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Interview with Ikuo Kushiro, Head Staff, Second Vehicles Engineering Department - Fifth Development Center, Toyota Motor Corp.*

What is your project at Toyota and how do you apply Maple?

I work at the Development Center of Toyota Motor Corp., and I am in charge of the analysis and technological development of systems that are related to power steering. I use Maple in various capacities, including analyzing frequency responses and transfer functions, and in developing models. When I develop larger models using MATLAB®, I use Maple’s computation capabilities to confirm the parameter values, while I go on with the main work.

Why did you choose Maple?

Software that conducts numerical computation and analysis is an absolute must for my work. I tried various software packages over the past ten years, but now I use Maple. At first I used Mathematica, but Maple’s formula-processing capability is better than that of Mathematica, and the computation of complex numbers and the successive transformations of solutions are more easily and accurately carried out by Maple. In addition, I prefer Maple because it uses a smaller file size than Mathematica for the same computation.

What are your comments on the new features of Maple 8?

The capability to create custom graphical user interfaces with the new Maplet application is quite valuable to me in my work. Until Maple 8, I would develop long formulas that I would paste into Excel spreadsheets, which have a quasi-GUI setting. The Maplet application has made this task unnecessary. My custom Maple GUI can convey my work much more easily and effectively.

*This interview has been adapted from a Japanese translation. It was originally published in PC User Magazine, August 8, 2002, p. 6 (http://www.sbpnet.jp/pcuser) by Softbank Publishing Inc., Japan (http://www.sbpnet.jp).

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