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Welcome to Hiroki Dobashi's webpage. He is now an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Systems Engineering, Wakayama University. His current research interests are robotics for manufacturing, logistics and rehabilitation. His major research topics are designing of versatile robotic hands and planning of effective/efficient manipulation strategy of robotic hands in the manufacturing domain. The details of his laboratory can be seen here, and he can be contacted at the following address:

Hiroki Dobashi, Associate Professor,
Faculty of Systems Engineering, Wakayama University.
Sakaedani 930, Wakayama-city, #640-8510 JAPAN
Phone: +81-73-457-8176
E-mail: dobashi[at]wakayama-u.ac.jp

WakayamUniv2017

News & Topics
Jan. 11, 2024 Our paper, "Design of Gripper Jaws Applicable to Multiple Sizes and Types of Bowls for Upside-down Placement in a Dishwasher Rack," was accepted for publication in Journal of the Robotics Society of Japan.
Dec. 22, 2023 Our paper, "Jig-less Assembly of a Gear Unit with a Versatile Hand Equipped with Functions for Reorientation and Alignment of a Shaft-shaped Part," was accepted for publication in Journal of the Robotics Society of Japan.
Dec. 16, 2023 At SI2023, our research, "Analysis of the Relationship between the Pressed Depth and the Change of the Contour in Grasping of Shaped Food with a Parallel Gripper," was presented.
Dec. 15, 2023 At SI2023, our research, "Study on a Robust Grasping Strategy using a Versatile Hand with Parallel Stick Fingers for a Cylindrical Part supplied in a Compartment of a Tray," was presented.
Dec. 12, 2023 Our paper, "Study on a Method to Derive the Optimal Grasping Points for an Object with Indeterminate Center of Gravity," was accepted for publication in Journal of the Robotics Society of Japan.
Nov. 23, 2023 Our paper, "Development of a Versatile Robotic Hand toward Jig-less Assembly of a Shaft-shaped Part," was accepted for publication in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters. Also, our paper, "Development of a Precise Measurement Device with a Flatbed Scanner for the Pose of a Part in Alignment Operations," was accepted for publication in Journal of the Robotics Society of Japan.
Nov. 10, 2023 Dr. Dobashi's commentary paper, "A Robotic Hand Mechanism and a Grasp Planning Method to Realize Sensor-less Grasping," was published in the magazine of the Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun, Mechanical Design.
Oct. 7, 2023 Our paper, "Study on Feasibility of Alignment of Parts for 2nd-order Form Closure Grasps with Circular Fingers Based on Dynamic Analysis," was accepted for publication in Journal of the Robotics Society of Japan.
Oct. 5, 2023 The co-authored book, "Robot Mechanics (revised edition)," was published.
Sep. 15, 2023 Our research on a versatile robotic hand with telescopic fingers was introduced in an article of the newspaper, the Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun.
Sep. 14, 2023 At RSJ2023, our research, "Development of a Precise Measurement Device with a Flatbed Scanner for the Pose of a Part in Alignment Operations" and "Study on Analytical Derivation of the Permissible Initial Position Error Region of a Cylindrical Part for Grasping with Rotational Chuck-type Three-fingered Hand," were presented.
Sep. 13, 2023 At RSJ2023, our research, "Study on Effective Method to Remove Stems of Cherry Tomatoes with a Robot," was presented. Moreover, Associate Prof. Dobashi won the 37th Best Paper Award of the Robotics Society of Japan.
Sep. 12, 2023 At RSJ2023, our research, "Study on Feasibility of Alignment of Parts for 2nd-order Form Closure Grasps with Circular Fingers Based on Dynamic Analysis," "Study on a Method to Derive the Optimal Grasping Points for an Object with Indeterminate Center of Gravity," "Design of Gripper Jaws Applicable to Multiple Sizes of Bowls for Upside-down Placement in a Dishwasher Rack," and "Jig-less Assembly of a Gear Unit with a Versatile Hand Equipped with Functions for Reorientation and Alignment of a Shaft-shaped Part," were presented.
Sep. 4, 2023 Our paper, "Analysis of the Performance of Robotic Assembly Systems Considering the Usage of Tools or Jigs for the Task-board Task in the WRS 2018," was accepted for publication in Advanced Robotics.
Apr. 28, 2023 Our paper, "Orientational Transition of a Part by Parallel Gripper Allowing Interference with the Gripper Jaw and Release in an Unstable Orientation," was accepted for publication in Journal of the Robotics Society of Japan.
Apr. 1, 2023 Dr. Dobashi was promoted to associate professor.
Mar. 28, 2023 The co-authored paper, "Jigless assembly of an industrial product by a universal robotic hand mounted on an industrial robot," was accepted for publication in Robotica.
Feb. 23, 2023 Our paper, "Derivation of a Permissible Initial Pose Error Region of a Part to be Grasped based on the Dynamic Pushing Operation Analysis Considering Wobbling," was accepted for publication in Journal of the Robotics Society of Japan.
Feb. 8, 2023 The Best Session Presentation Award of the SI2022 was given to our research, "Analysis of the Robotic Assembly for the Task-board Task in the WRS 2020." [article (in Japanese)]
Jan. 30, 2023 Our paper, "A Search Method of Stable Grasping Points for Grasping and High-speed Transportation of Food," was accepted for publication in Journal of the Robotics Society of Japan.
Jan. 19, 2023 At the 2023 IEEE/SICE International Symposium on System Integrations (SII 2023), our research, "Study on Jig-less Assembly of Shaft-shaped Parts with an Improved Versatile Hand with Parallel Stick Fingers," was presented.
Dec. 16, 2022 At SI2022, our research, "Statistical Modeling for Determining Hardness of Cherry Tomatoes by Stem Removal Operation," was presented.
Dec. 14, 2022 At SI2022, our research, "Analysis of the Robotic Assembly for the Task-board Task in the WRS 2020" and "Derivation of the Optimal Grasping Points for an Object with Indeterminate Center of Gravity," were presented.
Nov. 4, 2022 At the 9th Engineering Research Seeds Joint Conference of Osaka Metropolitan Univ. and Wakayama Univ., Lecturer Dobashi presented on our research, "Study on External Sensorless Manipulation for Assembly of Rigid and Flexible Parts with Robotic Hands."
Oct. 6, 2022 Lecturer Dobashi won the Best Paper Award in the Department of Systems Engineering, Wakayama University for our paper, "Robust Assembly Strategy of a Timing Belt in the Belt Drive Unit against its Shape Uncertainty with a Single Parallel Jaw Gripper."
Oct. 2, 2022 Our paper, "Study on Jig-less Assembly of Shaft-shaped Parts with an Improved Versatile Hand with Parallel Stick Fingers," was accepted for the 2023 IEEE/SICE International Symposium on System Integrations (SII 2023).
Sep. 8, 2022 At RSJ2022, our research, "A Search Method of Stable Grasping Points for Grasping and High-speed Transportation of Food," "Orientational Transition of a Part by Parallel Gripper Allowing Interference with the Gripper Jaw and Release in an Unstable Orientation," and "Study on Causal Relationship between Difficulty Elements and Difficulty in Robotic Assembly," were presented.
Sep. 6, 2022 Our paper, "Planning of Robust Grasping Strategy of Cylindrical Parts in Contact with Inner Sides of a Parts Tray Using a Versatile Robotic Hand with Parallel Stick Fingers," was accepted for publication in Journal of the Robotics Society of Japan.
Sep. 5, 2022 At RSJ2022, our research, "Planning of Robust Grasping Strategy of Cylindrical Parts in Contact with Inner Sides of a Parts Tray Using a Versatile Robotic Hand with Parallel Stick Fingers" and "Derivation of the Permissible Initial Pose Error Region of a Part Based on Dynamical Analysis of Pushing Operation Considering Wobbling," were presented.
Jul. 12, 2022 The co-authored paper, "Task board for the World Robot Summit 2020," was accepted for publication in Advanced Robotics.
Jul. 10, 2022 The co-authored paper, "Evaluation Technology of Robotic Assembly Systems with the Task Board," was published in Journal of The Society of Instrument and Control Engineers.
Jun. 28, 2022 The co-authored paper, "World robot summit 2020 assembly challenge - summary of the competition and its outcomes," was accepted for publication in Advanced Robotics.
Jun. 2, 2022 At ROBOMECH2022, our research, "Analysis of the Task-board Task in the WRS 2018 considering Usage of Tools," was presented.
Apr. 5, 2022 Our research on an assembly strategy of a timing belt by a parallel jaw gripper was introduced in an article of the newspaper, the Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun.
Feb. 4, 2022 Our paper, "Robust Assembly Strategy of a Timing Belt in the Belt Drive Unit against its Shape Uncertainty with a Single Parallel Jaw Gripper," was accepted for publication in Advanced Robotics.
Jan. 24, 2022 The Best Session Presentation Award of the SI2021 was given to our research, "Development of Finger Mechanism of a Versatile Robotic Hand for Jig-less Assembly of a Shaft-shaped Part" [article (in Japanese)], and also to the collaborative research with Kindai University, etc., "Summary of "Task-board task" in the Industrial Robotics Category, World Robot Summit 2020."
Jan. 11, 2022 At the 2022 IEEE/SICE International Symposium on System Integrations (SII 2022), our research, "Case Study on a Grasping Strategy of a Cylindrical Part along Inner Sides of a Parts Tray Using a Parallel Stick Fingered Hand," was presented.
Dec. 17, 2021 At SI2021, our research, "Improving Efficiency of a Search Method of Stable Grasping Points for Grasping and High-Speed Transporting of Indefinite Shaped Food," "Examining the Elements of the Difficulty in Attaching a Round Belt to Pulleys," and "Development of Finger Mechanism of a Versatile Robotic Hand for Jig-less Assembly of a Shaft-shaped Part," and the collaborative research with Kindai University, etc., "Summary of "Task-board task" in the Industrial Robotics Category, World Robot Summit 2020," were presented.
Dec. 7, 2021 Our paper, "Fundamental Study on the Feasibility of Alignment of Parts for 2nd-order Form Closure Grasps by Two Circular Fingers," was accepted for publication in Journal of the Robotics Society of Japan.
Oct. 22, 2021 Our paper, "Case Study on a Grasping Strategy of a Cylindrical Part along Inner Sides of a Parts Tray Using a Parallel Stick Fingered Hand," was accepted for the 2022 IEEE/SICE International Symposium on System Integrations (SII 2022).
Sep. 16, 2021 Lecturer Dobashi and our research were introduced in an article of the web magazine, robot digest.
Sep. 10, 2021 At RSJ2021, our research, "Fundamental Study on the Feasibility of Alignment of Parts for 2nd-order Form Closure Grasps by Two Circular Fingers," was presented.
Sep. 1, 2021 Lecturer Dobashi and our research were introduced in a sequel article of the magazine, SEISANZAI Marketing Magazine.
Aug. 26, 2021 Lecturer Dobashi and our research were introduced in an article of the web magazine, robot digest.
Aug. 1, 2021 Lecturer Dobashi and our research were introduced in an article of the magazine, SEISANZAI Marketing Magazine.
Jun. 7, 2021 At ROBOMECH2021, our research, "Orientational Transition Analysis of Three-Dimensional Part Allowing Release Motion in Unstable Orientations," was presented.
May 16, 2021 The co-authored paper, "A Work Time Calculation Method of Parts Alignment Robots Using State Transition Speed Diagram," was accepted for publication in Journal of the Robotics Society of Japan.
Apr. 15, 2021 The co-authored paper, "Analysis of Multi-arm Robot Assembly Using a Task Board for the World Robot Summit 2018," was published in Transactions of the Institute of Systems, Control, and Information Engineers.
Jan. 26, 2021 The Best Session Presentation Award of the SI2020 was given to our research, "Study on Feasibility of Alignment for 2nd-Order Form Closure Grasp by Robotic Hand with Parallel Stick Fingers." [article (in Japanese)]
Jan. 14, 2021 At the 2021 IEEE/SICE International Symposium on System Integrations (SII 2021), our research, "Optimal Design of Rotational Chuck-type Hand with Three Parallel Stick Fingers for Assembly Tasks through Grasp Optimization," was presented.
Jan. 13, 2021 At the 2021 IEEE/SICE International Symposium on System Integrations (SII 2021), our research, "Study on Generality of Roller Chain Assembly Strategy with Parallel Jaw Gripper," was presented.
Dec. 25, 2020 The co-authored paper, "Analysis of Multi-arm Robot Assembly Using a Task Board for the World Robot Summit 2018," was accepted for publication in Transactions of the Institute of Systems, Control, and Information Engineers.
Dec. 16, 2020 At SI2020, our research, "Method to Evaluate Difficulty in Assembling Rubber Belt," "Study on Feasibility of Alignment for 2nd-Order Form Closure Grasp by Robotic Hand with Parallel Stick Fingers," "Manipulation for Grasping Cylindrical Part along Partition by Versatile Hand with Parallel Stick Fingers," "Research on Modularization of Manipulation Strategy in Peg-in-Hole Task," "Identification of Parameters of Actual Food toward Stable Grasping and Transportation," "Search Method for Pair of Stable Grasping Points of Food Based on Stability Index," were presented.
Nov. 06, 2020 Our paper, "Study on Generality of Roller Chain Assembly Strategy with Parallel Jaw Gripper," was accepted for the 2021 IEEE/SICE International Symposium on System Integrations (SII 2021).
Oct. 05, 2020 Our paper, "Optimal Design of Rotational Chuck-type Hand with Three Parallel Stick Fingers for Assembly Tasks through Grasp Optimization," was accepted for the 2021 IEEE/SICE International Symposium on System Integrations (SII 2021).
Sep. 28, 2020 At the webpage of the Innovation JAPAN 2020 (in Japanese), our research of an assembly strategy of a roller chain by a parallel jaw gripper was presented.
Aug. 4, 2020 At the webpage of the Virtual Open Campus of Wakayama University (in Japanese), the introductionary video of our research on the versatile robotic hand with robust grasping strategy for assembly tasks was released.
May 31, 2020 At the 2020 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2020), our research, "Strategy for Roller Chain Assembly with Parallel Jaw Gripper," was presented.
May 22, 2020 At SCI'20, our research, "Form Measurement of Timing Belt toward Automatic Assembly Independent of Individual Differences with Parallel Gripper," was presented, and the collaborative research with Kobe University, AIST, Kindai University, etc., "Overview of "Assembly Challenge", a Robot Competition of Industrial Robotics Category, World Robot Summit 2020" and "Development of a Task Board for Assembling a Belt Drive Unit," were presented.
Apr. 16, 2020 Lecturer Dobashi won 2019 JSME Young Engineers Award.
Mar. 17, 2020 Our research on an assembly strategy of a roller chain by a parallel jaw gripper was introduced in an article of the newspaper, the Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun.
Jan. 22, 2020 Our paper, "Strategy for Roller Chain Assembly with Parallel Jaw Gripper," was accepted for the 2020 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2020).
Jan. 19, 2020 Our paper, "Strategy for Roller Chain Assembly with Parallel Jaw Gripper," was accepted for publication in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters.
Jan. 15, 2020 At the 2020 IEEE/SICE International Symposium on System Integrations (SII 2020), our research, "Minimization of Actuator's Driving Force of Chuck-type Hand with Three Parallel Stick Fingers through Grasp Optimization," was presented.
Dec. 27, 2019 The Best Session Presentation Award of the SI2019 was given to our research, "Development of Versatile Robotic Hand to Realize Picking, Reorientation and Alignment of Shaft-shaped Part without Utilizing Environment." [article (in Japanese)]
Dec. 14, 2019 At SI2019, our research, "Mechanical Analysis on Manipulation Strategy for Grasping Parts Supplied in the Corner of a Tray by Versatile Robotic Hand with Parallel Stick Fingers," "Assembly Strategy of Timing Belt with Parallel Gripper," "Experimental Study for Reducing Damage to Jaw in Roller Chain Assembly with Parallel Gripper," "Development of Versatile Robotic Hand to Realize Picking, Reorientation and Alignment of Shaft-shaped Part without Utilizing Environment," and collaborative research with Kobe University, "Jigless Assembly of Gear Unit by Universal Robotic Hand with 4 Parallel Stick Fingers and Vision Sensor," were presented.
Nov. 4, 2019 At the 2019 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2019) Workshop, our research, "Analysis and Consideration of Side Bow for Roller Chain Assembly," was presented.
Sep. 18, 2019 The co-authored paper, "Assembly Challenge: A Robot Competition of the Industrial Robotics Category, World Robot Summit -Summary of the Pre-Competition in 2018-," was published in Advanced Robotics.
Jul. 10, 2019 The official webpage of our research group was released.
Jun. 7, 2019 At ROBOMECH2019, our research, "Method to Realize Picking, Reorientation and Alignment of Shaft-shaped Part with Single Robotic Hand without Utilizing Environment," was presented.
Apr. 26, 2019 The co-applied patent, "Productivity Evaluation System and Method of Mechanical Systems," was granted.
Apr. 25, 2019 The co-authored book, "Robot Mechanics," was reprinted with slight modifications.
Apr. 15, 2019 The co-authored paper, ""Assembly Challenge", a Robot Competition of the Industrial Robotics Category, World Robot Summit 2018," was published in the Journal of the Robotics Society of Japan.
Mar. 5, 2019 The Best Session Presentation Award of the SI2018 was given to our research, "Wobble Judgment of 3-D Part in Pushing Operation by Stick Finger Considering Admissible Motion." [article (in Japanese)]
Jan. 15, 2019 At the 2019 IEEE/SICE International Symposium on System Integrations (SII 2019), our research, "Geometrical Solution of Finger Arrangement Problem onto Target Part toward Design of Chuck-type Hand with Three Parallel Stick Fingers," was presented.
Jan. 6, 2019 Our developed versatile robotic hand was introduced in the TV program on TBS (Tokyo Broadcasting System) Television, "Origin of the Future".
Dec. 13, 2018 At SI2018, our research, "Wobble Judgment of 3-D Part in Pushing Operation by Stick Finger Considering Admissible Motion," was presented.
Oct. 29, 2018 Our paper, "Geometrical Solution of Finger Arrangement Problem onto Target Part toward Design of Chuck-type Hand with Three Parallel Stick Fingers," was accepted for the 2019 IEEE/SICE International Symposium on System Integrations (SII 2019).
Oct. 21, 2018 The Assembly Challenge Day 5 in the Industrial Robotics Category of the World Robot Summit 2018 (WRS 2018), in a part of which Lecturer Dobashi was a commentator, was streamed live on YouTube (the video is only in Japanese).
Sep. 5, 2018 Our collaborative research with Kobe University on a versatile robotic hand was introduced in an article of the newspaper, the Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun. Also, at RSJ2018, our research, "Problem of Finger Arrangement on Target Part's Surface and Geometrical Solution for Mechanism Design of Chuck-type Hand with Three Parallel Stick Fingers," and collaborative research with Kobe University, "Jig-less Assembly of Gear Unit by Single Arm with Versatile Robotic Hand with Four Parallel Stick Fingers," were presented.
Aug. 17, 2018 Our developed versatile robotic hand was introduced in an article of the newspaper, the Nikkei Business Daily.
Jul. 31, 2018 At JST New Technology Presentation Meetings, a presentation on realization of assembly tasks with the versatile robotic hand and robust grasping strategy was given.
Jul. 15, 2018 At Wakayama Univ. Open Campus 2018, demonstraton of an assembly task with our versatile robotic hand was performed. [picture]
Jan. 31, 2018 A presentation on robotics and our research was given to elementary school students at Hirano Elementary School attached to Osaka Kyoiku University.
Nov. 11, 2017 At the 60th Japan Joint Automatic Control Conference, the collaborative research, "On a Study of Power Generation Rate of DEGs with Self-priming Circuits," was presented.
Nov. 10, 2017 At the 26th Wakayama Techno Business Fair and the 25th WAKASA Intec Messe, the component technology of our proposed universal robotic hand for assembly tasks was presented. Also, at the 60th Japan Joint Automatic Control Conference, the collaborative research, "Seamless Manipulation of Multi- ngered Robot Hands Using Quaternion Representation," was presented.
Nov. 4, 2017 Parents of students in our faculty visited our laboratory. [article]
Oct. 17, 2017 High school students from Osaka Prefectural Senyo Senior High School visited our laboratory. [article]
Sep. 8, 2017 The two research topics, "Macro-micro Robotic System Realizing Human Skill for Assembly Tasks," and "EEG Driven Robotic System for Efficient Stroke Rehabilitation" were added to the research page.
Jul. 19, 2017 At the 15th IEEE/RAS-EMBS International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR 2017), the collaborative research, "Utilization of Kinematical Redundancy of a Rehabilitation Robot to Produce Compliant Motions under Limitation on Actuator Performance," was presented.
May 12, 2017 At ROBOMECH2017, the collaborative research, "Study on Corticomuscular Coherence Analysis for the Evaluation of Effects in Stroke Rehabilitation," was presented.
Apr. 21, 2017 The co-authored paper, "Utilization of Kinematical Redundancy of a Rehabilitation Robot to Produce Compliant Motions under Limitation on Actuator Performance," was accepted for the 15th IEEE/RAS-EMBS International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR 2017).
Apr. 1, 2017 Hiroki Dobashi transferred from Ritsumeikan University to Wakayama University as a lecturer.