Max Robotics — Global Service Robot Directory + US Certification

About

Tomoya Shiba is an emerging robotics researcher specializing in domestic service robots, with particular expertise in robot perception, object manipulation, and autonomous task execution in home environments. His most recognized contribution is his work on the World Robot Challenge 2020 Partner Robot Challenge (Real Space), which has garnered 23 citations and demonstrates his hands-on experience developing robots capable of performing practical household tasks such as tidying rooms and navigating obstacles. Building on this foundation, Shiba has advanced the field through innovative approaches to object search and empty space detection, enabling robots to intelligently locate target objects on shelves when initial detection fails — a critical capability for real-world deployment. As a key contributor to the Hibikino-Musashi@Home team, he has helped develop open-source environments and dataset generation tools that support robot vision training in domestic settings. His most recent work tackles the nuanced challenge of grasping irregularly shaped objects like plates and cups by leveraging edge detection techniques to identify more reliable grasp points. Across his growing publication record, Shiba consistently bridges the gap between controlled laboratory robotics and genuine social implementation, making him a promising voice in the human-robot interaction and service robotics community.