Papers
82
Total Citations
991
H-Index
18
About
Yuji Yamakawa is a pioneering robotics researcher whose work centers on high-speed robotic manipulation, flexible object handling, and sensory-motor integration. He has made landmark contributions to one of robotics' most challenging frontiers: enabling robots to manipulate deformable, flexible objects with the dexterity and speed approaching human capability. Yamakawa is perhaps best known for his groundbreaking research on robotic knotting — developing strategies that allow multifingered robot hands to tie knots in flexible ropes through decomposed skill sequences including loop production, rope permutation, and rope pulling. His 2007 paper on one-handed knotting (63 citations) and subsequent dynamic knotting work (60 citations) demonstrated that high-speed manipulation, combined with tactile sensing, could unlock entirely new classes of robotic dexterity. He extended this philosophy to cloth folding and peg-and-hole alignment, developing visual compliance strategies that handle positional uncertainty with remarkable speed and precision. A unifying theme across his body of work is the fusion of high-speed vision, tactile sensing operating at 1 kHz, and dynamic compensation systems — enabling robots to overcome traditional limitations in endpoint regulation. His research, accumulating over 400 citations, has significantly advanced flexible manufacturing robotics and laid essential groundwork for next-generation intelligent manipulation systems.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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- 4Fast peg-and-hole alignment using visual compliance49 citations · 2013
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- 6Dynamic High-Speed Knotting of a Rope by a Manipulator33 citations · 2013
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- 9Skillful manipulation based on high-speed sensory-motor fusion30 citations · 2009
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