special issue is a collection of practical papers related to measurement and control education, including one paper on Model-Based Development education in a company and eight papers on education in an educational institution. These eight papers include two on education using a robot contest in a university, one on introducing measurement and control engineering education in a national institute of technology college, three on introducing it in a junior high school, and two on introducing it in an elementary school.

We hope that this special issue serves to support the readers’ future efforts in control engineering and sensing engineering education, and we thank the authors and reviewers of the papers.

Intelligent mobile robots need self-localization, map generation, and the ability to explore unknown environments autonomously. Probabilistic processing can be applied to overcome the problems of movement uncertainties and measurement errors. Probabilistic robotics and simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) technologies are therefore strongly related, and they have been the focus of many studies. As more and more practical applications are found for intelligent mobile robots, such as for autonomous driving and cleaning, the applicability of these techniques has been increasing.

In this special issue, we provide a wide variety of very interesting papers ranging from studies and developments in applied SLAM technologies to fundamental theories for SLAM. There are five academic papers, one each on the following topics: first visit navigation, controls for following rescue clues, indoor localization using magnetic field maps, a new solution for self-localization using downhill simplex method, and object detection for long-term map management through image-based learning. In addition, in the next number, there will be a review paper by Tsukuba University’s Prof. Tsubouchi, who is famous for the Tsukuba Challenge and research related to mobile robotics.

We editors hope this special issue will help readers to develop mobile robots and use SLAM technologies and probabilistic approaches to produce successful applications.

A robot is a system integrated with many elements such as actuators, sensors, computers, and mechanical components. Currently, progress in the field of artificial intelligence induced by tremendous improvements in computer processing capabilities has enabled robots to behave in a more sophisticated manner, which is drawing considerable attention. On the other hand, the mechanism that directly produces robot movements and mechanical work sometimes brings out some competencies that cannot be provided solely by computer control that relies on sensor feedback.

This special issue on “Integrated Knowledge on Innovative Robot Mechanisms” aims to introduce a knowledge system for robot mechanisms that bring forth useful and innovative functions and values.

The editors hope that the studies discussed in this special issue will help in the realization and further improvement of the mechanical functions of robots in the real world.

Human work and life support are areas that provide practical applications for robotics and mechatronics technology. There is great expectation from the industry in these fields, and research and development efforts have been actively undertaken with great social impact. To support human work and life accurately, we must understand the complicated sensory, nervous, and motor control systems that enable design and development of appropriate assistive devices.

Therefore, in this mini special issue, we focus on robotics and mechatronics for human sensing, modeling, and augmentation.

The editor hopes that this special issue will attract researchers’ interest and contribute to further developments in this field.