In modern society, various information technologies are employed in manufacturing industry. The robotics major provides a curriculum and research activities for potential engineers contributing to the manufacturing technologies in the digital era. The fields covered are wide-ranging—from the manufacturing technologies such as mechanical and electrical/electronic engineering to the analysis techniques such as information processing and applied mathematics, as well as to the systems theories such as measurement and control. Through these studies, students acquire the skills to efficiently design and safely operate mechatronics devices such as robots.
Research Keywords
Robotics, Robotics application, Mobile robots, Motion planning for humanoid robots, Robot vision, Visual servo, Image recognition based on machine learning, Versatile robotic hands for assembly tasks, Grasp and manipulation strategies, Soft actuators and sensors, Soft robotics, Systems control, Micromachines, Medical application devices, Ultrasonic applied measurement, Non-destructive inspection
Research Introduction
In the Intelligent Mechatronics Laboratory, we are researching and developing robots that cooperate with humans and support humans in everyday life. Major research topics include the development of robot mechanisms and sensors, the development of recognition technology for rigid and non-rigid objects based on machine learning, the development of motion planning methods for robots, the development of teleoperation technology for robots, and the development of power-assistive suits.
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In the Systems Control Laboratory, we are doing research on robotic hands focusing on the functions required for desired tasks, not the shapes of human hands, and constructing grasp and manipulation strategies for such hands towards application in the next-generation robotic production systems. For example, we are developing versatile hands for assembly tasks which can grasp parts in various shapes precisely.
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In the Mechatronic Measurement Laboratory, we conduct research on ultrasonic measurement technologies to support a safe and secure society. Using ultrasonic waves, it is possible to visualize the inside of materials that cannot be seen by the human eye and to measure stresses in materials non-destructively, thereby maintaining the integrity of infrastructure structures. Main research topics include ultrasonic instantaneous imaging using encoded probes, stress measurement in situ using the surface SH-wave acoustoelastic method, and development of self-sensing ultrasonic array probes.
