Yoshihiro Okawa
Papers
10
Total Citations
53
H-Index
4
About
Yoshihiro Okawa’s research career centers on mobile robotics, with a particular focus on the challenging “push-a-box” manipulation problem. His foundational work, “Control of a mobile robot for the push-a-box operation” (20 citations), derived the equations of motion for a robot pushing a box and experimentally validated the dynamics, establishing a core framework for non-prehensile manipulation. Okawa extended this into intelligent control, applying fuzzy logic and rule-based schemes to stabilize the inherently unstable pushing operation. Beyond manipulation, he contributed to Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM), notably developing an H∞ filter-based approach that compensates for intermittent observations (4 citations) and using a priori known landmarks to ensure observability and suppress estimation error. His work also explored human-robot interaction, proposing algorithms for robots to recognize prespecified human body motions as communication signals in structured environments. More recently, Okawa has addressed safe exploration in reinforcement learning under disturbances (2023). His sustained focus on the push-a-box problem—spanning multiple papers and control paradigms—demonstrates a deep, methodical approach to a fundamental robotic task, with his combined work accumulating over 50 citations and influencing both manipulation and SLAM communities.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1Control of a mobile robot for the push-a-box operation20 citations · 2003
- 2Fuzzy control of a mobile robot for the push-a-box operation7 citations · 2003
- 3Rule-based control of a mobile robot for the push-a-box operation6 citations · 2002
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- 5Recognition Of Human Body Motions By Robots4 citations · 2005
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- 7Control of mobile robots for the push-a-box operation3 citations · 2002
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