Yutaka Kaizu

About

Yutaka Kaizu is a prominent researcher specializing in agricultural robotics, autonomous navigation, and machine vision for precision agriculture. His work addresses some of farming's most pressing challenges — labor shortages and operational efficiency — through the development of intelligent robotic systems. Kaizu has made significant contributions to fruit detection and harvesting automation, most notably in strawberry recognition. His early work using HOG descriptors for detecting overlapping strawberries (57 citations) laid a foundation he later expanded with deep learning approaches combining YOLO and Mask R-CNN (31 citations), enabling robots to identify strawberries under complex real-world conditions. His research extends beyond harvesting to autonomous field navigation, developing robotic mowers capable of obstacle avoidance using machine vision and GNSS-IMU sensor fusion — work that has collectively attracted over 70 citations and demonstrated practical viability for labor-saving agricultural machinery. Particularly innovative is his development of a robot boat for aquatic weed management and a CNN-based system for automated persimmon peeling, showcasing his breadth across agricultural automation. His more recent integration of 3D-LiDAR and SLAM for orchard navigation signals a continued push toward fully autonomous farm environments. Kaizu's cumulative impact makes him a key figure bridging robotics engineering and practical agricultural application.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   Two-stage approach for detecting slightly overlapping strawberries using HOG descriptor

   57 citations · 2013
2. 2
   The development of autonomous navigation and obstacle avoidance for a robotic mower using machine vision technique

   55 citations · 2019
3. 3
   Recognition and localization of strawberries from 3D binocular cameras for a strawberry picking robot using coupled YOLO/Mask R-CNN

   31 citations · 2022
4. 4
   Visual-Inertial RGB-D SLAM With Encoders for a Differential Wheeled Robot

   20 citations · 2021
5. 5
   Development of a Small Electric Robot Boat for Mowing Aquatic Weeds

   8 citations · 2021
6. 6
   Autonomous Navigation and Obstacle Avoidance in an Orchard Using Machine Vision Techniques for a Robotic Mower

   6 citations · 2022
7. 7
   Detection of Persimmon Posture by a Convolutional Neural Network for Fully Automating the Peeling Process

   4 citations · 2022
8. 8
   Autonomous Driving Control of a Robotic Mower on Slopes Using a Low-Cost Two-Frequency GNSS Compass and an IMU

   4 citations · 2022
9. 9
   Development of an autonomous driving control system for a robot mower using a low-cost single-frequency GNSS and a low-cost IMU.

   3 citations · 2018
10. 10
    Development of an autonomous driving system using 3D-LiDAR and SLAM in an orchard

    2 citations · 2024

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links