ICCRE 2025 Invited Speakers
Prof. Chiharu Ishii
Hosei University, Japan
Biography: Chiharu Ishii received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Sophia University, Japan in 1997. He worked at Ashikaga Institute of Technology between 1997 and 2002, at Kogakuin University between 2002 and 2009, and at Shibaura Institute of Technology between 2009 and 2010. He has been working at Hosei University since 2010, and currently working as a Professor with the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering at Hosei University. Dr. Chiharu Ishii has received several awards such as The Best Paper Award in the area of Tactile and Haptic Interfaces at the 4th International Conference on Human System Interaction (IEEE HSI 2011); Best Paper Award at the 1st International Conference on Computer Science, Electronics and Instrumentation (ICCSE 2012); Best Presentation Award at the International Conference on Intelligent Mechatronics and Automation (ICIMA 2013); Excellent Oral Presentation Award at the 4th International Conference on Soft Computing & Machine Intelligence (ISCMI 2017); 3rd Prize, Excellent Paper Award at the 2021 IEEE 3rd Global Conference on Life Sciences and Technologies (LifeTech 2021). He is currently a member of IEEE, SICE, JSME, RSJ, IEEJ and JSCAS. His research interests are in medical robotics and assistive technology.
Prof. Naoyuki Kubota
Tokyo Metropolitan University, Japan
Biography: Naoyuki Kubota is currently a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Systems Engineering, the Graduate School of Systems Design, and Director of Community-centric Systems Research Center, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Japan. He is the representative director of Tokyo Biomarker Innovation Research Association, Japan (TOBIRA). He received a doctoral degree from Nagoya University, Japan, in 1997. He was a Visiting Professor at University of Portsmouth, UK and Seoul National University, South Korea, and others. His current interests are in the fields of cyber-physical-social systems, Healthcare as a Service (HaaS), robot partners, and Computational Intelligence. He has published more than 500 refereed journal and conference papers in the above research fields. He was an associate editor of the IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems from 1999 to 2010, the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society, Intelligent Systems Applications Technical Committee, Robotics Task Force Chair from 2007 to 2014, IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society, Japan Chapter Chair from 2018 to 2021, IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing Steering Committee Member since 2019, and others.
Prof. Juha Plosila
University of Turku (UTU), Finland
Biography: Juha Plosila is a Professor at the Department of Computing, University of Turku (UTU), Finland, leading there the Robotics and Autonomous Systems Unit (RAS) and a research group called the Autonomous Systems Laboratory (ASL). At the European Institute of Innovation & Technology EIT Digital, he has been heading a European double-degree Master’s Program in Embedded Systems since 2012. He received a Ph.D. degree in Electronics and Communication Technology from UTU in 1999 and has more than 370 peer-reviewed conference and journal publications in various subfields of computer engineering. His research group is currently devising new methods to increase the intelligence and autonomy of robotic systems, with a particular focus on developing multi-objective optimization approaches for self-aware robots (and swarms of robots) while taking into account various constraints in both short-term and long-term scenarios.
Assoc. Prof. Weiwei Wan
Osaka University, Japan
Biography: Weiwei Wan is an associate professor working at the School of Engineering Science, Osaka University, Japan. He is an IEEE senior member, having affiliations with the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, and the IEEE System, Man, and Cybernetics Society. He is also a member of RSJ (the Robotics Society of Japan) and JSME (Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers). Weiwei Wan's major interest is smart manufacturing using single or multiple robotic manipulators: Developing and deploying grasping planning, motion planning, and other low level and high level task planning algorithms for next-generation factories. He is also studying visual perception, force control, and learning approaches to make up for the inherent shortages of planning algorithms.
Assoc. Prof. Sajid Nisar
Kyoto University of Advanced Science, Japan
Biography: Dr. Sajid Nisar is an Associate Professor at the Department of Mechanical and Electrical Systems Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University of Advanced Science (KUAS), Japan, and the Principal Investigator (PI) of the "Novel Intelligent Systems and Advanced Robotics (NISAR) Laboratory". His research focuses on human-centered robotics, with expertise in medical robots, wearable robots, soft robotics, and AI-powered human-assistance systems. Dr. Nisar's work bridges fundamental research and practical applications, aiming to develop innovative, user-friendly, and safer robotic systems. Dr. Nisar earned his MS and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Kyoto University as a Japanese Govt. MEXT Scholar and Japan Society of Promotion for Science’s (JSPS) Doctoral Fellow, with his research focusing on design of surgical robot manipulators and wearable kinesthetic haptics for medical robot teleoperation and VR. He was also a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University's Mechanical Engineering Department, where he contributed to the development of advanced wearable haptic devices. He has led several high-impact research projects funded by major science agencies, including the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED), the New York Academy of Sciences, and the National Academy of Medicine, USA. He has also collaborated with leading industry partners in and outside Japan on development and application of cutting-edge robotic systems. Recognized with prestigious awards such as the IEEE WHC Best Associate Editor Award, the IEEE-RSJ Best Paper Award, the IEEE-RSJ Young Scientist Award, and the KUAS Best Researcher Award, Dr. Nisar has been serving as an Associate Editor for IEEE/RSJ IROS, IEEE ICRA, and leading robotics journals. He is committed to advancing interdisciplinary research on human-centered robotics and mentoring future leaders in robotics and automation.
Assoc. Prof. Chen Lv
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Biography: Chen Lvis an Associate Professor at School of Mechanical and AerospaceEngineering, and the Cluster Director in Future Mobility Solutions, NanyangTechnological University, Singapore. He joined NTU and founded the AutomatedDriving and Human-Machine System (AutoMan) Research Lab since June 2018. Hisresearch focuses on intelligent vehicles, autonomous driving, and human-machinesystems, where he has published 4 books, over 200 papers, and obtained 12granted patents. He serves as Senior/Associate Editor for IEEE T-ITS, IEEE TVT,IEEE T-IV, etc. He received many awards and honors, selectively including NanyangResearch Award (Young Investigator), Singapore National Academy of Science YoungScientist Awards Finalist, SAE Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award, Champions of WaymoOpen Dataset Challenges at CVPR (2021, 2024), Innovation Prize at CVPR nuPlanPlanning Challenge (2023), Most Innovative Award of NeurIPS Driving SMARTSCompetition (2022), ITSC 2023 Best Paper Runner-Up Award, IEEE CIS-RAM 2024 BestPaper Award, etc.
Dr. Christian Di Natali
Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Italy
Biography: Christian Di Natali is a Researcher and Principal Investigator in the Exoskeletons Group (XoLab) at the Department of Advanced Robotics (ADVR), Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT).
He joined IIT in 2017, bringing valuable industrial experience as a Technical Manager, where he led the design of autonomous machines for manufacturing wound electric motors. A young entrepreneur blending creativity and innovation, recently, he founded two startups in wearable technology, delivering cutting-edge, real-world solutions.
His research focuses on human-centric technologies, including wearable robots, soft robotics, AI-powered activity recognition, and advanced wearable technologies. His work bridges fundamental research and practical applications across industrial automation, rehabilitation, and space exploration, aiming to develop translational innovations that enhance health, safety, and user experience.
Dr. Di Natali is deeply involved in the design, development, control, and assessment of these technologies, ensuring their effectiveness through rigorous laboratory and real-world evaluations. He has authored nearly 100 publications, secured 12 granted patents, and received 10 prestigious awards for his scientific contributions and innovative designs.