Sony Outstanding Engineer Award 2021
The Sony Outstanding Engineer Award, established to further inspire engineers to take on new challenges, is the highest form of individual recognition for Sony Group engineers.
In order to develop products and services that appeal to customers' sensibilities, there is a wide range of technologies that Sony will have to work on.
In addition to elemental technologies, there is also a need to integrate creative new technologies, and to optimize complex systems. This section introduces the winners of the Sony Outstanding Engineer Award 2021, who have actively addressed these challenges and achieved significant value creation.
Reinforcement Learning Platform for Sony AI
Leon Barrett
Sony AI America Inc.
Development of a new fast pixel readout architecture for flagship mirrorless cameras
Noam Eshel
Image Sensor Design Center Ltd.
Development of the immersive audio technology Monopole Synthesis (MPS)
Franck Giron
Sony Europe B.V.
Development of Legged Robots Enabling Robust and Highly Efficient Locomotion on Uneven Terrain with High Payload
Yasuhisa Kamikawa
Sony Group Corporation
SLAM system development and adoption
Tatsuki Kashitani
Sony Group Corporation
Development of 4K OLED Microdisplay for VR application
Kei Kimura
Sony Group Corporation
Development of 3D autonomous robot software and commercialization of practical autopilot drone for aerial shooting
Dai Kobayashi
Sony Group Corporation
Development and commercialization of HT-A9 with revolutionary 360 Spatial Sound Mapping technology that delivers ultra-wide spatial sound in the living room
Natsuko Maeda
Sony Group Corporation
Contribution to higher image-quality for image sensors by establishing generation model of noise sources
Hideki Minari
Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation
Development of 360 Virtual Mixing Environment for remote sound production and contribution to filmmaking
Toru Nakagawa
Sony Group Corporation
Reduction of design period and design cost for HDC series professional video production system cameras by designing new architecture
Shingo Nakano
Sony Corporation
Development of tactile sensors and adaptive grasp force control algorithm for a robot hand that gently handles a variety of unknown objects
Tetsuya Narita
Sony Group Corporation
Development of Stacked Event-based Vision Sensor (EVS) with the World’s Smallest Pixels
Atsumi Niwa
Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation
The Development of a 50M-pixel 14-bit 250-fps Back-Illuminated Stacked CMOS Image Sensor with Column-Parallel kT/C-Cancelling S&H and ΔΣADC and contribution for 120-frame/s high-speed “Black Out Free” shooting and Alpha 1 mass production
Chihiro Okada
Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation
Realization of Dynamic Spectrum Access System Boosting New Generation Mobile (5G/6G, Wi-Fi, etc.) evolutions
Ryo Sawai
Sony Group Corporation
SkeleTRACK - A real-time skeletal tracking system for sports
James Sharam
Hawk-Eye Innovations Ltd.
World No.1 Sound Event Localization and Detection
Kazuki Shimada
Sony Group Corporation
Contribution to de facto standardization of high-resolution audio wireless codec "LDAC"
Shiro Suzuki
Sony Group Corporation
Development of world “fastest” and “smallest” full-frame focal plane shutter by original mechanism.
Masafumi Yoneda
Sony Corporation
Development of "XR OLED Contrast Pro"
Masao Zen
Sony Corporation
