Nobuaki Kawahara

About

Nobuaki Kawahara is a pioneering robotics researcher whose work has significantly advanced the field of miniaturized autonomous systems, with a particular focus on in-pipe microrobotics and wireless energy transmission. His most celebrated contributions center on solving one of the fundamental challenges in microrobot design: delivering power to small-scale autonomous systems without the constraints of conventional batteries or tethered wiring. Kawahara's landmark 1999 development of a wireless in-pipe microrobot demonstrated remarkable engineering ingenuity, producing a device capable of navigating 15mm-diameter pipes at speeds of 10mm/s using microwave energy transmission rather than an onboard power supply. This breakthrough addressed the critical limitation that battery energy storage scales poorly with miniaturization, effectively opening new possibilities for inspection and maintenance robotics in confined spaces. His subsequent 2001 publications expanded on this platform, refining the microwave energy transmission framework and the piezoelectric bimorph actuation system that drives locomotion. With combined citations across his key works reflecting consistent scholarly recognition, Kawahara's research has laid important groundwork for wireless-powered microrobotic systems, influencing ongoing developments in pipeline inspection, medical microrobotics, and untethered autonomous systems operating in constrained environments.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   <title>In-pipe wireless microrobot</title>

   24 citations · 1999
2. 2
   Development of in‐pipe microrobot using microwave energy transmission

   22 citations · 2001
3. 3
   In-pipe wireless micro robot

   13 citations · 2001

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links