About me
Research Interests
Resilient autonomy in physical- and knowledge-wise unstructured environments, focusing on perception and planning under uncertainty.
Keywords: integrated planning and learning, path/motion planning, probabilistic inference, machine learning, autonomous mobile robots, planetary exploration
Education
Keio University, Japan
Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering - Sep. 2021 - Present
Advisor: Prof. Genya Ishigami
Oregon State University, The United States
M.S. in Robotics - Sep. 2019 - Aug. 2021
Advisor: Prof. Burak Sencer
Tohoku University, Japan
M.Eng. in Aerospace Engineering - Apr. 2017 - Mar. 2019
Advisor: Prof. Kazuya Yoshida and Prof. Kenji Nagaoka
Kobe University, Japan
B.Eng. in Mechanical Engineering - Apr. 2013 - Mar. 2017
Advisor: Prof. Tsuyoshi Kawanami
Research Experience
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, The United States
Aug. 2024 - Nov. 2024
Research Intern as JVSRP, advised by Dr. Masahiro Ono, Dr. Ashkan Jasour, and Mr. Rohan Thakker.
Worked on establishing a sequential decision-making method for resilient autonomy under uncertainty.
Field AI, The United States
Oct. 2023 - Dec. 2023
Research Intern, advised by Dr. David D. Fan
Worked on establishing reliable robotics autonomy in challenging environments.
OMRON SINIC X Corporation, Japan
Jun. 2022 - Mar. 2023
Research Intern, advised by Dr. Ryo Yonetani and Dr. Tatsunori Taniai
Developed ML-based traversability prediction method for planetary rover navigation (arXiv).
Proposed a path planning method robust against erroneous traversability prediction via ML models, representing multimodal slip distribution for heterogeneous deformable terrains (IEEE ICRA, 2023).
Space Robotics Group, Keio University, Japan
Sep. 2021 - Present
JSPS DC1 Research Fellow, advised by Prof. Genya Ishigami
Developed a Pytorch-based simulation platform for benchmarking off-road navigation algorithms with built-in ML models for probabilistic traversability prediction (IEEE ICRA WS, 2024).
Proposed a sampling-based informative path planner with probabilistic risk inference to actively learn latent traversability for planetary rovers (IEEE RA-L, 2022).
Manufacturing Process Control Laboratory, Oregon State University, The United States
Sep. 2019 - Aug. 2021
Graduate Research Assistant, advised by Prof. Burak Sencer
Developed a cycle-time prediction method in combination with an analytical dynamics model and ML architecture for CNC machines (Int. Manuf. Sci. Eng. Conf., 2021 & CIRP Annals, 2022).
Space Robotics Laboratory, Tohoku University, Japan
Apr. 2017 - Mar. 2019
Master Student, Advised by Prof. Kazuya Yoshida, Prof. Kenji Nagaoka, and Prof. Toshinori Kuwahara
Presented a vision-based approach with machine learning for predicting wheel slip risk (Robotica, 2021).
Developed a vision-based traveling state estimation method (wheel slip/sinkage) for rovers using ROS (JSME Conf. Robot. Mechatron., 2019).
Implemented and verified a Kalman-filter-based micro-satellite trajectory estimation method (IAA NE Asia Symp. Small Satell., 2017).
Laboratory of Energy Conversion Engineering, Kobe University, Japan
Apr. 2016 - Mar. 2017
Undergraduate Student, Advised by Prof. Tsuyoshi Kawanami
Built a soft capsule containing phase change material and verified the capacity to keep thermal energy.
Teaching Experience
Teaching Assistant - Oregon State University, The United States
Spring 2020
ME 413: Computer-aided Design and Manufacturing
Paper Review
IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) 2023, 2024
IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) 2022, 2023, 2024
IEEJ Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Awards and Fellowships
Fellowships
JSPS Overseas Challenge Program for Young Researchers, Sponsored by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)
Aug. 2024 - Nov. 2024
Apr. 2022 - Mar. 2025
Scholarships
Research Encouragement Scholarship for Graduate Students, Sponsored by Keio University
Apr. 2024 - Mar. 2025
Research Encouragement Scholarship for Graduate Students, Sponsored by Keio University
Apr. 2023 - Mar. 2024
JEES/Mitsubishi Corporation Scholarship, Sponsored by JEES and Mitsubishi Corporation
Apr. 2023 - Aug. 2024
Fujiwara Scholarship, Sponsored by Keio University
Oct. 2021 - Mar. 2022
Awards
NAMRC 49 and MSEC 2021 Student Support Award, Sponsored by National Science Foundation (NSF)
Apr. 2021
Skills
Programming: Python, C++, Julia, MATLAB
Robotics Software: Pytorch, ROS, Git
Language: English, Japanese (Native)