Hiroki Nakanishi
Tohoku University, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Tokyo Institute of Technology
Papers
20
Total Citations
631
H-Index
12
About
Hiroki Nakanishi is a prominent robotics researcher whose work centers on space robotics, orbital mechanics, and autonomous satellite servicing systems. He has made foundational contributions to the challenge of capturing non-cooperative and tumbling satellites using free-flying and free-floating space robots — one of the most technically demanding problems in on-orbit servicing. Nakanishi's most influential work, "Dynamics, Control and Impedance Matching for Robotic Capture of a Non-Cooperative Satellite" (2004, 149 citations), introduced the concept of virtual mass to model inertial properties during contact, establishing theoretical groundwork that has shaped the field. His sustained focus on impedance control — spanning basic equations, compliant wrist mechanisms, and coefficient-of-restitution management — has produced a coherent and widely cited body of work totaling over 550 citations across his top papers alone. Beyond contact dynamics, Nakanishi tackled whole-body motion control, angular momentum distribution, and time-optimal manipulator strategies under real-world constraints. His early conceptual contribution, the TAKO Flyer satellite servicing concept (2002), demonstrated forward-thinking vision for collaborative orbital operations. Together, his research has meaningfully advanced the theoretical and practical foundations for autonomous robotic operations in space.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1
- 2On the Capture of Tumbling Satellite by a Space Robot105 citations · 2006
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- 5Impedance matching in capturing a satellite by a space robot51 citations · 2004
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