Speakers

Kanako Harada is an Associate Professor at the Center for Disease Biology and Integrative Medicine (CDBIM) within the Graduate School of Medicine at The University of Tokyo, Japan. She also holds positions in the Department of Bioengineering and the Department of Mechanical Engineering within the Graduate School of Engineering. Additionally, she serves as a Project Manager for the national flagship "Moonshot" project, spearheaded by the Cabinet Office. She earned her M.Sc. in Engineering from The University of Tokyo in 2001 and received her Ph.D. in Engineering from Waseda University in 2007. Prior to joining The University of Tokyo, she held positions at Hitachi Ltd., the Japan Association for the Advancement of Medical Equipment, and Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Italy. She also served as a Program Manager for the Cabinet Office's ImPACT program from 2016 to 2019. Her research interests encompass a range of areas including surgical robotic systems, automation of robots for medical applications, skills assessment, patient models, virtual-reality simulators, and regulatory science.

https://sites.google.com/g.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jp/cdbim-medical-devices

Professor Andreas Archenti is actively engaged in precision-driven research within the area of machinery reliability and performance. Since 2018, he has held the position of Chair Professor in Industrial Dependability with a particular emphasis on Precision Engineering, Metrology, and Analytics at KTH Royal Institute of Technology. He earned his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering with a focus on Mechatronics in 2007 and completed his PhD in Machine and Process Technology in 2011. In 2014, he was appointed as a docent in Precision Manufacturing and Metrology at KTH. As the Director of the Center for Design and Management of Manufacturing Systems (DMMS) at KTH, Dr. Archenti is responsible for coordinating activities related to research, education, and the dissemination of information between academia and the manufacturing industry.

https://www.kth.se/profile/archenti?l=en

Institute of Industrial Science, the Univeristy of Tokyo Professor（2022-）
Laboratory for Future Interdisciplinary Research of Science and Technology (FIRST), Institute of Innovative Research (IIR), Tokyo Institute of Technology, Professor（2022-）
Laboratory for Future Interdisciplinary Research of Science and Technology (FIRST), Institute of Innovative Research (IIR), Tokyo Institute of Technology, professor Associate Professor（2016-2021)
Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Associate Professor(2014-2016)
Precision and Intelligence Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Associate Professor(2007-2014)
Precision and Intelligence Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Assistant Professor(2006-2007)
Precision and Intelligence Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Assistant(2003-2006)
Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Graduate(2002)
Department of Mechanical and Intelligent System Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Graduate(1998)

https://yoshioka-lab.iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp/index_en.html

Deputy General Manager
Motion AI Laboratory, Technology Development Division, Business Incubation Platform
Sony Group Corporation

•  Yohei Kuroda is directing surgical simulation and surgical robot development as project manager, and other role is academia and external collaboration in Motion AI laboratory. 

• Over 20 years working experience in Sony after finishing master’s degree in Mechatronics and expertise in Electrical system and Mechatronics/Robotics

• Half of career in mobile consumer electronics product development, such HDD music player, wireless communication handheld device, tablet device and smart phone, over several business units in Sony

• Working in surgical robot/simulation projects in last 10 years and experience in medical device development, leading technical development, and collaboration with medical institutes

https://www.linkedin.com/in/yohei-kuroda-ab6619168

Takuma Sakamoto is a Research Engineer at Japan Aerospace and Exploration Agency (JAXA). His field of expertise is robotics, with a particular interest in soft robotics and robot motion planning. He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo and is currently engaged in the development of robotics to assist manned space missions. 

Athia Haron is a Research Associate with the Medical Engineering Research Group, in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Electrical Engineering, The University of Manchester, Manchester UK. She has a MEng (2015) in Aeronautical Engineering and obtained a PhD (2021) in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Bristol with a focus on bio-inspired navigation systems. Her current body of work and research encompass the medical engineering and robotics field, with a specific interest in developing sensing systems to prevent or improve critical healthcare outcomes. Some examples of her work include developing a surgical navigation system for tracheostomy procedure, developing a smart insole technology for the prevention of diabetic foot ulcers, as well as sensing technology to prevent frailty in the aging population.

Monica Katherine Gonzalez is a PhD candidate in Production Engineering at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, where she has been conducting research since November 2019. She earned an M.Sc. in Mechatronics Engineering from KTH Royal Institute of Technology in August 2019. Her M.Sc. thesis project investigated the application of indirect force control methods (position-based methods) for executing contact applications with industrial robots. Currently, her research interests are centered on physics-based calibration and compensation strategies for industrial robots.

https://www.kth.se/profile/mgon 

Elia Martinelli is an M.Sc. graduate in Production Engineering from KTH Royal Institute of Technology, with a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from Politecnico di Torino. His master’s thesis focused on the redesign of robotic end-effectors for precise manipulation of biological samples. This research was conducted as part of the collaboration between the Precision Engineering and Metrology (PEM) unit at KTH and the Harada Lab at the University of Tokyo, integrating advanced precision design principles into the new end-effectors to enhance their performance and automation capabilities for laboratory automation applications. 

Hung-Ching Lin is a PhD candidate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Tokyo, specializing in adaptive robot control. He previously earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering, with a minor in Biomedical Engineering, from Boston University. During his undergraduate studies, Lin developed a strong foundation in Robotics and Embedded Systems. He actively contributed to the Boston University community, serving as Vice President of the High-Performance Computing Club and Secretary of the BU Mars Rover Team. His academic journey reflects his deep interest in advancing robotics technologies and intelligent control systems, which he continues to pursue at the graduate level.

Saul is a Project Assistant Professor at the Harada Laboratory in the Department of Medicine at The University of Tokyo since 2023. With a Master's degree in Computer Science and Engineering from The National Autonomous University of Mexico (2018) and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Tokyo (2020), he brings a global perspective to his research, combining insights from diverse academic backgrounds. Specializing in virtual reality (VR) simulation for robotic surgery, he previously excelled as an engineer at Sony Group Corporation (2020-2023), pioneering the development of VR surgical simulators. His expertise lies in creating photorealistic VR simulations, with a focus on applying VR techniques to study the autonomy of robots. His research explores the intersection of robotics, VR, and artificial intelligence (AI), to enhance surgical robot autonomy in navigating and performing tasks in complex environments. 

Xiaofeng Lin is a doctoral candidate in Bioengineering at The University of Tokyo, specializing in medical robotics and surgical navigation systems. With an M.S. in Pattern Recognition and Intelligent Systems from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lin has contributed to projects in robotic microsurgery, needle insertion systems, and endovascular robotic interventions. Recently, Lin has been focusing on research leveraging microscopic 3D vision for the autonomous micromanipulation of biological specimens, involved in a project funded by JST Moonshot R&D, aiming to create autonomous AI robots for medical environments. 

Yifan Wang is a PhD candidate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Tokyo, specializing in medical image processing. He holds a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Xi'an JiaoTong University. With prior experience in project of vision-based automatic industrial object detection system, he has contributed to computer vision and deep learning projects for industrial applications. His current research focuses on deep learning-based vision feedback for robotic systems, employing real-time, high-accuracy AI technologies to enhance the autonomy of surgical robots.