Akiyoshi Watanabe

Message

I specialized in automatic control theory in college. After graduating from university, I worked for a manufacturer called Nakamichi and engaged in the development of MO drives. It was a short period of three years, but it was a very valuable experience for me to study optical equipment and to make a prototype control device. The first obvious yet shocking fact was that "If things are not stable, they break." Although there should be no problem when we make the value of a variable very large in a numerical calculation. In reality, a prototype that took tens of hours and tens of thousands of yen breaks down in an instant. It was very shocking for me because I was only familiar with theories. On the other hand, when the control experiment was not successful, sometimes, the fundamental knowledge of numerical calculation was used only a little, and the essential improvement took place. I think we should be cautious about falling into a "a theory for theory" but I think the view that "theory is of no practical use" is also wrong.

I hope that those who aim to become ICT professionals in the future will cherish this sense of balance between theory and reality.