Development of a mastication robot and quantification of mastication efficiency

This paper describes the quantification of mastication efficiency with a mastication robot. Although the conventional researches in the dental field calculate the mastication efficiency by using sieving test, ATP method and so on, these methods are affected by the saliva or subject's individual variation. The authors have tried to quantify the mastication efficiency with a mastication robot that was developed to simulate the human mastication from engineering viewpoint. Testing food was Tamago-bolo that is popular food especially for the kids. The computation method for quantify the mastication efficiency was the sieving test that is usually used in the dental field. Experimental results with a mastication robot showed that the mastication efficiency increased like logarithmic function of chewing times.