State of the Art in Japanese Robotics

Jie Ma and Julian de Hoog

Jie Ma is a third-year DPhil student whose research involves application of machine learning techniques to multi-agent systems. Julian de Hoog is a second-year DPhil student whose research involves development of cooperative exploration algorithms for teams of robots.

This past August we had a chance to visit six universities in Japan as part of a grant from Oxford's Sasakawa Fund. This was a unique opportunity for us to learn about engineering aspects and real-world limitations of our research, and to experience first-hand the state of the art in Japanese robotics.

We were shown robots that roll, balance, walk and climb; we were shown robots that save lives, perform construction work, and play football; we were shown spider robots, snake robots, underwater robots, and extra-terrestrial robots; and we were even introduced to a robotic baby.

In our talk we will show pictures and videos of our experiences in Japan and briefly discuss the directions that robotic research seems to be headed towards.