I have a new hero
Shigeo Hirose, is the director of the Hirose-Fukushima Robotics Lab at Tokyo Tech. Thanks to Gizmodo for bringing him to my attention. After having exploring his site it is very obvious to me that he and his team are by far the leading experts in robotic mechanical design. I make the specific claim about mechanical design because there are always more AI and EE developments that are non public, but seeing his work is like looking at a robotic art gallery. I can only aspire to be as good as him in my lifetime, yet I fear that I will never reach that point.