Robotic Mastication Simulation Based on Measured Motion Characteristics of Teeth and Tongue

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20H02116
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 20020:Robotics and intelligent system-related
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: Higashimori Mitsuru 大阪大学, 大学院工学研究科, 教授 (30346522)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 堀 一浩 新潟大学, 医歯学系, 教授 (70379080)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 咀嚼ロボット / 柔軟物マニピュレーション / ソフトロボティクス / 食塊形成

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Humans combine complex motions of the teeth and tongue during mastication to crush food, mix it with saliva, and form a swallowable food bolus. The fields of food science and industry desire to reproduce such a food bolus formation by robots to evaluate food quantitatively. This study proposed a novel robotic mastication simulator dedicated to the faithful reproduction of food bolus formation. First, three primitives involved in food bolus formation were defined: crushing, mixing, and gathering. Subsequently, the structure and motions of the robot were designed to execute these primitives, and the robotic mastication simulator was developed. Sequentially performing the primitives, the robot attempted to reproduce the human food bolus formation. Finally, human and the proposed robot masticated test foods, and the resulting food bolus images were analyzed using a convolutional neural network. It was shown that the proposed robot has a potential to reproduce human food bolus formation.

Free Research Field

ロボティクス

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究は、ヒトの咀嚼の工学的理解と再現に向けて、食塊形成マニピュレーション技能を具現化するためのロボットモデル（機構・制御系、計測系、情報処理系）構築といった学術的意義を有する。また、本研究で提案した咀嚼ロボットは、超高齢社会において、ヒトの摂食メカニズムの解明、咀嚼困難者の病態評価、および、介護用食品の開発支援に貢献できる可能性を有している。