Anonymizing at-home fitness: enhancing privacy and motivation with virtual reality and try-on.

Introduction: This study aimed to address privacy concerns associated with video conferencing tools used in home-based exercise training. To that end, a method that could anonymize participants' appearances and exercise environments during at-home fitness sessions was proposed.

Methods: This method combines virtual reality for 3-D human-model rendering using key-points tracking with a virtual try-on system enhanced by UV mapping and instance segmentation.

Effects of Sensing Tactile Arrays, Shear Force, and Proprioception of Robot on Texture Recognition.

In robotics, tactile perception is important for fine control using robot grippers and hands. To effectively incorporate tactile perception in robots, it is essential to understand how humans use mechanoreceptors and proprioceptors to perceive texture. Thus, our study aimed to investigate the impact of tactile sensor arrays, shear force, and the positional information of the robot's end effector on its ability to recognize texture.

Simple and Reliable Position Sense Assessment Under Different External Torques: Toward Developing a Post-Stroke Proprioception Evaluation Device.

Evaluation of position sense post-stroke is essential for rehabilitation. Position sense may be an output of a process needing position information, external torque, and the sense of effort. Even for healthy individuals, it is unclear whether external torque affects position sense.

Vision-Based Suture Tensile Force Estimation in Robotic Surgery.

Compared to laparoscopy, robotics-assisted minimally invasive surgery has the problem of an absence of force feedback, which is important to prevent a breakage of the suture. To overcome this problem, surgeons infer the suture force from their proprioception and 2D image by comparing them to the training experience. Based on this idea, a deep-learning-based method using a single image and robot position to estimate the tensile force of the sutures without a force sensor is proposed.

Transparent and Flexible Mayan-Pyramid-based Pressure Sensor using Facile-Transferred Indium tin Oxide for Bimodal Sensor Applications.

Transparent and conducting flexible electrodes have been successfully developed over the last few decades due to their potential applications in optoelectronics. However, recent developments in smart electronics, such as a direct human-machine interface, health-monitoring devices, motion-tracking sensors, and artificially electronic skin also require materials with multifunctional properties such as transparency, flexibility and good portability. In such devices, there remains room to develop transparent and flexible devices such as pressure sensors or temperature sensors.

An Efficient Three-Dimensional Convolutional Neural Network for Inferring Physical Interaction Force from Video.

Interaction forces are traditionally predicted by a contact type haptic sensor. In this paper, we propose a novel and practical method for inferring the interaction forces between two objects based only on video data-one of the non-contact type camera sensors-without the use of common haptic sensors. In detail, we could predict the interaction force by observing the texture changes of the target object by an external force.

Mechanical Vibration Influences the Perception of Electrovibration.

Recently, various methods using, simultaneously, two types of tactile feedback have been proposed to emulate a real object. However, the possible masking effect when providing two types of tactile feedback has been scarcely reported. In this study, we investigated the masking effect caused by mechanical vibration on the perception of electrovibration.

Compact Hip-Force Sensor for a Gait-Assistance Exoskeleton System.

In this paper, we propose a compact force sensor system for a hip-mounted exoskeleton for seniors with difficulties in walking due to muscle weakness. It senses and monitors the delivered force and power of the exoskeleton for motion control and taking urgent safety action. Two FSR (force-sensitive resistors) sensors are used to measure the assistance force when the user is walking.

Inferring Interaction Force from Visual Information without Using Physical Force Sensors.

In this paper, we present an interaction force estimation method that uses visual information rather than that of a force sensor. Specifically, we propose a novel deep learning-based method utilizing only sequential images for estimating the interaction force against a target object, where the shape of the object is changed by an external force. The force applied to the target can be estimated by means of the visual shape changes.

Photonic sintering via flash white light combined with deep UV and NIR for SrTiO thin film vibration touch panel applications.

An ultra-high speed photonic sintering method consisting of flash white light (FWL) combined with near infrared (NIR) and deep UV light irradiations was developed to fabricate a SrTiO (STO) thin film for application in electro-vibration touch panels. The STO thin film was sintered on PEN by FWL irradiation at room temperature under ambient conditions, which is a dramatically simple and ultrahigh speed fabrication process compared to the conventional high temperature (600 °C-900 °C) thermal sintering process. The effects of the FWL irradiation conditions (energy density, pulse numbers, and pulse duration) on the dielectric constant of the sintered STO thin films were evaluated.

Transferring Data from Smartwatch to Smartphone through Mechanical Wave Propagation.

Inspired by the mechanisms of bone conduction transmission, we present a novel sensor and actuation system that enables a smartwatch to securely communicate with a peripheral touch device, such as a smartphone. Our system regards hand structures as a mechanical waveguide that transmits particular signals through mechanical waves. As a signal, we used high-frequency vibrations (18.

Expansion of Smartwatch Touch Interface from Touchscreen to Around Device Interface Using Infrared Line Image Sensors.

Touchscreen interaction has become a fundamental means of controlling mobile phones and smartwatches. However, the small form factor of a smartwatch limits the available interactive surface area. To overcome this limitation, we propose the expansion of the touch region of the screen to the back of the user's hand.

Role of combined tactile and kinesthetic feedback in minimally invasive surgery.

Background: Haptic feedback is of critical importance in surgical tasks. However, conventional surgical robots do not provide haptic feedback to surgeons during surgery. Thus, in this study, a combined tactile and kinesthetic feedback system was developed to provide haptic feedback to surgeons during robotic surgery.

Effect of frequency difference on sensitivity of beats perception.

Two vibrations with slightly different frequencies induce the beats phenomenon. In tactile perception, when two pins of different frequencies stimulate the fingertips, an individual perceives a beats caused by a summation stimulus of the two vibrations. The present study demonstrates experimentally that humans can perceive another vibration based on the beats phenomenon when two tactile stimuli with slightly different frequencies are stimulated on the finger pad with a small contactor in different locations at the same time.