JSCPB 2025 in Waseda

Living organisms have, over the course of countless millennia, adapted to their environments and diversified into a vast array of species. Throughout this evolutionary trajectory, they have acquired highly specialized abilities and morphologies. Remarkably, even in the contemporary era of increasingly powerful computational systems, such capabilities remain beyond the reach of artificial intelligence and robotics, continuing to captivate researchers in information science and engineering since the very dawn of AI and robotics. Traditionally, the field of "bio-inspired robotics" has advanced by emulating the remarkable faculties and structures of living organisms to enhance robotic performance. Conversely, the paradigm of “robotics-inspired biology” (Gravish N., and Lauder G. V., 2018), proposed by interdisciplinary research teams, has introduced a novel methodology: employing robots and physical models to guide the direction of biological experimentation and to generate fresh hypotheses for biological inquiry. This approach has given rise to robotic experimental systems specifically designed to formulate and test hypotheses regarding biological functions, thereby enabling discoveries and validations of biological phenomena that would be exceedingly difficult within the confines of a single discipline. In this symposium, we convene leading researchers from around the globe who have sought to elucidate biological intelligence through interdisciplinary convergence, and who will talk insights into the analysis and implementation of fundamental biological functions, such as locomotion and flight.

The visual system offers a unique opportunity to examine a wide range of biological processes, from cellular development to animal behavior and even evolution, through molecular manipulation. In the present symposium, a total of five researchers from Japan and the United States will present their findings on the molecular mechanisms involved in various layers of visual processes. Topics will include phototransduction dynamics, spatial patterning of photoreceptors, regulation of visually guided behavior, visual systems in mantis shrimps, and evolutionary invention of avian photoreceptor types. We aim to share the latest advancements in vision research with the audience and to provide a platform for discussing potential breakthroughs that might apply to the field beyond vision studies.