Toshio Fukuda

Biography

Dr. Fukuda is known as a pioneer in the field of Intelligence Systems for his research on Modular Robotic Systems called Cellular Robotic System “CEBOT.” Dr. Fukuda developed brachiation controllers, which are important for providing more natural movement in robots. Based on an ape’s brachiation (the pendulum-like movement involved when swinging from tree limb to tree limb), Dr. Fukuda and colleagues addressed “swing locomotion” and “swing up” behaviors resulting in a robot capable of continuous movement over several rungs of a ladder. He pioneered microrobotics technology including the microsensors and microactuators that make the miniature systems possible, and his medical intravascular microsurgery simulator has found commercial use. Dr. Fukuda has worked on three-dimensional manipulation of carbon nanotubes for nanosensors and nanoactuators, with implications for biotechnology applications. He has studied nanorobotic manipulation systems used for sample preparations and cell manipulation/evaluation with carbon nanotubes.

An IEEE Fellow, Dr. Fukuda is a professor in the Department of Micro-Nano Systems Engineering at Nagoya University, Japan.