Research
Research focus: Design Soft-bodied robots inspired by living organism
Tenacious and adaptive behaviors of simple organisms are produced by their high deformable bodies and limited computational cost of their nervous system. Mechanical softness and interaction with complex environment is a key to understand such behaviors. From the perspective of how to control the soft-bodies, biological research reveals that some simple organisms rely on decentralized control and exploit internal and external mechanical interactions (e.g., central pattern generators in vertebrates, distributed nervous systems in insects, starfish and jellyfish). These features are sharp contrast to the conventional robots that use hard/rigid bodies and centralized controllers.
We consider the "mechanical softness" to be an essential difference between machines and organisms, and are developing and investigating intelligence that can be emerged from the mechanical softness.
メインテーマ: 生物のように世界を感じ，しぶとく，しなやかに動くロボットを作りたい．
私の研究の軸足は「機械的な柔らかさが生み出す知能的な振る舞い」にあります．既存ロボットの99％は固い材料で作られ，身体の変形は関節に集約されています．一方生き物は，筋肉，健，皮膚組織など3次元的に柔らかい素材で作り上げられています．そして，この柔らかい体を持つ生物は，例えばクラゲやヒトデなどの原初的な生物は，非常に少ない（分散的な）神経組織で，ほぼ無限大ともいえる自由度を制御します．そして，さらに原初的な単細胞生物である真正粘菌変形体やアメーバは，神経細胞さえ使わずに，われわれが生き物らしいと感じる適応的な振る舞いを生み出します．私はこの「機械的な柔らかさ」が機械と生物の本質的な違いであると捉え，機械的な柔らかさによりはじめて実現できる知能を研究しています．
Instant Inkjet Actuator and Sensor for Soft-bodied Crawling Robots [ICRA '19]
Caterpillar-inspired Crawling Robot using Both Compression and Bending Deformations [RA Letter, ICRA '19]
Actuation Frequency-Dependent Automatic Behavioral Switching on Caterpillar-Inspired Crawling Robot [RoboSoft '19]
Learning Oscillator-based Gait Controller for String-form Soft Robots using PEPG [IROS '18]
How to make caterpillar-inspired soft robot [OpenSoftMachines]
Caterpillar-inspired Crawling Robot on a Stick using Active-release and Passive-grip Elastic Legs [RoboSoft '18]
Design of Frictional 2D-Anisotropy Surface for Wriggle Locomotion of Printable Soft-bodied Robots [ICRA '18]
Design of a 3D-printed soft robot with posture and steering control [ICRA '14]
Highly Deformable 3D-Printed Soft Robot Generating Inching and Crawling Locomotions [IROS '13]
A Soft Deformable Amoeboid Robot Inspired by Plasmodium of True Slime Mold -Slimy-
A Soft-bodied Fluid-driven Amoeboid Robot -SlimyII-
A soft-bodied amoeboid robot -Slimy- (simulated result)
Real-time Tunable Spring (elasticity variable version)