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About

Atsushi Takagi is a researcher whose work bridges human motor control, physical human-human interaction, and human-robot interaction, with particular expertise in how individuals coordinate movement through physical contact. His most influential contribution, "Physically interacting individuals estimate the partner's goal to enhance their movements" (2017, 163 citations), demonstrated that humans can read a partner's motor intentions during physical contact and exploit this information to improve their own movement — a finding that fundamentally advanced our understanding of dyadic motor coordination. Building on this insight, Takagi developed robotic controllers capable of assimilating human intentions to enable more natural and adaptive human-robot collaboration. His research also explores arm impedance modulation, revealing how humans tune muscle stiffness to optimize both movement precision and sensory perception in uncertain environments. Beyond motor control, Takagi has investigated artificial nociception for robots, proposing that pain-like mechanisms could protect robotic systems from damage, and has designed specialized robotic tools for probing somatosensory processing in neuroimaging contexts. His work on robotic rehabilitation further challenges assumptions about effort and slacking, showing that reduced muscular effort under robotic assistance need not compromise motor engagement. Collectively, Takagi's research offers foundational insights for designing intelligent, human-aware robotic systems.