Minoru Asada

Timeline

1. 1977–1982

   Control engineering PhD at Osaka

   He earns a B.E. in 1977, an M.E. in 1979 and a Ph.D. in 1982, all in control engineering at Osaka University. His doctoral work, in the computer vision laboratory of Saburo Tsuji, concerns reconstructing 3D structure from image sequences.

2. 1986–1987

   Visiting researcher at Maryland

   He spends 1986–1987 as a visiting researcher at the University of Maryland. There he works on image processing for the autonomous land vehicle project that DARPA funds at the Center for Automation Research, in a group headed by Azriel Rosenfeld.

3. 1995–1997

   Full professor at Osaka

   After ICRA rejects a paper from his lab on reinforcement learning for soccer robots in 1994, the same paper is one of ten finalists for the 1995 IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Best Conference Paper Award. He becomes a full professor of mechanical engineering at Osaka University in 1995, and a professor in the Department of Adaptive Machine Systems in 1997.

4. 1996–2008

   Founding and leading RoboCup

   As general chair of the IROS conference in 1996, he hosts the Pre-RoboCup, which includes a simulation league competition. In 1997, he helps set up the first RoboCup, held with IJCAI-97 in Nagoya, where his team shares the middle-size league title with the University of Southern California. He serves as president of the International RoboCup Federation from 2002 to 2008 and is a Founding Trustee of RoboCup, alongside Hiroaki Kitano and Manuela Veloso.

5. 2005–2011

   ERATO project and the CB2 robot

   He is elected an IEEE Fellow in 2005 for contributions to robot learning and applications. From 2005 to 2011, he is research director of the Japan Science and Technology Agency's ERATO ASADA Synergistic Intelligence Project, which introduces CB2, a child robot with a biomimetic body.

6. 2012–2013

   Developmental science and a RoboCup title

   In 2012, the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science names him Research Leader of a Specially Promoted Research Project on constructive developmental science, which follows the process from neuro-dynamics to social interaction. In 2013, his JoiTech team wins the humanoid adult-size league and the best humanoid award at RoboCup in Eindhoven.

7. 2019–2021

   Specially appointed professor at Osaka

   He becomes a specially appointed professor in Osaka University's Institute for Open and Transdisciplinary Research Initiatives in April 2019. In April 2021, he becomes vice president of the International Professional University of Technology in Osaka.

8. As of October 2026

   Vice president and strategic adviser

   In 2026, he is vice president of the International Professional University of Technology in Osaka and a specially appointed professor at Osaka University, where he is strategic adviser to the Symbiotic Intelligent Systems Research Center. He is also a principal investigator at CiNet, where his research areas are cognitive developmental robotics, artificial empathy, neurodynamics and social interaction.