Harry Asada

Harry Asada

Biography

H. Harry Asada is Ford Professor of Engineering and Director of the Brit and Alex d’Arbeloff Laboratory for Information Systems and Technology in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA. He received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in precision engineering in 1973, 1975, and 1979, respectively, all from Kyoto University, Japan. He specializes in robotics, biological engineering, and system dynamics and control. His current research includes precise, global linearization of nonlinear systems, wearable extra legs, arms, and fingers, underwater robots, bio-artificial muscles, optogenetic control, computational modeling of cell migration and emergent behaviors. He received the Rufus Oldenburger Medal from ASME in 2011. He won the Best Paper Awards at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation in 1993, 1997, 1999, and 2010, the O. Hugo Schuck Best Paper Award from the American Control Council in 1985, Best Journal Paper Awards from the Society of Instrument and Control Engineers in 1979, 1984, and 1990, and the Henry Paynter Outstanding Researcher Award from ASME Dynamic Systems and Control in 1998. He also received the Spira Award for Distinguished Teaching from the School of Engineering, MIT. Dr. Asada is a Fellow of ASME.