Applied Information Sciences

Human-Robot Informatics D03

  • Prof. Satoshi Tadokoro      
  • Assoc. Prof. Masashi Konyo      
  • Assoc. Prof. Kenjiro Tadakuma (concurrently)    
KeywordsDisaster Response Robotics, Environment Recognition, Autonomous Driving, Haptics, Virtual Reality, Mechanism

Robotics for Realizing a Safe and Secure Society with Quality of Life

Our research and education are based on RT (Robot Technology) for aiming a safe and secure society, providing sufficient quality of life for us. Prof. Tadokoro is a pioneer of the academic field on search and rescue robotics and our laboratory has been acting as a world center of this filed. Especially, Quince, a search robot with high mobility in confined spaces, was applied for Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, and we promoted the Tough Robotics Challenge as one of the Impulsing Paradigm Change through Disruptive Technologies (ImPACT) Programs. In addition, our robotic technologies are going to be applied widely for new fields, such as outdoors automated guided vehicles in a plant, a next- generation transportation system involving a local commuting system and a personal vehicle, and aerial vehicles for infrastructure inspections. In addition, Assoc. Prof. Konyo has been studied for advanced sensory immersive interfaces using haptic feedback and his project was supported by the Funding Program for Next Generation World-Leading Researchers (NEXT) in Japan from 2010-2013. Human haptic sensation is very important for enhancing our communication and physical motion capabilities. We have been developing an intuitive interaction technology for mobile information devices, haptic augmentation for tool manipulation, and a haptic feedback technology for remote robot operations. Assoc. Prof. Tadakuma has been studied for robotic mechanism e.g. omnidirectional driving mechanism as a core technology for search and rescue robotics.

  • Active Scope Camera Tested at a Fire Department

  • Quince at FEMA Texas TF-1 Training Site (Disaster City)