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About

Tomoki Sakaue is a robotics researcher whose work sits at the intersection of hazardous environment automation, nuclear decommissioning, and remote manipulation systems. His research has made significant contributions to solving one of the most pressing challenges in nuclear engineering: developing safe, effective robotic solutions for environments too dangerous for human workers, particularly in the aftermath of the Fukushima Daiichi disaster. Sakaue's most influential work focuses on deploying robotic systems within highly contaminated nuclear facilities, including pioneering human-robot collaborative surveys inside Fukushima Daiichi's reactor buildings and advancing long-reach manipulator technology for fuel debris retrieval. His research on dynamics-based trajectory planning addresses the complex challenge of vibration suppression in flexible robotic arms operating in confined nuclear spaces — a technically demanding problem with real safety implications. He has also explored haptic digital twin technology to train operators for delicate nuclear handling tasks, and developed specialized robots for zeolite removal and power line inspection. With over 38 cumulative citations across his published works, Sakaue's research spans both theoretical innovation and practical engineering deployment. His contributions are helping shape the future of robotic decommissioning — reducing human radiation exposure while advancing the capabilities necessary for safely retiring aging nuclear infrastructure worldwide.