AROB Organized Session: Adaptable AI-enabled Robots to Create a Vibrant Society
Organizer | Prof. Yasuhisa Hirata (Tohoku University, Japan) Prof. Ankit Ravankar (Tohoku University, Japan) |

Yasuhisa Hirata
Tohoku University, JapanAdaptable AI-enabled Robots to Create a Vibrant Society
This talk introduces our Moonshot project which is a project in the National Research and Development (R&D) program in Japan. The Moonshot program promotes high-risk, high-impact R&D aiming to achieve ambitious Moonshot Goals and solve issues facing future society such as super-aging populations. Our project aims to create adaptable AI-enabled robots available in a variety of places. We are now developing a variety of assistive robots called the Robotic Nimbus which can change their shape and form according to the user's condition, environment, and the purpose of the task, and provide appropriate assistance to encourage the user to take independent action. Especially, in this talk, we focus on the human-assistive/human function-enhancing robots in the fields of nursing care and healthcare.
Biography:
Yasuhisa Hirata is a Professor in the Department of Robotics at Tohoku University, Japan, and a Project Manager of the Moonshot R&D program in Japan. He received his B.E., M.E., and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from Tohoku University in 1998, 2000, and 2004, respectively. He formerly worked as a research associate and an associate professor at Tohoku University. He was also a visiting researcher at The Universite de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en–Yvelines, France in 2006 and 2012. He served as an AdCom member and vice president of TAB in IEEE RAS. For more than 20 years, he has been doing research on the control of multiple mobile robots in coordination, human-robot cooperation systems, assistive robots, haptics, industrial robots, etc. He has over 200 technical publications in the area of robotics. He received the Best Paper Awards in Advanced Robotics, JSME Journal, RSJ Journal, Fanuc FA Foundation, ROBIO 2004, ICMA 2020, etc.
AROB Organized Session: Collaborative AI robots for adaptation of diverse environments and innovation of infrastructure construction (Moonshot program Goal-3)
Organizer | Prof. Keiji Nagatani (The University of Tokyo, Japan) Prof. Kenji Nagaoka (Kyushu Institute of Technology, Japan) |

Keiji Nagatani
The University of Tokyo, JapanInnovations in Earthworks: A 3-Year Progress Report on Collaborative AI Robots for Adapting to Diverse Environments and Innovating Infrastructure Construction
We are actively involved in research and development, focusing on 'collaborative AI robots' capable of adapting flexibly to unexpected situations in hazardous environments, such as lunar surfaces and disaster sites. Our vision is that by 2050, these 'collaborative AI robots' will be capable of replacing humans, enabling emergency restoration in natural disasters, and aiding in the construction of lunar bases. This technology will also find applications in constructing and maintaining infrastructure on Earth. To achieve this objective, we have identified three key research and development pillars:
1. Robot Hardware for Earthwork Innovation,
2. Dynamic Collaboration System for Multiple Robots, and
3. Sensor Pod System for Environmental Data Collection.
During this presentation, I will provide a 3-year progress report on our project and discuss the future of innovations in earthworks in the context of robotics.
Biography:
Keiji Nagatani received his PhD from the University of Tsukuba in 1997. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Carnegie Mellon University from 1997 to 1999, a lecturer at Okayama University from 1999 to 2005, and an associate professor at Tohoku University from 2005 to 2019. Currently, he is a professor at the University of Tokyo since 2019 and also one of the project managers of objective #3 in the Moonshot Research and Development program. His research interest is field robotics, which includes improving traversal ability for all-terrain robots, the autonomy of inspection robots, and intelligent functions for construction machines. He is a Member of the RSJ, SICE, JSME, JSASS and IEEE.