Papers
32
Total Citations
516
H-Index
13
About
Kenji Nagaoka is a robotics researcher whose work spans planetary exploration, space robotics, and advanced locomotion systems for challenging environments. His research has made significant contributions across three interconnected domains: subsurface planetary exploration robots, space debris capture and manipulation, and extreme-terrain climbing robots. Nagaoka's early work pioneered biomimetically inspired drilling systems for lunar exploration, including earthworm-typed drilling robots and autonomous burrowing screw mechanisms, with his 2008 lunar screw robot study earning 39 citations. He also advanced terramechanics modeling for screw-driven rovers on soft planetary soils. In parallel, his space robotics research produced influential impedance-based contact control frameworks for capturing non-cooperative satellites, with two foundational papers accumulating over 99 combined citations by 2012. More recently, Nagaoka has led development of innovative climbing robot platforms, including the passive spine gripper system (69 citations) enabling robots to scale rocky cliff faces, and the HubRobo quadruped (30 citations), a lightweight multi-limbed climber designed for extreme terrain. His work on caging-based grasping and dual-arm debris capture further demonstrates his breadth across manipulation and mobility challenges. Collectively, his portfolio reflects a sustained commitment to enabling robotic operation in the most demanding and inaccessible environments imaginable.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1Passive Spine Gripper for Free-Climbing Robot in Extreme Terrain69 citations · 2018
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- 4Earth-worm typed Drilling robot for subsurface planetary exploration35 citations · 2007
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- 8Design of underactuated hand for caging-based grasping of free-flying object27 citations · 2013
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- 10Repeated Impact-Based Capture of a Spinning Object by a Dual-Arm Space Robot19 citations · 2018