JP2006026209A - Robot - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a highly functional robot as a medical related robot, an amusement robot or an industrial robot and so forth by providing the function of detecting the biological information on a human being. <P>SOLUTION: At a finger section of this robot, a sensor section 1 which can sense biological information is provided. The sensor section 1 comprises a light emitting device 11 and a light receiving device 12 which are a pulse wave sensor for measuring the pulse and the blood pressure and so forth of a human being, and a current carrying electrode 15 and a voltage sensing electrode 16 for measuring the impedance of a human body. Then, the biological information such as the electrocardiogram, the blood pressure, the pulse, the pulse wave, the body temperature, the respiration, the body adipose, the bone density, the brain wave, the oxygen concentration in blood, and the blood sugar level are determined by a calculation, or the like, from a pulse wave signal from the light receiving device 12 or an impedance value of the human body measured by the current carrying electrode 15 and the voltage sensing electrode 16. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a robot having a function capable of sensing biological information.

  Conventionally, robots have been used as industrial robots in factories and the like, but recently, robots such as pet-type robots and humanoid-type robots are entering a wide field.

  However, most current robot sensing functions discriminate between people and objects by analyzing information obtained from an image sensor such as a CCD, or by detecting the contact pressure state with a pressure sensor or the like. is there.

  On the other hand, in an aging society to come, it is necessary to have a part of labor and services be replaced by robots. For this purpose, humans or organisms and robots need to coexist, and sensors capable of sensing human biological information are required. However, in the current robots, the sensing function of humans and organisms is estimated based on visual functions and sensing by sensors such as heat, sound, pressure, contact, etc., and directly senses human biological information It wasn't.

  On the other hand, a device that is attached to a human body and directly links a device that senses human biological information and a pet-type robot has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

This apparatus includes a detection unit that detects biological information from a human body, and stores biological information detected in advance as comparison information in a storage unit. Then, in the state control support mode, the biometric information detected again by the detection unit is compared with the comparison information stored in the storage unit, and the pet-type robot performs its own basic operation based on the comparison result. Thus, the control is performed. Specifically, this device has a shape that can be easily worn by a person, such as a wristwatch type, a glasses type, a card type, and a pedometer type.
JP 2000-5317 A

  As described above, the conventional apparatus for detecting biological information has a shape that is easy for a person to wear, such as a wristwatch type, a spectacle type, a card type, and a pedometer type, and controls a pet-type robot from this apparatus. It has become. That is, a pet-type robot is handled as a simple control target of a device that detects biological information, and a robot having a sensor that directly senses human biological information in any of the components of the robot is currently available. Not proposed.

  The present invention was devised in view of such circumstances, and the purpose thereof is a robot suitable as a medical-related robot, a pet-type robot, an amusement robot, an industrial robot, etc. having a function of detecting human biological information, In particular, it is to provide a robot having a hand similar to that of a person.

  The robot of the present invention has a numerical input function, a display function, a transmission / reception function, a storage function, an alarm function, an application software execution function, a calculation function, a control function, and the like as basic functions. A sensor having a function capable of sensing biological information is provided in any of the components of such a robot. Specifically, the sensing part of this sensor is provided on the finger of the robot. The biological information sensed by this sensor is at least one of electrocardiogram, blood pressure, pulse, pulse wave, body temperature, body fat, bone density, blood oxygen concentration, and blood glucose level.

  Specifically, when the sensor is an optical method comprising a combination of a light-emitting device and a light-receiving device, the pulse is sensed by the sensor using the light absorption characteristics of oxygenated oxygenated hemoglobin among blood hemoglobin. Can be obtained. In the optical method, measurement by volume pulse wave using infrared light is common. This utilizes the fact that oxygen in the blood hemoglobin, which is rich in oxygen, has a large absorbance in the infrared region. In order to sense the pulse of a blood vessel, it is necessary to detect the movement of blood in the blood vessel. In the present invention, the absorption light spectrum characteristic of oxyhemoglobin in red blood cells contained in blood (see FIG. 4) is obtained. Utilizing this, sensing is performed using the characteristic that the amount of reflected light decreases due to absorption of oxyhemoglobin when irradiated with light of a specific wavelength. As can be seen from the absorption light spectrum characteristics shown in FIG. 4, when selecting a wavelength based only on the absorbance, light near 400 nm is good, but considering the scattering characteristics of the skin, disturbances due to absorption by moisture, etc. An appropriate wavelength may be selected according to the purpose.

  Further, when the sensor is composed of a pressure sensitive element, the pulse can be obtained by sensing a blood pressure fluctuation with the pressure sensitive element.

  The blood pressure can be obtained by calculation from the time difference between the electrocardiogram and the pulse wave. A technique for obtaining the blood pressure value by calculation from the time difference between the electrocardiogram and the pulse wave is described in, for example, Japanese Patent No. 3028601.

  In addition, the blood pressure can also be obtained from a difference in pulse wave propagation speed between two measurement sites of the body (difference in pulse wave propagation time). It is known that there is a correlation between the pulse wave propagation time and the blood pressure value determined by the time difference of the pulse between the two measurement parts of the body (see, for example, JP 2000-107141 A). Since there is an individual difference in the correlation between the pulse wave propagation time and the blood pressure value, it is necessary to measure the maximum blood pressure and the minimum blood pressure in advance. Therefore, individual differences in blood pressure are eliminated by measuring the maximum blood pressure value and the minimum blood pressure value in advance with another sphygmomanometer. Specifically, a relational expression (correction formula) between the already measured maximum blood pressure value and minimum blood pressure value measured with another sphygmomanometer and the actual maximum blood pressure value and minimum blood pressure value based on the pulse wave transit time By obtaining and correcting the actual measured blood pressure value by the relational expression, high measurement accuracy is obtained.

  In addition, when the above-mentioned pulse wave is measured by an optical technique, a sensor comprising a combination of a light emitting device and a light receiving device is used, and as described above, the light absorption characteristics of oxygenated hemoglobin rich in oxygen among blood hemoglobins. Can be measured. Further, when the pulse wave is measured by a pressure technique, as described above, the pressure fluctuation of the blood vessel can be captured by the pressure sensitive element, and the pulse wave can be measured from the transition of the pressure fluctuation state.

  The blood oxygen concentration (SpO2) is obtained by using a sensor composed of a combination of a light emitting device and a light receiving device and using a plurality of wavelengths of light when the pulse wave is measured by an optical technique. Can be obtained by measuring the absorbance of oxyhemoglobin in the blood.

  The body fat or bone density can be obtained by calculation by passing a current between two points of the measurement site and measuring the impedance of the living body from the voltage between the two points. Further, the electrocardiogram can be obtained by measuring a site between two points of the body by an induction method. Measurements by this guidance method are described in [Title: "For those who are learning ECG for the first time", Author: Fujiki Moritani, Publisher: Naruido Shoten].

  The body temperature can be obtained by using a pyroelectric sensor as a sensor and measuring the inside of the ear with this pyroelectric sensor. Furthermore, when the blood glucose level is measured by an optical method, a sensor comprising a plurality of near-infrared light sources and light receiving elements can be used, and the blood glucose level can be measured in a non-contact manner using this sensor.

  The robot of the present invention may have a network connection function. By using this network connection function to communicate with other devices, it is possible to transmit information to other devices and obtain necessary information from other devices.

  Since the robot of the present invention has a configuration in which a sensor having a function capable of sensing biological information is provided in one of the constituent parts of the robot, the robot is not limited to a conventional industrial robot but can be used as a nursing robot or a medical robot. can do. Furthermore, it can be used as a pet-type robot or an amusement robot.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows a configuration example of a sensor unit 1 that senses biological information.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the sensor unit 1 of the present embodiment is capable of sensing biological information by being attached to the fingertip of the hand portion of the robot arm. In this example, it is attached to the palm side of the thumbs of the left and right hands, but the attachment location is not limited to the thumb only, and may be attached to the index finger, the middle finger, the ring finger, the little finger, and the like. Moreover, you may attach not only to a fingertip but to the back of the hand or the palm depending on the case. In any case, it suffices to attach it to a place where human biological information is most easily sensed.

  A sensor unit 1 shown in FIG. 1 has a light emitting device 11 and a light receiving device 12, which are pulse wave sensors for measuring a person's pulse, blood pressure, and the like, mounted on a flexible substrate 13 and arranged in the center, and the light emitting device 11. The electrodes 15 and 16 divided into two by the insulating portion 14 are provided so as to surround the light receiving device 12. The electrodes 15 and 16 are a current application electrode and a voltage detection electrode for measuring the impedance of the human body, and have a configuration that also serves as an electrode unit for measuring an electrocardiogram.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of a robot equipped with the sensor unit 1 having the above configuration.

  First, since it is necessary to sense a plurality of pulse waves in order to measure blood pressure, in this example, two sensor units 1 shown in FIG. 1 are used, and the sensor units 1 are used as fingertips of the left and right arms. (Thumb in this example). The output of each light receiving device 12 installed in this way passes through the amplifier 6 and the filter circuit 7 and then is input to the arithmetic unit 303 described later.

  In this example, as a measurement system, a current source 301 for applying a current to each current application electrode 15, 15, a voltmeter 302 for measuring a voltage between the two voltage detection electrodes 16, 16, a control calculation A unit (CPU) 303, an input device 304, a storage device (RAM / ROM) 305, a display device 306, a communication module 307, and the like. In addition, a mechanism control unit 308 that controls various mechanisms such as a robot arm, a hand, and a fingertip is bidirectionally connected to the control calculation unit 303.

<Embodiment 1>
Next, an embodiment in which the robot with the above configuration is used as a medical / care robot will be described. It is expected that robots for medical care and nursing care will develop in the future for an aging society to come. In particular, information such as a person's pulse and blood pressure is important information among the biological information of the human body.

  Hereinafter, the measurement process of the first embodiment will be described.

  First, in this example, the maximum blood pressure and the minimum blood pressure value measured by another blood pressure monitor, and information such as age, height, weight, and sex are input from the input device 304 and stored in the storage device 305. . Next, as shown in FIG. 3, each sensor unit 1, 1 is driven while each of the two sensor units 1, 1 is in contact with the left and right fingers of the human body, and each current application is applied from the current source 301. Measurement is performed by applying current to the electrodes 15 and 15. By executing this measurement, the pulse wave signals from the two light receiving devices 12 and 12, the voltage signal measured by the voltmeter 302, and the applied current value of the current source 301 are input to the control calculation unit 303.

  The control calculation unit 303 obtains a pulse and a pulse wave propagation time (a time difference due to a difference in pulse wave propagation speed) from two input pulse wave signals, and based on signals from the voltmeter 302 and the current source 301 Determine the impedance value. Then, a blood pressure value (maximum blood pressure value, minimum blood pressure value) is obtained from the pulse wave propagation time. Alternatively, a blood pressure value (maximum blood pressure value, minimum blood pressure value) is obtained from the delay time of the electrocardiogram and the pulse wave. The technique for obtaining the blood pressure value from the electrocardiogram and the pulse wave is described in Japanese Patent Registration No. 3028601 as described above. In addition, as a method for measuring electrocardiogram, an induction method has been conventionally used. There are two types of induction methods: bipolar induction and monopolar induction. In the present embodiment, unipolar induction is used. That is, one sensor unit 1 is placed near the heart, and the other sensor unit 1 is placed at a site (hand, foot, etc.) far from the heart to measure a weak current in the body. Electromotive force) can be measured.

  Further, the control calculation unit 303 obtains body fat or bone density based on the obtained impedance value and information such as already input age, height, weight, and sex.

  Note that, based on signal analysis from the light receiving devices 12 and 12 capable of receiving near-infrared light by irradiating light of a plurality of appropriate wavelengths (plural near-infrared light) from the two light-emitting devices 11 and 11. Thus, blood oxygen concentration and blood glucose level can be measured simultaneously.

  Although not shown, when the sensor unit 1 is a pyroelectric sensor, the body temperature can also be measured by measuring the inside of the ear with the thumb close to the ear and the pyroelectric sensor. Is possible.

The control calculation unit 303 displays these calculation results on the display device 306 and also stores them in the storage device 305.
In addition, calculation results such as electrocardiogram, blood pressure (maximum blood pressure, minimum blood pressure), pulse, pulse wave, body temperature, body fat, bone density, blood oxygen concentration, blood glucose level, and the like are output to other external devices using the communication module 307. You may make it transmit / receive with respect to.

  As described above, in a robot simulating the shape of a human hand, for example, biological information can be sensed by attaching the sensor unit 1 near the tip of a thumb or index finger and connecting the hands. By having such a shape, there is an advantage that sensing is possible even in a situation where the caregiver's walking is helped.

  In the first embodiment, the pulse wave is sensed by the optical method including the light emitting device 11 and the light receiving device 12. However, if only the pulse wave sensing is performed, the pressure fluctuation of the blood vessel is sensed by the pressure sensitive element. It is also possible to use pressure techniques.

<Embodiment 2>
The second embodiment is an embodiment in which the robot of the present invention is used as an industrial robot.

  A robot installed at a manufacturing site where humans and robots coexist will perform work while monitoring human movements using various sensors. However, with conventional robots that can only capture biological information only visually or tactilely, the robots do not contact each other by performing bidirectional communication via a communication function or the like. However, when a person enters the case, there is a high possibility that the person or the object cannot be discriminated due to, for example, the relationship between the ambient temperature or the malfunction of the sensor in the case where there is no movement of the person or the heat sensing. Therefore, since the industrial robot is a robot having a function capable of sensing biological information as in the present invention, it can be determined whether or not it is a living body by a tactile sensor and a pulse wave sensor. Can be prevented.

<Embodiment 3>
The third embodiment is an embodiment when the robot of the present invention is used as a pet-type robot or an amusement robot.

  As pet-type robots become more widespread, robots can be more functional if they can respond to the physical condition and mental state of the person. Therefore, by attaching the sensor unit 1 according to the present invention, for example, in a pet-type robot, it is possible to check the physical state of the master when being held by the master. Then, based on that information, an appropriate program can be selected to behave like the master. In addition, when the sensed value detects an abnormal value, the master is warned, and if there is no response from the master, the network function can be used to notify that it is urgent.

  Similarly, an amusement robot can provide an optimum service by selecting a program by grasping a person's physical condition.

It is a schematic plan view which shows one structural example of the sensor part which senses the biometric information concerning this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the state which attached the sensor part to the fingertip part of the robot. It is a block diagram which shows the system configuration | structure of the robot carrying the sensor part concerning this invention. It is a graph which shows the light absorption characteristic of oxyhemoglobin.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Sensor part 6 Amplifier 7 Filter circuit 11 Light-emitting device 12 Light-receiving device 13 Flexible substrate 14 Insulation part 15 Current application electrode 16 Voltage detection electrode 301 Current source 302 Voltmeter 303 Control calculation part (CPU)
304 Storage device (RAM / ROM)
305 Input device 306 Display device 307 Communication module 308 Mechanism control unit

Claims (16)

  A robot characterized in that a sensor having a function of sensing biological information is provided in one of the constituent parts of the robot.   The robot according to claim 1, wherein a sensing portion of the sensor is provided in a portion that comes into contact with the living body of the robot.   The biological information sensed by the sensor is at least one of electrocardiogram, blood pressure, pulse, pulse wave, body temperature, body fat, bone density, blood oxygen concentration, and blood glucose level. Or the robot according to claim 2.   The robot according to claim 3, wherein the sensor is a combination of a light emitting device and a light receiving device, and the pulse is measured by sensing with the sensor using absorption characteristics of oxyhemoglobin and hemoglobin.   The robot according to claim 3, wherein the sensor includes a pressure-sensitive element, and the pulse is measured by sensing with the pressure-sensitive element.   The robot according to claim 3, wherein the blood pressure is obtained by calculation from a time difference between electrocardiogram and pulse wave.   The robot according to claim 3, wherein the blood pressure is obtained from a difference in pulse wave velocity between two measurement parts of the body.   8. The pulse wave is measured by using a sensor comprising a combination of a light-emitting device and a light-receiving device and sensing with the sensor using the absorption characteristics of oxyhemoglobin and hemoglobin. The robot described in 1.   The robot is characterized in that the pulse wave is measured by pressure fluctuation by a pressure sensitive element.   The sensor comprises a combination of a light-emitting device and a light-receiving device, and the blood oxygen concentration is obtained by measuring the absorbance of oxyhemoglobin and hemoglobin in blood by using a plurality of light wavelengths in the sensor. The robot according to claim 3.   The robot according to claim 3, wherein the body fat or bone density is obtained by passing a current between two measurement sites and measuring the impedance of the living body from the voltage between the two points.   The robot according to claim 3, wherein the electrocardiogram is obtained by measuring a part between two points of the body by a guidance method.   The robot according to claim 3, wherein the sensor is a pyroelectric sensor, and the body temperature is obtained by measuring the inside of the ear with the pyroelectric sensor.   The robot according to claim 3, wherein the sensor includes a plurality of near-infrared light sources and light receiving elements, and the blood glucose level is measured noninvasively by the sensor.   The robot according to claim 1, further comprising a network connection function.   The robot according to claim 15, wherein information about another device can be acquired using the network connection function.

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