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About

Sigeo Hirose is a pioneering roboticist whose work has fundamentally shaped the fields of bio-inspired robotics and mobile manipulation. His research focuses on creating robots that can navigate challenging, unstructured environments, drawing inspiration from biological locomotion. Hirose’s seminal 1974 study on serpentine locomotion laid the groundwork for understanding how snakes move, a concept he later applied to develop articulated body robots. His most iconic contribution is the NINJA-1, a quadruped wall-climbing robot introduced in 1991 that can traverse floors, walls, and ceilings using a novel 3D parallel link mechanism and suction pads. This work, along with his internally balanced magnetic climbing unit, established him as a leader in vertical mobility. Hirose also advanced practical sensing with a laser triangulation range finder that operates reliably under direct sunlight, a critical innovation for outdoor autonomous robots. With papers accumulating hundreds of citations, his achievements include the development of the KORYU-II articulated mobile robot and foundational steering control methods. Hirose’s legacy endures in the design of rescue, inspection, and exploration robots that move with unprecedented agility.