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About

Shoji Tominaga is a leading figure in robotics and computer vision, whose work bridges the gap between autonomous navigation and advanced optical measurement. His primary research areas include sensor-based mobile robot navigation and the precise measurement of surface light reflection. In the early 2000s, Tominaga made foundational contributions to sensor-based navigation, developing algorithms that enable a mobile robot to reach a global goal while locally avoiding obstacles using only real-time sensor data—a critical challenge in unknown environments. His most-cited paper, "On the sensor-based navigation by changing a direction to follow an encountered obstacle" (2002), has garnered 14 citations and remains a reference point for researchers tackling reactive navigation. Expanding into optical metrology, Tominaga engineered a novel goniometric system using two robot arms and a multi-band lighting setup to capture surface spectral reflection with four degrees of freedom. This work, detailed in papers from 2005 and 2006, allows for the full parameterization of reflection models, advancing fields from computer graphics to material science. With a career defined by cross-disciplinary innovation, Tominaga’s research continues to influence both autonomous robotics and high-precision imaging.