Rintaro Okuno

National Agriculture and Food Research Organization

Papers

Total Citations

H-Index

About

Rintaro Okuno is a robotics researcher specializing in agricultural and slope-maintenance automation, with a focus on developing safe, efficient machinery for hazardous environments. His primary research areas include small-scale robotic mowers for steep slopes, autonomous navigation systems, and human-robot collaboration in outdoor terrains. Okuno’s major contribution is the design and evaluation of a novel induction-type small mowing robot tailored for steep slopes, addressing the dangerous and physically demanding task of manual brush cutting. His 2020 paper, “Development of a Small Mowing Robot for Steep Slopes,” introduces a robot that uses a guiding motor instead of a manual winch, enabling remote-controlled or semi-autonomous operation. Through motion analysis, he demonstrated that the robot’s net work efficiency—measured as effective mowing area per unit time—outperforms conventional slope mowers, reducing operator risk and physical strain. While his citation count (1) reflects the niche, early-stage nature of this work, Okuno’s research holds significant practical impact for infrastructure maintenance, disaster prevention, and aging workforce challenges in rural Japan. His work exemplifies how targeted robotics can transform high-risk manual labor into safer, more productive tasks.