News
News
March 04, 2026
[Award] The 25th Funai Information Technology Award (FY2025) — Assistant Professor Kento Kawaharazuka —
Assistant Professor Kento Kawaharazuka (Department of Next-Generation Artificial Intelligence, CERIST, Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo) has received the 25th Funai Information Technology Award (FY2025).
Assistant Professor Kento Kawaharazuka
The Funai Information Technology Award is presented by the Funai Foundation for Information Technology to recognize outstanding young researchers who have achieved excellent research results in the fields of information science and information technology, with the aim of promoting the advancement of research in these areas in Japan.
Kawaharazuka was awarded the prize in recognition of his contributions to research and education on the multifaceted intelligence of robots, encompassing perception, planning, control, and physical design.
Message from Assistant Professor Kento Kawaharazuka
Department of Next-Generation Artificial Intelligence, CERIST, Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo
I am honored to receive the Funai Information Technology Award. I am very pleased that my research in the field of Physical AI—covering a broad range of topics from perception, planning, and control to physical design—has been recognized. Going forward, I will continue to advance research on body structures and learning mechanisms that enable robots to understand their own bodies and grow through experience. I will also work on developing an integrated research and education framework that allows for seamless learning from software to hardware.
I hope that humanoid robotics research originating in Japan will once again create new global trends, and I will continue to move forward steadily toward that goal.
(This English article was prepared with the support of AI.)
