WO2021033619A1 - Food bolus forming device, chewing state assessment method, food texture assessment method, and food bolus manufacturing method - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a food bolus forming device which can be used for assessing the texture of food by reproducing a person's chewing. A food bolus forming device (1) according to the present invention is provided with: lower artificial teeth (4) in an artificial oral cavity space (S); upper artificial teeth (5) disposed at positions opposing the lower artificial teeth (4); an artificial tongue (6) disposed in parallel with the lower artificial teeth (4) or the upper artificial teeth (5); a wall surface-shaped artificial cheek (7) disposed lateral to the lower artificial teeth (4) and/or the upper artificial teeth (5); and a robot arm (2a) and a robot hand (2b) that drive the lower artificial teeth (4) or the upper artificial teeth (5) to carry out a biting motion. The food bolus forming device (1) chews food in the artificial oral cavity space (S) by a biting motion, and forms a bolus of the food.

Description

Eating lump forming device, chewing state evaluation method, texture evaluation method and bolus manufacturing method

The present invention relates to a bolus forming device for forming a bolus by chewing food in an artificial oral space, a chewing state evaluation method, a texture evaluation method, and a bolus production method.

Conventionally, when evaluating the texture of food, the evaluator has once spit out the chewed food and evaluates it. Further, in recent years, an evaluation system for evaluating the texture by pressing a food using a pressing mechanism and a pressure sensor is also known.

For example, the texture evaluation system of Patent Document 1 is a pressing device for pressing a sample whose texture is to be evaluated, and a measuring device (pressure) for measuring a change over time in the pressure distribution received from the sample when the sample is pressed. It is provided with a texture evaluation means (control PC) that controls the pressing operation by the pressing device and evaluates the texture of the sample based on the pressure distribution data from the pressure distribution sensor.

This pressing device has a pair of upper and lower plates, a pressure distribution sensor is placed on the upper surface of the lower plate, and a sample is placed on the pressure distribution sensor. The upper plate is provided at a position facing the pressure distribution sensor in the vertical direction and is connected to the linear slider. Since the linear slider is driven in the vertical direction with respect to the pressure sensor surface in response to the pressing operation control signal from the control PC, the pressing operation of the sample can be controlled (paragraphs 0022 to 0028, FIG. 1).

Japanese Patent No. 6324741

The texture evaluation system of Patent Document 1 is configured to evaluate the texture only based on the feature amount obtained from the change over time of the pressure distribution. However, it has been difficult to accurately evaluate the texture of masticatory behavior by an actual person because there are large individual differences in the chewing behavior and the infiltration of saliva.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a bolus forming apparatus that can be used for evaluating the texture of food by reproducing the chewing of a person.

In order to achieve the above object, the occlusal forming apparatus of the present invention includes a first artificial tooth provided in the artificial oral space, a second artificial tooth arranged at a position facing the first artificial tooth, and the first artificial tooth. An artificial tongue arranged in parallel with one artificial tooth or the second artificial tooth, a wall-shaped artificial chew arranged on at least one side of the first artificial tooth and the second artificial tooth, and the first artificial tooth. The tooth or the second artificial tooth is provided with a driving means for driving the occlusal motion, and the food arranged in the artificial oral cavity space is chewed by the occlusal motion to form a bolus of the food. To do.

In the bolus forming apparatus of the present invention, the first artificial tooth or the second artificial tooth in the artificial oral space is driven by the driving means, and the first artificial tooth and the second artificial tooth occlude the food. Since the bolus forming device has an artificial tongue and an artificial cheek, the food that is occluded like the human oral cavity is pushed back to the center of the artificial oral space by the artificial cheek as a wall, and the artificial tongue Its position is adjusted. As a result, a bolus of the food is formed in the artificial oral space, so that the device can reproduce the chewing of a person.

In the bolus forming apparatus of the present invention, in addition to the occlusal operation, the driving means preferably performs an operation of shifting one artificial tooth in the horizontal direction with respect to the other artificial tooth.

The driving means of the bolus forming device can be operated so as to shift one artificial tooth (for example, the first artificial tooth) in the horizontal direction with respect to the other artificial tooth (second artificial tooth). As a result, the present device can form a bolus while grinding food in the same manner as in the human oral cavity.

Further, it is preferable that the bolus forming apparatus of the present invention is provided with a food collecting means for collecting the foods separated by the occlusal operation at a predetermined position in the artificial oral space.

In the bolus forming apparatus of the present invention, food is dispersed in the artificial oral space due to the occlusal motion. Therefore, a food collecting means is provided in the bolus forming device to collect the separated foods at a predetermined position in the artificial oral space (for example, the upper surface of the artificial tongue). As a result, this device can more faithfully reproduce human mastication and form a bolus.

Further, it is preferable that the bolus forming apparatus of the present invention is provided with a water supply means for supplying water to the food.

By providing a water supply means in the bolus forming device, water equivalent to saliva is supplied to the artificial oral space. As a result, in this device, food tends to be lumpy due to moisture, and it is possible to bring the food closer to the state of being chewed by a person.

Further, in the bolus forming apparatus of the present invention, an imaging means for imaging the food or the bolus in the artificial oral space, and an evaluation means for evaluating the chewing state from the image of the bolus imaged by the imaging means. , Are preferably provided.

According to this configuration, the food or bolus in the artificial oral space is imaged by the imaging means, and the evaluation means evaluates the chewing state from the image by image analysis or the like. As a result, the present device can quantitatively evaluate the degree of progress of the masticatory state.

Further, in the bolus forming apparatus of the present invention, it is preferable that the evaluation means evaluates the bolus by one or two selected from local changes and overall uniformity.

The evaluation means of the bolus forming apparatus evaluates the bolus in the artificial oral space by one type (one) or two types (both) of local change and overall uniformity. As a result, the present device can accurately evaluate the degree of progress of the masticatory state.

Further, the bolus forming apparatus of the present invention is provided with a machine learning means for inputting images of bolus having different chewing states to perform machine learning, and evaluates the bolus by a determination method obtained by the machine learning means. Is preferable.

According to this configuration, the machine learning means learns images of a large number of bolus with different chewing states and establishes a judgment method. As a result, this device enables the evaluation means to accurately evaluate the state of the bolus.

The chewing state evaluation method of the present invention is a method of evaluating the chewing state of the food using the bolus forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, and the texture evaluation method of the present invention is , Is a method of evaluating the texture of the food using the bolus forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

Further, the texture method of the present invention is a method for producing a bolus using the bolus forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

According to the present invention, it is possible to accurately evaluate the texture of various foods.

The schematic diagram explaining the bolus formation apparatus of this invention. The perspective view of the bolus forming apparatus of this invention. The flowchart of the bolus formation process by the bolus forming apparatus. The figure explaining the masticatory trajectory of a bolus forming apparatus. The figure explaining 5 kinds of masticatory trajectories. The figure explaining the experiment of the bolus formation by the bolus forming apparatus. The graph which shows the result (Contrast) when the food was evaluated by the bolus forming apparatus. The graph which shows the result (Angular Second Moment) when the food was evaluated by the bolus forming apparatus. The graph which shows the result (normalized Contrast) when the food was evaluated by the bolus forming apparatus. The graph which shows the result (normalized Angular Second Moment) when the food was evaluated by the bolus forming apparatus. The graph which shows the result (normalization Contrast) which evaluated two kinds of foods by the bolus forming apparatus. The graph which shows the result (standardization Angular Second Moment) which evaluated two kinds of foods with a bolus forming apparatus. The figure which shows the result of having evaluated two kinds of foods with a texture analyzer. The figure which shows the result of the sensory evaluation of two kinds of foods.

[First Embodiment]
Hereinafter, the first embodiment of the bolus forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

First, the outline of the bolus forming apparatus 1 according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of the bolus forming device 1. As shown in the figure, the bolus forming device 1 is mainly composed of a robot arm 2a, a robot hand 2b, and a chewing mechanism unit 3 that reproduces the inside of a human oral cavity. The robot arm 2a and the robot hand 2b correspond to the "driving means" of the present invention.

The tip of the robot arm 2a corresponds to the lower jaw, and the lower artificial tooth 4 is attached to the robot arm 2a. Operation under the artificial tooth 4 is 2 are degrees of freedom (V _{Ax, V Ay)} is, it is possible to perform the咬断operation (occlusal operation) and UsuMigaku operation. Further, the aluminum frame 11 corresponds to the upper jaw, and the upper artificial tooth 5 is attached to the frame 11.

咬断operation, by driving the robot arm 2a in the vertical direction (V _Ax), an operation for occlusion of food by the lower artificial tooth 4 and the upper artificial teeth 5. Further, UsuMigaku operation, shifting the lower artificial tooth 4 and the upper artificial teeth 5 drives the robot arm 2a in the horizontal direction (V _Ay), an operation for grinding the food.

The lower artificial tooth 4 and the upper artificial tooth 5 are both made of resin and are manufactured using a 3D printer. As shown in the figure, grooves and protrusions are formed in the central portions of the lower artificial tooth 4 and the upper artificial tooth 5, respectively.

An artificial tongue 6 is attached to the tip (movable part of the gripper) of the robot hand 2b. The movement of the artificial tongue 6 has only one degree of freedom in the _{vertical movement (V By).} The artificial tongue 6 is made of silicone, and an elastic sheet is attached to the surface thereof, and the artificial tongue 6 expands and contracts according to the vertical movement of the artificial tongue 6.

In addition, an artificial cheek 7 is attached to the portion adjacent to the lower artificial tooth 4. The artificial cheek 7 is made of silicone, and the robot arm 2a performs the same operation as the lower artificial tooth 4. The masticatory mechanism unit 3 has each of the above-described configurations, and the food transported to the artificial oral space is crushed and crushed through the masticatory movement, mixed with saliva, and transformed into a bolus.

Next, FIG. 2 shows an overall perspective view of the bolus forming device 1. As shown in the figure, the frame 11 is arranged above the mastication mechanism portion 3. In addition to the upper artificial tooth 5, a collecting tongue 8 (“food collecting means” of the present invention) and a camera 9 (“imaging means” of the present invention) for collecting chewed food are mounted on the frame 11. A commercially available cotton swab is used as the collecting tongue 8, and the foods dispersed in the artificial oral space S are collected by the occlusal motion and moved to the upper surface of the lower artificial tooth 4 or the artificial tongue 6, for example.

Further, the camera 9 is preferably a webcam connected to a computer, and the camera 9 can automatically take an image of how food is chewed. Although the details will be described later, a computer (“evaluation means” of the present invention) performs image analysis from the image captured by the camera 9 to further evaluate the bolus (progress of mastication). As a result, the bolus forming apparatus 1 can quantitatively evaluate the chewing state of the food. Each step of chewing, collecting food, and taking an image is automatically controlled by a computer program.

In addition, an acrylic plate is used on the side surfaces of the lower artificial tooth 4 and the artificial tongue 6 to make a wall surface 7'to prevent chewed food from spilling. Further, in order to accurately reproduce the oral cavity of a person, a saliva supply unit (“water supply means” of the present invention) is required. This time, water (0.6 ml per time) was added to the bolus using a sprayer, but a water storage unit 12 was provided in the upper artificial tooth 5 to supply water to the bolus at predetermined time intervals. You may. As a result, the food separated in the artificial oral space S becomes a small lump with water, which is useful for forming a bolus. With such a configuration, the bolus forming device 1 can faithfully reproduce the mastication of a person in the artificial oral space S.

Next, with reference to FIG. 3, the bolus formation process by the bolus forming apparatus 1 will be described by a flowchart.

First, in the bolus forming apparatus 1, "1" is set in the counter i and "0" is set in the number of chews n (step S01). In the bolus forming device 1, since the lower jaw moves toward the fixed upper jaw, the number of chews is also referred to as the number of mandibular cycles. After that, the process proceeds to step S02.

In step S02, imaging by the camera 9 is started. Specifically, the camera 9 takes an image of the chewing state of the food that starts after this. After that, the process proceeds to step S03.

Next, it is determined whether or not the counter i has reached the upper limit number of cycles N (step S03). If the upper limit number of cycles N has been reached, the process proceeds to step S08, and if it has not yet been reached, the process proceeds to step S04.

When the counter i has not reached the upper limit number of cycles N (“NO” in step S03), water supply is executed (step S04). This is a process of supplying water instead of saliva to the artificial oral space S. After that, the process proceeds to step S05.

In step S05, the food is chewed. Here, since 5 is added to the number of times of chewing n, the movement of the lower jaw is executed five times in succession. Before and after the fifth mandibular movement, the artificial tongue 6 is moved up and down to stir the bolus. As a result, the food is chewed in the artificial oral space S, and a bolus is gradually formed. Then, the process proceeds to step S06.

In step S06, food collection is executed. This is a process in which the collecting tongue 8 (cotton swab) collects the separated foods in the artificial oral space S. After that, the process proceeds to step S07.

In step S07, the counter i is added by 1 and the process returns to step S03. Then, if the counter i has not reached the upper limit number of cycles N (“NO” in step S03), the processes of steps S04 to S07 are repeated again.

On the other hand, when the counter i reaches the upper limit number of cycles N (“YES” in step S03), the camera 9 stops imaging (step S08). After that, the process of a series of bolus formation processes is completed. As described above, the bolus forming apparatus 1 captures and analyzes the state of bolus formation (the degree of progress of mastication) for each food.

Next, the masticatory trajectory of the bolus forming apparatus 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 4A and 4B.

In the bolus forming device 1 of the present invention, the mandibular orbit of a person is linearized and given as a parallelogram type orbit. As shown in FIG. 4A, the origin O is the position where the upper jaw tooth (upper artificial tooth 5) and the lower jaw tooth (lower artificial tooth 4) mesh with each other, and the x-axis is taken in the horizontal direction and the y-axis is taken in the vertical direction. Then, when the motion in the x-axis direction and the y-axis direction is represented by a function of time t, the orbit has the following Fourier series form. Note that f [Hz] is the frequency, X [mm] is the mortar length, Y [mm] is the bite length, and α (0 ≦ α ≦ 2) defines the ratio of the mortar to the bite length. It is a parameter to be used.

(1) When 0 ≤ α <1 x (t) = αXA (t) ... (1A)
y (t) = YB (t) ... (1B)
(2) When 1 ≤ α ≤ 2 x (t) = XA (t) ... (2A)
y (t) = (2-α) YB (t) ... (2B)
However,

FIG. 4B shows five types of trajectories (α = 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0) with different parameters, and the arrows indicate the operating directions. This time, we observed the bolus (chewing state) when each of these trajectories was adopted.

Next, an experiment of bolus formation by the bolus forming apparatus 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

This time, the upper limit number of cycles N = 6 [times], frequency f = 1.0 [Hz], mortar length X = 10.0 [mm], and bite length Y = 8.5 [mm] were fixed, and the bolus forming device 1 was used. An experiment of bolus formation was performed. Using the sample food (Donut of Company A, 5.0 g), the experiment was performed 10 times for each of the above-mentioned chewing orbits, and the number of chewing times n = [0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30]. The bolus image of was acquired.

FIG. 5 shows the number of times the food is chewed when (a) α = 0, (b) α = 0.5, (c) α = 1.0, (d) α = 1.5, and (e) α = 2.0 from the top. The image is shown. As shown in the figure, it can be seen that the bolus gradually collapses as the number of chews increases. It can also be seen that the way foods crumble and organize differs depending on the masticatory trajectory.

Next, in order to quantitatively evaluate the difference between these bolus images, image texture analysis is performed using a simultaneous occurrence matrix (GLCM: Gray-Level Co-occurrence Matrix). Here, the simultaneous occurrence matrix is a matrix representing the frequency with which a pair of pixels having a specified spatial relationship occurs in an image (the derivation method is omitted).

The size of each bolus image in FIG. 5 is 1920 × 1080px, and a portion of 224 × 224px is trimmed from the size (region T). Then, after converting the trimmed image into a grayscale image, the simultaneous occurrence matrix is calculated, and f _C : Contrast (local change) and f _A : Angular Second Moment (overall uniformity) are calculated as image texture features.

Contrast shows the local change in the gray level of the image, and Angular Second Moment shows the uniformity of the image.

FIG. 6A is a graph showing the result of Contrust (local change) by the above experiment. This result includes data on "human bolus" when a person (subject) chews food (doughnut of company A, 10.0 g) for comparison with "artificial bolus" by the bolus forming apparatus 1. (Human). The "human bolus" is data when the subject naturally chews at a frequency of 1.0 [Hz] according to the metronome.

In FIG. 6A, the horizontal axis represents the number of times of chewing n [times], and the vertical axis represents the local change f _C (average). For f _C (mean), the average value of all 10 trials is used, and the value of the number of chews n = 0 [times] is standardized. _{From this result, it can be seen that f C} (average) tends to increase once and then gradually decrease, especially when horizontal mortar movement is included such as α = 0.5 to 2.0. The reason for this is that a foreign part appears at the initial stage of mastication, but it is considered that the part gradually decreases as mastication progresses.

Further, (i), (ii), and (iii) in FIG. 6A show the number of chews n = 0, 10, 30 [times] when α = 1.0, respectively, and the corresponding foods in FIG. 5 are shown. From the mass image (star mark), the transition of the bolus due to mastication can be read. In comparison with the graph of "human _{bolus", although there is a difference in the size of f C} (average), α = 1.0 is the most common "human bolus" among the "artificial bolus" by the bolus forming apparatus 1. It showed a close tendency.

FIG. 6B is a graph showing the results of Angular Second Moment (overall uniformity) by the above experiment. In FIG. 6B, the horizontal axis represents the number of times of chewing n [times], and the vertical axis represents the overall uniformity f _A (average). For f _A (mean), the average value of all 10 trials is used, and the value of the number of chews n = 0 [times] is standardized.

The tendency of the graph depends on the orbital parameters close to the bite movement (α = 0,0.5), the orbital parameters close to the mortar movement (α = 1.5,2.0), and the intermediate orbital parameters (α = 1.0). It is divided into three groups. When attention is paid to the graph of "human bolus", f A _(average), chewing the number of times n = 10 [times] Until continue to decrease, after that it can be seen that there is a tendency to monotonously increase.

Here, too, α = 1.0 of the “artificial bolus” produced by the bolus forming device 1 showed a tendency close to that of the “human bolus”. From the above results, it was suggested that the bolus forming apparatus 1 of the present invention can reproduce a human bolus by giving an appropriate mandibular trajectory.

This time, Contrast (local change) and Angular Second Moment (overall uniformity) were extracted as feature quantities from the image captured by the camera 9 to evaluate the bolus (chewing state), and at least one of these was evaluated. It can also be used to evaluate bolus.

Further, the captured image captured by the camera 9 may be judged by a machine learning model to evaluate the bolus. Specifically, about 1000 input images of the same food (doughnut) having different chewing states are prepared. As the input image, images of bolus according to the number of times of chewing (for example, 0 to 30 times) are captured, and these are classified into classes based on the number of times of chewing and used as teacher data.

Then, model learning of the convolutional neural network (CNN) is performed, and an estimation model of the mastication class is created. In particular, in a convolutional neural network, an image can be input as it is as two-dimensional data, and an effective feature amount can be automatically extracted in the learning process. As a result, when a new bolus image is input, it is possible to easily and quickly determine how much chewing has progressed from the state of the bolus.

[Second Embodiment]
Hereinafter, a second embodiment of the bolus forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described.

In the first embodiment, the bolus obtained by the bolus forming apparatus 1 was photographed with a camera 9, and the bolus was evaluated by Contrast (local change) and Angular Second Moment (overall uniformity) from image analysis. The second embodiment is the same in that the bolus is image-analyzed, but the bolus is evaluated using improved evaluation values of "standardized Contrast" and "standardized Angular Second Moment".

First, the standardized _{definition of f C} (n) (mean) of Contrust will be described. For f _{C (n) (mean), subtract f C} (0) (mean) from the average value of all 10 trials of Contrast (difference value), and use the maximum value of the absolute value of the difference value. It is a standardized value.

f _C (n) (mean) is given by the following equation.

_{Next, the definition of f A} (n) (average) of the standardized Angular Second Moment will be described. f _A (n) (mean) is the average value of all 10 trials of Angular Second Moment _{minus f A} (0) (mean) (difference value), and the maximum value of the absolute value of the difference value. It is a value standardized using.

f _A (n) (mean) is given by the following equation.

FIG. 7A is a graph showing the result of Contrast (local change) when food X (doughnut of company A) is evaluated using the bolus forming apparatus 1. As the parameter, α = 1.0, which is close to the “human bolus” formed by humans, was adopted. Further, in (Equation 6), the case where the number of times of chewing n = m = {0,5,10,15,20,25,30} was plotted and graphed.

The data of "human bolus" is shown by a broken line for comparison with the "artificial bolus" (solid line) by the bolus forming apparatus 1. The "human bolus" is data when the subject naturally chews at a frequency of 1.0 [Hz] according to the metronome.

This time, since the conditions are almost the same as α = 1.0 in FIG. 6A, the normalized local change f _C (n) (average) increases monotonically at first and becomes maximum when the number of chews n = 10 to 20 [times]. After that, there was a tendency to decrease. That is, a foreign portion appears at the initial stage of mastication, but the portion gradually decreases as mastication progresses. The same applies to "human bolus".

FIG. 7B is a graph showing Angular Second Moment (overall uniformity) when food X (doughnut of company A) is evaluated by the bolus forming apparatus 1. Again, as a parameter, α = 1.0, which is close to “human bolus”, was adopted. Further, in (Equation 7), the case where the number of times of chewing n = m = {0,5,10,15,20,25,30} was plotted and graphed (solid line).

f _A (n) (average) decreased monotonically at first, became the minimum when the number of chews n = 10 to 15 [times], and then gradually increased. That is, the uniformity collapses at a stretch at the initial stage of mastication, but the uniformity gradually recovers as mastication progresses. The same applies to the "human bolus" (broken line). From the above results, it is suggested that the bolus forming apparatus 1 of the present invention reproduces a human bolus even if the definition of local change and overall uniformity is changed by giving an appropriate mandibular trajectory. It was.

Next, with reference to FIGS. 8A and 8B, the results of investigating whether foods having different textures can be evaluated using the bolus forming apparatus 1 will be described.

In FIG. 8A, the solid line graph shows the result of Contrust (local change) when food X (doughnut of company A) is evaluated by the bolus forming apparatus 1. Again, as a parameter, we adopted α = 1.0, which is close to the “human bolus”. Further, in (Equation 6), the case where the number of times of chewing n = m = {0,5,10,15,20,25,30} was plotted.

The graph of the broken line shows the result of Contrast when the food Y (doughnut of company B) is evaluated by the bolus forming apparatus 1. Since the parameters and the number of chews n (m) are the same as those of food X, if the two waveforms can be distinguished, the bolus forming apparatus 1 can distinguish the textures of food X and food Y. Here, it can be seen that chewing progresses faster in food Y than in food X.

Further, in FIG. 8B, the solid line graph shows the result of Angular Second Moment (overall uniformity) when food X (doughnut of company A) is evaluated by the bolus forming apparatus 1. Again, as a parameter, α = 1.0, which is close to “human bolus”, was adopted. Further, in (Equation 7), the case where the number of times of chewing n = m = {0,5,10,15,20,25,30} was plotted.

The graph of the broken line shows the result of Angular Second Moment when the food Y (doughnut of company B) is evaluated by the bolus forming apparatus 1. As shown in the figure, it can be seen that the uniformity of food Y is restored faster than that of food X, and the progress of mastication is faster.

Finally, with reference to FIGS. 9A and 9B, the results of the evaluation and sensory evaluation of food X and food Y by the texture analyzer will be described.

FIG. 9A is a graph in which food X and food Y are evaluated by a texture analyzer (TA.XTplus: manufactured by Stable Micro Systems). In FIG. 9A, the horizontal axis represents the number of times of chewing n [times], and the vertical axis represents the maximum stress during compression [g].

Specifically, for each of food X and food Y, the 5th to 30th chewing bolus was measured by a texture analyzer, and the maximum stress [g] during compression was measured. According to this, it was obtained that the maximum stress of food Y was always smaller than the maximum stress of food X and was soft.

FIG. 9B is a graph obtained by sensory evaluation of food X and food Y. The sensory evaluation was performed by 5 evaluators, and the chewing was performed according to the metronome (set to 100 times / minute). The evaluator evaluated on a scale of 0 to 10 by the VAS method, and the average value of 6 repeated evaluations of 5 evaluators was used as the sensory evaluation value.

According to this, the result that the score (melting in the mouth) of food Y was more than twice as high was obtained by the sensory evaluation (P value indicates a significant difference in the multiple comparison test). From the above results, it was demonstrated that food Y (Company B) had better melting in the mouth even for the same donut, and the texture of food X and food Y was distinguished by the bolus forming apparatus 1 of the present invention. We were able to.

As described above, the bolus forming device 1 according to the present invention can form a bolus by chewing food in the artificial oral space S like in the oral cavity of a person. Then, by giving an appropriate mandibular trajectory to the bolus forming device 1, the person succeeded in reproducing the process of forming the bolus. By using the bolus forming device 1, for example, it becomes possible to investigate how a newly developed food is chewed by a person.

In addition, since the degree of progress of mastication can be easily evaluated by image recognition of the bolus, the bolus forming apparatus 1 can also compare the textures of a plurality of foods. Although donuts were used as foods this time, the evaluation method is the same for other foods. However, when evaluating the bolus image by the machine learning model, it is necessary to learn the image according to the chewing state of the target food in advance.

1 ... bolus forming device, 2a ... robot arm, 2b ... robot hand, 3 ... masticatory mechanism, 4 ... lower artificial tooth, 5 ... upper artificial tooth, 6 ... artificial tongue, 7 ... artificial cheek, 7'... wall surface, 8 ... Collecting tongue, 9 ... Camera, 11 ... Frame, 12 ... Water storage, S ... Artificial oral space.

Claims (10)

The first artificial tooth provided in the artificial oral space and
The second artificial tooth arranged at a position facing the first artificial tooth and
An artificial tongue arranged in parallel with the first artificial tooth or the second artificial tooth,
A wall-shaped artificial cheek arranged on at least one side of the first artificial tooth and the second artificial tooth,
A driving means for driving the first artificial tooth or the second artificial tooth to perform an occlusal operation is provided.
A bolus forming apparatus, characterized in that a food arranged in the artificial oral space is chewed by the occlusal motion to form a bolus of the food. The bolus forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the driving means performs an operation of shifting one artificial tooth in the horizontal direction with respect to the other artificial tooth in addition to the occlusal operation. The bolus forming apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a food collecting means for collecting the foods separated by the occlusal operation at a predetermined position in the artificial oral space. The bolus forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a water supply means for supplying water to the food. An imaging means for imaging the food or the bolus in the artificial oral space,
An evaluation means for evaluating the chewing state from an image of the bolus captured by the imaging means,
The bolus forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the bolus forming apparatus is provided. The bolus forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the evaluation means evaluates the bolus by one or two selected from local changes and overall uniformity. Equipped with a machine learning means that performs machine learning by inputting images of bolus with different chewing states
The bolus forming apparatus according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the bolus is evaluated by a determination method obtained by the machine learning means. A masticatory state evaluation method for evaluating the masticatory state of the food using the bolus forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7. A texture evaluation method for evaluating the texture of the food using the bolus forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7. A method for producing a bolus using the bolus forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

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