Koki Nomura

Papers

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About

Koki Nomura is a roboticist specializing in soft, pneumatically-driven robots for internal pipe and medical inspection. His research focuses on developing minimally invasive, self-propelled robots that navigate confined, delicate environments—such as gas pipes and the human colon—using innovative pneumatic actuation. Nomura’s major contribution is the creation of robots that replace traditional, skill-dependent manual inspection with autonomous, safer alternatives. His most-cited work, “Development of in-pipe robot with extension hose and balloons” (2017, 14 citations), introduces a robot that moves through gas pipes using balloons and an extension hose, capturing interior images to detect cracks or leaks. This addresses a critical need for aging infrastructure inspection. In related work (2017, 2 citations), he tackles the challenge of tube friction constraining robot motion. Nomura also advanced medical robotics with a self-propelled, actively bendable colonoscope robot (2015, 2 citations), featuring a “party horn” propulsion mechanism and pneumatic parallel links for three-degree-of-freedom bending, reducing injury risk and operator dependence. His work bridges soft robotics and practical inspection, offering safer, autonomous solutions for infrastructure and healthcare.