Seiji Sugiyama

About

Seiji Sugiyama is a robotics researcher whose work spans wearable robotics, humanoid locomotion, robotic manipulation, and autonomous mobile robot navigation. His most influential contribution, a 2003 paper on passive elements with variable mechanical impedance for wearable robots (81 citations), introduced lightweight, compact, and compliant mechanical components that opened new possibilities for human-assistive robotic systems. Sugiyama has made significant strides in humanoid robot mobility, developing innovative shuffle-turn and sliding walk methods that improve stability and efficiency in constrained environments, with multiple publications in this area around 2011. His work on soft robotic fingertips is equally notable — embedding micro force/moment sensors within compliant fingertips to enable tactile perception and refined grasp planning, with findings validated through finite element analysis and physical experimentation. In autonomous navigation, he has consistently advanced hydrodynamic potential-field approaches for mobile robot path planning and collision avoidance, extending these methods to dynamic environments and steering-based automotive safety systems. With research bridging mechanical design, biomechanics, and intelligent control, Sugiyama's body of work reflects a broad yet cohesive vision for robots that operate safely and effectively alongside humans.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   Development of passive elements with variable mechanical impedance for wearable robots

   81 citations · 2003
2. 2
   Collision avoidance control with steering using velocity potential field

   27 citations · 2014
3. 3
   Shuffle turn and translation of humanoid robots

   21 citations · 2011
4. 4
   Analysis of sliding of a soft fingertip embedded with a novel micro force/moment sensor: Simulation, experiment, and application

   21 citations · 2009
5. 5
   Path planning of a mobile robot for avoiding moving obstacles with improved velocity control by using the hydrodynamic potential

   18 citations · 2010
6. 6
   Measurement of grasp position by human hands and grasp criterion for two soft-fingered robot hands

   12 citations · 2009
7. 7
   A sliding walk method for humanoid robots using ZMP feedback control

   8 citations · 2011
8. 8
   Side translation by simultaneous shuffle turn for humanoid robots

   8 citations · 2011
9. 9
   Path Planning for Mobile Robot at A Crossroads by Using Hydrodynamic Potential.

   7 citations · 1998
10. 10
    Tactile Perception using Micro Force/Moment Sensor Embedded in Soft Fingertip

    6 citations · 2006

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links