Yuta Shimane, Ph.D.

Yuta Shimane
Ph.D. in Information Science and Technology

 

- Professional Experience -

Sep 2025 - Present: Project Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo [UTokyo] [Lab]

2024 - 2025: Research Technical Assistant, Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo

2021: Research Assistant for Doctoral Students, Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo

2018 - 2021: Part-time Researcher, Image Processing Research Team, RIKEN

- Education -

2025: Ph.D., Department of Mechano-Informatics, Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo

2021: M.Eng., Department of Mechanical Engineering, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Science

2019: B.Eng., Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tokyo University of Science

- Academic Memberships -

The Robotics Society of Japan / The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers / The Primate Society of Japan / Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

Starting from the fundamental question of how humans skillfully control their bodies, my research aims to elucidate human motor function from a mechanical perspective. In particular, I take a constructive approach using computer simulations based on models of body mechanics and motor control. I also conduct biomechanical analyses of locomotion in primates, including humans, and rodents.

Evolution of human bipedalism and knuckle-walking in African great apes

Flexible deformation computation and mechanical parameter identification of sports prostheses [Video]

Motion computation and learning using dynamic simulations based on reinforcement learning [Video]

Development of a rat musculoskeletal model based on 3D scan images

2026: Best Young Researcher Presentation Award, Joint Meeting of the 42nd Congress of the Primate Society of Japan, the 80th Anthropological Society of Nippon Meeting, and the 88th Japanese Society of Physiological Anthropology Meeting

2025: The 4th Young Researcher Presentation Award, The Robotics Society of Japan [URL]

2024: The 5th Outstanding Research and Technology Award, The Robotics Society of Japan [URL]

2019: Best Presentation Award, Symposium of the Division of Interdisciplinary Brain Sciences, Research Institute for Science and Technology

2019: Young Excellent Presentation Fellow Award, The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers [URL]

Original Papers

1. Yuta Shimane and Ko Yamamoto, "Simulation of Adaptive Running with Flexible Sports Prosthesis using Reinforcement Learning of Hybrid-link System", IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 11(7), pp. 8172-8179, 2026. [DOI] [arXiv]
2. Kim, Sunghee, Yuta Shimane, Taiki Ishigaki, and Ko Yamamoto, “Dynamics Computation of Soft-Rigid Hybrid-Link System and Its Application to Motion Analysis of an Athlete Wearing Sport Prosthesis." Advanced Robotics 40 (4): pp. 197–211, 2026. [DOI] [arXiv]
3. Yuta Shimane, Taiki Ishigaki, Sunghee Kim and Ko Yamamoto, "Viscoelasticity Estimation of Sports Prosthesis by Energy-minimizing Inverse Kinematics and Its Validation by Forward Dynamics", Advanced Robotics, 38 (21), pp. 1515–1527, 2024. [DOI] [arXiv]
4. Yuta Shimane, Taiki Ishigaki, Sunghee Kim, Yosuke Ikegami, and Ko Yamamoto, "Application of Piece-wise Constant Strain Model to Flexible Deformation Calculation of Sports Prosthesis and Stiffness Estimation", Proceedings of 2022 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, pp. 12758-12763, 2022. [DOI]
5. Sunghee Kim, Taiki Ishigaki, Yuta Shimane, Yosuke Ikegami, and Ko Yamamoto, "Inverse Kinematics of Hybrid Multi-link System and its Application to Motion Capture for Athlete Wearing Sports Prosthesis", Proceedings of 2022 IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots, pp. 837-842, 2022. [DOI]
6. Yuta Shimane, Hiroshi Takemura, Hidekazu Kaneko, Ko Ayusawa, Yuki Tsujimura, Masaaki Mochimaru, Hideo Yokota and Satoshi Oota, "Development of a whole-body skeletal model of a rat based on anatomical landmarks for detailed motion analysis", Proceedings of the 41st International Engineering in Medicine and Biology Conference, ThPOS-34.26, 2019. [Program] [PDF]

International Conferences

1. Sunghee Kim, Taiki Ishigaki, Yuta Shimane, Yosuke Ikegami, Ko Yamamoto, "Inverse Kinematics of Hybrid Multi-link System and its Application to Motion Capture for Athlete Wearing Sports Prosthesis", 2022 IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots, November 28, 2022.
2. Yuta Shimane, Taiki Ishigaki, Sunghee Kim, Yosuke Ikegami, Ko Yamamoto, "Application of Piece-wise Constant Strain Model to Flexible Deformation Calculation of Sports Prosthesis and Stiffness Estimation", 2022 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2022.
3. Yuta Shimane, Hiroshi Takemura, Hidekazu Kaneko, Ko Ayusawa, Yuki Tsujimura, Masaaki Mochimaru, Hideo Yokota, Satoshi Oota, "Development of a whole-body skeletal model of a rat based on anatomical landmarks for detailed motion analysis", 41st Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, July 23, 2019.

Research Grants

2026-2027 Constructive Study of the Mechanical Contribution of Sports Prostheses Based on Whole-Body Dynamics Simulation
JSPS KAKENHI Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up (26K25569) [URL]

2026-2027 Elucidating Movement Mechanisms through the Co-design of Sports Prostheses and Body Control Using Reinforcement Learning
Yamaha Motor Foundation for Sports, Sports Challenge Grant [URL]

2022-2025 Maximizing the Performance of Prosthetic Runners Using a Hybrid-link Simulation Model
Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), Support for Pioneering Research Initiated by the Next Generation (SPRING)

Travel Grants

2026 Tateisi Science and Technology Foundation, Second-Half International Exchange Grant [URL]

October 2026 Scientific English Exercises (The University of Tokyo)

July 2025 Robotics II (Guest lecturer for one class) (The University of Tokyo)

• IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters
• IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids)