Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090002838 | Varifocal Lens Device - A first liquid and a second liquid are sealed in a cell, and the first liquid and the second liquid are not mixed with each other, and have different refractive indexes, with the interface of the two liquids being remained stationary by an edge portion of a movable opening member that is made in contact with the interface of the two liquids so that an actuator that is coupled to the movable opening member controls a shape of the interface of the two liquids by driving the movable opening member. | 01-01-2009 |
20090289433 | LEG-WHEELED-TRAVELING MECHANISM - A leg-wheeled traveling mechanism is provided with a seat portion, two follow-up legs, each having an end portion that is freely rotatably connected to the seat portion, with a distance between the end portion and a tip portion having a foot-rest portion being retractable, two or more support legs, each having an end portion that is freely rotatably connected to the seat portion, with a distance between the end portion and a tip portion having a wheel portion being retractable, a foot-position measuring unit that measures relative positional changes of the foot-rest portions and foot portions of a rider, and a control device that controls operations of the follow-up legs and the support legs, based upon the relative positional changes measured by the foot-position measuring unit so as to allow the foot-rest portions to move virtually in the same directions as those of the foot portions. | 11-26-2009 |
20100110571 | LENS HOLDER DRIVING DEVICE AND IMAGE PICKUP UNIT EMPLOYING PLANARY-DRIVEN POLYMER ACTUATOR - There are provided a lens holder being capable of holding a lens and having flange portions at opposite end portions thereof along an optical axis, a planary-driven actuator including driving arm portions having lens holder support points for holding the outer surface of the lens holder at a plurality of opposing positions and having free-end side contact portions, a lens-holder retaining plate having spring-characteristic portions, and fixing frames which form the outer surfaces of a lens holder driving device and fix the respective components. | 05-06-2010 |
20110029133 | ROBOT, AND CONTROL APPARATUS, CONTROL METHOD, AND CONTROL PROGRAM FOR ROBOT - A robot arm provided with a body unit shifting mechanism that connects a base unit and a body unit so as to be relatively shifted, and joint lock mechanisms that are capable of mechanically securing respective joints is disposed on the body unit, and a robot operation control unit controls to switch between a robot arm operation mode in which the robot arm is operated with one of the joints of the robot arm brought into a free state, and a body unit shift mode in which the body unit is shifted with the joint being brought into a locked state. | 02-03-2011 |
20110227455 | FLAT STACKED-TYPE CONDUCTIVE POLYMER ACTUATOR - A first conductive polymer film, a plate-shaped first porous member, a second conductive polymer film, and a plate-shaped second porous member are stacked on one another, and the adjacent members are connected with each other on one end portions so as to form a zigzag pattern. The first and second porous members each have an ionic solution injected thereinto so as to function as an electrolyte retention layer, so that operations can be carried out with tensions being always maintained upon both of the expansion and the contraction, and rigidity and a driving force can be exerted in both of the contracting and expanding directions. | 09-22-2011 |
20140350726 | MASTER DEVICE FOR MASTER SLAVE APPARATUS, METHOD OF CONTROLLING THE SAME, AND MASTER SLAVE ROBOT - A master device is provided to a master slave apparatus in which a hand mechanism opens/closes to grip a target object and a slave mechanism performs a task on a target article. The master device includes a hand manipulation mechanism for manipulating the hand mechanism. A person remotely manipulates the slave mechanism by a master mechanism and the hand manipulation mechanism manipulates to cause the hand mechanism to perform the task. In the hand manipulation mechanism, a hand manipulation portion having a pair of open/close manipulation portions manipulated by the person moves forward/backward on a slider, the pair of open/close manipulation portions is opened/closed to change the angle therebetween so that the hand mechanism is opened/closed. A master hand control device transmits, to the slave mechanism, motion information used for manipulating the hand mechanism based on a position of the hand manipulation portion relative to the slider or the angle. | 11-27-2014 |
20150047966 | DESALINATION APPARATUS AND DESALINATION METHOD - The desalination apparatus according to the present disclosure includes: a water-repellent particle layer that is located below a water tank, contains water-repellent particles, and allows passage of water vapor generated by evaporation of the liquid stored in the water tank, the water tank being a space for storing the liquid; and a liquefying layer that is located below the water-repellent particle layer, and liquefies the water vapor that has passed through the water-repellent particle layer to obtain the fresh water. The water-repellent particle layer includes an anti-migration layer provided as a surface layer that faces the water tank and containing anti-migration particles. Each of the anti-migration particles has a higher aspect ratio than the water-repellent particles, the aspect ratio being a value obtained by dividing a length in a major axis direction by a length in a minor axis direction. | 02-19-2015 |
20150060260 | DESALINATION SYSTEM AND DESALINATION METHOD - A desalination system, etc. of the present disclosure includes: a water tank; a water-repellent particle layer that is located below the water tank and contains a plurality of water-repellent particles; a liquefying layer that is located below the water-repellent particle layer and liquefies water vapor that has passed through the water-repellent particle layer, to obtain fresh water; an introduction channel of a liquid supply channel that supplies a liquid to the water tank; and a liquid speed reduction part that is located on the introduction channel of the supply channel, and includes a wall surface crossing a flow direction of the liquid in the supply channel, for reducing a flow speed of the liquid. | 03-05-2015 |
20150075965 | WATER AMOUNT CONTROLLING METHOD AND DESALINATION SYSTEM - A water amount controlling method according to the present disclosure includes: opening a discharge valve that discharges a liquid from a water tank if an impurity concentration is higher than or equal to a first reference value, and opening a sluice gate that introduces the liquid to the water tank a predetermined period after opening the discharge valve, the first reference value being lower than a saturation concentration; throttling the discharge valve and the sluice gate if the impurity concentration is higher than or equal to a second reference value and the temperature is lower than or equal to a third reference value, the second reference value being lower than the first reference value; and closing the discharge valve if the impurity concentration is lower than the second reference value, and closing the sluice gate a predetermined period after closing the discharge valve. | 03-19-2015 |
20150075966 | DESALINATION APPARATUS AND DESALINATION METHOD - A desalination apparatus according to one aspect of the present disclosure obtains fresh water from a liquid. The desalination apparatus includes: a water-repellent particle layer that is located below a water tank, contains water-repellent particles, and allows passage of water vapor generated by evaporation of the liquid stored in the water tank, the water tank being a space for storing the liquid; and a liquefying layer that is located below the water-repellent particle layer, and liquefies the water vapor that has passed through the water-repellent particle layer to obtain the fresh water. The water-repellent particle layer includes: a first layer that contains first water-repellent particles among the water-repellent particles, and faces the water tank; and a second layer that contains second water-repellent particles among the water-repellent particles, and is provided below the first layer. The second water-repellent particles have a larger average particle size than the first water-repellent particles. | 03-19-2015 |