Mission

Nurturing and sending forth the “pioneers” of the time

Matsuo Laboratory is taking on the challenge of “creating intelligence”

 

Beginning with research on the web, we are conducting cutting-edge research based on deep learning and massive amounts of data available to companies. Our mission is to create new technologies that will serve as guideposts toward the future. At the same time, we are building an ecosystem for research, education, social implementation, and incubation around them.

 

Innovative technology. Cutting-edge research. High-quality education. Social implementation and incubation to create impact. Each element inspires and connects to another to create the future. Each one of us is at the center of the innovation. Exploring and maximizing their potential, and carving out a new path for themselves. At Matsuo Laboratory, we aspire to be a place that fosters and sends forth individuals who become the “pioneers” of our time.

 

Nurturing the “pioneers” who will change the times and pave the way for the future, that is our mission and that is what we are striving for.

Vision

Nurture “pioneers” and lead the innovation of the century and create an ecosystem where a “chain of innovation” begins

Matsuo Laboratory aims to nurture “pioneers”.

 

We are continuously advancing world-class research with results that contribute to the accumulation of knowledge. Improving the quality and quantity of education by enhancing basic research will provide more students with a more valuable learning experience.

 

Those who learn through the education opportunities provided by Matsuo Laboratory will play an active role in collaborative research and their entrepreneurial ventures. They will become “pioneers” who initiate innovations. Their successful experiences and knowledge will flow back into research and education.

 

A change generates another, driving further change to individuals and society.
Changes to the world get faster and more dramatic, with increased momentum. 

 

Matsuo Laboratory strives to build an ecosystem where such a “chain reaction of innovation” starts. We will nurture “pioneers” and create an ecosystem that will change society. 

Research & Environment

Fundamental Research

Matsuo Laboratory is developing fundamental technologies related to deep learning, such as deep generative models, deep reinforcement learning, and representation learning. In particular, we have recently been working on world models and their application to robot manipulation as we consider it an important technology to engineer intelligence. Many of our members’ papers have been accepted for publication in top-tier international conferences (ICLR, NeurIPS, ICML), and have received awards, including the Dean’s Award of the Graduate School of Engineering. In a setting environment where researchers with various specialties gather to engage in friendly competition, we provide an environment where motivated students and researchers can play an active role by holding weekly readings of the latest papers, lectures, and exchange of opinions.

Robotics

Matsuo Laboratory supervises TRAIL (Tokyo Robot And Intelligence Lab), an R&D community aiming to implement intelligence in the real world. In addition to actual robots such as robot arms and mobile manipulators, various simulators, VR-related equipment, 3D printers, and sensors such as depth cameras, motion capture, or tactile sensors are available for use according to their own research and development activities. Tutorials on how to use each hardware and software are provided as needed.

Brain-Inspired Intelligence

Current intelligence technologies based on deep learning have already shown more than comparable performance to humans in areas such as pattern recognition and language processing. However, this is only an extension of a small portion of the human brain’s potential. In reality, current technologies require vast amounts of data and computation. In addition, abilities such as language semantic understanding, self-awareness/metacognition, and hierarchical control have not been implemented at a human-like level. Therefore, the Matsuo Laboratory is engaged in research to unravel the information representation, mechanisms, algorithms, and architecture that support the computational functions of the brain, while taking into account the rapidly accumulating neuroscience findings. Part of our motivation for this research is to reexamine the question of “What is a human being?”. Meanwhile, we aim to connect our findings in world models and robotics with practical engineering technology.

Research Environment

The Matsuo Laboratory has an HPC team dedicated to facilitating deep learning research through state-of-the-art computing resources. We believe that good infrastructure plays a vital role in research, and we provide cutting-edge technology to students and researchers on daily basis.

Education & Community

Education

The Matsuo Laboratory offers a wide range of learning and implementation/practice opportunities, including the following courses. In all of these courses, we focus on fostering not only theory but also business application and implementation skills.

Deep Learning Community & Research Groups

In addition to weekly study groups for assigned students, Matsuo Laboratory holds a number of voluntary study groups for students who completed lectures provided by Matsuo Laboratory.

Some examples include a DL reading group, DL Hacks where students implement papers and focus on practical development, TRAIL (Robot club) where teams compete in robot contests, a finance reading group for students to read books on finance and deep learning, and occasional lectures by guest researchers. We provide an environment that allows both assigned students and external students for their mutual improvement.

Incubation & Entrepreneurship programme

As part of its extracurricular activities, the Matsuo Laboratory offers a variety of entrepreneurship development programs, such as Kigyo Quest (Entrepreneurship Quest), in which students follow the steps taken by the founders of Matsuo Laboratory’s startups to start their own businesses, and M-Salon in which students conduct market research in Japan and overseas and discuss news related to startups. We offer these courses to students regardless of their grade, entrance year, and major.

Research Topics

Pioneering the Future of Artificial Intelligence Technology

Matsuo Laboratory conducts a wide range of research, from basic to applied, focusing on areas such as Deep Learning and Web data analysis.

Collaborative Research

We provide technologies of Matsuo Laboratory to external companies

Matsuo Laboratory conducts joint research with numerous companies. Our goal is to start an influential change in society by adapting the latest research and technology in business while accelerating research and development by utilizing the abundant and real-world data that companies possess.

Startups

Create a new industrial ecosystem

One of the important missions of the Matsuo Laboratory is to create a new industrial ecosystem by producing venture start-ups and returning new technologies to society. We encourage and support entrepreneurship among students, faculty, and staff alike, and in the past, several venture companies that were started by faculty, staff, and students of our laboratory have been launched into society.

Please contact us if you have any requests for a joint research interview, joining our laboratory, or if you wish to discuss web technologies, artificial intelligence, or entrepreneurship.