A JAPANESE IN BEIJING
Toshio Fukuda, a Japanese nano-tech scientist, made his first visit to Beijing in 1995, attending a manufacturing technology summit at the invitation of China's Ministry of Science and Technology.
Since then, his communication with China has continued. He has been teaching as a visiting professor in a number of China's high-tech institutions, including Harbin Institute of Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Huazhong University of Science and Technology. From 2000, he decided to completely base his research work at Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT) and has stayed ever since.
"As a scientist, I want the micro-nano field to grow bigger and deeper, no matter where my research is based," he said.
He led the innovation in developing micro-nano robots as small as a particle of dust in the air, and artificial blood vessels as thin as a capillary.
He said that Chinese people worked very hard. When he first came to China, the only computer integrated manufacturing was in a lab of Tsinghua University.
"The Chinese government did not have a lot of funding, but it funded Tsinghua's research," he said.
By 2000, he could see research on robotic technology was spreading to science institutes all over China.
Fukuda said he chose BIT as his base because of the research environment, and because the National Science Foundation provided funding for his research.
"The school has a very nice human relationship and facility, and the Chinese I know work harder than the Japanese," he said.
China is his home now, and many people tell him that he is already half-Chinese. Indeed, his favorite food is hot-pot, a spicy Sichuan-style food, and his youngest daughter also speaks Chinese.
"In 2025, micro-nano robotics will be very important for China to realize its modern industrial manufacturing goals. How can we make it different from countries? Better performance, higher efficiency and lower cost. That's what micro-nano robotics are going to do," Fukuda said.
