Osawa, Yukiko

写真a

Affiliation

Faculty of Science and Technology, Department of Applied Physics and Physico-Informatics ( Yagami )

Position

Assistant Professor/Senior Assistant Professor

E-mail Address

E-mail address

Related Websites

Remarks

Yukiko Akiyama (Official name)

External Links
Scopus Paper Info  
Paper Count: 26 Citation Count: 108 h-index: 5

Click to view the Scopus page. The data was downloaded from Scopus API in April 26, 2026, via http://api.elsevier.com and http://www.scopus.com .

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Profile Summary 【 Display / hide 】

  • Dr. Yukiko Osawa received her B.E. degree (2015) in system design engineering and the M.E. (2016) and Ph.D. degrees (2019) in integrated design engineering from Keio University, Yokohama, Japan. She was a Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) from 2017 to 2019. From 2019 to 2021, she was a JSPS Overseas Research Fellow and worked as a postdoctoral researcher at CNRS, LIRMM in France, involved in IDH (Interactive Digital Humans) team. From 2021 to 2024, she worked at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) in Tokyo, Japan. She currently works as a Senior Assistant Professor in the Department of Applied Physics and Physico-Informatics at Keio University, Yokohama, Japan. She was the recipient of the Distinguished Paper Award from the Institute of Electric Engineers of Japan (IEEJ) in 2017, the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Ikushi Award in 2018, and the SICE International Young Authors Award in 2022. Her research interests include human interface, human-robot interaction, haptics, and thermal systems. She is a Member of IEEJ, SICE, RSJ, and IEEE.

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Other Affiliation 【 Display / hide 】

  • National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology , Collaborative researcher

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Career 【 Display / hide 】

  • 2017.04
    -
    2019.03

    Keio University, JSPS Research Fellow (DC1)

  • 2019.04
    -
    2021.03

    JSPS Overseas Research Fellow, CNRS-UM LIRMM

  • 2021.04
    -
    2024.03

    National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Industrial CPS Research Center

  • 2024.04
    -
    Present

    Keio University, Faculty of Science and Technology Department of Applied Physics and Physico-Informatics

  • 2024.04
    -
    Present

    Industrial CPS Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Collaborative researcher

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Academic Background 【 Display / hide 】

  • 2011.04
    -
    2015.03

    Keio University, Faculty of Science and Technology, Department of System Design Engineering

  • 2011.04
    -
    2015.03

    Keio University, Faculty of Science and Technology, Department of System Design Engineering

    University, Graduated

  • 2015.04
    -
    2016.09

    Keio University, Department of Integrated Design Engineering

  • 2015.04
    -
    2016.09

    Keio University, Department of Integrated Design Engineering

    Graduate School, Completed, Master's course

  • 2016.09
    -
    2019.03

    Keio University, Department of Integrated Design Engineering

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Academic Degrees 【 Display / hide 】

  • Doctor (Engineering), Keio University, Coursework, 2019.03

    Modeling and Control of Heat Conduction System Based on Spatial Information

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Research Areas 【 Display / hide 】

  • Manufacturing Technology (Mechanical Engineering, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Chemical Engineering) / Control and system engineering

  • Informatics / Human interface and interaction

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Research Keywords 【 Display / hide 】

  • Human Interface

  • Physical Human-Robot Interaction

  • Tactile/Thermal Sensing and Control

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Papers 【 Display / hide 】

  • Fluid-based robot skin for contact detection and thermal stimulation

    Shionoiri, D; Osawa, Y

    ROBOMECH JOURNAL 12 ( 1 )  2025.11

    Lead author, Corresponding author,  ISSN  2197-4225

    　View Summary

    Robot skin is essential for achieving physical human-robot interaction. In particular, a warm feeling with a soft tactile impression is necessary for a human-friendly robot design. Contact sensing for safe interaction is also important; however, adding sensors to the skin surface can compromise its soft, smooth feel and create uncomfortable tactile sensations for humans. The paper proposes the design of a fluid-based soft robot skin that can simultaneously give thermal stimulation and detect human contact. We tested a prototype of the robotic skin, confirming that the fluid-based control successfully enabled both thermal display and contact detection capabilities.

  • Stiffness Control of Thermally Driven Actuator Using Phase Transition

    Haruki Saito, Yukiko Osawa

    Proceedings of the IEEE World Haptics Conference 2025 (IEEE)   2025

    Research paper (international conference proceedings), Last author, Corresponding author, Accepted

    　View Summary

    This paper proposes a method for controlling the stiffness of a thermally driven actuator by leveraging the phase transition of a low-boiling-point liquid. Using a Peltier device for cooling, the reduction in actuator stiffness can be precisely adjusted.
    Experiments demonstrated the actuator's effectiveness, particularly in handling fragile objects with precision, ensuring delicate interactions with contact surfaces. Since stiffness is adjusted within a safe temperature range, this approach shows promise for applications involving direct human contact, such as the outer surfaces of social robots (robot skin).

  • Fluid-Based Contact Detection and Thermal Display

    Daisuke Shionoiri and Yukiko Osawa

    Proceedings of the JEME 8th International Conference on Advanced Mechatronics (JSME)   2024.11

    Research paper (international conference proceedings), Last author, Corresponding author, Accepted

    　View Summary

    Soft robot skin is one of the key factors for physical human-robot interaction (pHRI), and many studies have proposed various kinds of robot skin. In particular, two functionalities, the ability to convey warmth to humans and to detect contact, are significant among the roles of robot skins. The former is known to create comfort and a positive impression of robots and help build trust in them. The latter enables more personalized human support.
    However, temperature feedback and contact detection require sensors on the skin's surface; this can disturb the heat conduction from the skin surface and soft, smooth tactile feelings. This paper proposes a system design for fluid-based soft robot skin, simultaneously enabling contact detection and temperature control without attaching a sensor to the skin surface. We developed a skin prototype based on the proposed design and conducted experiments to verify its capabilities.

  • Robot soft thermal display using self-heating and cooling system

    Osawa, Y., Ogura, I., Kheddar, A.

    CASE STUDIES IN THERMAL ENGINEERING 63 2024.11

    Lead author, Corresponding author,  ISSN  2214-157X

    　View Summary

    In this paper, we address robotic haptics with the following question: is it possible to design a heating/cooling system that can fulfill both the necessity of keeping the inner robot actuators at a desired optimal heat and, at the same time, use actuators energy loss in terms of heat conveyed, through a soft robotic cover, as pleasant thermal sensation to a human when the robot is touched? We propose a solution to address this question in terms of mechatronic design. Indeed, internal heat generated by actuator loss can be transferred to the robotic haptic cover and a cooling tank for thermal display purposes. A suitable switching control strategy is divided to fulfill the double objective of keeping the actuators’ temperature under a given threshold whilst displaying the desired temperature to the soft robot's cover. We assess our ideas with an experimental set-up using one actuator and our original soft cover technology with a preliminary user study.

  • A Cybernetic Avatar System to Embody Human Telepresence for Connectivity, Exploration, and Skill Transfer

    Rafael Cisneros-Limón, Antonin Dallard, Mehdi Benallegue, Kenji Kaneko, Hiroshi Kaminaga, Pierre Gergondet, Arnaud Tanguy, Rohan Pratap Singh, Leyuan Sun, Yang Chen, Carole Fournier, Guillaume Lorthioir, Masato Tsuru, Sélim Chefchaouni-Moussaoui, Yukiko Osawa, Guillaume Caron, Kevin Chappellet, Mitsuharu Morisawa, Adrien Escande, Ko Ayusawa, Younes Houhou, Iori Kumagai, Michio Ono, Koji Shirasaka, Shiryu Wada, Hiroshi Wada, Fumio Kanehiro, Abderrahmane Kheddar

    International Journal of Social Robotics (Springer Science and Business Media LLC)  17 ( 3 ) 535 - 562 2024.01

    Joint Work, Lead author, Corresponding author, Accepted,  ISSN  1875-4791

    　View Summary

    This paper describes the cybernetic avatar system developed by Team JANUS for connectivity, exploration, and skill transfer: the core domains targeted by the ANA Avatar XPRIZE competition, for which Team JANUS was a finalist. We used as an avatar a humanoid robot with a human-like appearance and shape that is capable of reproducing facial expressions and walking, and built an avatar control system that allowed the operator to control the avatar through equivalent mechanisms of motion; that is, by replicating the upper-body movement with naturalness and by stepping to command locomotion. In this way, we aimed to achieve high-fidelity telepresence and managed to be well evaluated from the point of view of the operator during the competition. We introduce our solutions to the integration challenges and present experimental results to asses our avatar system, together with current limitations and how we are planning to mitigate them in future work.

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Papers, etc., Registered in KOARA 【 Display / hide 】

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Reviews, Commentaries, etc. 【 Display / hide 】

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Research Projects of Competitive Funds, etc. 【 Display / hide 】

  • 熱駆動ロボットスキンによる人とロボットの双方向熱コミュニケーションの創生

    2025.04
    -
    2029.03

    Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research, 大澤 友紀子, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B), Principal investigator

    　View Summary

    本研究課題は、熱制御の観点から人とロボットとの双方向のやりとりを実現するヒューマンインタフェース技術を確立し、触れ合いによって創生されるロボットとの新しいコミュニケーションの在り方を見出すことを目的としている。系全体での熱循環を基盤とした、人への最適な触覚刺激や精度の高い認識を実現する、人とロボット双方において好ましい制御システムの設計方法について明らかにする。

  • 人間と機械の安全な触れ合いを実現する熱変色センサの開発

    2025.04
    -
    2026.03

    立石科学技術振興財団 研究助成(A), Research grant, Principal investigator

  • Recognition and Control Technology Utilizing Robot Self-Heating for Human Robot Interaction

    2023.04
    -
    2026.03

    日本学術振興会, Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists, Yukiko Osawa, Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists, Principal investigator

    　View Summary

    本研究では廃熱を人・機械協調のための付加的な機能として有効活用すべく、機械内部の熱源から外部表面への効率的な熱輸送システムを開発し、廃熱を温度制御・接触対象物の認識に用いた新しい熱マネジメント手法を検討する。効率的な熱輸送を実現するための制御システムの構築について、ハードウェア（デバイス開発）・ソフトウェア（制御アルゴリズム）の双方について取り組む。技術の発展と環境問題の解決を両立した従来の熱対策手法を革新させる基盤技術として、幅広い場面での活用が期待できる。

  • A study on temperature-independent material recognition using soft robotic cover embedded in temperature control system

    2021.08
    -
    2023.03

    Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up, Yukiko Osawa, Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up, Principal investigator

    　View Summary

    In this research project, a recognition system for contact objects was developed to improve the accuracy of thermal-based material recognition. We investigated approaches that actively utilize heat from both hardware and software perspectives, including developing a temperature-controllable machine (robot) cover and recognition algorithms for contact objects using a time-series temperature database. By adjusting the temperature of the robot gripper according to the temperature of the object, it is possible to prevent deterioration in recognition accuracy due to environmental changes, which was a conventional problem. Furthermore, high-precision classification through machine learning based on temperature information has been achieved for materials with significantly different thermal properties, such as metal and wood, and metals that are difficult to classify using vision and tactile sensors.

  • Development of Robot Covers Considering Softness, Pleasantness and Thermal Touch Properties for Promoting Human-Robot Interaction

    2019.04
    -
    2021.03

    JSPS Overseas Research Fellow, No Setting

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Awards 【 Display / hide 】

  • Ando Incentive Prize for the Study of Electronics

    大澤 友紀子, 2025.06, The Foundation of Ando Laboratory

    Type of Award： Award from publisher, newspaper, foundation, etc.

  • 一般財団法人 安藤研究所 第３８回安藤博記念学術奨励賞

    大澤 友紀子, 2025.06

    Type of Award： Award from publisher, newspaper, foundation, etc.

  • Ando Incentive Prize for the Study of Electronics

    大澤 友紀子, 2025.06, The Foundation of Ando Laboratory

    Type of Award： Award from publisher, newspaper, foundation, etc.

  • IEEJ Industry Applications Society Quick Paper Review Promotion Award

    Yukiko Osawa, 2024.09, The Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan (IEEJ)

    Type of Award： Honored in official journal of a scientific society, scientific journal

  • IEEJ Industry Applications Society Quick Paper Review Promotion Award

    Yukiko Osawa, 2024.09, The Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan (IEEJ)

    Type of Award： Honored in official journal of a scientific society, scientific journal

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Other 【 Display / hide 】

  • 2025年06月

    　View Details

    Daisuke Shionoiri (supervised student), The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers, Young Fellow Award

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Courses Taught 【 Display / hide 】

  • APPLIED PHYSICS AND PHYSICO-INFORMATIC PRACTICAL RESEARCH C

    2026

  • LABORATORY IN SCIENCE

    2026

  • GRADUATE RESEARCH ON MATHEMATICAL AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES 1

    2026

  • INDEPENDENT STUDY ON FUNDAMENTAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

    2026

  • APPLIED PHYSICS AND PHYSICO-INFORMATIC PRACTICAL RESEARCH A

    2026

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Courses Previously Taught 【 Display / hide 】

  • LABORATORY IN SCIENCE

    Keio University

    2025.04
    -
    2026.03

  • APPLIED PHYSICS AND PHYSICO-INFORMATICS LABORATORY D

    Keio University

    2025.04
    -
    2026.03

  • APPLIED PHYSICS AND PHYSICO-INFORMATICS LABORATORY C

    Keio University

    2025.04
    -
    2026.03

  • INDEPENDENT STUDY ON FUNDAMENTAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

    Keio University

    2025.04
    -
    2026.03

  • GRADUATE RESEARCH ON FUNDAMENTAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 2

    Keio University

    2025.04
    -
    2026.03

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Memberships in Academic Societies 【 Display / hide 】

  • The Robotics Society of Japan (RSJ), 

    2023.02
    -
    Present

  • IEEE, 

    2014.12
    -
    Present

  • The Society of Instrument and Control Engineers (SICE), 

    2021.12
    -
    Present

  • The Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan (IEEJ), 

    2014.12
    -
    Present
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Committee Experiences 【 Display / hide 】

  • 2026.01
    -
    2027.12

    Committee on utilizing data and controlling for Industry Applications, The institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan (IEEJ)

  • 2025.04
    -
    2027.03

    会誌編集委員, The Robotics Society of Japan

  • 2024.04
    -
    2026.03

    日本ロボット学会 論文査読小委員会

  • 2024.04
    -
    2026.03

    論文査読小委員会, The Robotics Society of Japan

  • 2023.06
    -
    2024.05

    Committee on utilizing data and controlling for Industry Applications, The institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan (IEEJ)

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