Student Voices: Graduate Programs

Graduate School of Sciences and Engineering
Graduate Program of Mechatronics

When I was a little child, I enjoyed watching documentaries about robots on television. Japanese robots were a constant in most of them. Along with my mother, I enjoyed watching Spirited Away and other Ghibli films. I became interested in robots and Japanese culture as a result of this. When I asked my high school programming teacher which countries were at the forefront of robotics, he said that Japan was among the more advanced nations in this area. This encouraged me to seriously think about studying in Japan, so I worked hard to make that happen.

With my parents' assistance, I came to Japan in 2017 and spent around two years learning Japanese at a Japanese Language School before enrolling at Nanzan. There are two prominent Catholic universities in Japan, one of which is Nanzan University, and it has a department dedicated to mechatronics. Since I am a Catholic, this was the best place for me to pursue my studies, so I decided to enter Nanzan.

The University welcomes a lot of international students from all over the world, creating a vibrant multicultural campus. So, there are many opportunities to interact with students from different cultural backgrounds, which gave me an understanding of foreign cultures and broadened my perspective on the world. The facilities of the university are wonderful, with an orange and gray aesthetic that is, in my opinion, not too common but nonetheless pleasing to the eye. There are plenty of cafeterias, convenience stores, and bookstores notwithstanding the exceptional array of classrooms and study rooms.

My mother was a doctor, and from when I was a child I often visited the hospital where she used to work. There, I often met patients with limb disabilities, and every time I saw them, I wondered if there was any way I could help them. This had a big impact on me, and I decided that in future I wanted to help the physically handicapped.

Believing that research on robotic arms would benefit the physically handicapped people I had met in my childhood, I started to study at the Faculty of Science and Technology. I subsequently decided to go on to the Graduate Program of Mechatronics to pursue further research on robotic arms under the guidance of my advisor, Professor Nakashima. To be specific, I am conducting research on machine learning algorithms to identify five motion patterns to control a robotic arm (especially a myoelectric prosthetic hand) using electromyography (EMG), which is the weak electric power generated when muscles are moved.

After completing graduate school, I would like to work for a machine design company and be involved in the development of artificial limbs to make life easier for the physically handicapped. It is my goal and dream to realize a society where people with physical disabilities can live comfortably.