KYB TECHNICAL REVIEW No. 67 OCT. 2023

Foreword

Encouraged by "The Innovator's Dilemma"
SAITO Takashi*

We have enjoyed the opportunity to engage in joint
research with the KYB Group since 2018. Thanks to theGroup, this joint research has been accumulating a trackrecord beyond all expectations, including a co-written
research thesis that won an best paper award 1) last year.
The award-winning thesis covers a telescopic mechanism
called a clustered convex tape manipulator. Thismechanism has a simple structure in which lengths ofmaterial like measuring tapes are bundled (Fig. 1), which
is apparently an ultra-low-tech product that may not be
expected from an university.
When I was asked to write a foreword for theTechnical Review, I decided to put together the many
twists and turns during our development of the telescopic
mechanism and a book behind the meandering path.
Please let me tell you my long personal story.
I graduated from the Department of Biochemistry andEngineering at Tohoku University. Since then, I havegone through various circumstances and shifted into awide range of research involving device development.
When I was in a biophysics laboratory during my lastyear of university, I researched the decomposition ofphotosynthetic bacteria to reconfigure photosynthesis
capability. In the research using nuclear magnetic
resonance spectroscope, a key factor was a component
that can photo-irradiate test tubes in a tiny measurement
space under a high magnetic field. The component wasmade by an alumnus of the laboratory for his doctoral
dissertation. I realized then that, when you wish to doresearch on something that does not yet exist in theworld, you need to create something new, no matter how
small. That event left a big impression engraved on mymind.
During my master's program, I moved to an analyticalchemistry laboratory for various reasons. There I was incharge of partly developed spectroscopic equipment (time*Professor, Akita Prefectural University

Convex end(fixed)
Front turnaround Telescopic
block
sectionConvex drive
block

Motor

Convex surrounding
belt
Reel
Reel/motor
fixing swing arm
Belt tensioning shaft

Bundle plate Bundle plate
tension wire
ConvexBelt tension
springInter-shaft
compression spring
Convextransition guideFig. 1 Clustered convex tape manipulator mechanism

resolved fluorometers). Unfortunately, the equipment did
not work at all. Its pulse nitrogen laser light source
generated enough electromagnetic noise to shut down thecontrol PCs. Its measuring part was based on trigger
specifications different from those for other units to besynchronized even though they were included in a
product family from the same manufacturer. I often
visited a library to study electric engineering and took
various measures including noise control and signal
inversion. It took more than one year to finally get theequipment to work properly. This experience enhanced
my skill of handling such device, but I wanted to study
subjects more related to biomedical engineering. Then, I
entered the University of Tokyo as a transfer student forthe doctor's program in the Department of Advanced
Interdisciplinary Studies.
In the laboratory where I worked, I tried to build aninterface to send/receive information to/from nerve cellswith the aim of controlling artificial limbs through neural
information from a living body. As a result, I discoveredthat living cells could recover from damage caused byoxidation even if they were perforated with large holes 2),
by taking a cue from a failure in an experiment that
stimulated neural cells with light. Finally, I earned aPh.D. for its application in 1999.
During this period, I made various devices myself
because I took it for granted that students in a doctoral
program should make devices themselves when working―1―Encouraged by "The Innovator's Dilemma"

on a novel study worthy of a Ph.D. However, I had manydifficulties in obtaining stable data with self-madedevices. I eventually wrote a doctoral dissertation withmuch less data compared to studies by graduate students
in other general biology-based departments. I wasconstantly bothered with a sense of discomfort that there
was something wrong with my way of researching.
When I more or less settled down after managing toearn the Ph.D., I had the opportunity to read a book titled
The Innovator's Dilemma 3).
This book is a masterpiece in the management field,
which may have been read by many of the readers of thisTechnical Review. Let me give a summary to those whohave not yet read it. The book analyzes what happened tocompanies that fell into decline in various fields,concluding that "they fell into decline because they wereexcellent". The key points can be summarized as:[1] An established company cannot meet its growth needs
in a small market: A new emerging technology that isapparently at a low level and has many weaknesses canbe turned into a small business field if its features notfound in any conventional counterparts are demanded bycustomers. Such a small business field is not attractive toestablished companies, but it is too late for them to enter
the market after its expansion.
[2] Nobody can analyze a market that does not exist: Acompany with excellent analysis capability will not entera market that cannot be analyzed. The essential value ofa new technology is often not recognized by the supplieritself to begin with. A new technology is usuallydeveloped by the supplier and its customers on a trialand-error basis.
[3] The supply of a technology is not necessarily equal tothe demand in the market: Even when products in atechnology area have a higher performance, they will not
be sold if nobody uses them. Rather, there arises a spacefor lower-level, lower-cost new technologies, which
could meet similar needs, to enter the market.
The author defines these lower-level, lower-cost, but
high-potential technologies as "disruptive innovations"and simply-improved technologies as "sustaininginnovations". The final part of the book describes how
companies should promote their former innovations fortheir growth.
Actually, I was encouraged by the book because I
thought what I was doing could be classified as disruptive
innovation, and because I liked history, including thehistory of engineering, in the first place, the analysis in
the book was totally matched with my knowledge ofhistory.
Among the cases introduced in the book, somedescribe the effects of hydraulics on the excavationequipment industry. According to the book, the shift inexcavator engines from steam to gasoline was asustaining innovation while the shift from cabling tohydraulics was a disruptive innovation.
In parallel with this shift, KYB made a full-scale effort
to enter the hydraulic equipment market, as described indetail in the KYB 80-year History 4). I was really excitedabout the history when I read it. It is particularly
marvelous that the company's accumulated expertise andtechnology on hydraulics since its foundation contributed
to the entry into the market. This is definitely
demonstrated by how the KYB Group has developed
thereafter.
After that, I became clearly aware that "you canachieve a goal with either low- or high-level technology
as long as the goal is essentially correct, and you may see
something only after the technology is realized andused." The achievements of our development at that time
were Shiroyagi 5) , which is an animal-imitating robot,
and a convex-based telescopic mechanism 6). I jointly
developed these products with my colleagues in thelaboratory almost as a hobby toward the KAWASAKIROBOT Festival 7), which is a competition of fighting
games among radio-controlled robots. Shiroyagi (literallymeans white goat) can be positioned as a full-size"artificial body" for animal experiments on neuralinterfaces. Partly because of this positioning, the robot isintentionally based on a toy-like, link-type leg
mechanism with priority placed on speed andmountability and incorporates a mechanism to deflect thethrust by the legs.
Since then, we continued to participate in the Festival
every year while riding the wave of digitalmanufacturing, enhancing our prototyping anddevelopment capabilities. However, Shiroyagi had
gradually come to be defeated by other robots speciallydesigned for fighting. Under this situation, we
implemented an idea about robots that can punch theopponent from a long distance immediately after the startof a game. That is the convex-based telescopic
mechanism.
When designing the mechanism, we consulted anexisting constituent technology — the soil samplingmechanism of the Mars probe Viking 8). The sampler has
an arm consisting of two bundled convex tapes. The arm
was no longer used. Through a search for applications of―2―

KYB TECHNICAL REVIEW No. 67 OCT. 2023

the patent, we did not find any arm using reversibly
recoverable convex tapes for assumed powerfulapplications. We estimated that the use of the technology
was a blind spot.
I then invented in 2005 a light-weight telescopic
mechanism resistant to fighting games which could
recover even after its arm was bent. I applied for a patentin 2006 from Osaka University where I was working atthat time. It took several more years to complete a
prototype that was operable in practice. I started working
on a development project for the mechanism on a fullscale basis when I became an independent associate
professor in Akita Prefectural University in 2010.
During this period, the technology that helps to prevent
living cells from being killed when perforated with large
holes through photo-oxidization evolved into a "largescale cell modification technology" in 2007. Thistechnology was implemented by combining a polymer
molded with a dispersed photo-oxidizer and the robot
technology, enabling batch processing of sufficientnumbers of cells for therapy purposes at low cost. In2009, I won an award for the technology in the UnitedStates 9) and another in Akita Prefecture. These awards
served as a direct cue for me to be transferred to Akita
Prefecture University.
These days, every time I find an article on thesignificance of innovation, I remember that The
Innovator's Dilemma, which was published a quarter of acentury ago, brought a change in awareness to the world
and me. I also hope that we will commercialize ourtelescopic mechanism that has the potential for disruptive
innovation together with the KYB Group.

References
1) Best Paper Award 2022, SAITO et al.: "300-N Class ConvexBased Telescopic Manipulator and Trial for 3-DOF Parallel
Mechanism Robot", Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics,
33(1) 141-150 (2021)
2) S AITO et al.: "Light Dose and Time Dependency ofPhotodynamic Cell Membrane Damage", Photochem.
Photobiol., 68(5) 745-748 (1998)
3) Christensen, Clayton M.: "The Innovator's Dilemma; When
New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail". Harvard
Business Review Press (1997)
4) KYB 80-year History (2015)5) SAITO Takashi: JP PATENT No. 4554140, "Multi-leg WalkingRobot"6) S AITO Takashi: JP PATENT No. 5064739, "Manipulator
Mechanism"
7) SAKAI Kenji: "What Kawasaki-robot-battle Brought", Journalof the Robotics Society of Japan (JRSJ), 27, 9. 994-996 (2009)8) Crouch: "Mars Viking Surface Sampler Subsystem", Proc. 25thConf. on Remote Systems Technology. 141-152 (1977)
9) Best Paper Award: Postdoctoral Category, Saito et al.: "Large―3―

Scale High-Performance Cell Membrane Perforation, withNanoimprinted Mass Producible Perforator", 4th IEEE/NIH Life
Science Systems & Applications Workshop, 5-8 (2009)