Director of Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute Is Elected to the National Academy of Engineering

PITTSBURGH--Takeo Kanade, Whitaker professor of computer science and director of the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pa., USA, has been elected to membership in the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), one of the highest professional distinctions that can be accorded an engineer.

The Academy, which was formed in 1964, shares responsibility with the National Academy of Sciences to advise the U.S. government on questions of policy in science and technology. Membership in the NAE honors people who have made important contributions to engineering theory, practice and literature, and those who have demonstrated unusual accomplishment in pioneering new and developing fields of technology.

Kanade was selected for his groundbreaking work in computer vision and robotics. He developed the first complete system for face recognition by computer and co-developed the world's first direct drive robot arm, now recognized as the most advanced robot arm technology used by several robot manufacturers. His Origami World Theory for three-dimensional shape recovery from line drawings is one of the 10 most frequently cited papers in the key Journal of Artificial Intelligence. Kanade also has pioneered in the development of computational sensors that integrate sensing and processing. He has developed several unique 3D sensors for which he holds patents.

In the area of autonomous mobile robots, Kanade has been the leader and developer of video-based vision systems used in Carnegie Mellon's autonomous vehicles, the Navlabs. In addition, he and a student have developed a vision-based autonomous helicopter which ultimately may be able to aid in search and rescue operations, fire fighting and inspection tasks.

In medical robotics and computer-assisted surgery, Kanade is working with surgeons and researchers at Pittsburgh's Shadyside Hospital to develop smart tools capable of performing medical procedures better than a physician or machine could do alone.

Kanade also has built a video-rate stereo machine, which recreates three-dimensional images. Multiple cameras placed in a geodesic dome are also the basis for some of his most recent work in a new medium named virtualized reality. This technique captures the real 3D world in a computerized 3D world and allows the viewer to move about freely in this new real, but virtualized, environment.

"Takeo Kanade is a practical visionary," said Carnegie Mellon President Robert Mehrabian. "He envisions new directions in research, then applies his considerable creative and technical skill to producing innovations that will benefit our larger society. Dr. Kanade's career has been one of remarkable achievements."

"Dr. Kanade is a preeminent scientist in the areas of computer vision and robotics," added Raj Reddy, dean of the School of Computer Science. "We are very fortunate to have him as a colleague and member of the faculty at Carnegie Mellon."

Kanade received his bachelor's, master's and doctor's degrees in electrical engineering from Kyoto University. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers and the American Association of Artificial Intelligence. He is the founding editor of the International Journal of Computer Vision.

Kanade has received several awards, including the Joseph Engelberger Award for Technology Achievement in robotics in 1995 and the Hoso Bunka Kikin Research Award in 1994. He has served on the United States' National Research Council's Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board, NASA~s Advanced Technology Advisory Committee and the Advisory Board of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.

Kanade is one of two Japanese engineers elected to the NAE this year. The other is Hisashi Kaneko, president and CEO of NEC Corp., who was recognized for his contributions in management and digital communication.

They join the 21 other members of the Academy who hold Japanese citizenship, including Yoshio Ando, Dr. of engineering and professor emeritus, Nuclear Power Engineering Corp.; Hiroyuki Aoyama, president, Aoyama Laboratory; Leo Esaki, president, University of Tsukuba; Tasuku Fuwa, retired adviser, Nippon Steel Corp.; Tsuyoshi Hayashi, counselor Research Center of Computational Mechanics, Inc. (RCCM); Masaru Ibuka, founder and chief adviser, Sony Corp.; Seiuemon Inaba, chairman and CEO, FANUC, Ltd.; Hiroshi Inose, director general of the National Center for Science Information Systems; Iwao Iwasaki, technical councilor, Mitsubishi Materials Corp.; Susumu Kato, vice-chairman, Japan Indonesia Science and Technology Forum, Makoto Kikuchi, executive technical adviser, Sony Corp.; Jiro Kondo, director general, Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth; Yasuo Mori, professor emeritus, Tokyo Institute of Technology; Ryoichi Nakagawa, former corporate officer, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.; Shoichi Saba, adviser to the board, Toshiba Corp.; Tadahiro Sekimoto, Chairman, NEC Corp., (Takeo, can we check title?. It~s the same as Kaneko~s.) Yasuharu Suematsu, director general, National Institute for Advanced Interdisciplinary Research; Shoichiro Toyoda, chairman, Toyota Motor Corp.; Michiyuki Uenohara, executive adviser, NEC Corp.; Takeo Yokobori, professor and dean, School of Science and Engineering, Teikyo University; Fumitake Yoshida, emeritus professor of chemistry, Kyoto University.

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