本研究室ではこれまで知られていなかった自然界や生物の運動時に働く力学に対して、それぞれの対象に特化したMEMSの力センサを開発し計測を行うことで、その解明に取り組んでいます。さらに研究によって得られた知見を生かし、社会に直接役立つMEMSのデバイスとして還元していくことを目指しています。

具体的には以下に代表されるような研究を行っています。

In our laboratory, against unknown mechanics of animal locomotion and nature phenomena, we try to clarify them by developing MEMS force sensors specialized for each target. Moreover, we would also like to give our research knowledge back to society as new industrial MEMS products.

Current working projects include:

This study describes a micro force plate array for the simultaneous measurement of the anterior and vertical components of GRFs of multiple legs during the running motion of an ant. The proposed force plate, which consists of a 2000 μm × 980 μm × 20 μm plate base as the contact surface of an ant’s leg, and the supported beams with piezoresistors on the sidewall and surface are sufficiently compact to be adjacently arrayed along the anterior direction. Eight plates arrayed in parallel were fabricated on the same silicon-on-insulator substrate to narrow the gap between each plate to 20 μm. We compartmented the plate surface into 32 blocks and evaluated the sensitivities to two-axis forces in each block so that the exerted forces could be detected wherever a leg came into contact. The force resolutions in both directions were under 1 μN within ±20 μN. Using the fabricated force plate array, we achieved a simultaneous measurement of the GRFs of three legs on one side while an ant was running.
[Ref] H. Takahashi et.al., J. Micromech. Microeng., 2024.
[Ref] T. Sugimoto et.al., Meas. Sci. Technol., 2022.

Here we present an airflow sensor for seabird biologging. To attach the sensor to the biologging system, the sensor must be waterproof because seabirds dive into the seato prey on fish. In addition, the sensor must also be compact and have high sensitivity. Here, we propose a Pitot tube-type airflow sensor that satisfies these requirements. The proposed sensor is composed of MEMS piezoresistive cantilevers as sensing elements with high sensitivity and anodic alumina membranes with a nano-hole array as the waterproof elements with airflow penetration. The developed sensor responded sufficiently to airflow velocities from 2 m/s to 20 m/s. Inaddition, the sensor maintained its sensitivity after plunging into the water and returning to the air. Therefore, the proposed sensor can be utilized for practical seabird biologging.
[Ref] H. Takahashi et.al., Sens. Actuator A-Phys., 2018.
[Ref] T. Kishimoto et.al., IEEE Sensors Journal, 2021.

We have developed a triaxial tactile sensor using piezoresistive beams. The sensor chip is composed of two pairs of sidewall-doped Si beams for shear stress sensing and one pair of surface-doped Si beams for normal stress sensing. The sensor chip is embedded in a silicone rubber. Because the simple beam structure can be fabricated easily, the proposed sensor is compatible with semiconductor device fabrication. The fabricated sensor was evaluated for normal and shear stress (0–400 kPa and 0–100 kPa, respectively). The responses of the corresponding beam pairs were found to be proportional to the magnitude of the applied stresses without the influence of the other stresses. The relationship between the angle of shear stress and the responses of each beam pair was also evaluated. Each beam pair detects only one axis’s shear stress and showed little reaction to the other axes’ shear stress. As a result, the proposed sensor can measure the three axial components of normal and shear stress independently. The actile sensor has been developed as a commercial device that a venture company "touchence" sells.
In addition, the fabricated differential pressure sensor can be applied to a variety of devices, such as airflow sensors, viscometers, angular acceleration sensors and so on.
[Ref] R. Wada and H. Takahashi, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., 2020.
[Ref] H. Takahashi et.al., J. Micromech. Microeng., 2020.

This work presents a micro suction cup array fabrication using liquid-immersion inclined-rotated UV lithography. The proposed fabrication method utilized a glass cube and liquid-immersion to reduce the difference in refractive indices through which the UV light passes. This innovative approach allows for the creation of three-dimensional microstructures at a higher inclination angle. Specifically, a patterned mold for a micro suction cup array on a glass wafer was fabricated using KMPR-1035 as a photoresist. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) was then poured and transcribed into the patterned mold to produce the micro suction cup array. The results revealed an inclination angle of nearly double, achieving 51° compared to conventional methods. Furthermore, the suction force of the fabricated micro suction cups reached up to 0.15 N on a wet surface, demonstrating significant improvement and potential for practical applications.
[Ref] T. Sugimoto and H. Takahashi, Appl. Phys. Express, 2020.
[Ref] G. Kagawa et.al., Appl. Phys. Express, 2022.

This work was supported by JKA and its promotion funds from KEIRIN RACE (2023).