Born in Gifu Prefecture in 1969, Takahiro Kobayashi received his doctorate for research on a fruit-harvesting system that combines soft robot-hand mechanisms with position measurement technology that utilizes image processing. In recent years, he has taken the problems he encountered related to farmland to inspire hands-on activities that his role as a small-scale farmer allow him to do. Previously, he has built agricultural facilities equipped with solar power generators, and a small house on a light truck to use as a mobile sales vehicle at morning markets. Basing his search around yacon cultivation, he is attempting to discover what he can offer today’s society as an engineering specialist.