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Minato Sato

Embedded AI Engineer
Sony
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About Me

For over eight years, I've dedicated myself to developing AI-centric products and services, building a robust skill set in software engineering, project management, team leadership, and data science. My journey into AI began 15 years ago during university when I was developing robots and encountered the limitations of control systems at that time. The desire to make robots smarter and more capable sparked my passion for artificial intelligence that continues to drive me today.

As a freelance consultant alongside my primary role, I specialize in cutting-edge AI implementations including:

  • Planning systems powered by Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)
  • Content recommendation systems that extract user preferences using advanced embedding models
  • Real-time voice conversation systems leveraging LLMs with RAG for domain-specific expertise

What sets me apart is my commitment to ultra-rapid PDCA cycles through agile methodologies—whether I'm working on embedded systems or LLM-based proof-of-concept products. I believe in moving fast, learning quickly, and delivering tangible value at every iteration.

Looking ahead, my vision is to lead product development that genuinely solves user pain points. I'm passionate about issue-driven problem solving and creating technology that makes a meaningful social impact. Beyond technical work, I'm fascinated by organizational development concepts like Holacracy and Teal organizations, though I'm still exploring these areas of team building methodologies.

On this website, I write blog posts primarily in Japanese about natural language processing, machine learning, and software engineering.

GitHub / Twitter / Facebook / LinkedIn / Google Scholar

Skills

C++, C, RTOS, Python (+Cython), JavaScript (TypeScript), MySQL, Impala, Java, R, C#, AWS/GCP, Soldering

Work Experience

AI Consultant, Research Engineer

Freelancer
Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
February 2023 - Present

I collaborate with companies to implement a wide range of AI solutions, including cutting-edge recommendation systems, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) powered by large language models, and sophisticated speech-driven conversational systems. I provide comprehensive development and consulting services to help organizations seamlessly integrate these technologies into their products and workflows.

Embedded AI Engineer

Sony Corporation
Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
April 2022 - Present

I currently develop advanced subject-recognition AI for autofocus in mirrorless digital cameras, enabling photographers to capture images effortlessly without typical focusing concerns. Beyond my core software engineering responsibilities, I optimize system performance through field testing and in-depth interviews with industry professionals. My recent work has expanded to include developing object tracking algorithms and creating hardware drivers for recognition autofocus AI, ensuring our technology remains robust and cutting-edge.

Products I have been involved in: α7RV, α9III, α1II

Machine Learning Engineer, Data Scientist

So-net Media Networks Co.,Ltd.
Shinagawa-Ward, Tokyo, Japan
October 2018 - June 2022

As a senior machine learning engineer and data scientist, I led the end-to-end development and operation of AI-driven user targeting products for digital advertising. By building real-time user targeting systems and ensuring continuous, stable operations, I delivered significant revenue growth and improved key performance metrics.

Products I have been involved in: VALIS Engine

Software Engineer

Sony Imaging Products & Solutions Inc.
Atsugi, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
April 2017 - September 2018

I contributed to developing an "AV over IP" solution built around CLED, a state-of-the-art large-scale LED display technology.

Data Scientist, Analyst (Part-time Job)

National Maritime Research Institute (国立研究開発法人 海上技術安全研究所)
Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan
November 2014 - March 2017

I analyzed ship operation monitoring data to evaluate and estimate vessel propulsion performance. I also authored research papers documenting my analytical methods and findings.

Education

The University of Electro-Communications, Tokyo, Japan (2015-2017)

  • M.Eng. in Social Intelligence and Informatics
    • Salutatorian (ranked second in the department)
  • Research focus: Natural Language Processing using Deep Learning

The University of Electro-Communications, Tokyo, Japan (2011-2015)

  • B.Eng. in Informatics
  • Research focus: Evolutionary Machine Learning (Reinforcement Learning)
  • Development of ultra-small artificial satellites (exploration rovers)

Publications

Google Scholar Profile

Conference Papers (Reviewed)

  • Minato Sato, Ryohei Orihara, Yuichi Sei, Yasuyuki Tahara and Akihiko Ohsuga: Text Classification and Transfer Learning Based on Character-Level Deep Convolutional Neural Networks, in book "Agents and Artificial Intelligence" (Selected revised papers from ICAART 2017), ISBN: 978-3-319-93580-5, Springer, pp.62-81, 2018/06
  • Minato Sato, Ryohei Orihara, Yuichi Sei, Yasuyuki Tahara and Akihiko Ohsuga: Japanese Text Classification by Character-Level Deep ConvNets and Transfer Learning, 9th International Conference on Agents and Artificial Intelligence (ICAART 2017), Volume 2, pp.175-184, 2017/02 (acceptance rate: 26.5%, candidate for ICAART 2017 best student paper award)
  • Minato Sato, Kotaro Usui, Masaya Nakata and Keiki Takadama: Detecting Shoplifting From Customer Behavior Data by Extended XCS-SL: Towards Feature Extraction on Class-Imbalanced Sequence Data, IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation 2015 (CEC 2015), Sendai, Japan.

Regional Papers (Reviewed)

  • 佐藤挙斗，折原良平，清雄一，田原康之，大須賀昭彦: "文字レベル深層学習による日本語テキストの分類と転移学習"，合同エージェントワークショップ＆シンポジウム2016 (JAWS2016)，2016/09

Regional Papers (Unreviewed)

  • 佐藤挙斗, 折原良平, 清雄一, 田原康之, 大須賀昭彦: 文字レベル深層学習によるテキスト分類と転移学習, 人工知能学会 第102回 人工知能基本問題研究会(SIG-FPAI), pp.13-19, 2016/12
  • 佐藤挙斗，折原良平，清雄一，田原康之，大須賀昭彦: 文字レベル深層学習の日本語データセットへの応用，第184回 情報処理学会 知能システム研究会(SIG-ICS)，2016/08
  • 加納敏幸, 佐藤圭二, 佐藤挙斗:運航モニタリングデータによる船舶推進性能評価，日本船舶海洋工学会平成27年秋季講演会，2015/11
  • 小峯嵩裕，佐藤挙斗，田島友祐，中田雅也，高玉圭樹: 動的環境におけるアーカイヴ型学習分類子システム， 進化計算シンポジウム2013，pp.263-268，2013/12

Achievements