The IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Robotics History Project is an ongoing project with efforts to capture the history of robotics by curating a compilation of Roboticist interviews, photos and videos.
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Toshio Fukuda
Nagoya University, Nagoya
Japan
Research Areas
Automation, Robots
Interview Synopsis
Medical robotics pioneer and 2020 IEEE President.
Biography
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On 5 October 2018 IEEE announced that Toshio Fukuda, IEEE Life Fellow (1995), had been elected the 2019 IEEE President-Elect. He will begin serving as IEEE President on 1 January 2020.
Medical robotics pioneer, Toshio Fukuda, was born on 12 December 1948 in Showa, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. In 1971, Fukuda received a B.E. from Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan and then received an M.S. and D. Sc. from the University of Tokyo, in 1973 and 1977, respectively. He has spent his career in research at teaching at laboratories and universities, primarily in Japan, including: Research Scientist at the National Mechanical Engineering Laboratory, AIST, in Japan (1977-1979); a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Stuttgart (1979-1980); Associate Professor at the Science University of Tokyo, (1981-1989); Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Nagoya University, Japan (1989-2013); Professor at Meijo University (2013-); Professor at Beijing Institute of Technology (2013-); and Foreign Member, Chinese Academy of Sciences (2017).
Most recently, Fukuda’s research has been focused in the fields of intelligent robotic systems, self-organizing systems, micro and nano-robotics, bio-robotic systems, neuromorphic intelligent control, fuzzy control, control of mechanical systems, technical diagnosis, and error recovery systems.
Fukuda has been an extremely active IEEE volunteer throughout his career, serving in many capacities, including: President of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (1998-1999); Director, Division X (2001-2002 and 2017-2018); the Founding President of IEEE Nanotechnology Council (2002-2005); and Director, Region 10 (2013-2014). He has also been a member of many boards and committees, active in planning conferences, and an editor of various IEEE publications and transactions. For example, he was the Founding General Chairman of IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) held in Tokyo (1988); the Founding Chair of the IEEE Workshop on Advanced Robotics Technology and Social Impacts (ARSO, 2005); the Founding Chair of the IEEE Workshop on System Integration International (SII, 2008); and the Founding Chair of the International Symposium on Micro- Nano Mechatronics and Human Science (MHS, 1990-2011).
In addition, Fukuda’s IEEE awards include: IEEE Eugene Mittelmann Achievement Award (1997), IEEE Third Millennium Medal (2000) the IEEE Robotics & Automation Society Pioneer Award (2004), the IEEE RAS George Saridis Leadership Award in Robotics and Automation (2009), IEEE Technical Field Award on Robotics and Automation (2010), the IEEE/RSJ IROS Harashima Award for Innovative Technologies (2011). In 2015, he also received the Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon, from the Government of Japan.