Tomoki Hirota

Background

About Tomoki Hirota

With a desire to address the challenges faced by aging farmers in maintaining their livelihoods, I entered Shinshu University to explore solutions that could alleviate their physical burdens. Driven by a long-standing interest in foreign cultures, I participated in an exchange program at California State University, Chico, where I gained exposure to unique agricultural machinery and discovered the critical role of engineering skills in achieving my aspirations. Upon returning to Japan, I joined the KARURA Project, an international, student-led Mars rover development team in its inaugural year. Collaborating with over 60 students from the United States and Japan, I led the arm development team, successfully managing a diverse group of Japanese and American members to design and build robotic systems. Our efforts culminated in achieving 27th place in the University Rover Challenge 2024. In my senior year as an undergraduate, I began tackling control systems problems in the Control Engineering Laboratory at Shinshu University. Building on my interest in supporting human activities, I have been conducting research in Human-Robot Interaction. Specifically, my current focus is on human force modeling for variable admittance control of a robotic arm, aiming to reduce the physical burden on human operators.