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About

Keiichiro Inagaki is a pioneering researcher in the field of hexapod walking robotics, with a career dedicated to advancing locomotion in unstructured environments. His key research areas include adaptive gait generation, force control, and energy-efficient power systems for multi-legged robots. Inagaki’s major contributions include the development of the adaptive wave gait, a novel rule that enables hexapod robots to maintain stable walking even when a leg is disabled—a critical capability for real-world rough terrain. He also introduced a torque observer-based force control method to enhance stability on soft surfaces like soil, and designed a hybrid power system combining a gasoline engine with computer-controlled clutches to dramatically improve energy efficiency. His most cited work, “Adaptive wave gait for hexapod synchronized walking” (16 citations), and “Force control for hexapod walking robot with torque observer” (11 citations) have laid foundational principles for robust, fault-tolerant robot locomotion. Inagaki also led the development of the Hexax-I robot, a practical platform for transportation in unstructured environments, and contributed to distributed control structures for leg synchronization. His work continues to inspire students and researchers in robotics, particularly those focused on bio-inspired locomotion and disaster response.