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About

Yasuhiro Masutani is a robotics researcher whose work spans three interconnected domains: space manipulator control, nonholonomic systems, and dynamic motion planning. His most influential contributions address the uniquely challenging problem of controlling space manipulators that lack fixed bases — systems governed by momentum conservation laws that render conventional industrial robot control methods inapplicable. His foundational 1989 and 1993 papers on sensory feedback control for space manipulators, accumulating over 140 combined citations, established key frameworks for end-tip positioning in these nonholonomic configurations. Masutani extended this nonholonomic expertise to visual servoing for mobile robots (2002, 38 citations), developing methods that elegantly handle the mismatch between camera-based control and vehicles with constrained degrees of freedom. His research also encompasses visual estimation of free-floating rigid body motion — directly relevant to autonomous space robotics — and real-time motion planning in dynamic environments using spatiotemporal RRT approaches. Particularly imaginative is his use of complex physical tasks like kendama and robotic Hanetsuki (Japanese badminton) as experimental testbeds for studying robot-environment interaction, dynamic dexterity, and learning-based compensation. Across his career, Masutani has consistently bridged theoretical rigor with physically demanding real-world robotic challenges.