Papers
30
Total Citations
897
H-Index
11
About
K. Kitagaki is a robotics researcher whose work spans two deeply interconnected domains: software middleware for robot system integration and advanced robotic manipulation and control. He is perhaps best known as a principal architect of RT-Middleware, a distributed component-based software platform designed to accelerate the development and deployment of robot technology across industrial and everyday human-support applications. His 2005 paper introducing RT-Middleware has accumulated 476 citations, reflecting its foundational influence on how modular, networked robotic systems are built and standardized. Complementary work on the RT-Component object model and composite component frameworks further cemented this contribution, helping shape international standards for component-based robot software development. Beyond middleware, Kitagaki made significant contributions to robot control theory, proposing decentralized adaptive controllers for multiple cooperating manipulators under holonomic constraints and extending this to both time-invariant and time-variant adaptive hybrid control scenarios. His work on dynamic force sensing using Kalman filtering addressed the practical challenge of accurate force measurement during high-speed manipulation. He also explored telerobotics for hazardous environments, virtual-reality-based teaching by demonstration, and dexterous fabric handling with multi-fingered robot hands. Collectively, his research bridges theoretical control foundations with real-world robotic systems engineering, making him a notable contributor to modern robotics infrastructure.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1RT-middleware: distributed component middleware for RT (robot technology)476 citations · 2005
- 2Decentralized adaptive control of multiple manipulators in co-operations68 citations · 1997
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- 10Picking up a piece of fabric from layers by a hand with 3 fingers and a palm13 citations · 2002