Aiming to Develop More User-Friendly Drones

I've loved making things since I was little, and in high school, I conducted research on drones. Just around that time, SFC held its "Camp for Designing the Future" on the theme of a "drone-based society," and my participation in it sparked my interest in SFC. It was a lot of fun to imagine a future where drones are used as a matter of course and people enjoy various benefits. I personally believed that such an era was coming, so I felt it was a perfect match for my own vision.

To utilize drones, it's necessary to solve complex issues that go beyond technological aspects like aircraft performance, including creating social systems and developing legal frameworks. At SFC, you can study across various fields in an interdisciplinary environment that integrates the arts and sciences, and you can also enroll in multiple research projects. I thought it offered the optimal learning environment for me.

At the "Open Research Forum 2019," where research results from SFC are presented, I exhibited on the "Verification and Evaluation of the Usefulness of UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) in Search and Rescue Operations for Distressed Persons." In the Keishi Takeda Research Group, to which I belong, we conduct numerous activities such as search and rescue operations for distressed persons using drones and surveys of wild animals at night. Through this extensive experience, we have cultivated knowledge and know-how, such as technology for detecting heat sources and the conditions under which infrared cameras can recognize humans. Leveraging this, I was also able to participate as a search and rescue volunteer.

I am also working on the theme of "Accelerating Camera Input Processing in UAVs Using FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays)." This research aims to achieve high-speed drone flight by developing a system capable of high-speed image processing using a special camera. Currently, various autonomous flight studies are underway, but they require extensive compression and decompression work for image processing, which hinders acceleration. If the image processing could be made simpler, we could unlock the aircraft's inherent performance and enable it to fly at speeds far greater than what is currently possible.

Robot development, including drones, requires a comprehensive and broad range of knowledge, from software to hardware. To gain this knowledge, I have belonged to numerous research groups. In addition to the Takeda Research Group, which is central to my drone research, I have worked on various themes in the Jun Murai Joint Research Group, the Kazunori Takashio Research Group, and the Hiroya Tanaka Research Group, incorporating the results into my own research. Since it's common to study in a single research group at university, I believe the ability to belong to multiple groups to expand one's learning and interactions is a unique advantage of SFC.

My future goal is to narrow my focus and delve deeper into the knowledge I have broadened. I intend to tackle research with a more specialized theme to build something I can call my strength.

In the future, I want to develop drones that are perceived as more user-friendly. To make them user-friendly, the first step is to get people to use them. And they must feel the convenience. I think a major reason why smartphones quickly became an everyday tool in Japan, where flip phones were once common, is that everyone realized their convenience. To popularize drones, I want to create aircraft that even people who have never touched one can use easily.

Long before I entered university, I have aimed for "problem-solving through making things." It makes me happy to create something with my own hands and "turn the impossible into the possible." I want to continue pursuing this theme through drone development.

I think aiming for SFC with a desire to achieve something you want to do is a very good choice. At SFC, you can give shape to your ideas. Therefore, it might be a good idea to actively take on various challenges during your high school years to cultivate aspirations like "I want to do this" or "I'll try to tackle that."

It's okay if what you want to do changes after you enroll. At SFC, which covers all sorts of fields, you can quickly adjust the direction of your studies to match your interests. I think that is another major advantage of SFC.

Dospara: To the Students of the Electronics Club at Nagano Prefectural Matsumoto Technical High School [Regarding CSR Activities and IVRC Sponsorship]