Yoshihiko Nakamura received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from Kyoto University in 1977, 1979, and 1985 respectively. He was Assistant Professor at Automation Research Laboratory, Kyoto University for 1982-1987, and Assistant and Associate Professor at Department of Mechanical and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara for 1987-1991. Dr. Nakamura joined Department of Mechano-Informatics, University of Tokyo in 1991 as Associate Professor, and engaged in research and education as Professor from 1997 to 2020. He was elected Professor Emeritus at University of Tokyo in June 2020. He is currently Senior Researcher, Corporate Sponsored Research Program “Human-Motion Data Science,” Research into Artifacts, Center for Engineering (RACE), Graduate School of Engineering, University of Tokyo.
Dr. Nakamura’s robotics research started on the basis of kinematics, dynamics, and control. Humanoid robotics, cognitive robotics, neuro-musculoskeletal human modeling, biomedical systems, and their computational algorithms are the current fields of his research. His book publication includes “Advanced Robotics: Redundancy and Optimization” (1991 Addison-Wesley), “Building the Robot Brain” (2003 Iwanami), and “Robot Motion” (coauthored with M. Uchiyama, 2004 Iwanami) for which Publication Award was presented by Society of Instrument and Control Engineers in 2005. Dr. Nakamura was a recipient of King-Sun Fu Memorial Best Transactions Paper Award, IEEE Transaction of Robotics and Automation in 2001 and 2002. He received the Most Active Distinguished Lecture Award of IEEE RAS in 2007, JSME Medal for Distinguished Engineers from Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers in 2020, and IEEE RAS Pioneer Award in 2021. He also received Tateisi Prize Achievement Award in 2022.
He was President of International Federation for the Promotion of Mechanism and Machine Science (2012-2015). He is an executive board member of International Foundation of Robotics Research. He was a founding co-chair of IEEE-RAS Technical Committee on Robotics and Automation in Nuclear Facilities (2012-2022). He is a member of IEEE-RAS CARES (Committee to Aid Reporting on Misconduct Concerns) and IEEE-RAS AdCom (2021-2023). Dr. Nakamura is Foreign Member of Academy of Engineering Science of Serbia, and TUM Distinguished Affiliated Professor of Technische Universität München. Dr. Nakamura is Fellow of Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers, Fellow of Robotics Society of Japan, Fellow of World Academy of Arts and Science, and Life Fellow of IEEE. He was appointed as Technical Advisor for All Japan Taekwondo Association in 2020. In February 2021, Dr. Nakamura founded and became CEO of Kinescopic Inc., a startup of human digital twin technology.