Tag: Japan

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New and innovative science Public Engagement Science in the News

Robot suits put to use in countering radiation in Fukushima

Not many news stations talk about Fukushima any more. After the 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck Northeast Japan, I remember being glued to the computer for hours and hours trying to get the most recent news on the situation in Japan. What is happening now? A quick search turned up a news headline on robot suits in Fukushima. A robot suit that reads signals from the brain seems to be the most recent solution to Northeast Japan’s nuclear radiation problem.

 

How do robot suits tie into this event? A major concern still is the radiation leak from the Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant in Fukushima prefecture. To fix the damage done by the earthquake and tsunami, power plant workers and rescue teams need protective gear against the high levels of radiation around the plant. However, the required metal suit can weigh up to 15kg—a significant hindrance to movement. A solution to this problem was a “robot suit.” Just by thinking “walk,” the robot motor helps move the legs for you.

HAL assists walking for people with physically weakened limbs. Photo by Katsumi Kasahara.

 

The robot suit was actually invented three years ago at the University of Tsukuba in Tokyo. It was initially meant for elderly and handicapped people to assist in walking. They named it HAL, for “Hybrid Assistive Limb”. When the wearer tries to walk, nerve signals are sent to the leg muscles. Such signals are detected by the suit through the skin, and triggers the robot limb to move along with the leg. This battery-powered movement and firm structure of HAL enables it to offer extra support for movement.

After 3 years, further developments on HAL added support for the arms as well.

2011 Exhibition of HAL. Photo from Center for Cybernics Research.

This video from the International Forum on Cybernics 2011 introduces HAL.

 

 

Here are photos from the same event.

 

Researchers are now investigating a new application for this technology. Tsukuba University suggested that the robot will be useful not only for the disabled and care for the elderly, but also for heavy labor and rescue work. Last week, Japanese news station NHK (link to original Japanese news) reported the use of this novel technology to solve the problem of radiation in the earthquake-struck nuclear power plant in Fukushima.

Simulation of the use of HAL at the nuclear site. Photo from NHK.

Experimental tests showed that this robot suit could carry weights up to 60kg. The inventor, Dr. Yoshiyuki Sankai, hopes that implementing HAL at Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Plant would make possible previously risky recovery work and allow longer hours of rescue efforts.

 

At the time I saw this news on NHK, I could not find information about this initiative in English. However, only two days later, the Telegraph picked up on this. Thought-controlled robots–what a way to bring back attention to Fukushima.

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Fun! New and innovative science Science in the News

Waking up to the smell of wasabi

You might be familiar with the green horseradish paste that comes with sushi — wasabi. Scientists in Japan used the pungent smell of wasabi as an alarm to alert people of a fire. This idea seems incredible, but it was motivated by efforts to create an alarm system effective for people with hearing difficulties.

 

Wasabi smoke alarm. Photo by Air Water Safety Service.

Japan’s news stations Asahi and NHK described the progress of this project from 2006 to 2008 (link to news in Japanese text). The basic structure of the alarm is as follows. A mix of wasabi and mints create a bitter and stinging smell that stimulates the mucous membrane within the nose. This smell is then collected into a pressurized can. When the fire alarm bell rings, the machine detects the sound and relays an electric signal to trigger the release of the wasabi smell.

 

Medical equipment manufacturers collaborated to produce this wasabi alarm. Experiments conducted by the Shiga University of Medical Science illustrated the efficacy of this wasabi alarm to wake up people who are sound asleep. For a subject pool of 14 males and females in their 20s to 40s, the researchers found that except for one person who had a stuffy nose, all other 13 people woke up within 2 minutes. Four of these subjects had a hearing impairment, and these people woke up within thirty seconds. The fastest record-response was ten seconds. After experiencing the pungent smell, the test subjects strongly supported the implementation of this wasabi alarm device.


This invention received international attention in the Ig Nobel Prize and in news reports by BBC and Reuters. The following video shows BBC’s report on the wasabi alarm.

 

Other fire alarm systems made for the deaf have used light and vibrations but with mediocre success. Light is hard to notice while asleep, and vibrations require the machine to be worn by the person at all times to detect any movement. Researchers hope that this wasabi alarm system would be used effectively in conjunction with these earlier alarm systems.

 

“Achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think” is the core principle of the Ig Nobel Prize. The humorous aspect of the wasabi alarm caught my attention. However, I soon started to question the use of such an invention, and this curiosity directed me to read about the weaknesses of a sound-based alarm. This research for sure made me think.

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Communicator Profiles Issues in Science Public Engagement Science Communication

CoSTEP: Communicators in Science and Technology Education Program

There is a communications in science course that I would like to share. This past summer, I heard about a Japanese researcher named Dr. Gensei Ishimura, and I found through his website that he is one of the leading members of a program for training effective science communicators. This program is called CoSTEP, or Communicators in Science and Technology Education Program. This effort started out in Hokkaido University in northern Japan. It also received international attention through the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) held in Boston in 2008.

 

In an interview, Dr. Ishimura shared some methods of getting people involved in science communication.

  1. Sapporo Kanko Science Map (Sapporo Tourism Science Map)—This project explored how to use the web to communicate information, a similar aim to this SCIE300 course blog assignment. The CoSTEP teaching team preferred blogs as a blog format offers a simple method of updating information on the web. Dr. Ishimura reasoned that since there is so much information on the web, he must make his blog stand out by emphasizing the aspects unique to CoSTEP. Students enrolled in CoSTEP are mostly residents of Sapporo city with a science background, so they were asked to write feature articles on aspects of science found in various locations around Sapporo and to organize them into a map. As a final assessment, they compiled a manual for creating the science map and made it accessible to the public.

 

This shows that the content of the blogs as well as the method of creating it is important to learn about communication.

 

  1. Newspaper publication—In this component of the CoSTEP course, students learned how to write and publish newspaper articles. There were four workshops in total to understand and expand on the publishers’ ability to communicate to readers through newspapers. An example of the questions explored was “where do people pay attention to on a newspaper?” This type of data turned out to be a novel finding even for the publishers. Students also modeled a grocery store management group and presented on the advantages of posting an advertisement in a high school newspaper. This aimed to connect high school students and the publishers.

 

Newspapers are another popular mode of communication. This activity seems to address important ideas such as layout and targeting a specific audience.

 

Dr. Ishimura himself is a science communicator. His previous experience in the management of science museum exhibits shows a career where science communication skills directly apply to the aims of the institution.

 

References

Hokkaido University. (2008, January 29) Ishimura Gensei san ni kiku – Hokkaido Daigaku, AAAS e [Asking Mr. Ishimura Gensei – Hokkaido University, to AAAS]. Message posted to http://fox231.hucc.hokudai.ac.jp/AAAS2008/2008/01/post-6.html

 

IFES-GCOE Kankyo Kyoiku Kenkyu Koryu Suishin shitsu [Regioinal Education and Outreach Promotion Office. HokkaidoUniversity]. (2011). Ishimura Gensei san – “Watashi” no Kenkyuusha Zukan [Mr. Gensei Ishimura – “My” Researcher Encyclopedia]. Retrieved September 30, 2011, from http://gcoe.ees.hokudai.ac.jp/mfrs/?p=1160&page=2

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