News

The research team of Professor Yutaka Kaizu of the Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo — whose work focuses on robotization and autonomous driving of agricultural machinery — successfully completed "Mission 3 (Rescue)" at Japan Innovation Challenge 2025, a mountain rescue contest held in a remote mountainous area.

We visited Professor Kaizu's laboratory to explore why CuboRex's mobile robot platform was chosen for robot operations in demanding mountain field conditions. Through a technical dialogue between Professor Kaizu — who validated the platform with the original "CuGoMEGA" model — and CuboRex engineer Itoi, who led development of the now-available successor "CuGo MEGA M2," we take a deep dive into the cutting edge of field robotics.

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Profiles

Professor Yutaka Kaizu (right in photo)
Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo
A leading researcher in smart agriculture, specializing in robotization of agricultural machinery, image processing, GPS-based measurement, and biological production robots. For this contest, he led a student team from his laboratory.

Yusuke Itoi (left in photo)
Engineer, CuboRex Co., Ltd.
Lead engineer for the crawler-type robot platform "CuGoMEGA M2."

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The Challenge: "Japan Innovation Challenge" — A Mountain Rescue Contest with a ¥20 Million Prize

— First, please tell us about what inspired you to enter the contest and what the mission entailed.

Professor Kaizu: The big motivation was "securing funding" to further accelerate our research (laughs). With support at the scale of ¥20 million, we could take on more advanced development and experiments. We wanted to prove that the agricultural robotics know-how we had built up could hold its own in a demanding rescue environment, and then feed those results back into the next phase of research. That's what drove us to enter — and this was our fourth attempt. The contest challenge is rescuing a missing person in a mountainous area. The task involves using drones and similar tools to locate the missing person, then actually dispatching a robot to the site to carry out the rescue (transport). This time, we successfully completed "Mission 3 (Rescue)," considered the most difficult of all missions.

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How It Came to Be Adopted: The Limits of In-House Robots and the Switch to "CuGoMEGA"

— What kind of robots had you been using in previous attempts?

Professor Kaizu: At first we tried things like a large radio-controlled tractor, but operating it on mountain trails proved difficult. We also had experience building our own robots using CuboRex's small crawler units (such as CuGo V3), so for this challenge we decided to adopt the larger "CuGoMEGA (original model)" with greater payload capacity.

— What was the deciding factor in choosing "CuGoMEGA"?

Professor Kaizu: The biggest reasons were "the ability to carry heavy loads" and "not breaking down." For this mission, we had to transport a 50 kg dummy (standing in for the missing person). The smaller units we had used before lacked the power, but CuGoMEGA had more than enough payload capacity. And above all, the reliability of having no trouble in the field was critical. Forest roads in the mountains are extremely rough — full of drainage ditches and scattered rocks. Looking at other teams' robots, we saw many cases where rubber crawlers came off during turns and the robot became immobile. But CuGoMEGA never once had a crawler come off, and there were zero mechanical issues. That is truly remarkable.

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Technical Dialogue: Engineer Itoi × Professor Kaizu

~ The Track Record of "CuGoMEGA" and the Possibilities of the Evolved "CuGoMEGA M2" ~

Engineer Itoi — who developed the currently available successor "CuGo MEGA M2" — was also present at the interview, and a deeper discussion unfolded from a developer's perspective.

Itoi (CuboRex): We're genuinely thrilled as developers to hear that CuGoMEGA "didn't break" in your use. How was the actual driving performance on the ground?

Professor Kaizu: It was extremely stable. Forest roads have "cuts" (drainage ditches) for rainwater runoff, and the impact and stress of crossing those are considerable. But CuGoMEGA handled them without any issue whatsoever. Also, in addition to CuGoMEGA (the transport unit), our team deployed another robot — a "shovel-type robot."

Itoi: A team play between the shovel and CuGoMEGA!

Professor Kaizu: Exactly. Lifting a 50 kg dummy by hand is grueling, so our strategy was to use the shovel-type robot's arm to hoist the dummy and place it onto CuGoMEGA's cargo bed. It was a collaboration that was only possible because CuGoMEGA was a platform that could dedicate itself purely to transport.

Itoi: In the successor "CuGoMEGA M2," we have moved to brushless motors while retaining the robustness of the CuGoMEGA you used, achieving further improvements in controllability. For your research applications, how does that kind of evolution resonate with you?

Professor Kaizu: Going brushless is a great improvement. Better torque control at low speeds and finer speed control will definitely raise rough-terrain traversability further. Also, the biggest challenge in this contest was "remote operation." We were operating from a command post 1 km away from the site, and the communication signal tended to cut out due to the undulating terrain. Cellular networks inevitably introduce delays on both the operator and robot sides, so we adopted Starlink (satellite internet) on the operator side to secure a stable connection.

Itoi: You were running on Starlink!

Professor Kaizu: Yes. There were spots with no cellular signal at all, so satellite communication was essential. Even so, the camera image quality degraded, making it hard to judge depth perception on rough terrain. So we mounted a stereo camera and built a system where the operator can view the scene in 3D through VR goggles. Even with all that sophisticated sensing and communication equipment on board, CuGoMEGA had enough payload margin — which was a huge relief.

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Results and Future Outlook

— If you had to sum up the key factor behind this success in one phrase, what would it be?

Professor Kaizu: It comes down to "not having to worry about the drivetrain." In research and development, building the "drivetrain" for a mobile robot takes an enormous amount of time and effort. Having a platform where that component was already complete at a reliable, off-the-shelf level meant we could pour our energy into the higher-level systems — remote operation, communications, arm control, and more.

As a result, even when faced with unexpected situations like a road completely blocked by a landslide, we were able to calmly find a detour and complete the mission.

— Finally, what are your hopes for robot development going forward?

Professor Kaizu: In outdoor fields — especially mountainous terrain and agricultural settings — "being tough" is the absolute top priority. Keep moving even when caked in mud, even over steps and obstacles. I hope CuboRex continues to deliver a strong, "field-ready" drivetrain — including CuGo MEGA M2 — that we can actually rely on in the real world.

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【Editor's Note】

"The crawler never comes off. It never breaks." At first glance this may seem like a given — but in extreme field conditions, that "given" is what separates success from failure. The robustness of CuGoMEGA proven by Professor Kaizu's team has been reliably carried forward into the now-available successor, "CuGoMEGA M2." With further advances such as improved controllability from brushless motors, CuGoMEGA M2 is set to accelerate research and development and solve challenges in the field.

Interview cooperation: University of Tokyo, Kaizu Laboratory

Related product: CuGo MEGA M2 (product information here)