Jekyll2022-09-22T07:43:15-07:00https://jvsl.dev/feed.xmlProf. Jose V. Salazar L.Ph.D. in Bioengineering and RoboticsJose Victorio Salazar Lucesj.salazar@srd.mech.tohoku.ac.jpCBS 2019 @ Munich2019-09-20T00:00:00-07:002019-09-20T00:00:00-07:00https://jvsl.dev/posts/2019/09/cbs2019<h2 id="munich-welcomes-cbs-2019">Munich welcomes CBS 2019</h2>
<p>The IEEE International Conference on Cyborg and Bionic Systems (CBS) was held in Munich in 2019. CBS is sponsored by the IEEE-RAS Technical Committee on Cyborgs and Bionic Systems, and it’s a relatively new venue.</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/2019/cbsentrance.jpeg" alt="CBS 2019 @ Munich" /></p>
<p>We had the opportunity to present our latest findings in the field of Human Guidance using Vibrotactile Feedback. It was a hybrid type conference, with both posters and keynote type presentations. The turnover was very diverse, and the research topics were incredibly futuristic!</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/2019/cbsposter.jpeg" alt="At our Poster!" /></p>
<p>One of the activities organized by the Conference was visiting the <a href="https://www.bmwgroup-werke.com/muenchen/en.html">BMW Welt Factory</a>, which is a largely automated car production facility. It was so interesting to see these <strong>massive</strong> industrial manipulators handling car chassis like they were toys.</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/2019/welt.jpeg" alt="BMW Welt" /></p>
<p>I also had the opportunity to visit a bit of Munich’s Central Area, including <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marienplatz">Marienplatz</a>. Incredibly beautiful!</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/2019/marienplatz.jpeg" alt="Marienplatz" /></p>
<p>The food was delicious, and the beer was amazing! Can’t wait to go back to Germany.</p>Jose Victorio Salazar Lucesj.salazar@srd.mech.tohoku.ac.jpMunich welcomes CBS 2019IROS 2019 @ Macau2019-09-20T00:00:00-07:002019-09-20T00:00:00-07:00https://jvsl.dev/posts/2019/11/iros2019<h2 id="iros2019-in-macau">IROS2019 in Macau</h2>
<p>The IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems was held at The Venetian Macao from November 4 to 8, 2019. Macau is a city famous for its gambling, resorts, and shopping venues, and this was my first expedition into Chinese territory. IROS is one of IEEE’s flagship conferences in robotics, so most talks discussed about state-of-the-art results, new systems and innovative applications relevant to intelligent robots. The conference included plenary and keynote talks, technical sessions, workshops and tutorials, forums, pioneers’ talks, and exhibits to enrich fruitful discussions among conference attendees.</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/2019/iros2019venue.jpeg" alt="IROS 2019 @ The Venetian Macao" /></p>
<p>For this conference, there were more than 2500 papers submitted from 53 different countries, where 1127 were accepted. The theme of this year was “Robots Connecting People”</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/2019/iros2019welcome.jpeg" alt="IROS 2019 Welcome Address" /></p>
<p>I attended this time as a Workshop Organizer. I’ve been participating as a Jr. Chair of the IEEE RAS <a href="">Technical Committee for Robotics Research for Practicality</a>https://www.ieee-ras.org/robotics-research-for-practicality. This was our first workshop, where we had different presentations about robots being used in real-life applications, from the medical field to the automobile industry. We had talks from different players in the field, which were very interesting! The turnover was quite good too. You can see the details of the event <a href="https://www.ieee-ras.org/robotics-research-for-practicality/activities/338-technical-committees/tc-robotics-research-for-practicality/1407-rrpws-iros-2019">here</a>.</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/2019/iros2019tcrrp.jpeg" alt="TC-RRP members at the Young Leaders Dinner" /></p>
<p>I also had the opportunity to see a bit around the hotel venue, which was in the center of the strip. It was so full with incredible casinos and structures! I really want to go back to Macau again.</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/2019/iros2019view.jpeg" alt="Macau at a glance" /></p>
<p>If you go to Macau, don’t skip the House of the Dancing Water, and eat as many pineapple cakes as possible!</p>Jose Victorio Salazar Lucesj.salazar@srd.mech.tohoku.ac.jpIROS2019 in MacauLIFE 2019 @ Keio2019-09-14T00:00:00-07:002019-09-14T00:00:00-07:00https://jvsl.dev/posts/2019/09/life<h2 id="life-2019-in-tokyo">LIFE 2019 in Tokyo</h2>
<p>This week, I attended the 2019 Annual Symposium in Welfare Engineering (LIFE2019), which was held at Keio University, in Tokyo. This is a symposium jointly held by the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers, Life Support Society, Japan Society for Life Support Engineering, where topics such as rehabilitation, biometrics and welfare engineering are discussed.</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/2019/life2019.jpg" alt="LIFE 2019" /></p>Jose Victorio Salazar Lucesj.salazar@srd.mech.tohoku.ac.jpLIFE 2019 in TokyoRSJ 2019 @ Waseda2019-09-04T00:00:00-07:002019-09-04T00:00:00-07:00https://jvsl.dev/posts/2019/09/rsj2019<h2 id="rsj-comes-to-tokyo">RSJ comes to Tokyo</h2>
<p>The 37th Annual Conference of the Robotics Society of Japan (RSJ2019) was held at Waseda University, in Tokyo. A total of 5 students of our lab presented their work there.</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/2019/rsj2019.jpg" alt="RSJ 2019" /></p>
<p>This time, I also had the opportunity to take part as a <a href="https://ac.rsj-web.org/2019/committee.html#main:~:text=Jose%20Salazar%EF%BC%88%E6%9D%B1%E5%8C%97%E5%A4%A7%E5%AD%A6%EF%BC%89">Program Committee Member</a>. It was really interesting to partake in this process and see how these events are organized and handled.</p>
<p>This year, they gave us something very interesting: <strong>Astroboy Currency</strong>. If you’re wondering what this is, I was equally confused. Well, they actually created a currency based on Osamu Tezuka’s anime Astroboy, and you can <em>actually</em> use it in select stores surronding the University. 1 <em>bariki</em> (horsepower) is equal to 1 Japanese yen. Here’s how my 500 bariki bill looks like.</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/2019/atom.jpg" alt="500 HP" /></p>
<p>This was also a great opportunity to catch up with friends living in the Kanto area, as well as professors from other universities in Japan. The keynotes were very interesting as well. Did you know they’re planning to build a 1:1 scale <a href="https://gundam-challenge.com/en/">Gundam robot that actually moves?</a> It’s impressive, really.</p>Jose Victorio Salazar Lucesj.salazar@srd.mech.tohoku.ac.jpRSJ comes to TokyoTESP 2019 @ Sendai2019-08-20T00:00:00-07:002019-08-20T00:00:00-07:00https://jvsl.dev/posts/2019/20/tesp<p>This year, we are hosting the 4th Iteration of the Tohoku Engineering Summer Program (<a href="http://www.astro.mech.tohoku.ac.jp/TESP/">TESP</a>), where a group of foreign students from different Universities team up for about two weeks designing two different self-balancing robot using Lego Mindstorms, and on their last day, we have the two robots fight in a sumo ring.</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/2019/tesp.jpg" alt="TESP" /></p>
<p>The fight at the end is always very entertaining, and the students have a great time. You can see the final fight from 2018 in this video:</p>
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_j1NomysM0E" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>Jose Victorio Salazar Lucesj.salazar@srd.mech.tohoku.ac.jpThis year, we are hosting the 4th Iteration of the Tohoku Engineering Summer Program (TESP), where a group of foreign students from different Universities team up for about two weeks designing two different self-balancing robot using Lego Mindstorms, and on their last day, we have the two robots fight in a sumo ring.Workshop @ NIPS2019-08-05T00:00:00-07:002019-08-05T00:00:00-07:00https://jvsl.dev/posts/2019/05/nips<p>I had the opportunity to attend a workshop at the National Institute for Physiological Sciences (<a href="https://www.nips.ac.jp/eng/">NIPS</a>), in Okazaki, Japan. The workshop was titled “Multidisciplinary research on the development of brain functions and motion during the growth period of infants and children”. It was very interesting, with talks ranging from robotics for welfare to rehabilitation specialists and brain specialists.</p>
<p>We had the opportunity to do a lab tour, where we saw NIPS facilities. For some of them, we had to wear protective gear, as they included experiments with animals.</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/2019/josegeared.jpg" alt="Gear on" /></p>
<p>It was my first time in the Aichi prefecture, so I tried the most famous food there, the <a href="https://matcha-jp.com/en/1239">hitsumabushi</a> (which is an eel donburi with a rigurous eating procedure) and ironically, the Taiwan ramen (yeah, Taiwan ramen <a href="https://www.taberukoto.jp/ramen/taiwan-ramen-en/">is not Taiwanese</a>). Both were delicious, highly recommend the Taiwan ramen!!</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/2019/taiwanramen.jpg" alt="Taiwan Ramen" /></p>Jose Victorio Salazar Lucesj.salazar@srd.mech.tohoku.ac.jpI had the opportunity to attend a workshop at the National Institute for Physiological Sciences (NIPS), in Okazaki, Japan. The workshop was titled “Multidisciplinary research on the development of brain functions and motion during the growth period of infants and children”. It was very interesting, with talks ranging from robotics for welfare to rehabilitation specialists and brain specialists.ROBOMECH 2019 @ Hiroshima2019-06-07T00:00:00-07:002019-06-07T00:00:00-07:00https://jvsl.dev/posts/2019/06/robomech2019<h2 id="its-robomech-time-again">It’s ROBOMECH time again!</h2>
<p><img src="/images/blog/2019/robomech2019.jpg" alt="ROBOMECH @ Hiroshima" /></p>
<p>I had the opportunity to present our work in the Robotics and Mechatronics Conference 2019 in Hiroshima (ROBOMECH 2019). First time I’ve ever been in Hiroshima. As usual, ROBOMECH is a great venue for demos, so we had a great time. The paper we presented evaluated the long term effect of vibrotactile guidance on learning.</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/2019/robomech2019-poster.jpg" alt="Me" /></p>
<p>As I had some hours to spare the day of arrival, I had the chance to visit Miyajima and the Itsukushima Shrine, considered one of the <a href="https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2250.html">3 most scenic places in Japan</a>. It was incredible! Definitely would go there again.</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/2019/miyajima.jpg" alt="Itsukushima Shrine" /></p>Jose Victorio Salazar Lucesj.salazar@srd.mech.tohoku.ac.jpIt’s ROBOMECH time again!We started a Technical Committee!2019-03-29T00:00:00-07:002019-03-29T00:00:00-07:00https://jvsl.dev/posts/2019/03/tcrrp<p>Prof. <a href="http://www.irs.mech.tohoku.ac.jp/kazuhirokosuge.html">Kazuhiro Kosuge</a>, 2019 IEEE Vice President-Elect for Technical Activities, invited me to take part into a new committee created in IEEE-RAS, called the Technical Committee on <a href="https://www.ieee-ras.org/robotics-research-for-practicality">Robotics Research for Practicality</a>. This TC was created to have a forum that facilitates discussions on the ways to address the challenges in the robotics research community to close the gap between research and industry.</p>
<p>As a preparation for our first workshop, scheduled for <a href="https://www.iros2019.org/">IROS 2019</a>, in Macau, we had the opportunity to meet one of our co-chairs, Prof. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_Brooks">Rodney Brooks</a>, the creator of huge companies such as <a href="https://www.irobot.com/">iRobot</a> and <a href="https://www.rethinkrobotics.com/">Rethink Robotics</a>, in Tokyo. He was kind enough to let us tape a few words regarding Practicality, and the challenges ahead. Check it out!</p>
<hr />
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Y6Em7K_1ZkY" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<hr />
<p>After taping the video, we went to a restaurant at Tokyo Station to have some amazing tempura! Thank you for the great talk, Prof. Brooks :)</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/2019/brooks.jpg" alt="Tempura time!" /></p>Jose Victorio Salazar Lucesj.salazar@srd.mech.tohoku.ac.jpProf. Kazuhiro Kosuge, 2019 IEEE Vice President-Elect for Technical Activities, invited me to take part into a new committee created in IEEE-RAS, called the Technical Committee on Robotics Research for Practicality. This TC was created to have a forum that facilitates discussions on the ways to address the challenges in the robotics research community to close the gap between research and industry.SI 2018 @ Osaka2018-12-14T00:00:00-08:002018-12-14T00:00:00-08:00https://jvsl.dev/posts/2018/12/si2018<h2 id="back-to-si-this-time-in-osaka">Back to SI, this time in Osaka!</h2>
<p>The SICE Symposium on System Integration (SI 2018) was held at Osaka Institute of Technology in Osaka, Japan. We presented our latest research topics, including a system to help pick-and-place operations in a warehouse using vibrotactile feedback.</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/2018/si2018osaka.jpg" alt="SI in Osaka" /></p>
<p>Going to Osaka is always so nice. The people are very welcoming, and the food is insanely delicious. The atmosphere is so unique, it’s always a different adventure.</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/2018/osakastreet.jpg" alt="Presenting our research" /></p>Jose Victorio Salazar Lucesj.salazar@srd.mech.tohoku.ac.jpBack to SI, this time in Osaka!Symposium on Interdisciplinary AI and Human Studies @ RIEC2018-11-24T00:00:00-08:002018-11-24T00:00:00-08:00https://jvsl.dev/posts/2018/11/riec<p>I had the chance to present a poster summarizing our research at the 2nd Tohoku-NTU University Symposium on Interdisciplinary AI and Human Studies at the Research Institute of Electrical Communication (RIEC), at Tohoku University, Japan. Great opportunity to hear different talks about diverse topics, particularly some that I am not much familiar with, such as genetics and content design.</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/2018/riecposter.jpg" alt="Presenting our research" /></p>
<p>We also had the chance to visit RIEC’s electromagnetic anechoic chamber, which was impressive. Check it out in the picture below</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/2018/chamber.jpg" alt="Anechoic chamber" /></p>Jose Victorio Salazar Lucesj.salazar@srd.mech.tohoku.ac.jpI had the chance to present a poster summarizing our research at the 2nd Tohoku-NTU University Symposium on Interdisciplinary AI and Human Studies at the Research Institute of Electrical Communication (RIEC), at Tohoku University, Japan. Great opportunity to hear different talks about diverse topics, particularly some that I am not much familiar with, such as genetics and content design.