Acquisition and visualization techniques of human motion using master-slave system and haptograph

Artificial acquisition and reproduction of human sensations are basic technologies of communication engineering. For example, auditory information is obtained by a microphone, and a speaker reproduces it by artificial means. Furthermore, a video camera and a television make it possible to transmit visual sensation by broadcasting. On the contrary, since tactile or haptic information is subject to the Newton's "law of action and reaction" in the real world, a device which acquires, transmits, and reproduces the information has not been established. From the point of view, real-world haptics is the key technology for future haptic communication engineering. This paper proposes a novel acquisition method of haptic information named "haptograph". The haptograph visualizes the haptic information like photograph. Since temporal and spatial analyses are conducted to represent haptic information as the haptograph, it is possible to be recognized and to be evaluated intuitively. In this paper, the proposed haptograph is applied to visualization of human motion. It is possible to represent the motion characteristics, the expert's skill and the personal habit, and so on. In other words, a personal encyclopedia is attained. Once such a personal encyclopedia is stored in ubiquitous environment, the future human support technology will be developed.