Nobuhumi Nakamura

Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology

Papers

Total Citations

112

H-Index

About

Nobuhumi Nakamura is a pioneer in the field of biohybrid robotics and bioenergy harvesting, with a focus on integrating living insects with biofuel cells (BFCs) to create self-powered, autonomous sensing systems. His key research areas include insect-machine interfaces, enzymatic biofuel cells, and wireless environmental monitoring. Nakamura’s most notable contribution is the development of the first self-powered environmental monitoring robot, reported in his 2016 paper (24 citations), which demonstrated an insect backpacked with a BFC that generates electricity from blood sugar in its hemolymph, enabling wireless temperature and humidity sensing. His foundational 2015 work on a biofuel cell backpacked insect (84 citations) established the feasibility of using insect hemolymph as a renewable fuel source, while his 2014 study on trehalose biofuel cells (4 citations) optimized an insect-mountable BFC achieving a maximum power density of 42.9 μW/cm². Nakamura’s work represents a transformative step toward autonomous, energy-autonomous biohybrid robots for environmental monitoring, with significant implications for sustainable sensing in remote or hazardous environments.