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About

Shotaro Mori is a pioneering roboticist whose work bridges the gap between human athletic performance and machine capability, with a primary focus on high-speed, lightweight humanoid robotics and dexterous manipulation. His most celebrated contributions center on the development of a badminton-playing robot, where he introduced groundbreaking designs using pneumatic-electric hybrid actuators to achieve the dynamic, high-accuracy motions required for competitive play. His 2018 and 2019 papers on this topic, with 45 and 43 citations respectively, demonstrate his success in overcoming the traditional limitations of robot speed and weight, enabling a robot to perform skillful, human-like strokes. Earlier in his career, Mori also made significant strides in mobile robotics with his 2002 work on path tracking control using quadratic curves (42 citations), offering a novel approach to position-based navigation. His latest research, a 2023 paper on a pneumatic-electric hybrid drive robot hand featuring a passive clutch mechanism, continues this trajectory, aiming to combine powerful grasping with precise manipulation. Through these innovations, Mori has established himself as a key figure in creating robots that can match and even exceed human dexterity and speed in complex, real-world tasks.