News

Inflatable-module field demonstration accepted at IEEE iSpaRo 2026

MoonBot inspecting, aligning and locking the HIDAS inflatable habitat module.

Started as a postdoctoral researcher at Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Genova

Joined the Dynamic Legged Systems lab with Claudio Semini, working on learning-based locomotion for quadrupedal robots under the ALTEC project.

First-author paper on multi-robot lunar cargo transport accepted at IEEE/RSJ IROS 2026

Completed doctoral research at the Space Robotics Lab, Tohoku University

Doctoral research from October 2023 on MoonBot, a modular reconfigurable lunar robot, under JST Moonshot Goal 3, as a Japanese Government MEXT scholar.

Best Paper Award in Planetary Robotics at IEEE iSpaRo 2025, Sendai

For multi-modal decentralized reinforcement learning on modular reconfigurable lunar robots.

Invited panelist at the IAF Next Generation Plenary, IAC 2025, Sydney

Plenary 6, "Designing the Future of Human Spaceflight".

Mapped Abukuma Cave with the modular plug-and-play sensor box

A lunar cave analogue, fusing a Livox Mid-360 LiDAR, two fisheye cameras and an Intel RealSense D435i.

MoonBot published in IEEE Transactions on Field Robotics

The modular, on-demand reconfigurable robot for Moon base construction, with equal authorship.

First-author paper on evolutionary design of modular lunar robots at IAC 2025

Motion Stack limb synchronization presented at IEEE/RSJ IROS 2025

Human-in-the-loop manipulator control presented at IEEE CASE 2025

Field-validated MoonBot APEX at the JAXA Space Exploration Test Field, Sagamihara

Full-scale test of agentic planning and execution for modular lunar robots in lunar-analogue terrain and lighting.

Selected as an IAF Emerging Space Leader

By the International Astronautical Federation, with a grant to attend IAC 2025 in Sydney.

Tested reinforcement learning policies on morphology-varying robots at JAXA Sagamihara

I-CON 2024 Silver award from the Indian Society of Remote Sensing, Lucknow

For a cloud-based, AI-enabled air pollution tracking system, developed with NRSC-ISRO scientists.

Manipulator deployment campaign for solar infrastructure at JAXA Sagamihara

Graph neural network path planning for planetary multi-robot teams at IAC 2024

Webinar talk: Emerging Trends in Space Robotics, Catalyzing Lunar Habitation and India's Space Vision 2047

For the AstroNova Club's Astronomy Sundays series.

Led project management for the International Lunar University at the ISU Space Studies Program

Hosted at NASA Johnson Space Center and Rice University, supervised by Jacob Cohen, Chief Scientist at NASA Ames.

Hosted with the Space Studies Program 2024 Indian delegation by the Consul General of India, Houston

A conversation on India's role in the space age and US-India collaboration.

Awarded a Tohoku University Dispatch Program Grant of EUR 20,000

To attend the International Space University Space Studies Program 2024.

Began doctoral research at the Space Robotics Lab, Tohoku University

As a Japanese Government MEXT Research Scholar, with Kazuya Yoshida.