Keio University · Engineering
Professor Kenjiro Takemura's research lab specializes in the development of advanced ultrasonic motors and microfluidic technologies for biomedical and robotic applications. The lab focuses on multi-degree-of-freedom (multi-DOF) ultrasonic actuators that enable precise, compact, and direct-drive motion control, particularly for use in minimally invasive robotics and cell manipulation. Another key research direction involves innovative, non-invasive cell culture techniques—such as resonance vibration and surface acoustic wave (SAW) systems—that minimize cellular damage during harvesting and enable localized cell removal. The lab also explores tactile sensing systems inspired by human perception to improve product evaluation and human-machine interaction.
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
A multi-degree-of-freedom (DOF) ultrasonic motor consisting of a bar-shaped stator and a spherical rotor was developed. It can generate 3-DOF rotation of the rotor around perpendicular axes using the bending vibration and longitudinal vibration of the stator, which is designed using the finite element analysis. From the simulated driving characteristics, a control method for the ultrasonic motor is proposed. Following this, the driving characteristics of the motor under both open-loop and closed
Multi-degrees-of-freedom (DOF) actuators have become more useful in the field of robotics, as a result of the increasing number of DOFs of systems. The general features of ultrasonic motors are suitable for constructing a direct-drive multi-DOF actuator. However, previously developed ultrasonic motors do not have advantages in volume and weight in contrast to multi-DOF motion units composed of plural electromagnetic motors. In the present study, authors developed a novel multi-DOF ultrasonic mot
Tactile sensation is one type of valuable feedback in evaluating a product. Conventionally, sensory evaluation is used to get direct subjective responses from the consumers, in order to improve the product's quality. However, this method is a time-consuming and costly process. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel tactile evaluation system that can give tactile feedback from a sensor's output. The main concept of this system is hierarchically layering the tactile sensation, which is inspired by
Cell detachment is an essential process in adherent cell culture. However, trypsinization, which is the most popular detachment technique used in culture, damages cellular membranes. Reducing cellular membrane damage during detachment should improve the quality of cell culture. In this article, we propose an enzyme-free cell detachment method based on resonance vibration with temperature modulation. We developed a culture device that can excite a resonance vibration and control temperature. We t
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