News

Research and dissemination activities.

March 18, 2019Database will be available online

Prof. Mori (Nagoya Univ.) and his group (Pj.1) have developed 3DCG polygon models of human head anatomy by using machine leaning. The datasets will be published online by the end of March. The datasets will be available for free for non-commercial purposes and for research or educational use.
For more details, please visit their lab’s website.

  • Head 3DCG database, Mori Lab's Website


March 5, 2019Application and datasets are available online

Dr. Yamashita in our research group led by Dr. Chinzei (Pj.1, AIST) has published the following items online and made them available for free. They are some of our program’s achievement.
- Application for making medial surface
- CT images and STL files of human dry skull specimens

  • Website image for Application for making medial surface

  • Website image for CT images and STL files of human dry skull specimens


March 4, 2019Event: The 42nd Annual Meeting of the Japan Society for CNS Computed Imaging

Our latest achievements including prototypes of Bionic Humanoids (high-fidelity bench models equipped with sensors) for neurosurgery and a surgical robot for microsurgery “Smart Arm” were exhibited at The 42nd Annual Meeting of the Japan Society for CNS Computed Imaging held at the Roppongi Academy Hills from March 1 to 2.
In the afternoon on March 1, the ImPACT seminar was held and Harada PM and other program members presented our recent achievements.

  • Exhibition booth

  • Exhibition booth

  • Exhibition booth

  • ImPACT seminar


February 25, 2019Media Articles

Our Achievement appeared in the following Japanese media articles. The articles are available only in Japanese language.
Feb. 24 The Sankei News
Feb. 20 Nikkei Digital Health (Web)
Feb. 19 Nikkei Medical Online (Web)
Feb. 11 Yamaguchi Shinbun


February 1-3, 2019The 42nd Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Ophthalmic Surgery

The “Bionic-EyETM”, an eye surgical simulator developed by our research groups led by Prof. Arai (Nagoya Univ., Pj.1), was exhibited at the 42th Annual meeting of Japanese Society of Ophthalmic Surgery held at the Pacifico Yokohama from February 1 to 3. Over 30 Ophthalmologists tried to perform a simulated task of the internal limiting membrane (ILM) peeling and gave us their feedbacks.

  • Exhibition booth


January 15, 2019Event Report: Press Meeting

Our press meeting was held on January 11, 2019 at Ito International Research Center and had 11 participants from 9 media companies. Our Program Manager, Kanako Harada, had a presentation introducing our program’s latest achievements including our recent press releases, then showed demonstrations of the prototypes.Media articles describing out achiemevents are listed in the article below.

  • PM's presentation to the press

  • Demo tour

  • Demo tour


January 18, 2019Media Articles

Our Achievements appeared in the following Japanese media articles. The articles are available only in Japanese language.
Jan. 18 The Science News
Jan. 15 Nikkan Kogyo Shinbun
Jan. 14 Nikkan Kogyo Shinbun
Jan. 13 Nikkei Newspaper


January 12, 201Event report: Final Briefing

Our final briefing was held on January 11, 2019 at the Ito International Research Center, The University of Tokyo. Harada PM and project leaders of Pj.1 through Pj.4 gave presentations and reported our latest achievements. Poster and Prototype exhibition was also held. Please watch the digest of the final briefing .


2019.01.11The world most high-definition 3D CG data of human anatomical head model is now available as open access

Prof. Saito and Dr. Kin (both in Pj.3, The Univ. of Tokyo) announced that they developed the world most high-definition 3D CG model data of human head anatomy using the latest CG technology. CG models are distributed through the “Head 3DCG Database”. They can be used freely for non-commercial purposes and for research or educational use.

  • Examples of downloadable 3DCG data from the database website


January 11, 2019Press Release

Our three new press releases have been published online (only in Japanese language).


January 11, 2019Our latest achievement on New Video

A new video introduces our latest achievement!


December 13, 2018Event Report: Exhibition at the 29th 2018 International Symposium on Micro-Nano Mechatronics and Human Science (MHS2018)

The 29th 2018 International Symposium on Micro-Nano Mechatronics and Human Science (MHS20187)was held at Nagoya University from December 9 to 12. Our program members gave poster presentations. We also organized a session “Bionic Humanoid and Surgical Systems,” which started with a keynote talk by Prof. Mori (Nagoya Univ., Pj.1), followed by oral presentations by our program members.
The eye surgical simulator “Bionic-EyE,” neurosurgical simulator “Bionic-Brain” and Bionic Humanoid full-body model BH-2, developed by the groups led by Prof. Arai (Nagoya Univ., Pj.1), were exhibited during the symposium.

  • Poster session

  • Exhibition of Bionic-humanoid prototypes

  • Keynote talk


November 16, 2018Awards Report: The 28th Japan Society for Simulation Surgery

The 28th Japan Society for Simulation Surgery was held on Nov. 10, 2018 in the Nippon Medical School. Mr. Ryota NAGANO, a graduate student member of our research group led by Prof. Ohta (Pj.1, Tohoku Univ.) won the President award in its 3D print contest.

  • President Award


November 12, 2018Event Report: The 27th Annual Congress of Japan Society of Computer Aided Surgery

The Bionic-EyE and Bionic-Brain, surgical simulators developed by our research groups, were exhibited at the 27th Annual Congress of Japan Society of Computer Aided Surgery held at Nara Prefecture Cultural Hall from November 9 to 11. Read more.


Nobember 9, 2018ImPACT Symposium: Friday, January 11, 2019 at Ito International Research Cecter

We will hold our ImPACT Symposium on Friday, January 11, 2019 at Ito International Research Center.
Registration Site is now open.


October 3, 2018Academic Conference: Harada PM gave a plenary talk at IROS2018

The 2018 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS2018), one of the biggest international conferences on Robotics, was held from October 1 to 5, 2018 in Madrid, Spain, with more than 3500 attendees from 60 countries. On October 3, Harada PM gave a plenary talk titled "ImPACT Bionic Humanoids; platform for Medicine-Engineering collaboration,"which showed our R&D achievements to the world.


September 13, 2018Press Release: "Bionic Eye surgery Evaluator (Bionic-EyE) to simulate eye surgical tasks has been developed"

Dated on September 12, 2018, Nagoya University and The University of Tokyo issued a press release titled “Bionic Eye surgery Evaluator (Bionic-EyE) to simulate eye surgical tasks for Glaucoma using a microhook has been developed,” as the result of their joint research supported by ImPACT. The press release article is available in Japanese language only.


July 30, 2018Media Article: Mac Fan: Issue September 2018

The iRis: 3D anatomical atlas, a high-definition 3DCG brain anatomy for an iphone/iPad application, was introduced in the Mac Fan magazine, September 2018 issue, published on July 27, 2018. This application was developed in collaboration with a venture software company and Dr. Kin who is a member of our Pj.3 research group led by Project Leader Prof. Saito (The Univ. of Tokyo). In the article, Dr. Kin tells his motivation and experience in developing the iRis by this multi-disciplinary collaboration.


July 30, 2018Event Report: Seminar for students pursuing to become a doctor

A seminar for high school students pursuing to become a doctor was held in Tokyo on July 30. Prototypes of PVA-Hydrogel blood vessel model developed by the research group led by Prof. Ohta (Pj.1, Tohoku Univ.) was exhibited during the seminar.
This seminar was sponsored by the Tokyo Medical Association and intended for high school students who are aiming to be a future doctor. The seminar had 37 participants.
Despite the short exhibition time, most students tried catheter insertion in the prototypes. Some students came back to our booth after the seminar to challenge again.
We hope this experience helped them to understand the importance of both endovascular intervention and its simulation using a model.

  • Exhibition Booth

  • Exhibition Booth


July 11-12, 2018Event Report: Exhibition at the Monodukuri OKAZAKI Fair 2018

The Bionic-EyE, a surgical simulator developed by our research groups led by Prof. Arai (Nagoya Univ., Pj.1), was exhibited at the Monodukuri OKAZAKI Fair 2018 held in Okazaki City, Aichi Pref. from July 11 to 12. “Since the vitreoretinal surgical task of this simulator is realistic, surgeons can improve their skills before doing surgery on patients. This would make patients feel safe and comfort,” told one of the visitors from local manufacturing companies and public research organizations.

  • Exhibition Booth


June 6 - 8, 2018Outreach report: 15th Interdisciplinary Cerebrovascular Symposium (ICS2018), Magdebrug, Germany

The 15th Interdisciplinary Cerebrovascular Symposium (ICS2018) was held at Magdeburg, Germany from June 6 to 8. Prototypes of the sensor-equipped PVA-Hydrogel vascular model developed in collaboration by the research groups led by Prof. Ohta (Pj.1, Tohoku Univ.) and Prof. Haga (Pj.1, Tohoku Univ.) were exhibited during the symposium.

Participants to the conference included engineering researchers, medical doctors, and medical companies, and they were from Germany, Japan, Switzerland, USA, Canada, Australia, Finland, UK, etc.

More than 80 participants stopped by at out booth with great interest, tried catheter insertion in our prototyped vascular models, and gave us many useful comments.

  • Prototype exhibition at ICS2018


June 13, 2018Media Article: Nikkei XTECH (Article available only in Japanese)

A prototype of the Pain-Sensing Dummy, developed by our Pj.4 research group led by Project Leader Dr. Watanabe (Panasonic Corporation) was introduced in the Nikkei XTECH on June 13, 2018.


June 12, 2018Media Article: innavi net (Article available only in Japanese)

Innavi net, the online media, reported the event of the medical innovation career forum held at The University of Tokyo on June 11, 2018. Harada PM and other program members joined this forum.


June 2 – 5, 2018Event Report: ROBOMECH2018 in Kitakyushu

The Robotics and Mechatronics Conference 2018 ( ROBOMECH2018 ) was held at the Kitakyushu International Convention Zone from June 2 to 5. We had 17 poster presentations during our organized session. Read more.


March 24, 2018Outreach Report: 37th Tohoku Region Meeting of The Japanese Society for Neuroendovascular Therapy

At the 37th Tohoku Region Meeting of The Japanese Society for Neuroendovascular Therapy held at the Niigata Medical Professionals Development Center on March 24, 2018, prototypes of PVA-Hydrogel aneurysm model and sensor-equipped PVA-Hydrogel vascular model developed in collaboration by the research groups led by Prof. Ohta (Pj.1, Tohoku Univ.) and Prof. Haga (Pj.1, Tohoku Univ.) were exhibited. Neurosurgeons simulated catheter intervention using the PVA-H prototypes and provided many useful comments.


March 22, 2018Online Media Article: Nature Index Japan 2018

The “Bionic Humanoid”, the elaborate human model and “Smart Arm”, the intelligent micro-surgical robot, both under development in our program, were introduced in an online media article “Pillars of a smart society -Across the scientific fields, Japanese researchers are bringing together the virtual and real worlds"in the Nature Index Japan 2018 issued on March 22, 2018.


March 19, 2018TV On-air: CBC

An eye-surgery simulator Bionic-EyE and a transnasal neurosurgical simulator, both developed by the Pj.1 research group led by Prof. Arai (Nagoya Univ.) were introduced in the CBC evening program on March 19, 2018. Followed by the research overview explained by Prof. Arai, Project Assistant Prof. Omata (Nagoya Univ.) and Project Assoc. Prof. Masuda (Nagoya Univ.) explained their models respectively. Dr. Takao (Dept. of Ophthalmology, The Univ. of Tokyo) made a comment, “Given that the ILM peeling surgery is increasing, the Bionic-EyE simulator can be used to help ophthalmologic surgeons to build their skills as well as for developing new medical equipment. These models represent a good result of our program’s medicine-engineering collaboration.”


March 2 - 3, 2018Outreach Report: The 41st Annual Meeting of the Japan Society for CNS Computed Imaging

The 41st Annual Meeting of the Japan Society for CNS Computed Imaging was held at Toki Meese Niigata Convention Center from March 2 to March 3, 2018. Prototypes of PVA-H aneurysm model and sensor-equipped PVA-H blood vessel model developed in collaboration by the research groups led by Prof. Ohta (Pj.1, Tohoku Univ.) and Prof. Haga (Pj.1, Tohoku Univ.) were exhibited during the meeting.
Neurosurgeons tried catheter intervention with the PVA-H prototypes and gave many useful comments.

  • At exhibition booth

  • A prototype exhibition: Sensor-equipped blood vessel model

  • A prototype exhibition: Aneurysm model


February 27, 2018Event Report: ImPACT Symposium

ImPACT Symposium was held at Shinagawa Intercity Hall & Conference on February 27, 2018, sponsored by Cabinet Office and JST, having more than 300 visitors.
At our exhibition booth, in addition to a poster panel and movie introducing program activities, a Bionic-EyE, eye-surgery simulator, developed by Pj.1 research group led by Prof. Arai (Nagoya Univ.) was also exhibited.
At the Panel Discussion, Harada PM commented about her practical actions leading the program to success.

  • Harada PM explaining to visitors

  • Panel Discussion


February 21, 2018Media Article: Asahi Newspaper

A Bionic-EyE, eye-surgery simulator, developed by our Pj.1 research group led by Prof. Arai (Nagoya Univ.) was introduced in the Asahi Newspaper on February 21, 2018.


January 26, 2018Media Article: Nikkei Business Daily

A prototype of the Pain-Sensing Dummy, developed by our Pj.4 research group led by Project Leader Dr. Watanabe (Panasonic Corporation) was introduced in the Nikkei Business Daily on January 26, 2018.


January 12, 2018Award Report: MHS2017

At the The 28th 2017 International Symposium on Micro-Nano Mechatronics and Human Science (MHS2017) held at Nagoya University in December 3-6 2017, Assoc. Prof. Matsunaga (Tohoku Univ.) and Mr. Fujisawa (Kyushu Univ.) of our program received the Best Paper/Poster Awards.

  • ・Best Paper Award
    Tadao Matsunaga, Akira Ito, Soyoka Osaki, Yasutomo Shimizu, Masaaki Shojima, Hiroshi Yoshida, Simon Tupin, Noriko Tsuruoka, Makoto Ohta, Yoichi Haga "Local Internal Pressure Measurement System of Cerebral aneurysm model using Ultra-miniature Fiber-optic Pressure Sensor"
  • ・Best Poster Award
    Yosuke Fujisawa, Kazuo Kiguchi, Kanako Harada, Mamoru Mitsuishi, Makoto Hashizume, Jumpei Arata "Compact 4DOF Robotic Forceps with 3.5 mm in Diameter for Neurosurgery based on a Synthetic Elastic Structure"

December 7, 2017Event Report: Exhibition at the 28th 2017 International Symposium on Micro-Nano Mechatronics and Human Science (MHS2017)

The 28th 2017 International Symposium on Micro-Nano Mechatronics and Human Science (MHS2017) was held at Nagoya University from December 4th to 6th. The Honorary Chair was Prof. Fukuda (Meijo Univ., Pj.1). Some research members of our program had poster presentations, and we also organized the session MA1-2: (Organized Session14) "Bionic Humanoid and Surgical Systems," which started with a keynote talk by Assoc. Prof. Arata (Kyushu Univ.,Pj.2).
The eye surgical simulator "Bionic-EyE" and Bionic Humanoid BH-1 developed by the groups led by Prof. Arai (Pj.1, Nagoya Univ.) were exhibited during the symposium.

  • Prototype Exhibition

    Prototype Exhibition

  • Poster Session

    Poster Session


December 4, 2017Event Report: Exhibition and demonstration at the 56th Annual Meeting of Japanese Retina and Vitreous Society

The "Bionic-Eye" surgical simulator developed by our research groups led by Prof. Arai were exhibited at the 56th Annual meeting of Japanese Retina and Vitreous Society held at the Tokyo International Forum from December 1st to 3rd. Over 40 Ophthalmologists tried to perform a simulated task of the internal limiting membrane (ILM) peeling and gave their feedbacks.

  • An Ophthalmologist trying the Bionic-Eye simulator

    An Ophthalmologist trying the Bionic-Eye simulator


December 4, 2017Event Report: Exhibition at the International ROBOT Exhibition 2017

A prototype of the Pain-Sensing Dummy, developed by our Pj.4 research group led by Project Leader Dr. Watanabe (Panasonic Corporation), was exhibited at the International ROBOT Exhibition 2017 (iREX2017) held at the Tokyo Big Sight from November 29th to December 2nd, 2017.
The prototype was also introduced in the Panasonic Newsroom Global Website:
Article: "Panasonic's Introduces people-Centric Robotics Technology at International Robo Exhibition 2017"
Movie: "Panasonic's People-Centric Robotics Technology at #iREX 2017" as "Solution of Safety Design and Evaluation for Robots."

  • A prototype Exhibition

    A prototype Exhibition

  • Visitors at the booth

    Visitors at the booth


November 1, 2017Event Report: The 26th Annual Congress of Japan Society of Computer Aided Surgery

A prototype user interface of the Smart Arm and Bionic-Eye surgical simulator developed by our research groups were exhibited at The 26th Annual Congress of Japan Society of Computer Aided Surgery held at Nagoya University from October 28th to 30th. Read more.


October 17, 2017Media Articles: Nikkei Newspaper

The “Bionic-Eye” surgical simulator developed by our research groups was appeared in the Nikkei newspaper issued on October 16, 2017.


October 16, 2017Event Report: The 71st Annual Congress of Japan Clinical Ophthalmology

A “Bionic-Eye” surgical simulator developed by our research groups of Prof. Arai, Prof. Maruyama (Nagoya Univ.) and Prof. Aihara (The Univ. of Tokyo) was exhibited at the 71st Annual Congress of Japan Clinical Ophthalmology) held at Tokyo International Forum from October 12th to 15th.

Over 50 Ophthalmologists had tried to simulate an internal limiting membrane (ILM) peeling task and given their feedback.

  • An Ophthalmologist trying the Bionic-Eye simulator

    An Ophthalmologist trying the Bionic-Eye simulator

  • Visitors listening to our staff’s explanation

    Visitors listening to our staff’s explanation


September 15, 2017Journal Articles: Journal of the Society of Mechanical Engineers Vol. 120(2017) No. 1186

The round-table talk "Fascinated by Medicine-Engineering collaboration" by Harada PM (JST, The Univ. of Tokyo), Prof. Mitsuishi (Pj.2, The Univ. of Tokyo), Prof. Saito (Pj.3, The Univ. of Tokyo), Dr. Chinzei (Pj.1, AIST), and Prof. Jinno (Program Advisor, Kokushikan Univ.) appeared as the opening article of the Journal of the Society of Mechanical Engineers, Vol. 120, No. 1186, issued on September 15, 2017. Five review articles written by our program’s researchers and advisors have been also included in its special feature “The frontiers of surgical robotic R&D in Japan.”Above articles are available in Japanese language only.


September 6, 2017Media Article: Nikkan Kogyo Newspaper

An article about Bionic Eye surgery Evaluator (Bionic-EyE) developed under our program was published in the Nikkan Kogyo Newspaper on August 28, 2017.


September 6th, 2017Event Report: JSME Annual Meeting 2017 Workshop

Harada PM, Prof. Arai (Pj.1, Nagoya Univ.), Prof. Mitsuishi (Pj.2, The Univ. of Tokyo), and Dr. Yamashita (Pj.1, AIST) each gave a presentation at the workshop "Platform accelerating medicine-engineering collaboration" on September 5 during the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers (JSME) Annual Meeting 2017 held at the Saitama Univ. from September 3 through 6, 2017.


September 2nd, 2017Event Report: JST Fair 2017

Our research overview and achievements were presented at our booth during the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) Fair 2017 held at Tokyo Big Sight from August 31 to September 1, 2017. The eye surgical simulator "Bionic-EyE" developed by our research groups of Prof. Arai and Prof. Maruyama (Pj.1, Nagoya Univ.) was exhibited.


August 9th, 2017Press Release: "Bionic Eye surgery Evaluator (Bionic-EyE) to simulate eye surgical tasks has been developed"

Dated on August 7, 2017, Nagoya University and The University of Tokyo issued a press release titled “Bionic Eye surgery Evaluator (Bionic-EyE) to simulate eye surgical tasks has been developed,” as the result of their joint research supported by ImPACT. The press release article is available in Japanese language only.


August 9th, 2017Event Report: ImPACT Symposium "Bionic Humanoids Propelling New Industrial Revolution"

Our first symposium "Bionic Humanoids Propelling New Industrial Revolution" was held at The University of Tokyo on Tuesday, August 8th, 2017.

Details


June 26th, 2017Event Announcement: ImPACT Symposium "Bionic Humanoids Propelling New Industrial Revolution"

Our first symposium is planned as follows;
Date: Tuesday, August 8th, 2017
Venue: The University of Tokyo
Registration website is now open, and the program is available (only in Japanese)


May 14th, 2017Event Report: ROBOMECH2017 Organized Session and Impact Joint Workshop

We had an organized session and an ImPACT joint workshop at The Robotics and Mechatronics Conference 2017 (ROBOMECH2017) in Fukushima from May 10th to 13th.

In the 12th morning, eleven posters were presented at the organized session “14. ImPACT Bionic Humanoids Propelling New Industrial Revolution.”

In the 13th morning, Harada PM and Prof. Hasegawa (Nagoya Univ.) gave presentations at the ImPACT joint workshop titled “Human interface for Robot Innovation” co- organized by the ImPACT Tadokoro and Harada PMs.

  • Poster presentation at OS

  • I

    ImPACT joint workshop “Human Interfaces for Robot Innovations”


April 29th, 2017PM Activity Report: IFRH2017

Harada PM gave an invited talk titled “Bionic humanoids as a platform for medicine-engineering collaboration” at the International Functional Reconstruction of the Hand International Symposium 2017 (IFRH2017) held on April 28-29, 2017 at Nagoya Congress Center.


April 6th - 9th, 2017Event Report: The 121st Annual Meeting of the Japanese Ophthalmological Society

A “Bionic-Eye” surgical simulator developed by our research groups of Prof. Arai and Prof. Maruyama (Nagoya Univ.) was exhibited at the 121st Annual Meeting of the Japanese Ophthalmological Society at Tokyo International Forum from April 6th to 9th. Ophthalmologists tried to peel the simulated Internal Limiting Membrane (ILM) and gave comments.

  • (名古屋大学 丸山先生)

    An Ophthalmologist trying the Bionic-Eye simulator


December 3rd, 2016PM Activity Report: (A domestic symposium)

Harada PM gave a invited talk titled “Bionic Humanoids accelerating medicine-engineering research” at a domestic conference held at Tokyo Medical University Hospital on December 3rd, 2016.


November 28th - 30th, 2016Event Report: MHS2016

At the 7th 2016 International Symposium on Micro-Nano Mechatronics and Human Science (MHS2016) held at Nagoya University from November 28th to 30th, our research members had poster presentations, oral presentations at an organized session and prototype exhibition.

Harada PM and Prof. Matsunaga (Tohoku Univ.) gave keynote talks, and the OS titled “MP1-1:(Organized Session 4): Bionic Humanoid and Surgical Systems” was organized. During the symposium, a head model and eye models were exhibited.

  • Exhibition at MHS2017


November 27th, 2016PM Activity Report:

Harada PM gave an invited talk at the 25th Annual Congress of Japan Society of Computer Aided Surgery held at Tokyo University of Technology from November 26th to 27th.


November 3rd - 6th, 2016Event Report: Science AGORA 2016

Science AGORA, an educational science event sponsored by JST was held from November 3rd to 6th at the Miraikan, the national museum of emerging science and innovation, Tokyo. At our booth titled "This is ImPACT! ~Using bionic humanoid as a training tool~", we exhibited prototypes developed by Prof. Arai and Prof. Maruyama (Nagoya Univ.), Prof. Fukuda (Meijo Univ.), Prof. Ohta (Tohoku Univ.), and researchers at the Sony Global Manufacturing & Operations. The summary and report of the exhibition are available at the official website of the Science AGORA 2016.

Exhibition at the Science AGORA 2016


July 25th, 2016Online Media Article: Nikkei “Mirai Kotohajime”

The overview of our program was introduced in an online media article of the “Mirai Kotohajime” website operated by the Nikkei Business Publications, Inc.


June 5th, 2016Media Article: Nikkei Newspaper

The overview of our program was introduced in the Nikkei newspaper on May 5th, 2016.

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