Working at the Forefront with NVIDIA and NASA. Meet the Engineers Behind Kudan’s Technology

First, could you tell us about your career so far?

Mr. T.A

I taught myself programming while I was a student and developed my technical skills by working with various startups. Smartphones had only just started becoming widespread at the time, so I mainly worked on mobile app development.

When I began looking for my first full-time job after graduation, I realized that what motivated me most as an engineer was seeing something I had created reach a large audience. That led me to join an advertising agency, where there was an opportunity to bring products and ideas to a broad market.

During my first year or two, I worked on planning advertising campaigns so that I could better understand the business side. I had originally joined as an engineer, so I later moved into a data analytics team and eventually joined a research division focused primarily on AI technologies.

My work there centered on using machine learning to identify consumer trends from data and developing new technologies for data-driven marketing.

That was when I first encountered Kudan’s technology.

At the time, our R&D team was exploring how AR and MR could be used in advertising. I originally met Kudan’s CEO, Tomo, as a customer using Kudan’s technology.

After we had worked together for some time, I was invited to join Kudan, but I could not make the decision immediately. I was working at a large advertising company and had never changed jobs before, so moving to a startup for the first time required some courage.

When Kudan went public, however, I started to feel that this might be the right time to join. I already knew how strong Kudan’s technology was from having used it myself, and I wanted the opportunity to work directly with that level of technology as part of the company.

At the core of why I became an engineer is the desire to use technology to make a positive impact on society.

You could say that I was also working on technologies that benefited society at the advertising agency, but at Kudan, particularly through robotics, I feel that I can contribute more directly to technological progress and to changes in the real world.

ーーDid anything feel different from what you expected after joining Kudan?

Mr. Aizawa

There was a significant difference between my previous employer, which was a large corporation, and Kudan as a startup.

For example, when we needed to purchase equipment for a project at my previous company, there was my manager, then another manager above them, and so on. We had to prepare documents to justify the purchase, submit applications, and spend a great deal of time going through approval processes.

I often felt frustrated because I wanted to spend more of that time on research itself.

At Kudan, we have much more autonomy. If we need equipment for a new research initiative, we can make decisions quickly and move forward. That is one of the advantages of being a smaller company.

I believe R&D requires freedom of thought and the ability to act independently, and Kudan provides an environment that does not get in the way of that.

ーーWhat does an engineer at Kudan actually do?

Mr. T.A

One of the main responsibilities of the engineering team in Japan is helping customers integrate Kudan’s technology into their systems.

However, once you start implementing the technology in real-world environments, you inevitably discover missing functions or new customer requirements.

Rather than simply asking the development team in the UK to handle everything, we also develop solutions ourselves and contribute directly to improving the core libraries.

At many companies, development may be handled overseas while the Asian office focuses mainly on sales or customer-facing activities.

Because Kudan is still a relatively small company, engineers across different locations work together on improving the technology itself.

Another important part of our work is developing prototypes and demonstrations.

When we introduce a new function into a robot, for example, we create a demonstration that clearly shows what new capabilities the technology enables.

ーーWhat do you find most rewarding about being an engineer at Kudan?

Mr. T.A

The biggest thing is that our work does not remain inside software.

Eventually, the technology is integrated into a customer’s robot or machine, and you can actually stand there and watch it move in front of you.

Our technology is sometimes used in extremely large vehicles operating in environments such as tunnel construction sites. Seeing those machines operating in the real world is difficult to describe—it is genuinely exciting.

What we develop may be only one part of the overall system—an algorithm—but that technology can become a core component of autonomous driving.

Being able to see a physical machine moving around using technology you helped create is incredibly rewarding.

For engineers, one of the greatest satisfactions is simply seeing something you built actually work.

Seeing software run on a screen is enjoyable, of course, but seeing it go beyond the screen and operate in the physical world is something particularly unique to Kudan.

What also makes the work meaningful is that we are not simply building things because they seem interesting or convenient.

We are developing technologies that society genuinely needs.

Being able to create technology that can directly contribute to solving real social and industrial challenges is a major part of what makes the work rewarding.

ーーWhat other moments make working at Kudan exciting for you?

Mr. T.A

Being able to work with world-class organizations such as NASA and NVIDIA.

I think opportunities like these are difficult to find at many other companies.

Because we specialize in a highly focused technical area, there are things that only companies like Kudan can do. That gives us opportunities to work directly with some of the most respected organizations in the world, which is extremely motivating.

For example, some of the demonstrations we developed together with NVIDIA actually run on software that I implemented.

Seeing a robot powered by code I wrote appear in a project publicly presented as a collaboration between Kudan and NVIDIA is incredibly exciting.

ーーWhat kind of experience can engineers gain at Kudan?

Mr. T.A

One of the fundamental attractions is the opportunity to work with SLAM, which is still a relatively specialized technology that many companies do not work with directly.

Beyond that, Kudan is expanding into other technologies required for autonomous robotics, including capabilities such as obstacle detection and the control systems needed to avoid those obstacles.

That means engineers can gain experience not only in software, but increasingly across both software and hardware.

I think the opportunity to work across both areas is one of the unique advantages of Kudan.

ーーWhat kind of engineers would you like to work with at Kudan in the future?

Mr. T.A

Kudan is still a small team, but everyone comes from a very different background.

I think that diversity is exactly what allows new ideas to emerge, so I would like to continue working with people who bring different experiences and perspectives.

From an engineering perspective, I think Kudan is a good fit for people who enjoy tackling challenges with a positive mindset and genuine curiosity.

We are working on things that nobody has done before, so we encounter obstacles constantly.

What matters is being able to stay positive, keep learning, and continue moving forward even when things are difficult.

ーーHow do you think the role of engineers at Kudan will evolve in the future?

Mr. T.A

Until recently, much of our business was centered around PoCs and laboratory projects, where the focus was on trying new things and where failure was an accepted part of experimentation.

Now, however, our technology is increasingly entering real-world operational environments.

That means we need to become more grounded and methodical about implementing technology reliably in actual applications.

Safety will also become much more important than before.

For engineers, I think that creates a new kind of challenge and an opportunity to gain very practical experience in bringing advanced technology into real-world use.

At the same time, Kudan is expanding beyond SLAM into related technical areas.

As engineers, we also want to continue evolving by broadening the range of technologies we can work with and the problems we are able to solve.