Yasuharu Kunii received B.S., and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from Chuo University, Tokyo, Japan, in 1992, 1994, and Dr.Eng. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Tokyo, Japan, in 1997, respectively.
He was a research fellow DC1 of JSPS from 1994 to 1997 at the Institute of Industrial Science, University of Tokyo, joined science and engineering department, Chuo University as a Lecturer from 1997, and was an Associate Professor from 1999 to 2014, and a Processor in 2014. From 2010 to 2011, he was a Visiting Professor at the Technical University of Munich, Bayern, Germany.
His research interests are in the area of field and space robotics, especially in Swarm Exploration Robot and Tele-intelligence. He is a Member of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society, the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, the Society of Instrument and Control Engineers of Japan, and the Robotics Society of Japan.
Moonshot project: Intelligent Multi Agents for Exploration and Settlement in Unknown and Unexplored Areas
The project acknowledges the limitations and risks associated with relying solely on high-precision measurement and control by a few large robots. To overcome these challenges, alternative solutions are being sought, focusing on decentralized and self-organizing AI robot technology. The objective is to develop robots capable of long-term survival and operation in high-risk and unfamiliar natural environments with unpredictable conditions. This entails studying how the collective can evolve through updating and expanding shared functions and introducing new robot units.
Furthermore, the project aims to create an advanced system that utilizes swarm intelligence to construct activity bases, where multiple robots collaborate to transport and deploy robot base containers, functioning as operational hubs. By combining these approaches, the goal is to achieve the establishment of lunar activity bases through the evolution of swarm intelligence by the year 2050.
In addition, developed technologies can be applicable to the earth such as natural disasters, huge equipment inspection, etc.