Rate My Professor Tomoaki Mashimo

Professor Tomoaki Mashimo serves as a professor in the Faculty of Environmental, Life, Natural Science and Technology at Okayama University since April 2022. He earned his Doctor of Engineering degree in mechanical engineering from Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology in March 2008, under the supervision of Professor Shigeki Toyama. Following his Ph.D., Mashimo conducted postdoctoral research at the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University in the United States from May 2008 to November 2010, supported by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) fellowships, including a special research fellowship from 2007 to 2009 and an overseas fellowship from 2009 to 2010, working under Professor Takeo Kanade. Previously, he was an assistant professor at the Electronics-inspired Interdisciplinary Research Institute at Toyohashi University of Technology from January 2011 to December 2015 and an associate professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department there from January 2016 to March 2022.

Mashimo's research specializes in robotics, mechatronics, microrobotics, ultrasonic motors, piezoelectric actuators, and micro motors, with applications in medical devices such as capsule endoscopic robots, biopsy robots, pipe inspection robots, and endovascular surgery tools. Key publications include 'Micro Ultrasonic Motor Using a Cube with a Side Length of 0.5 mm' in IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics (2016), 'Fabrication and characterization of a submillimeter-scale ultrasonic motor' in Sensors and Actuators A: Physical (2023), 'Micro Linear Ultrasonic Motor With a Hall Sensor-Based Feedback Control System' and 'Earthworm-Inspired Robot Design: Reducing the Number of Actuators Through Embedded Motor Between Segments' in IEEE Access (2024), and contributions to books like Robot Engineering Handbook (2023). He has received awards such as the 2024 IEEE Best Video Award, the 4th Excellent Research and Technology Award from the Robotics Society of Japan (2023), the 2nd Nagamori Award and Nagai Science and Technology Foundation Academic Award (both 2016), and the Young Award from IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Japan Chapter (2007). Mashimo serves as an editor for ROBOMECH Journal, holds committee roles in the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers and Precision Engineering Society, and leads multiple JSPS Grants-in-Aid projects, including on capsule robots capable of biopsy and posture control (2025-2029) and submilliscale robotics (2022-2028).