Hot Topic: Consumer Electronics

Professor Kazuhiro Kosuge
IEEE Fellow and IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, President (2010-2011)

“In the consumer electronic industries, more products will be developed by introducing IRT (Information and Robotics Technology).”

Prof. Kazuhiro Kosuge, president of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS) – 2010-2011 and an IEEE Fellow, has been a researcher in the field of robotics for over 25 years. His main focus areas include human-robot coordination and interaction, multiple robots coordination, manipulation, passive robotics, and real world robot applications.

Prof. Kosuge has over 200 technical publications in the area of robotics and its applications to real life situations. The Dance Partner Robot, PBDR, developed by his group in 2005 was selected as one of the most amazing inventions of 2005 by TIME magazine. Prof. Kosuge has received numerous awards for his research: the JSME (Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers) award for the best papers in 2002 and 2005; the RSJ (Robotics Society of Japan) award for the best papers in 2005; the Original Paper award from the FANUC FA and Robot Foundation in 2004 and 2006; the Best Paper award of IROS’97; and the Outstanding Scientific Achievement award from JSME’s robotics and mechatronics division in 1999.

Prof. Kosuge is an active member of various academic organizations. In addition to being an IEEE Fellow, he is a SICE (Society of Instrument and Control Engineers) Fellow, a JSME Fellow, and an RSJ Fellow. Prof. Kosuge was also the editor-in-chief for RSJ’s official international journal, Advanced Robotics from 2002 to 2007. Other key appointments include his roles as vice president of the IEEE RAS for member activities (1998-2001), Administrative Committee (AdCom) member of the IEEE RAS from 2002 (elected three times: 1996-1997, 2002-2004, and 2005-2007), member of the RSJ board of trustees (1993-1994, 2001-2002), meeting chair of the IEEE RAS (2006-2007), chair of JSME’s robotics and mechatronics division (2005), and chair of the System Integration Division of the Society of Instrument and Control Engineers (2001-2002).

Currently a professor in the department of bioengineering and robotics at Tohoku University, Japan, Prof. Kosuge started his career in 1980 in the production engineering department of Nippon Denso Co., Ltd. (now DENSO Co., Ltd.) as a research and development staff. After two years, he moved to the Tokyo Institute of Technology where he was a research associate in the department of control engineering. Prof. Kosuge was also a visiting scientist for the department of mechanical engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology during his tenure with the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Before joining Tohuku University in 1995, he was an Associate Professor at Nagoya University.

Prof. Kosuge received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in control engineering from the Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1978, 1980 and 1988 respectively.

IEEE had an opportunity to sit down with Prof. Kosuge, for a conversation on how trends in consumer electronics may make the Jetsons lifestyle a reality in the near future:

 

IEEE:  What is most interesting about the robotics and automation industry at the moment?
 
KK:  In relation to the consumer electronics industry, what I feel is most interesting is the creation/invention of robots for real life situations and environments. For example, the iRobot series of cleaning robots, which are used in homes and by businesses, and the Paro therapeutic robot baby seals developed in Japan for patients in environments such as hospitals and extended care facilities where live animals present treatment or logistical difficulties. The Danish government plans to take delivery of some 1,000 Paro robots by 2011 to cover almost all facilities for aged people in Denmark nursing homes.

Another interesting thing is that the computer game industries are introducing a lot of new human-machine (or robot) interface technologies to their products which detect human body motion in 3D allowing the user to interact with the computer. The Nintendo Wii is an example.

IEEE:  How are the latest advances in robotics and artificial intelligence benefiting humanity?

KK:  They are extensively used in elderly care and rehabilitation and for playware. Henrick Lund, director of the AdapTronics Group at the Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Institute at the University of Southern Denmark has recently launched the Center for Playware in the same institute which has received wide media attention for motivating kids to play together on his interactive playgrounds.
 

Playware is the use of technology to create the kind of leisure activities we normally label play, i.e. intelligent hardware and software that aims at producing play and playful experiences among users and of which e.g. computer games are a sub-genre. Henrick has been pushing his modular robotic tiles to the market with applications in therapy, fitness, sport and music products through his company Entertainment Robotics, and also presents his work done in the field of educational robotics with the Afrobot Project, which is motivating children in Tanzania to become inventors and engineers.

IEEE:  What do you see as key trends in the industry next year? 

KK: In the consumer electronic industries, more products will be developed by introducing IRT (Information and Robotics Technology).

IEEE: What trends do you see in the future?

KK:  A lot of consumer products are produced in developing countries by cheap labor. In the future, we need a new production system releasing workers from dirty and dangerous work environments.

Currently, several organizations are trying to develop a new safety regulation for robots in the human environment. If the regulation is established, more and more robots will be introduced in our living environments.
 

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