Company ／ About us
If it cannot be seen,
it is not yet seen.
A surface always has a true state.
If it is merely hidden by reflection or gloss, it can be captured.
TOMOMI RESEARCH designs its own optics and its own AI
for that one thing.
International Robot Exhibition 2025 (Tokyo Big Sight, December 2025). What is on the wall is not a product name but a sentence about what kind of company this is.
Philosophy
One thing:
seeing what you need to see.
Polished metal, plating, mirror finishes. Point a camera at them and what comes back is reflected light; the shape underneath does not register. On the floor this is called “it shines, so it cannot be measured”, and in the end it goes back to human eyes and human instinct.
That is where we go in with technology. Capture under light from several directions and take out a physical quantity — the direction of the surface, its normal. The normal is not easily swayed by how the light is placed, so what kind of face is there can be measured without being fooled by the reflection.
So for us, “cannot be seen” does not mean “is not there”. It means not yet seen. Visual inspection is only the first application of that.
The laboratory in Fujisawa, capturing a sample with TR-300. One capture, with the light placed differently each time — that is the starting point.
What we hold to
The best, not the cheapest.
We will not become a company chosen on price. We want to be chosen — and wanted — for quality and for a breakthrough others could not reach. Wearing ourselves down through discounting is on the list of things we do not do.
Solve the essential thing, without waste.
Not a list of features, but the problem itself. We would rather be judged on the clarity of the solution than on how a machine looks or how loud the vocabulary is.
No pretending.
If we hold up a technology that is not fooled by reflection, we must not fool anyone either. We do not publish a figure we have not confirmed. We do not show what has not been seen as though it had been.
People
It began with a person for optics
and a person for images.
Someone who decides how to illuminate, and someone who decides how to read what was captured. That these two sit at the same desk is what decides how we design.
CEO
Tomomi Sato
Dr. Tomomi Sato
Field Optical design, AI image processing, automation of visual inspection
Background Graduate School of Advanced Sciences of Matter, Hiroshima University. Worked at Hitachi ULSI Systems on semiconductor process research concerning the crystal structure of silicon. Currently also a project researcher in AI applications at the Graduate School of Engineering, the University of Tokyo.
“Cross the wall of visual inspection in manufacturing with technology. Deliver AI that is genuinely useful on the floor.”
CTO
Seong-Hun Choe
Dr. Seong-Hun Choe
Field Computer vision, 3D image processing, AI-OCR and anomaly detection algorithms, MEMS design
Background Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University. Worked at the Mechanical Engineering Research Laboratory of Hitachi on MEMS devices including sensors and actuators. At Western Digital, led hermetic sealing technology for HDDs and the launch of an AI-OCR inspection system.
“Making visible what could not be seen changes what happens on the floor. Creating that change is our work.”
History
What has happened so far.
A flaw inspection system for steel sheet put on a real line, under the Kanagawa industrial DX project
Carried out with ITOCHU-Marubeni Steel under the FY2023 programme. A prototype AI visual inspection system was installed on the long leveller line at Tokyo Steel Center, working on lighting and image processing that capture without stopping the line, and on separating harmless patterns from harmful flaws. Shown at Smart Factory Japan 2024 (20–22 February) and at the results meeting (11 March).
Exhibited at the International Robot Exhibition 2025 (iREX2025)
TR-300 was shown, together with the four outputs of FORESIGHT STEREO (Tokyo Big Sight).
Received the 40th Kanagawa Industrial Technology Development Award, Future Creation Prize
Organised by Kanagawa Prefecture and the Kanagawa Shimbun. Awarded for the 3D × AI visual inspection system TR-300, recognised for solving the long-standing technical problem of forming a 3D image on a moving line.
Received the 38th Award for Excellent New Technology and New Products for SMEs, Encouragement Prize
Organised by the Resona Foundation for Small and Medium Enterprise Promotion, co-hosted by Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun. Awarded for TR-300. The date of the award is 〔要確認〕.
Announced FORESIGHT STEREO Viewer
A GUI application that displays the four outputs — Live, 2D Texture, 3D Surface and Surface Normal — from a single capture, and lets the 3D reconstruction be examined from any viewpoint.
Began supplying the standalone software AI SMART MASK
Pre-processing software that decides where to look. The release date is 〔要確認〕.
Company profile
Company information.
| Company | TOMOMI RESEARCH, INC. |
|---|---|
| Representative Director | Tomomi Sato |
| Address | Room 217, Keio Fujisawa Innovation Village (SFC IV) 4489-105 Endo, Fujisawa, Kanagawa 252-0816, Japan |
| Contact | TEL +81-466-54-9003 FAX +81-466-54-7555 info@tomomi-research.com |
| Business | Research and development of AI image processing algorithms Consulting on AI adoption Development and sale of AI visual inspection systems Optical design and manufacture |
| Main products | FORESIGHT STEREO® (sensor) E3 ENGINE® (anomaly detection engine) TR-55 ／ TR-100 ／ TR-300 (systems) FORESIGHT STEREO Viewer (viewing software) AI SMART MASK (standalone software) |
Access
About 10 minutes by bus from Shonandai Station (Yokohama Municipal Subway, Sotetsu, Odakyu lines)
About 10 minutes by bus from Tsujido Station (JR Tokaido line)
By car Four visitor parking spaces are available.
Recognition
Judged from outside.
The 40th Kanagawa Industrial Technology Development Award ceremony (26 December 2025, Kanagawa Prefectural Government Office).
Kanagawa Industrial Technology Development Award — Future Creation Prize
40th award (FY2025) ／ Organised by Kanagawa Prefecture and the Kanagawa Shimbun ／ Awarded for the 3D × AI visual inspection system TR-300. The citation recognised that it “solves the long-standing technical problem of forming a 3D image on a moving line, and contributes to quality assurance and productivity in manufacturing”. The judging criteria were originality, novelty and social usefulness.
Award for Excellent New Technology and New Products for SMEs — Encouragement Prize
38th award ／ Organised by the Resona Foundation for Small and Medium Enterprise Promotion, co-hosted by Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun ／ Awarded for TR-300. Recognised for practicality and marketability on the production floor. The award is given under its Japanese name only; the wording above is our own translation.
Kanagawa Nadeshiko Brand 2024
Organised by Kanagawa Prefecture ／ certified product: “AI visual inspection system TR-100”.
Covered by Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun and the Kanagawa Shimbun. The Kanagawa Shimbun reported on the technical completeness of the work and on expectations for industrial and social application. See products →
Contact
If what you need to see
is not yet visible.
Tell us the conditions on your floor, the material of the object and the precision you need, and we will work out together whether it can be done. Start with what you need to see.