RITSUMEIKAN UNIVERSITY
- Home |
- Site Map |
- Contact |
- Library |
- Calendar |
- Webmail |
- Faculty & Staff |
- Employment
|
Dr. Sang-Ho Hyon is an Associate Professor in the Department of Robotics and a visiting researcher from the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International (ATR). His research centers on locomotion and walking machines.
It goes without saying that the machines you are working with are incredibly complex, could you explain your research and some of the difficulties it poses?
My research focuses primarily on developing robots that can balance and walk by themselves. In addition to creation and testing algorithms that define how the robot reacts, we also develop parts that assist the robot in its movement. However, the actual pieces of technology we apply our research to are from a variety of fields. We make requests for a variety of complex machines, since the actual process of creating a robot is very complicated, we collaborate with industry and essentially use their robots as a base from which to conduct research. Aside from the obvious complexities associated with calibrating the movements and abilities of our robots to balance as they react to outside forces, the question of how to make robotic parts suitable for use has been a large obstacle. Robots must be light, yet durable, and they require power which means that they need special motors to function. Currently we’re using hydraulics for our walking robots. Although hydraulic systems have been around for a long time, they are being renewed and now we use a hybrid electric/hydraulic system. Nowadays you will find that machines used in construction utilize these sorts of hybrid motors which draw on electricity and a motor to drive a pump.
(Dr. Hyon shows a couple of videos of robots he has worked on, including a video of, the humanoid robot CB created by Sarcos Inc. that is held at the ATR facilities in Kyoto)
- Example of High-Speed Running [avi-video]
- Symmetric Walking (treadmill) [avi-video]
- Examples of the humanoid robots created by Sarcos Inc.
Given that robot technology is very expensive and hard to acquire, how does your laboratory function with regards to access to such technology?
In terms of learning in this lab, the very high-level research is carried out at the ATR research facilities, whereas here students start at a more fundamental level. However, we’ll sometimes take ideas from students and incorporate them into the overall research, for instance in the development of an actuator. The student then writes their own paper on the hardware they have developed and carry out tests at the research facilities.
In terms of collaboration with ATR, what are some of the benefits to students other than having a place to carry out high-level research?
Because of the connection between our research laboratory and ATR, master’s students that are able to join our research may be able to attain an internship at ATR. Such internships are longer term paid placements in the range of one to two years where the student carries out studies at our lab and visits ATR numerous times throughout the week.
Currently how many students are in your lab?
Since we only began this since April 2010, we have only five fourth year students, but we will take on more as time goes on with a maximum of 10 students.
Are there any possibilities for students from overseas joining your lab?
Actually we’ve had some post-doctoral students apply, and starting from next year we should have some overseas students joining our research lab.
Do you have any words for International students who are interested in conducting this kind of research?
We are open to students from around the world, but we also recognize that students must have excellent control over the basics, a high level of motivation, a vision for the future, and be able to show this through their studies. Because the research done here is very high-level, it is difficult to accept students without significant experience in the field.
College of Image Arts & Sciences
Film studies, archiving
College of Information Science & Engineering
Computer Science
College of Information Science & Engineering
Social System, Computer Software, Information System
College of Information Science & Engineering
Visual Communication, Intelligent Information System, Computer Vision
College of Information Science & Engineering
AI, Entertainment Computing, Computer Games, Digital Humanities
College of Letters
Humanities
College of Letters
Quantitative Geography, Geographical Information Science, Medical Geography / Health Geography
College of Letters
Human Geography
College of Life Sciences
Applied microbiology, Applied biochemistry, Functional biochemistry
College of Life Sciences
High Pressure Chemistry, Biophysical Chemistry, Protein Chemistry
College of Science & Engineering
Materials Science and Engineering, Structual and Functional Materials, Metallurgy and Material Processing
College of Science & Engineering
Civil Engineering,
College of Science & Engineering
Robotics, Control theory, Dynamical systems, Locomotion, Humanoid
College of Science & Engineering
Biological Engineering
College of Science & Engineering
Architecture for facilities of the disabled, health architecture.
College of Sport & Health Science
Physical activity, exercise, lifestyle related diseases, training, energy metabolism, cancer, dietary reference intake, skeletal muscle, mitochondria, maximal oxygen uptake.
Ritsumeikan-Global Innovation Research Organization
Econometrics, Energy and environmental economics