In this paper, to put this research in context, we first provide a brief survey of the internet of things (IoT) and IoT-like networks. We then introduce our new actuator-sensor network, which is capable of obtaining environmental information through actuator movement configurations which rely on tribological contact. We coin a new word "informotion" which integrates "information" and "motion" to express the abovementioned situation; networks composed of informotion elements are called informotion network systems (INS), the controls of which are based on bio-inspired rules. As an example of INS developed in our laboratory,we introduce an actuator array capable of controlling smooth tactile feeling using the velvet hand illusion. If we accumulate adequate successful findings related to feeling control generated by INS, in future work we will work to increase the ease or comfort for individuals manipulating mechanical or robotic systems by improving the smoothness of tactile feel.

At first, the contemporary situation of recent several years in which noncontinuous innovation occurs continuously is shown. Next, the future images of 2030 and 2050 are exemplified. Then, focusing on actuator technology, the future image of the actuator technology is exemplified from the history of progress of actuator technology and the current state of the latest research. By 2050, cyberspace and physical space will be fused. All actuators and sensors in the world should be connected through the crowd network. The "Informotion Technology" deals with such network with reference to living organisms. The outlook of informotion technology in the future and some social system applications are shown.

Most of Internet of Things, IoT data is time series data, however the time series patterns of tactile sense have not been investigated. Tactile Score is a novel method for describing time sequences of different tactile senses, such as massages. It can not only describe the massages but also tactile senses in multimedia data such as locution, vocalism or rhetoric, etc.; multimedia time series data can be transformed into Tactile Score and we can display tactile senses denoted by Tactile Score by using Tactile Score players. Tactile Score enables us to compose and edit tactile senses. We extract composing principle of time series patterns of tactile senses though analyzing massages; extracted principle has been verified through examining biological responses.

Making cell culture process automated and efficient is one of the biggest challenges for cell therapy including regenerative medicine, drug screening and body-on-chip drug development. Cell culture process with cell seeding, culturing, detaching and collecting processes is in general conducted manually by a technician. To establish an efficient and stable mass culture process of cells, "informotion technology" may play an important role. By automating cell culture process with actuator/sensor technology and networking them online, know-hows to deal with living cells can be shared. By doing so, we may efficiently provide large number of cells, ready for accelerating regenerative medicine spread. Ultrasonic actuation technology has proved its potentials to be used for cell culture automation.

This article reviews electrostatic actuation in the context of "informotion", which is a concept combining "information" and “motion”created by actuators. Thin and transparent electrostatic actuators were installed on surfaces of LCD (liquid crystal display) monitors to realize object motions synchronized with visual images. Through the synchronized motions, the systems could deliver information to users in more intuitive or efficient manners, making them good examples of the "informotion" concept. The article introduces basic structures and principles of the electrostatic actuators, including their planar 2-DOF variants. Then, the systems combining LCD monitors and transparent 2-DOF actuators are reviewed, and their characteristics are discussed. As the future direction of the developments, haptic rendering on LCD monitors using electrostatic force is also discussed.

Adaptability is the most important capability for robots to move in open environment where unpredictable changes frequently occur. To implement adaptability for robot control, we need the different method from the conventional AI techniques. In this paper, the features of adaptation process in biological control system and bio-mimetic behavior adaptation method called tacit learning are introduced to discuss the importance of behavior adaptation through body-environment interactions. Tacit learning can tune the roughly-defined behaviors to the sophisticated ones that are well-adapted to the environment. The experimental results to learn a bipedal walking of a humanoid robot shows that the behaviors created by tacit learning share the various features with the walking gait of human beings. The main theme of this review series, informotion, discuss the connections of information network-actuator network and real environment. I hope to encourage through this review paper the discussions on the importance of behavior adaptation to the real environment.

In this paper, the progress of peeling was quantitatively examined by the estimation of repetitive stress acting below the rolling contact fatigue (RCF) surface. The repetitive stress was calculated as the sum of the residual stress and the contact stress generated below the real contact area. The residual stress was obtained from X-ray stress measurement. The contact stress was calculated by the boundary element method (BEM). The effect of a black oxide treatment on the suppression of peeling was also investigated by the same stress estimation. Estimated repetitive stress (von Mises stress) indicated that continuous plastic deformations occurred on the RCF surface, and brought about initial cracks of peeling. It was also considered that the principal shearing stresses which act along the direction oblique to the rolling direction contributed to the initial crack propagation. With regard to the black oxide treatment, the repetitive von Mises stress was reduced as compared with the untreated case, since the black oxide treatment reduces the surface roughness of base metal and promotes the running-in. This reduction of von Mises stress resulted in the suppression of the initial cracks and hence the peeling was prevented.

Tribological properties of textured surfaces fabricated with an interrupted micro cutting process (tiling^TM) were investigated. An aluminum cast alloy (AC8A) disc was used for the specimen. The proposed texturing process was carried out using a CNC machining center. The surface texture was fabricated with a cutting tool having an asymmetrical geometry. The resulting surface morphology consisted of aligned micro dimples having a diameter of 180-630µm and a depth of 2-40µm, with controlled area fractions varied from 10 to 50% and the top region was finished with polishing. The tribological properties evaluated using a three-ball-on-disc-type testing apparatus in lubricated conditions showed that the friction coefficient of the textured surfaces was low and stable from the beginning of the experiment. A dependence of the texture geometry including the dimple size and the area fraction on the friction coefficient was also found. It is concluded that the surface texture consisted of smaller dimples less than 280µm and the area fraction smaller than 20% is preferable to reduction of the friction coefficient.

The Progressive Cavity Pump (PCP), which is a type of the positive displacement pumps, is widely used for slurry transfer. Wear of the PCP rotor and stator is one of the important factors affecting product lifetime. The present study focuses on the importance of fluid force causing particle entrapment into the sliding portion between the rotating shaft and fixed surface. The authors hypothesized that the approaching distance of the particles to the minimum clearance point is one of the major factors influencing the particle entrapment. In this paper, a theoretical model, based on a rotating shaft and a static flat plate, for particle entrapment into the sliding portion of rotor and stator in a PCP is proposed, and validated experimentally. The particle behavior near the minimum clearance point can be estimated using the diagram obtained from the theoretical model.