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Research

Members

Achievements

JST CREST (Core Research of Evolutional Science & Technology) research promotion program
"Creation of Human-Harmonized Information Technology for Convivial Society" Research Area
Studies on cellphone-type tele-operated androids
transmitting human presence

 

Publications

Book Chapters
Panikos Heracleous, Denis Beautemps, Hiroshi Ishiguro, Norihiro Hagita, "Towards Augmentative Speech Communication", Chapter in Speech and Language Technologies, InTech, Vukovar, Croatia, pp. 303-318, June, 2011.
Abstract: Speech is the most natural form of communication for human beings and is often described as a uni-modal communication channel. However, it is well known that speech is multi-modal in nature and includes the auditive, visual, and tactile modalities (i.e., as in Tadoma communication \citeTADOMA). Other less natural modalities such as electromyographic signal, invisible articulator display, or brain electrical activity or electromagnetic activity can also be considered. Therefore, in situations where audio speech is not available or is corrupted because of disability or adverse environmental condition, people may resort to alternative methods such as augmented speech.
BibTeX:
@Incollection{Heracleous2011,
  author    = {Panikos Heracleous and Denis Beautemps and Hiroshi Ishiguro and Norihiro Hagita},
  title     = {Towards Augmentative Speech Communication},
  booktitle = {Speech and Language Technologies},
  publisher = {{InT}ech},
  year      = {2011},
  editor    = {Ivo Ipsic},
  pages     = {303--318},
  address   = {Vukovar, Croatia},
  month     = Jun,
  abstract  = {Speech is the most natural form of communication for human beings and is often described as a uni-modal communication channel. However, it is well known that speech is multi-modal in nature and includes the auditive, visual, and tactile modalities (i.e., as in Tadoma communication \cite{TADOMA}). Other less natural modalities such as electromyographic signal, invisible articulator display, or brain electrical activity or electromagnetic activity can also be considered. Therefore, in situations where audio speech is not available or is corrupted because of disability or adverse environmental condition, people may resort to alternative methods such as augmented speech.},
  file      = {Heracleous2011.pdf:Heracleous2011.pdf:PDF;InTech-Towards_augmentative_speech_communication.pdf:http\://www.intechopen.com/source/pdfs/15082/InTech-Towards_augmentative_speech_communication.pdf:PDF},
  url       = {http://www.intechopen.com/articles/show/title/towards-augmentative-speech-communication},
}
Overviews
Kohei Ogawa, Shuichi Nishio, Takashi Minato, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Android Robots as Tele-presence Media", Biomedical Engineering and Cognitive Neuroscience for Healthcare: Interdisciplinary Applications, Medical Information Science Reference, Pennsylvania, USA, pp. 54-63, September, 2012.
Abstract: In this chapter, the authors describe two human-like android robots, known as Geminoid and Telenoid, which they have developed. Geminoid was developed for two reasons: (1) to explore how humans react or respond the android during face-to-face communication and (2) to investigate the advantages of the android as a communication medium compared to traditional communication media, such as the telephone or the television conference system. The authors conducted two experiments: the first was targeted to an interlocutor of Geminoid, and the second was targeted to an operator of it. The results of these experiments showed that Geminoid could emulate a human's presence in a natural-conversation situation. Additionally, Geminoid could be as persuasive to the interlocutor as a human. The operators of Geminoid were also influenced by the android: during operation, they felt as if their bodies were one and the same with the Geminoid body. The latest challenge has been to develop Telenoid, an android with a more abstract appearance than Geminoid, which looks and behaves as a minimalistic human. At first glance, Telenoid resembles a human; however, its appearance can be interpreted as any sex or any age. Two field experiments were conducted with Telenoid. The results of these experiments showed that Telenoid could be an acceptable communication medium for both young and elderly people. In particular, physical interaction, such as a hug, positively affected the experience of communicating with Telenoid.
BibTeX:
@Article{Ogawa2012b,
  author    = {Kohei Ogawa and Shuichi Nishio and Takashi Minato and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title     = {Android Robots as Tele-presence Media},
  journal   = {Biomedical Engineering and Cognitive Neuroscience for Healthcare: Interdisciplinary Applications},
  year      = {2012},
  pages     = {54-63},
  month     = Sep,
  abstract  = {In this chapter, the authors describe two human-like android robots, known as Geminoid and Telenoid, which they have developed. Geminoid was developed for two reasons: (1) to explore how humans react or respond the android during face-to-face communication and (2) to investigate the advantages of the android as a communication medium compared to traditional communication media, such as the telephone or the television conference system. The authors conducted two experiments: the first was targeted to an interlocutor of Geminoid, and the second was targeted to an operator of it. The results of these experiments showed that Geminoid could emulate a human's presence in a natural-conversation situation. Additionally, Geminoid could be as persuasive to the interlocutor as a human. The operators of Geminoid were also influenced by the android: during operation, they felt as if their bodies were one and the same with the Geminoid body. The latest challenge has been to develop Telenoid, an android with a more abstract appearance than Geminoid, which looks and behaves as a minimalistic human. At first glance, Telenoid resembles a human; however, its appearance can be interpreted as any sex or any age. Two field experiments were conducted with Telenoid. The results of these experiments showed that Telenoid could be an acceptable communication medium for both young and elderly people. In particular, physical interaction, such as a hug, positively affected the experience of communicating with Telenoid.},
  url       = {http://www.igi-global.com/chapter/android-robots-telepresence-media/69905},
  doi       = {10.4018/978-1-4666-2113-8.ch006},
  address   = {Pennsylvania, USA},
  chapter   = {6},
  editor    = {Jinglong Wu},
  file      = {Ogawa2012b.pdf:Ogawa2012b.pdf:PDF},
  isbn      = {9781466621138},
  publisher = {Medical Information Science Reference},
}
Invited Talks
Hidenobu Sumioka, "Ethical consideration of companion robots for people with dementia", In 3rd joint ERCIM-JST Workshop 2022, Rocquencourt, France, October, 2022.
Abstract: BPSD (Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia), often exhibited by older people with dementia, is not only a burden on caregivers but also a major social issue that increases the economic burden on society. Robot therapy is a promising approach to reducing BPSD. However, it also offers us ethical and legal issues. In this talk, I will discuss some issues, presenting short- and long-term experiments we have conducted with our baby-like interactive robot. I point out that there are no guidelines on robot therapy for people with dementia and indicate that the efforts made in doll therapy may be helpful. In addition, I will discuss that the caregiver's perspective must also be considered in developing a robot for the elderly with dementia.
BibTeX:
@InProceedings{Sumioka2022a,
  author    = {Hidenobu Sumioka},
  booktitle = {3rd joint ERCIM-JST Workshop 2022},
  title     = {Ethical consideration of companion robots for people with dementia},
  year      = {2022},
  address   = {Rocquencourt, France},
  day       = {20-21},
  month     = oct,
  url       = {https://www.ercim.eu/events/3rd-joint-ercim-jst-workshop},
  abstract  = {BPSD (Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia), often exhibited by older people with dementia, is not only a burden on caregivers but also a major social issue that increases the economic burden on society. Robot therapy is a promising approach to reducing BPSD. However, it also offers us ethical and legal issues. In this talk, I will discuss some issues, presenting short- and long-term experiments we have conducted with our baby-like interactive robot. I point out that there are no guidelines on robot therapy for people with dementia and indicate that the efforts made in doll therapy may be helpful. In addition, I will discuss that the caregiver's perspective must also be considered in developing a robot for the elderly with dementia.},
}
Hidenobu Sumioka, "Humanlike Robots that connect people in Elderly Nursing Home", In 精準智慧照護 國際技術交流論壇, 新竹, 台湾(オンライン), October, 2022.
Abstract: BPSD (Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia), often exhibited by older people with dementia, is not only a burden on caregivers but also a major social issue that increases the economic burden on society. Robot therapy is a promising approach to reducing BPSD. In this talk, I will present our study with humanlike robot for older people with dementia.
BibTeX:
@InProceedings{Sumioka2022b,
  author    = {Hidenobu Sumioka},
  booktitle = {精準智慧照護 國際技術交流論壇},
  title     = {Humanlike Robots that connect people in Elderly Nursing Home},
  year      = {2022},
  address   = {新竹, 台湾(オンライン)},
  day       = {24},
  month     = oct,
  url       = {https://aicspht.org.tw/news/精準健康與智慧照護-國際技術交流論壇/},
  abstract  = {BPSD (Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia), often exhibited by older people with dementia, is not only a burden on caregivers but also a major social issue that increases the economic burden on society. Robot therapy is a promising approach to reducing BPSD. In this talk, I will present our study with humanlike robot for older people with dementia.},
}
Hidenobu Sumioka, "Social Robots for Touch interaction and Education", In 2019 International Conference on Advances in STEM Education (ASTEM 2019), The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK), Hong Kong, December, 2019.
Abstract: In this talk, I will present the potential applications of social robots in education, introducing three aspects. First, social robots can easily change its relationship with us by playing different roles. They can become our teacher, our student, care-receiver, and our peer, depending on their social contexts. Second, by referring to our field experiment with a teleoperated android, I will show that they can facilitate human-human communication and can also provide opportunities for us to improve relationship between elderly people and care staffs. Finally, I present the physical embodiment of the robot enables us to overcome our limitation to build social bond with people and provide us with a new way of making close human relationship.
BibTeX:
@InProceedings{Sumioka2019g,
  author    = {Hidenobu Sumioka},
  booktitle = {2019 International Conference on Advances in STEM Education (ASTEM 2019)},
  title     = {Social Robots for Touch interaction and Education},
  year      = {2019},
  address   = {The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK), Hong Kong},
  day       = {18-20},
  month     = dec,
  url       = {https://www.eduhk.hk/astem/},
  abstract  = {In this talk, I will present the potential applications of social robots in education, introducing three aspects. First, social robots can easily change its relationship with us by playing different roles. They can become our teacher, our student, care-receiver, and our peer, depending on their social contexts. Second, by referring to our field experiment with a teleoperated android, I will show that they can facilitate human-human communication and can also provide opportunities for us to improve relationship between elderly people and care staffs. Finally, I present the physical embodiment of the robot enables us to overcome our limitation to build social bond with people and provide us with a new way of making close human relationship.},
}
Hidenobu Sumioka, "Emerging Education with Social Robots", In The 11th Asian Conference on Education (ACE2019), Toshi Center Hotel, Tokyo, November, 2019.
Abstract: Recent advances in robotic technologies enable robots to support us in our daily activities such as social interactions. Such robots, called social robots, often make us interact in more intuitive and casual ways than a real human because of the lack of nonverbal cues and demographic messages. Thanks to this characteristic, they are just beginning to be applied to various fields of social interaction such as education. In this talk, I will present the potential applications of social robots in education, introducing three aspects. First, social robots can easily change their relationship with us by playing different roles. They can become our teachers, our students, and our peers, depending on their social contexts. Second, by referring to our field experiment with a teleoperated android, I will show that they can facilitate human-human communication and can also provide opportunities for us to improve communication skills. Finally, I will present the physical embodiment of the robot that enables us to overcome our limitation to build social bonds with people and provide us with a new way of making close human relationships.
BibTeX:
@InProceedings{Sumioka2019f,
  author    = {Hidenobu Sumioka},
  booktitle = {The 11th Asian Conference on Education (ACE2019)},
  title     = {Emerging Education with Social Robots},
  year      = {2019},
  address   = {Toshi Center Hotel, Tokyo},
  day       = {1-3},
  month     = nov,
  url       = {https://ace.iafor.org/},
  abstract  = {Recent advances in robotic technologies enable robots to support us in our daily activities such as social interactions. Such robots, called social robots, often make us interact in more intuitive and casual ways than a real human because of the lack of nonverbal cues and demographic messages. Thanks to this characteristic, they are just beginning to be applied to various fields of social interaction such as education. In this talk, I will present the potential applications of social robots in education, introducing three aspects. First, social robots can easily change their relationship with us by playing different roles. They can become our teachers, our students, and our peers, depending on their social contexts. Second, by referring to our field experiment with a teleoperated android, I will show that they can facilitate human-human communication and can also provide opportunities for us to improve communication skills. Finally, I will present the physical embodiment of the robot that enables us to overcome our limitation to build social bonds with people and provide us with a new way of making close human relationships.},
}
Soheil Keshmiri, "Human-Robot Physical Interaction: The recent Findings and their Utilities for preventing age-related cognitive decline, improving the quality of child care, and advancing quality of mental disorder services", In Big Data and AI Congress 5th Edition 2019, Barcelona, Spain, pp. 1-33, October, 2019.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Keshmiri2019j,
  author    = {Soheil Keshmiri},
  title     = {Human-Robot Physical Interaction: The recent Findings and their Utilities for preventing age-related cognitive decline, improving the quality of child care, and advancing quality of mental disorder services},
  booktitle = {Big Data and AI Congress 5th Edition 2019},
  year      = {2019},
  pages     = {1-33},
  address   = {Barcelona, Spain},
  month     = oct,
  day       = {17},
  url       = {https://bigdatacongress.barcelona/en/},
}
Hidenobu Sumioka, "Robotics For Elderly Society", In Long term care system & scientific technology in Japan aging society, 大阪大学, 大阪, July, 2019.
Abstract: In this talk, I present current elderly care with communication robots in Japan
BibTeX:
@InProceedings{Sumioka2019b,
  author    = {Hidenobu Sumioka},
  booktitle = {Long term care system \& scientific technology in Japan aging society},
  title     = {Robotics For Elderly Society},
  year      = {2019},
  address   = {大阪大学, 大阪},
  day       = {22},
  month     = jul,
  abstract  = {In this talk, I present current elderly care with communication robots in Japan},
}
Hidenobu Sumioka, "Robotics for Elderly and Stressful Society", In The Kansai Resilience Forum 2019, The Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, 兵庫, February, 2019.
Abstract: The Kansai Resilience Forum 2019 is an event organised by The Government of Japan in collaboration with The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), which re-examines resilience from interdisciplinary perspectives and paradigms, from the abstract concept to the concrete, with contributions from thought leaders in academia, business and government.
BibTeX:
@InProceedings{Sumioka2019,
  author    = {Hidenobu Sumioka},
  booktitle = {The Kansai Resilience Forum 2019},
  title     = {Robotics for Elderly and Stressful Society},
  year      = {2019},
  address   = {The Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, 兵庫},
  day       = {22},
  month     = feb,
  url       = {https://kansai-resilience-forum.jp/},
  abstract  = {The Kansai Resilience Forum 2019 is an event organised by The Government of Japan in collaboration with The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), which re-examines resilience from interdisciplinary perspectives and paradigms, from the abstract concept to the concrete, with contributions from thought leaders in academia, business and government.},
}
Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Minimum design of interactive robots", In International Symposium on Pedagogical Machines CREST 国際シンポジウム-「ペダゴジカル・マシンの探求」, 東京, March, 2015.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Ishiguro2015,
  author    = {Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title     = {Minimum design of interactive robots},
  booktitle = {International Symposium on Pedagogical Machines CREST 国際シンポジウム-「ペダゴジカル・マシンの探求」},
  year      = {2015},
  address   = {東京},
  month     = Mar,
  file      = {Ishiguro2015a.pdf:pdf/Ishiguro2015a.pdf:PDF},
}
Shuichi Nishio, "Teleoperated android robots - Fundamentals, applications and future", In China International Advanced Manufacturing Conference 2014, Mianyang, China, October, 2014.
Abstract: I will introduce our various experiences on teleoperated android robots, how their are manufactured, scientific findings, applications to real world issues and how they will be used in our society in future.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Nishio2014a,
  author    = {Shuichi Nishio},
  title     = {Teleoperated android robots - Fundamentals, applications and future},
  booktitle = {China International Advanced Manufacturing Conference 2014},
  year      = {2014},
  address   = {Mianyang, China},
  month     = Oct,
  abstract  = {I will introduce our various experiences on teleoperated android robots, how their are manufactured, scientific findings, applications to real world issues and how they will be used in our society in future.},
}
Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Android Philosophy", In Sociable Robots and the Future of Social Relations: Proceedings of Robo-Philosophy 2014, IOS Press, vol. 273, Aarhus, Denmark, pp. 3, August, 2014.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Ishiguro2014b,
  author    = {Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title     = {Android Philosophy},
  booktitle = {Sociable Robots and the Future of Social Relations: Proceedings of Robo-Philosophy 2014},
  year      = {2014},
  editor    = {Johanna Seibt and Raul Hakli and Marco N\orskov},
  volume    = {273},
  pages     = {3},
  address   = {Aarhus, Denmark},
  month     = Aug,
  publisher = {IOS Press},
  doi       = {10.3233/978-1-61499-480-0-3},
  url       = {http://ebooks.iospress.nl/volumearticle/38527},
}
Hiroshi Ishiguro, "The Future Life Supported by Robotic Avatars", In The Global Mobile Internet Conference Beijing, Beijing, China, May, 2014.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Ishiguro2014,
  author    = {Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title     = {The Future Life Supported by Robotic Avatars},
  booktitle = {The Global Mobile Internet Conference Beijing},
  year      = {2014},
  address   = {Beijing, China},
  month     = May,
  day       = {5-6},
  file      = {ishiguro2014a.pdf:pdf/ishiguro2014a.pdf:PDF},
}
Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Telenoid : A Teleoperated Android with a Minimalistic Human Design", In Robo Business Europe, Billund, Denmark, May, 2014.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Ishiguro2014a,
  author    = {Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title     = {Telenoid : A Teleoperated Android with a Minimalistic Human Design},
  booktitle = {Robo Business Europe},
  year      = {2014},
  address   = {Billund, Denmark},
  month     = May,
  day       = {26-28},
}
Ryuji Yamazaki, "Teleoperated Android in Elderly Care", In Patient@home seminar, Denmark, February, 2014.
Abstract: We explore the potential of teleoperated androids, which are embodied telecommunication media with humanlike appearances. By conducting pilot studies in Japan and Denmark, we investigate how Telenoid, a teleoperated android designed as a minimalistic human, affect people in the real world. As populations age, the isolation issue of senior citizens is one of the leading issues in healthcare promotion. In order to solve the isolation issue resulting in geriatric syndromes and improve seniors' well-being by enhancing social connectedness, we propose to employ Telenoid that might facilitate their communication with others. By introducing Telenoid into care facilities and senior's homes, we found various influences on the elderly with or without dementia. Most senior participants had positive impressions of Telenoid from the very beginning, even though, ironically, their caretaker had a negative one. Especially the elderly with dementia showed strong attachment to Telenoid and created its identity imaginatively and interactively. In a long-term study, we also found that demented elderly increasingly showed prosocial behaviors to Telenoid and it encouraged them to be more communicative and open. With a focus on elderly care, this presentation will introduce our field trials and discuss the potential of interactions between the android robot and human users for further research.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Yamazaki2014b,
  author    = {Ryuji Yamazaki},
  title     = {Teleoperated Android in Elderly Care},
  booktitle = {Patient@home seminar},
  year      = {2014},
  address   = {Denmark},
  month     = Feb,
  day       = {5},
  abstract  = {We explore the potential of teleoperated androids, which are embodied telecommunication media with humanlike appearances. By conducting pilot studies in Japan and Denmark, we investigate how Telenoid, a teleoperated android designed as a minimalistic human, affect people in the real world. As populations age, the isolation issue of senior citizens is one of the leading issues in healthcare promotion. In order to solve the isolation issue resulting in geriatric syndromes and improve seniors' well-being by enhancing social connectedness, we propose to employ Telenoid that might facilitate their communication with others. By introducing Telenoid into care facilities and senior's homes, we found various influences on the elderly with or without dementia. Most senior participants had positive impressions of Telenoid from the very beginning, even though, ironically, their caretaker had a negative one. Especially the elderly with dementia showed strong attachment to Telenoid and created its identity imaginatively and interactively. In a long-term study, we also found that demented elderly increasingly showed prosocial behaviors to Telenoid and it encouraged them to be more communicative and open. With a focus on elderly care, this presentation will introduce our field trials and discuss the potential of interactions between the android robot and human users for further research.},
}
Shuichi Nishio, "The Impact of the Care‐Robot ‘Telenoid' on Elderly Persons in Japan", In International Conference : Going Beyond the Laboratory - Ethical and Societal Challenges for Robotics, Delmenhorst, Germany, February, 2014.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Nishio2014,
  author    = {Shuichi Nishio},
  title     = {The Impact of the Care‐Robot ‘Telenoid' on Elderly Persons in Japan},
  booktitle = {International Conference : Going Beyond the Laboratory - Ethical and Societal Challenges for Robotics},
  year      = {2014},
  address   = {Delmenhorst, Germany},
  month     = Feb,
  day       = {13-15},
}
Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Studies on very humanlike robots", In International Conference on Instrumentation, Control, Information Technology and System Integration, Aichi, September, 2013.
Abstract: Studies on interactive robots and androids are not just in robotics but they are also closely coupled in cognitive science and neuroscience. It is a research area for investigating fundamental issues of interface and media technology. This talks introduce the series of androids developed in both Osaka University and ATR and propose a new information medium realized based on the studies.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Ishiguro2013a,
  author    = {Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title     = {Studies on very humanlike robots},
  booktitle = {International Conference on Instrumentation, Control, Information Technology and System Integration},
  year      = {2013},
  address   = {Aichi},
  month     = Sep,
  day       = {14},
  abstract  = {Studies on interactive robots and androids are not just in robotics but they are also closely coupled in cognitive science and neuroscience. It is a research area for investigating fundamental issues of interface and media technology. This talks introduce the series of androids developed in both Osaka University and ATR and propose a new information medium realized based on the studies.},
}
Hiroshi Ishiguro, "The Future Life Supported by Robotic Avatars", In Global Future 2045 International Congress, NY, USA, June, 2013.
Abstract: Robotic avatars or tele-operated robots are already available and working in practical situations, especially in USA. The robot society has started. In our future life we are going to use various tele-operated and autonomous robots. The speaker is taking the leadership for developing tele-operated robots and androids. The tele-opereated android copy of himself is well-known in the world. By means of robots and androids, he has studied the cognitive and social aspects of human-robot interaction. Thus, he has contributed to establishing this research area. In this talk, he will introduce the series of robots and androids developed at the Intelligent Robot Laboratory of the Department of Systems Innovation of Osaka University and at the Hiroshi Ishiguro Laboratory of the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International (ATR).
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Ishiguro2013,
  author    = {Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title     = {The Future Life Supported by Robotic Avatars},
  booktitle = {Global Future 2045 International Congress},
  year      = {2013},
  address   = {NY, USA},
  month     = Jun,
  abstract  = {Robotic avatars or tele-operated robots are already available and working in practical situations, especially in USA. The robot society has started. In our future life we are going to use various tele-operated and autonomous robots. The speaker is taking the leadership for developing tele-operated robots and androids. The tele-opereated android copy of himself is well-known in the world. By means of robots and androids, he has studied the cognitive and social aspects of human-robot interaction. Thus, he has contributed to establishing this research area. In this talk, he will introduce the series of robots and androids developed at the Intelligent Robot Laboratory of the Department of Systems Innovation of Osaka University and at the Hiroshi Ishiguro Laboratory of the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International (ATR).},
}
Hideyuki Nakanishi, "Robotic Social Telepresence", In Anglo-Japanese Seminar on Technology and Social Interaction, London, UK, September, 2011.
BibTeX:
@INPROCEEDINGS{Nakanishi2011a,
  author = {Hideyuki Nakanishi},
  title = {Robotic Social Telepresence},
  booktitle = {Anglo-Japanese Seminar on Technology and Social Interaction},
  year = {2011},
  address = {London, UK},
  month = Sep,
}
Journal Papers
Nobuo Yamato, Hidenobu Sumioka, Hiroshi Ishiguro, Masahiro Shiomi, Youji Kohda, "Technology Acceptance Models from Different Viewpoints of Caregiver, Receiver, and Care Facility Administrator: Lessons from Long-Term Implementation Using Baby-Like Interactive Robot for Nursing Home Residents with Dementia", Journal of Technology in Human Services, vol. 41, pp. 296-321, December, 2023.
Abstract: The introduction of companion robots into nursing homes has positive effects on older people with dementia (PwD) but increases the physical and psychological burden on the nursing staff, such as learning how to use them, fear of breakdowns, and concern about hygiene, and the concerns of the nursing home administrator, such as increased turnover and reduced quality of care due to this. To solve this problem, it is necessary to investigate the acceptability of robots from the viewpoints of all stakeholders: PwD as receivers, nursing staff as caregivers, and nursing home administrator as a care facility administrator. However, there is still missing hypothesis about how their acceptability is structured and involved with each other. This study proposes three technology acceptance model (TAMs) from the perspectives of PwD, nursing staff, and nursing home administrator. The models are conceptualized based on the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the results of our two experiments involving a baby-like interactive robot to stimulate PwD in the same nursing home (one with low acceptance of all stakeholders and the other with their high acceptance) in addition to the comparison with other companion robots. Based on the proposed models, we discuss an integrated TAM for the acceptance of companion robots in long-term care facilities. We also discuss the possibility of applying our approach, which examines the perspectives of various stakeholders on technology acceptance, to other areas such as health care and education, followed by the ethical consideration of introducing a baby-like robot and some limitations.
BibTeX:
@Article{Yamato2023,
  author   = {Nobuo Yamato and Hidenobu Sumioka and Hiroshi Ishiguro and Masahiro Shiomi and Youji Kohda},
  journal  = {Journal of Technology in Human Services},
  title    = {Technology Acceptance Models from Different Viewpoints of Caregiver, Receiver, and Care Facility Administrator: Lessons from Long-Term Implementation Using Baby-Like Interactive Robot for Nursing Home Residents with Dementia},
  year     = {2023},
  abstract = {The introduction of companion robots into nursing homes has positive effects on older people with dementia (PwD) but increases the physical and psychological burden on the nursing staff, such as learning how to use them, fear of breakdowns, and concern about hygiene, and the concerns of the nursing home administrator, such as increased turnover and reduced quality of care due to this. To solve this problem, it is necessary to investigate the acceptability of robots from the viewpoints of all stakeholders: PwD as receivers, nursing staff as caregivers, and nursing home administrator as a care facility administrator. However, there is still missing hypothesis about how their acceptability is structured and involved with each other. This study proposes three technology acceptance model (TAMs) from the perspectives of PwD, nursing staff, and nursing home administrator. The models are conceptualized based on the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the results of our two experiments involving a baby-like interactive robot to stimulate PwD in the same nursing home (one with low acceptance of all stakeholders and the other with their high acceptance) in addition to the comparison with other companion robots. Based on the proposed models, we discuss an integrated TAM for the acceptance of companion robots in long-term care facilities. We also discuss the possibility of applying our approach, which examines the perspectives of various stakeholders on technology acceptance, to other areas such as health care and education, followed by the ethical consideration of introducing a baby-like robot and some limitations.},
  day      = {24},
  doi      = {10.1080/15228835.2023.2292058},
  month    = dec,
  pages    = {296-321},
  url      = {https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15228835.2023.2292058},
  volume   = {41},
  issue    = {4},
  keywords = {TAM, BPSD, robot therapy, interactive doll therapy, dementia},
}
Satomi Doi, Aya Isumi, Yui Yamaoka, Shiori Noguchi, Juri Yamazaki, Kanako Ito, Masahiro Shiomi, Hidenobu Sumioka, Takeo Fujiwara, "The effect of breathing relaxation using a huggable human-shaped device on sleep quality among people with sleep problems: A randomized controlled trial", Sleep and Breathing, pp. 1-11, July, 2023.
Abstract: 研究に参加した外来患者67名(ハグビー介入群:29名、対照群:38名)が解析対象となりました。ピッツバーグ睡眠質問票という睡眠障害の程度を評価するツール(PSQI)を使って、介入前、介入開始から2週間後、介入開始から4週間後に睡眠の問題を評価しました。 統計解析の結果、対照群と比べて、介入群のPSQI合計得点が低下していることが示されました。PSQIには複数の下位項目があますが、なかでも主観的な睡眠の質に関する得点が低下していました。つまり、ハグビーを用いた呼吸法によって、睡眠の質が著名に改善することが明らかになりました。また、睡眠改善の効果は、介入開始から2週間後にすでに現れていることも示されました。
BibTeX:
@Article{Doi2023,
  author   = {Satomi Doi and Aya Isumi and Yui Yamaoka and Shiori Noguchi and Juri Yamazaki and Kanako Ito and Masahiro Shiomi and Hidenobu Sumioka and Takeo Fujiwara},
  journal  = {Sleep and Breathing},
  title    = {The effect of breathing relaxation using a huggable human-shaped device on sleep quality among people with sleep problems: A randomized controlled trial},
  year     = {2023},
  abstract = {研究に参加した外来患者67名(ハグビー介入群:29名、対照群:38名)が解析対象となりました。ピッツバーグ睡眠質問票という睡眠障害の程度を評価するツール(PSQI)を使って、介入前、介入開始から2週間後、介入開始から4週間後に睡眠の問題を評価しました。 統計解析の結果、対照群と比べて、介入群のPSQI合計得点が低下していることが示されました。PSQIには複数の下位項目があますが、なかでも主観的な睡眠の質に関する得点が低下していました。つまり、ハグビーを用いた呼吸法によって、睡眠の質が著名に改善することが明らかになりました。また、睡眠改善の効果は、介入開始から2週間後にすでに現れていることも示されました。},
  day      = {10},
  doi      = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-023-02858-5},
  month    = jul,
  pages    = {1-11},
  url      = {https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11325-023-02858-5},
  keywords = {Sleep quality, Breathing relaxation, Huggable human-shaped device, Hugvie, Adverse childhood experience},
}
Hidenobu Sumioka, Jim Torresen, Masahiro Shiomi, Liang-Kung Chen, Atsushi Nakazawa, "Editorial: Interaction in robot-assistive elderly care", Frontiers in Robotics and AI, pp. 1-3, September, 2022.
Abstract: This Research Topic focuses on scientific and technical advances in methods, models, techniques, algorithms, and interaction design developed to understand and facilitate verbal and non-verbal interaction between older people and caregivers/artificial systems. In this collection containing seven peer-reviewed articles, the studies can be divided into two categories.
BibTeX:
@Article{Sumioka2022,
  author    = {Hidenobu Sumioka and Jim Torresen and Masahiro Shiomi and Liang-Kung Chen and Atsushi Nakazawa},
  journal   = {Frontiers in Robotics and AI},
  title     = {Editorial: Interaction in robot-assistive elderly care},
  year      = {2022},
  abstract  = {This Research Topic focuses on scientific and technical advances in methods, models, techniques, algorithms, and interaction design developed to understand and facilitate verbal and non-verbal interaction between older people and caregivers/artificial systems. In this collection containing seven peer-reviewed articles, the studies can be divided into two categories.},
  day       = {29},
  doi       = {10.3389/frobt.2022.1020103},
  month     = sep,
  pages     = {1-3},
  url       = {https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frobt.2022.1020103/full},
  booktitle = {Frontiers in Robotics and AI},
}
Takuto Akiyoshi, Junya Nakanishi, Hiroshi Ishiguro, Hidenobu Sumioka, Masahiro Shiomi, "A Robot that Encourages Self-Disclosure to Reduce Anger Mood", IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), vol. 6, Issue 4, pp. 7925-7932, August, 2021.
Abstract: Oneessential role of social robots is supportinghumanmental health by interaction with people. In this study, we focusedon making people’s moods more positive through conversationsabout their problems as our first step to achieving a robot that caresabout mental health. We employed the column method, typicalstress coping technique in Japan, and designed conversational contentsfor a robot. We implemented conversational functions basedon the column method for a social robot as well as a self-schema estimationfunction using conversational data, and proposed conversationalstrategies to support awareness of their self-schemas andautomatic thoughts, which are related to mental health support.We experimentally evaluated our system’s effectiveness and foundthat participants who used it with our proposed conversationalstrategies made more self-disclosures and experienced less angerthan those who did not use our proposed conversational strategies.Unfortunately, the strategies did not significantly increase the performanceof the self-schema estimation function.
BibTeX:
@Article{Akiyoshi2021,
  author   = {Takuto Akiyoshi and Junya Nakanishi and Hiroshi Ishiguro and Hidenobu Sumioka and Masahiro Shiomi},
  journal  = {IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L)},
  title    = {A Robot that Encourages Self-Disclosure to Reduce Anger Mood},
  year     = {2021},
  abstract = {Oneessential role of social robots is supportinghumanmental health by interaction with people. In this study, we focusedon making people’s moods more positive through conversationsabout their problems as our first step to achieving a robot that caresabout mental health. We employed the column method, typicalstress coping technique in Japan, and designed conversational contentsfor a robot. We implemented conversational functions basedon the column method for a social robot as well as a self-schema estimationfunction using conversational data, and proposed conversationalstrategies to support awareness of their self-schemas andautomatic thoughts, which are related to mental health support.We experimentally evaluated our system’s effectiveness and foundthat participants who used it with our proposed conversationalstrategies made more self-disclosures and experienced less angerthan those who did not use our proposed conversational strategies.Unfortunately, the strategies did not significantly increase the performanceof the self-schema estimation function.},
  day      = {6},
  doi      = {10.1109/LRA.2021.3102326},
  month    = aug,
  pages    = {7925-7932},
  url      = {https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9508832},
  volume   = {6, Issue 4},
  comment  = {(The contents of this paper were also selected by IROS2021 Program Committee for presentation at the Conference)},
  keywords = {Human-robot interaction, Stress coping},
}
Hidenobu Sumioka, Hirokazu Kumazaki, Taro Muramatsu, Yuichiro Yoshikawa, Hiroshi Ishiguro, Haruhiro Higashida, Teruko Yuhi, Masaru Mumura, "A huggable device can reduce the stress of calling an unfamiliar person on the phone for individuals with ASD", PLOS ONE, vol. 16, no. 7, pp. 1-14, July, 2021.
Abstract: Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are often not comfortable with calling unfamiliar people on a mobile phone. “Hugvie”, a pillow with a human-like shape, was designed to provide users with the tactile sensation of hugging a person during phone conversations to improve their positive feelings (e.g., comfort and trust) toward phone conversation partners. The primary aim of this study is to examine whether physical contact by hugging a Hugvie can reduce the stress of calling an unfamiliar person on the phone. In this study, 24 individuals with ASD participated. After a phone conversation using only a mobile phone or a mobile phone plus Hugvie, all participants completed questionnaires on their self-confidence in talking on the phone. In addition, participants provided salivary cortisol samples four times each day. Our analysis showed a significant effect of the communication medium, indicating that individuals with ASD who talked on the phone with an unfamiliar person while hugging a Hugvie had stronger self-confidence and lower stress than those who did not use Hugvie. Given the results of this study, we recommend that huggable devices be used as adjunctive tools to support individuals with ASD when they call unfamiliar people on mobile phones.
BibTeX:
@Article{Sumioka2021d,
  author   = {Hidenobu Sumioka and Hirokazu Kumazaki and Taro Muramatsu and Yuichiro Yoshikawa and Hiroshi Ishiguro and Haruhiro Higashida and Teruko Yuhi and Masaru Mumura},
  journal  = {PLOS ONE},
  title    = {A huggable device can reduce the stress of calling an unfamiliar person on the phone for individuals with ASD},
  year     = {2021},
  abstract = {Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are often not comfortable with calling unfamiliar people on a mobile phone. “Hugvie”, a pillow with a human-like shape, was designed to provide users with the tactile sensation of hugging a person during phone conversations to improve their positive feelings (e.g., comfort and trust) toward phone conversation partners. The primary aim of this study is to examine whether physical contact by hugging a Hugvie can reduce the stress of calling an unfamiliar person on the phone. In this study, 24 individuals with ASD participated. After a phone conversation using only a mobile phone or a mobile phone plus Hugvie, all participants completed questionnaires on their self-confidence in talking on the phone. In addition, participants provided salivary cortisol samples four times each day. Our analysis showed a significant effect of the communication medium, indicating that individuals with ASD who talked on the phone with an unfamiliar person while hugging a Hugvie had stronger self-confidence and lower stress than those who did not use Hugvie. Given the results of this study, we recommend that huggable devices be used as adjunctive tools to support individuals with ASD when they call unfamiliar people on mobile phones.},
  day      = {23},
  doi      = {10.1371/journal.pone.0254675},
  month    = jul,
  number   = {7},
  pages    = {1-14},
  url      = {https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0254675},
  volume   = {16},
  keywords = {autism spectrum disorders, tactile, huggable device, self-confidence, cortisol},
}
Hidenobu Sumioka, Masahiro Shiomi, Miwako Honda, Atsushi Nakazawa, "Technical Challenges for Smooth Interaction With Seniors With Dementia: Lessons From Humanitude™", Frontiers in Robotics and AI, vol. 8, no. 650906, pp. 1-14, June, 2021.
Abstract: Due to cognitive and socio-emotional decline and mental diseases, senior citizens, especially people with dementia (PwD), struggle to interact smoothly with their caregivers. Therefore, various care techniques have been proposed to develop good relationships with seniors. Among them, Humanitude is one promising technique that provides caregivers with useful interaction skills to improve their relationships with PwD, from four perspectives: face-to-face interaction, verbal communication, touch interaction, and helping care receivers stand up (physical interaction). Regardless of advances in elderly care techniques, since current social robots interact with seniors in the same manner as they do with younger adults, they lack several important functions. For example, Humanitude emphasizes the importance of interaction at a relatively intimate distance to facilitate communication with seniors. Unfortunately, few studies have developed an interaction model for clinical care communication. In this paper, we discuss the current challenges to develop a social robot that can smoothly interact with PwDs and overview the interaction skills used in Humanitude as well as the existing technologies.
BibTeX:
@Article{Sumioka2021,
  author   = {Hidenobu Sumioka and Masahiro Shiomi and Miwako Honda and Atsushi Nakazawa},
  journal  = {Frontiers in Robotics and AI},
  title    = {Technical Challenges for Smooth Interaction With Seniors With Dementia: Lessons From Humanitude™},
  year     = {2021},
  abstract = {Due to cognitive and socio-emotional decline and mental diseases, senior citizens, especially people with dementia (PwD), struggle to interact smoothly with their caregivers. Therefore, various care techniques have been proposed to develop good relationships with seniors. Among them, Humanitude is one promising technique that provides caregivers with useful interaction skills to improve their relationships with PwD, from four perspectives: face-to-face interaction, verbal communication, touch interaction, and helping care receivers stand up (physical interaction). Regardless of advances in elderly care techniques, since current social robots interact with seniors in the same manner as they do with younger adults, they lack several important functions. For example, Humanitude emphasizes the importance of interaction at a relatively intimate distance to facilitate communication with seniors. Unfortunately, few studies have developed an interaction model for clinical care communication. In this paper, we discuss the current challenges to develop a social robot that can smoothly interact with PwDs and overview the interaction skills used in Humanitude as well as the existing technologies.},
  day      = {2},
  doi      = {10.3389/frobt.2021.650906},
  month    = jun,
  number   = {650906},
  pages    = {1-14},
  url      = {https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frobt.2021.650906/full},
  volume   = {8},
  keywords = {Humanitude, dementia care, social robot, human-robot interaction, skill evaluation, dementia},
}
Hidenobu Sumioka, Nobuo Yamato, Masahiro Shiomi, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "A Minimal Design of a Human Infant Presence: A Case Study Toward Interactive Doll Therapy for Older Adults With Dementia", Frontiers in Robotics and AI, vol. 8, no. 633378, pp. 1-12, June, 2021.
Abstract: We introduce a minimal design approach to manufacture an infant-like robot for interactive doll therapy that provides emotional interactions for older people with dementia. Our approach stimulates their imaginations and then facilitates positive engagement with the robot by just expressing the most basic elements of humanlike features. Based on this approach, we developed HIRO, a baby-sized robot with an abstract body representation and no facial features. The recorded voice of a real human infant emitted by robots enhances the robot’s human-likeness and facilitates positive interaction between older adults and the robot. Although we did not find any significant difference between HIRO and an infant-like robot with a smiling face, a field study showed that HIRO was accepted by older adults with dementia and facilitated positive interaction by stimulating their imagination. We also discuss the importance of a minimal design approach in elderly care during post–COVID-19 world.
BibTeX:
@Article{Sumioka2021a,
  author   = {Hidenobu Sumioka and Nobuo Yamato and Masahiro Shiomi and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title    = {A Minimal Design of a Human Infant Presence: A Case Study Toward Interactive Doll Therapy for Older Adults With Dementia},
  journal  = {Frontiers in Robotics and AI},
  year     = {2021},
  volume   = {8},
  number   = {633378},
  pages    = {1-12},
  month    = jun,
  abstract = {We introduce a minimal design approach to manufacture an infant-like robot for interactive doll therapy that provides emotional interactions for older people with dementia. Our approach stimulates their imaginations and then facilitates positive engagement with the robot by just expressing the most basic elements of humanlike features. Based on this approach, we developed HIRO, a baby-sized robot with an abstract body representation and no facial features. The recorded voice of a real human infant emitted by robots enhances the robot’s human-likeness and facilitates positive interaction between older adults and the robot. Although we did not find any significant difference between HIRO and an infant-like robot with a smiling face, a field study showed that HIRO was accepted by older adults with dementia and facilitated positive interaction by stimulating their imagination. We also discuss the importance of a minimal design approach in elderly care during post–COVID-19 world.},
  day      = {17},
  url      = {https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frobt.2021.633378/full},
  doi      = {10.3389/frobt.2021.633378},
}
Liang-Yu Chen, Hidenobu Sumioka, Li-Ju Ke, Masahiro Shiomi, Liang-Kung Chen, "Effects of Teleoperated Humanoid Robot Application in Older Adults with Neurocognitive Disorders in Taiwan: A Report of Three Cases", Aging Medicine and Healtlcare, Full Universe Integrated Marketing Limited, pp. 67-71, May, 2020.
Abstract: Rising prevalence of major neurocognitive disorders (NCDs) is associated with a great variety of care needs and care stress for caregivers and families. A holistic care pathway to empower person-centered care is recommended, and non-pharmacological strategies are prioritized to manage neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) of people with NCDs. However, limited formal services, shortage of manpower, and unpleasant experiences related to NPS of these patients often discourage caregivers and cause the care stress and psychological burnout. Telenoid, a teleoperated humanoid robot, is a new technology that aims to improve the quality of life and to reduce the severity of NPS for persons with major NCDs by facilitating meaningful connection and social engagement. Herein, we presented 3 cases with major NCDs in a day care center in Taiwan who experienced interaction with the Telenoid. Overall, no fear neither distressed emotional response was observed during their conversation, neither worsening of delusion or hallucination after interaction with Telenoid. The severity of NCDs seemed to affect the verbal communication and the attention during conversation with Telenoid. Other factors, such as hearing impairment, insomnia, and environmental stimuli, may also hinder the efficacy of Telenoid in long-term care settings. Further studies with proper study design are needed to evaluate the effects of Telenoid application on older adults with major NCDs.
BibTeX:
@Article{Chen2020,
  author    = {Liang-Yu Chen and Hidenobu Sumioka and Li-Ju Ke and Masahiro Shiomi and Liang-Kung Chen},
  journal   = {Aging Medicine and Healtlcare},
  title     = {Effects of Teleoperated Humanoid Robot Application in Older Adults with Neurocognitive Disorders in Taiwan: A Report of Three Cases},
  year      = {2020},
  abstract  = {Rising prevalence of major neurocognitive disorders (NCDs) is associated with a great variety of care needs and care stress for caregivers and families. A holistic care pathway to empower person-centered care is recommended, and non-pharmacological strategies are prioritized to manage neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) of people with NCDs. However, limited formal services, shortage of manpower, and unpleasant experiences related to NPS of these patients often discourage caregivers and cause the care stress and psychological burnout. Telenoid, a teleoperated humanoid robot, is a new technology that aims to improve the quality of life and to reduce the severity of NPS for persons with major NCDs by facilitating meaningful connection and social engagement. Herein, we presented 3 cases with major NCDs in a day care center in Taiwan who experienced interaction with the Telenoid. Overall, no fear neither distressed emotional response was observed during their conversation, neither worsening of delusion or hallucination after interaction with Telenoid. The severity of NCDs seemed to affect the verbal communication and the attention during conversation with Telenoid. Other factors, such as hearing impairment, insomnia, and environmental stimuli, may also hinder the efficacy of Telenoid in long-term care settings. Further studies with proper study design are needed to evaluate the effects of Telenoid application on older adults with major NCDs.},
  day       = {27},
  doi       = {10.33879/AMH.2020.066-2001.003},
  month     = may,
  pages     = {67-71},
  url       = {https://www.agingmedhealthc.com/?p=21602},
  booktitle = {Aging Medicine and Healtlcare},
  editor    = {Asian Association for Frailty and Sarcopenia and Taiwan Association for Integrated Care},
  keywords  = {Dementia, neurocognitive disorder, neuropsychiatric symptom, Telenoid, uncanny valley},
  publisher = {Full Universe Integrated Marketing Limited},
}
Soheil Keshmiri, Masahiro Shiomi, Kodai Shatani, Takashi Minato, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Critical Examination of the Parametric Approaches to Analysis of the Non-Verbal Human Behaviour: a Case Study in Facial Pre-Touch Interaction", Applied Sciences, vol. 10, Issue 11, no. 3817, pp. 1-15, May, 2020.
Abstract: A prevailing assumption in many behavioral studies is the underlying normal distribution of the data under investigation. In this regard, although it appears plausible to presume a certain degree of similarity among individuals, this presumption does not necessarily warrant such simplifying assumptions as average or normally distributed human behavioral responses. In the present study, we examine the extent of such assumptions by considering the case of human–human touch interaction in which individuals signal their face area pre-touch distance boundaries. We then use these pre-touch distances along with their respective azimuth and elevation angles around the face area and perform three types of regression-based analyses to estimate a generalized facial pre-touch distance boundary. First, we use a Gaussian processes regression to evaluate whether assumption of normal distribution in participants’ reactions warrants a reliable estimate of this boundary. Second, we apply a support vector regression (SVR) to determine whether estimating this space by minimizing the orthogonal distance between participants’ pre-touch data and its corresponding pre-touch boundary can yield a better result. Third, we use ordinary regression to validate the utility of a non-parametric regressor with a simple regularization criterion in estimating such a pre-touch space. In addition, we compare these models with the scenarios in which a fixed boundary distance (i.e., a spherical boundary) is adopted. We show that within the context of facial pre-touch interaction, normal distribution does not capture the variability that is exhibited by human subjects during such non-verbal interaction. We also provide evidence that such interactions can be more adequately estimated by considering the individuals’ variable behavior and preferences through such estimation strategies as ordinary regression that solely relies on the distribution of their observed behavior which may not necessarily follow a parametric distribution.
BibTeX:
@Article{Keshmiri2020c,
  author   = {Soheil Keshmiri and Masahiro Shiomi and Kodai Shatani and Takashi Minato and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  journal  = {Applied Sciences},
  title    = {Critical Examination of the Parametric Approaches to Analysis of the Non-Verbal Human Behaviour: a Case Study in Facial Pre-Touch Interaction},
  year     = {2020},
  abstract = {A prevailing assumption in many behavioral studies is the underlying normal distribution of the data under investigation. In this regard, although it appears plausible to presume a certain degree of similarity among individuals, this presumption does not necessarily warrant such simplifying assumptions as average or normally distributed human behavioral responses. In the present study, we examine the extent of such assumptions by considering the case of human–human touch interaction in which individuals signal their face area pre-touch distance boundaries. We then use these pre-touch distances along with their respective azimuth and elevation angles around the face area and perform three types of regression-based analyses to estimate a generalized facial pre-touch distance boundary. First, we use a Gaussian processes regression to evaluate whether assumption of normal distribution in participants’ reactions warrants a reliable estimate of this boundary. Second, we apply a support vector regression (SVR) to determine whether estimating this space by minimizing the orthogonal distance between participants’ pre-touch data and its corresponding pre-touch boundary can yield a better result. Third, we use ordinary regression to validate the utility of a non-parametric regressor with a simple regularization criterion in estimating such a pre-touch space. In addition, we compare these models with the scenarios in which a fixed boundary distance (i.e., a spherical boundary) is adopted. We show that within the context of facial pre-touch interaction, normal distribution does not capture the variability that is exhibited by human subjects during such non-verbal interaction. We also provide evidence that such interactions can be more adequately estimated by considering the individuals’ variable behavior and preferences through such estimation strategies as ordinary regression that solely relies on the distribution of their observed behavior which may not necessarily follow a parametric distribution.},
  day      = {30},
  doi      = {10.3390/app10113817},
  month    = may,
  number   = {3817},
  pages    = {1-15},
  url      = {https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/10/11/3817},
  volume   = {10, Issue 11},
  keywords = {physical interaction; physical pre-touch distance; parametric analysis; non-parametric analysis; non-verbal behavior},
}
Soheil Keshmiri, Masahiro Shiomi, Hidenobu Sumioka, Takashi Minato, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Gentle Versus Strong Touch Classification: Preliminary Results, Challenges, and Potentials", Sensors, vol. 20, Issue 11, no. 3033, pp. 1-22, May, 2020.
Abstract: Touch plays a crucial role in humans’ nonverbal social and affective communication. It then comes as no surprise to observe a considerable effort that has been placed on devising methodologies for automated touch classification. For instance, such an ability allows for the use of smart touch sensors in such real-life application domains as socially-assistive robots and embodied telecommunication. In fact, touch classification literature represents an undeniably progressive result. However, these results are limited in two important ways. First, they are mostly based on overall (i.e., average) accuracy of different classifiers. As a result, they fall short in providing an insight on performance of these approaches as per different types of touch. Second, they do not consider the same type of touch with different level of strength (e.g., gentle versus strong touch). This is certainly an important factor that deserves investigating since the intensity of a touch can utterly transform its meaning (e.g., from an affectionate gesture to a sign of punishment). The current study provides a preliminary investigation of these shortcomings by considering the accuracy of a number of classifiers for both, within- (i.e., same type of touch with differing strengths) and between-touch (i.e., different types of touch) classifications. Our results help verify the strength and shortcoming of different machine learning algorithms for touch classification. They also highlight some of the challenges whose solution concepts can pave the path for integration of touch sensors in such application domains as human–robot interaction (HRI).
BibTeX:
@Article{Keshmiri2020d,
  author   = {Soheil Keshmiri and Masahiro Shiomi and Hidenobu Sumioka and Takashi Minato and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  journal  = {Sensors},
  title    = {Gentle Versus Strong Touch Classification: Preliminary Results, Challenges, and Potentials},
  year     = {2020},
  abstract = {Touch plays a crucial role in humans’ nonverbal social and affective communication. It then comes as no surprise to observe a considerable effort that has been placed on devising methodologies for automated touch classification. For instance, such an ability allows for the use of smart touch sensors in such real-life application domains as socially-assistive robots and embodied telecommunication. In fact, touch classification literature represents an undeniably progressive result. However, these results are limited in two important ways. First, they are mostly based on overall (i.e., average) accuracy of different classifiers. As a result, they fall short in providing an insight on performance of these approaches as per different types of touch. Second, they do not consider the same type of touch with different level of strength (e.g., gentle versus strong touch). This is certainly an important factor that deserves investigating since the intensity of a touch can utterly transform its meaning (e.g., from an affectionate gesture to a sign of punishment). The current study provides a preliminary investigation of these shortcomings by considering the accuracy of a number of classifiers for both, within- (i.e., same type of touch with differing strengths) and between-touch (i.e., different types of touch) classifications. Our results help verify the strength and shortcoming of different machine learning algorithms for touch classification. They also highlight some of the challenges whose solution concepts can pave the path for integration of touch sensors in such application domains as human–robot interaction (HRI).},
  day      = {27},
  doi      = {10.3390/s20113033},
  month    = may,
  number   = {3033},
  pages    = {1-22},
  url      = {https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/20/11/3033},
  volume   = {20, Issue 11},
  keywords = {physical interaction; touch classification; human–agent physical interaction},
}
Soheil Keshmiri, Maryam Alimardani, Masahiro Shiomi, Hidenobu Sumioka, Hiroshi Ishiguro, Kazuo Hiraki, "Higher hypnotic suggestibility is associated with the lower EEG signal variability in theta, alpha, and beta frequency bands", PLOS ONE, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 1-20, April, 2020.
Abstract: Variation of information in the firing rate of neural population, as reflected in different frequency bands of electroencephalographic (EEG) time series, provides direct evidence for change in neural responses of the brain to hypnotic suggestibility. However, realization of an effective biomarker for spiking behaviour of neural population proves to be an elusive subject matter with its impact evident in highly contrasting results in the literature. In this article, we took an information-theoretic stance on analysis of the EEG time series of the brain activity during hypnotic suggestions, thereby capturing the variability in pattern of brain neural activity in terms of its information content. For this purpose, we utilized differential entropy (DE, i.e., the average information content in a continuous time series) of theta, alpha, and beta frequency bands of fourteen-channel EEG time series recordings that pertain to the brain neural responses of twelve carefully selected high and low hypnotically suggestible individuals. Our results show that the higher hypnotic suggestibility is associated with a significantly lower variability in information content of theta, alpha, and beta frequencies. Moreover, they indicate that such a lower variability is accompanied by a significantly higher functional connectivity (FC, a measure of spatiotemporal synchronization) in the parietal and the parieto-occipital regions in the case of theta and alpha frequency bands and a non-significantly lower FC in the central region’s beta frequency band. Our results contribute to the field in two ways. First, they identify the applicability of DE as a unifying measure to reproduce the similar observations that are separately reported through adaptation of different hypnotic biomarkers in the literature. Second, they extend these previous findings that were based on neutral hypnosis (i.e., a hypnotic procedure that involves no specific suggestions other than those for becoming hypnotized) to the case of hypnotic suggestions, thereby identifying their presence as a potential signature of hypnotic experience.
BibTeX:
@Article{Keshmiri2020b,
  author   = {Soheil Keshmiri and Maryam Alimardani and Masahiro Shiomi and Hidenobu Sumioka and Hiroshi Ishiguro and Kazuo Hiraki},
  title    = {Higher hypnotic suggestibility is associated with the lower EEG signal variability in theta, alpha, and beta frequency bands},
  journal  = {PLOS ONE},
  year     = {2020},
  volume   = {15},
  number   = {4},
  pages    = {1-20},
  month    = apr,
  abstract = {Variation of information in the firing rate of neural population, as reflected in different frequency bands of electroencephalographic (EEG) time series, provides direct evidence for change in neural responses of the brain to hypnotic suggestibility. However, realization of an effective biomarker for spiking behaviour of neural population proves to be an elusive subject matter with its impact evident in highly contrasting results in the literature. In this article, we took an information-theoretic stance on analysis of the EEG time series of the brain activity during hypnotic suggestions, thereby capturing the variability in pattern of brain neural activity in terms of its information content. For this purpose, we utilized differential entropy (DE, i.e., the average information content in a continuous time series) of theta, alpha, and beta frequency bands of fourteen-channel EEG time series recordings that pertain to the brain neural responses of twelve carefully selected high and low hypnotically suggestible individuals. Our results show that the higher hypnotic suggestibility is associated with a significantly lower variability in information content of theta, alpha, and beta frequencies. Moreover, they indicate that such a lower variability is accompanied by a significantly higher functional connectivity (FC, a measure of spatiotemporal synchronization) in the parietal and the parieto-occipital regions in the case of theta and alpha frequency bands and a non-significantly lower FC in the central region’s beta frequency band. Our results contribute to the field in two ways. First, they identify the applicability of DE as a unifying measure to reproduce the similar observations that are separately reported through adaptation of different hypnotic biomarkers in the literature. Second, they extend these previous findings that were based on neutral hypnosis (i.e., a hypnotic procedure that involves no specific suggestions other than those for becoming hypnotized) to the case of hypnotic suggestions, thereby identifying their presence as a potential signature of hypnotic experience.},
  day      = {9},
  url      = {https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0230853},
  doi      = {10.1371/journal.pone.0230853},
}
Nobuhiro Jinnai, Hidenobu Sumioka, Takashi Minato, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Multi-modal Interaction through Anthropomorphically Designed Communication Medium to Enhance the Self-Disclosures of Personal Information", Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 76-85, February, 2020.
Abstract: Although current communication media facilitate the interaction among individuals, researchers have warned that human relationships constructed by these media tend to lack the level of intimacy acquired through face-to-face communications. In this paper, \textcolorredwe investigate how long-term use of humanlike communication media affects the development of intimate relationships between human users. We examine changes in the relationship between individuals while having conversation with each other through humanlike communication media or mobile phones for about a month. The intimacy of their relationship was evaluated with the amount of self-disclosure of personal information. The result shows that a communication medium with humanlike appearance and soft material \textcolorredsignificantly increases the total amount of self-disclosure through the experiment, compared with typical mobile phone. The amount of self-disclosure showed cyclic variation through the experiment in humanlike communication media condition. Furthermore, we discuss a possible underlying mechanism of this effect from misattribution of a feeling caused by intimate distance with the medium to a conversation partner.
BibTeX:
@Article{Jinnai2020,
  author   = {Nobuhiro Jinnai and Hidenobu Sumioka and Takashi Minato and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  journal  = {Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics},
  title    = {Multi-modal Interaction through Anthropomorphically Designed Communication Medium to Enhance the Self-Disclosures of Personal Information},
  year     = {2020},
  abstract = {Although current communication media facilitate the interaction among individuals, researchers have warned that human relationships constructed by these media tend to lack the level of intimacy acquired through face-to-face communications. In this paper, \textcolor{red}{we investigate how long-term use of humanlike communication media affects the development of intimate relationships between human users.} We examine changes in the relationship between individuals while having conversation with each other through humanlike communication media or mobile phones for about a month. The intimacy of their relationship was evaluated with the amount of self-disclosure of personal information. The result shows that a communication medium with humanlike appearance and soft material \textcolor{red}{significantly increases the total amount of self-disclosure through the experiment, compared with typical mobile phone. The amount of self-disclosure showed cyclic variation through the experiment in humanlike communication media condition.} Furthermore, we discuss a possible underlying mechanism of this effect from misattribution of a feeling caused by intimate distance with the medium to a conversation partner.},
  day      = {20},
  doi      = {10.20965/jrm.2020.p0076},
  month    = feb,
  number   = {1},
  pages    = {76-85},
  url      = {https://www.fujipress.jp/jrm/rb_ja/},
  volume   = {32},
  keywords = {social presence, mediated social interaction, human relationship},
}
Xiqian Zheng, Masahiro Shiomi, Takashi Minato, Hirosh Ishiguro, "What Kinds of Robot's Touch Will Match Expressed Emotions?", IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), vol. 5, Issue1, pp. 127-134, January, 2020.
Abstract: This study investigated the effects of touch characteristics that change the strength and the naturalness of the emotions perceived by people in human-robot touch interaction with an android robot that has a feminine, human-like appearance. Past studies on human-robot touch interaction focused on understanding what kinds of human touches conveyed emotion to robots, i.e., the robot's touch characteristics that can affect people's perceived emotions received less focus. In this study, we concentrated on three touch characteristics (length, type, and part) based on arousal/valence perspectives, and their effects on the perceived strength/naturalness of a commonly used emotion in human-robot interaction, i.e., happiness, and its counterpart emotion, (i.e., sadness), borrowing Ekman's definitions. Our results showed that the touch length and its type are useful to change the perceived strengths and the naturalness of the expressed emotions based on the arousal/valence perspective, although the touch part did not fit such perspective assumptions. Finally, our results suggest that a brief pat and a longer contact by the fingers are better combinations to express happy and sad emotions with our robot. Since we only used a female android, we discussed future works with a male humanoid robot and/or a robot whose appearance is less humanoid.
BibTeX:
@Article{Zheng2019a,
  author   = {Xiqian Zheng and Masahiro Shiomi and Takashi Minato and Hirosh Ishiguro},
  journal  = {IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L)},
  title    = {What Kinds of Robot's Touch Will Match Expressed Emotions?},
  year     = {2020},
  abstract = {This study investigated the effects of touch characteristics that change the strength and the naturalness of the emotions perceived by people in human-robot touch interaction with an android robot that has a feminine, human-like appearance. Past studies on human-robot touch interaction focused on understanding what kinds of human touches conveyed emotion to robots, i.e., the robot's touch characteristics that can affect people's perceived emotions received less focus. In this study, we concentrated on three touch characteristics (length, type, and part) based on arousal/valence perspectives, and their effects on the perceived strength/naturalness of a commonly used emotion in human-robot interaction, i.e., happiness, and its counterpart emotion, (i.e., sadness), borrowing Ekman's definitions. Our results showed that the touch length and its type are useful to change the perceived strengths and the naturalness of the expressed emotions based on the arousal/valence perspective, although the touch part did not fit such perspective assumptions. Finally, our results suggest that a brief pat and a longer contact by the fingers are better combinations to express happy and sad emotions with our robot. Since we only used a female android, we discussed future works with a male humanoid robot and/or a robot whose appearance is less humanoid.},
  doi      = {10.1109/LRA.2019.2947010},
  month    = jan,
  pages    = {127-134},
  url      = {https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8865356?source=authoralert},
  volume   = {5, Issue1},
  comment  = {(The contents of this paper were also selected by Humanoids 2019 Program Committee for presentation at the Conference)},
}
Soheil Keshmiri, Masahiro Shiomi, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Emergence of the Affect from the Variation in the Whole-Brain Flow of Information", Brain Sciences, vol. 10, Issue 1, no. 8, pp. 1-32, January, 2020.
Abstract: Over the past few decades, the quest for discovering the brain substrates of the affect to understand the underlying neural basis of the human’s emotions has resulted in substantial and yet contrasting results. Whereas some point at distinct and independent brain systems for the Positive and Negative affects, others propose the presence of flexible brain regions. In this respect, there are two factors that are common among these previous studies. First, they all focused on the change in brain activation, thereby neglecting the findings that indicate that the stimuli with equivalent sensory and behavioral processing demands may not necessarily result in differential brain activation. Second, they did not take into consideration the brain regional interactivity and the findings that identify that the signals from individual cortical neurons are shared across multiple areas and thus concurrently contribute to multiple functional pathways. To address these limitations, we performed Granger causal analysis on the electroencephalography (EEG) recordings of the human subjects who watched movie clips that elicited Negative, Neutral, and Positive affects. This allowed us to look beyond the brain regional activation in isolation to investigate whether the brain regional interactivity can provide further insights for understanding the neural substrates of the affect. Our results indicated that the differential affect states emerged from subtle variation in information flow of the brain cortical regions that were in both hemispheres. They also showed that these regions that were rather common between affect states than distinct to a specific affect were characterized with both short- as well as long-range information flow. This provided evidence for the presence of simultaneous integration and differentiation in the brain functioning that leads to the emergence of different affects. These results are in line with the findings on the presence of intrinsic large-scale interacting brain networks that underlie the production of psychological events. These findings can help advance our understanding of the neural basis of the human’s emotions by identifying the signatures of differential affect in subtle variation that occurs in the whole-brain cortical flow of information.
BibTeX:
@Article{Keshmiri2020,
  author   = {Soheil Keshmiri and Masahiro Shiomi and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  journal  = {Brain Sciences},
  title    = {Emergence of the Affect from the Variation in the Whole-Brain Flow of Information},
  year     = {2020},
  abstract = {Over the past few decades, the quest for discovering the brain substrates of the affect to understand the underlying neural basis of the human’s emotions has resulted in substantial and yet contrasting results. Whereas some point at distinct and independent brain systems for the Positive and Negative affects, others propose the presence of flexible brain regions. In this respect, there are two factors that are common among these previous studies. First, they all focused on the change in brain activation, thereby neglecting the findings that indicate that the stimuli with equivalent sensory and behavioral processing demands may not necessarily result in differential brain activation. Second, they did not take into consideration the brain regional interactivity and the findings that identify that the signals from individual cortical neurons are shared across multiple areas and thus concurrently contribute to multiple functional pathways. To address these limitations, we performed Granger causal analysis on the electroencephalography (EEG) recordings of the human subjects who watched movie clips that elicited Negative, Neutral, and Positive affects. This allowed us to look beyond the brain regional activation in isolation to investigate whether the brain regional interactivity can provide further insights for understanding the neural substrates of the affect. Our results indicated that the differential affect states emerged from subtle variation in information flow of the brain cortical regions that were in both hemispheres. They also showed that these regions that were rather common between affect states than distinct to a specific affect were characterized with both short- as well as long-range information flow. This provided evidence for the presence of simultaneous integration and differentiation in the brain functioning that leads to the emergence of different affects. These results are in line with the findings on the presence of intrinsic large-scale interacting brain networks that underlie the production of psychological events. These findings can help advance our understanding of the neural basis of the human’s emotions by identifying the signatures of differential affect in subtle variation that occurs in the whole-brain cortical flow of information.},
  day      = {1},
  doi      = {10.3390/brainsci10010008},
  month    = jan,
  number   = {8},
  pages    = {1-32},
  url      = {https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/10/1/8},
  volume   = {10, Issue 1},
  keywords = {Granger causality; functional connectivity; information flow; affect; brain signal variability},
}
Soheil Keshmiri, Masahiro Shiomi, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Entropy of the Multi-Channel EEG Recordings Identifies the Distributed Signatures of Negative, Neutral and Positive Affect in Whole-Brain Variability", Entropy, vol. 21, Issue 12, no. 1228, pp. 1-25, December, 2019.
Abstract: Individuals’ ability to express their subjective experiences in terms of such attributes as pleasant/unpleasant or positive/negative feelings forms a fundamental property of their affect and emotion. However, neuroscientific findings on the underlying neural substrates of the affect appear to be inconclusive with some reporting the presence of distinct and independent brain systems and others identifying flexible and distributed brain regions. A common theme among these studies is the focus on the change in brain activation. As a result, they do not take into account the findings that indicate the brain activation and its information content does not necessarily modulate and that the stimuli with equivalent sensory and behavioural processing demands may not necessarily result in differential brain activation. In this article, we take a different stance on the analysis of the differential effect of the negative, neutral and positive affect on the brain functioning in which we look into the whole-brain variability: that is the change in the brain information processing measured in multiple distributed regions. For this purpose, we compute the entropy of individuals’ muti-channel EEG recordings who watched movie clips with differing affect. Our results suggest that the whole-brain variability significantly differentiates between the negative, neutral and positive affect. They also indicate that although some brain regions contribute more to such differences, it is the whole-brain variational pattern that results in their significantly above chance level prediction. These results imply that although the underlying brain substrates for negative, neutral and positive affect exhibit quantitatively differing degrees of variability, their differences are rather subtly encoded in the whole-brain variational patterns that are distributed across its entire activity.
BibTeX:
@Article{Keshmiri2019l,
  author   = {Soheil Keshmiri and Masahiro Shiomi and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  journal  = {Entropy},
  title    = {Entropy of the Multi-Channel EEG Recordings Identifies the Distributed Signatures of Negative, Neutral and Positive Affect in Whole-Brain Variability},
  year     = {2019},
  abstract = {Individuals’ ability to express their subjective experiences in terms of such attributes as pleasant/unpleasant or positive/negative feelings forms a fundamental property of their affect and emotion. However, neuroscientific findings on the underlying neural substrates of the affect appear to be inconclusive with some reporting the presence of distinct and independent brain systems and others identifying flexible and distributed brain regions. A common theme among these studies is the focus on the change in brain activation. As a result, they do not take into account the findings that indicate the brain activation and its information content does not necessarily modulate and that the stimuli with equivalent sensory and behavioural processing demands may not necessarily result in differential brain activation. In this article, we take a different stance on the analysis of the differential effect of the negative, neutral and positive affect on the brain functioning in which we look into the whole-brain variability: that is the change in the brain information processing measured in multiple distributed regions. For this purpose, we compute the entropy of individuals’ muti-channel EEG recordings who watched movie clips with differing affect. Our results suggest that the whole-brain variability significantly differentiates between the negative, neutral and positive affect. They also indicate that although some brain regions contribute more to such differences, it is the whole-brain variational pattern that results in their significantly above chance level prediction. These results imply that although the underlying brain substrates for negative, neutral and positive affect exhibit quantitatively differing degrees of variability, their differences are rather subtly encoded in the whole-brain variational patterns that are distributed across its entire activity.},
  day      = {16},
  doi      = {10.3390/e21121228},
  month    = dec,
  number   = {1228},
  pages    = {1-25},
  url      = {https://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/21/12/1228/htm},
  volume   = {21, Issue 12},
  keywords = {entropy; differential entropy; affect; brain variability},
}
Soheil Keshmiri, Hidenobu Sumioka, Ryuji Yamazaki, Masahiro Shiomi, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Information Content of Prefrontal Cortex Activity Quantifies the Difficulty of Narrated Stories", Scientific Reports, vol. 9, no. 17959, November, 2019.
Abstract: The ability to realize the individuals' impressions during the verbal communication can enable social robots to play a significant role in facilitating our social interactions in such areas as child education and elderly care. However, such impressions are highly subjective and internalized and therefore cannot be easily comprehended through behavioural observations. Although brain-machine interface suggests the utility of the brain information in human-robot interaction, previous studies did not consider its potential for estimating the internal impressions during verbal communication. In this article, we introduce a novel approach to estimation of the individuals' perceived difficulty of stories using their prefrontal cortex activity. We demonstrate the robustness of our approach by showing its comparable performance in in-person, humanoid, speaker, and video-chat system. Our results contribute to the field of socially assistive robotics by taking a step toward enabling robots determine their human companions' perceived difficulty of conversations to sustain their communication by adapting to individuals' pace and interest in response to conversational nuances and complexity. They also verify the use of brain information to complement the behavioural-based study of a robotic theory of mind through critical investigation of its implications in humans' neurological responses while interacting with their synthetic companions.
BibTeX:
@Article{Keshmiri2019g,
  author   = {Soheil Keshmiri and Hidenobu Sumioka and Ryuji Yamazaki and Masahiro Shiomi and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  journal  = {Scientific Reports},
  title    = {Information Content of Prefrontal Cortex Activity Quantifies the Difficulty of Narrated Stories},
  year     = {2019},
  abstract = {The ability to realize the individuals' impressions during the verbal communication can enable social robots to play a significant role in facilitating our social interactions in such areas as child education and elderly care. However, such impressions are highly subjective and internalized and therefore cannot be easily comprehended through behavioural observations. Although brain-machine interface suggests the utility of the brain information in human-robot interaction, previous studies did not consider its potential for estimating the internal impressions during verbal communication. In this article, we introduce a novel approach to estimation of the individuals' perceived difficulty of stories using their prefrontal cortex activity. We demonstrate the robustness of our approach by showing its comparable performance in in-person, humanoid, speaker, and video-chat system. Our results contribute to the field of socially assistive robotics by taking a step toward enabling robots determine their human companions' perceived difficulty of conversations to sustain their communication by adapting to individuals' pace and interest in response to conversational nuances and complexity. They also verify the use of brain information to complement the behavioural-based study of a robotic theory of mind through critical investigation of its implications in humans' neurological responses while interacting with their synthetic companions.},
  day      = {29},
  doi      = {10.1038/s41598-019-54280-1},
  month    = nov,
  number   = {17959},
  url      = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-54280-1},
  volume   = {9},
}
Soheil Keshmiri, Hidenobu Sumioka, Ryuji Yamazaki, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Older People Prefrontal Cortex Activation Estimates Their Perceived Difficulty of a Humanoid-Mediated Conversation", IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), vol. 4, Issue 4, pp. 4108-4115, October, 2019.
Abstract: In this article, we extend our recent results on prediction of the older peoples’ perceived difficulty of verbal communication during a humanoid-mediated storytelling experiment to the case of a longitudinal conversation that was conducted over a four-week period and included a battery of conversational topics. For this purpose, we used our model that estimates the older people’s perceived difficulty by mapping their prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity during the verbal communication onto fine-grained cluster spaces of a working memory (WM) task that induces loads on human’s PFC through modulation of its difficulty level. This enables us to differentially quantify the observed changes in PFC activity during the conversation based on the difficulty level of the WM task. We show that such a quantification forms a reliable basis for learning the PFC activation patterns in response to conversational contents. Our results indicate the ability of our model for predicting the older peoples’ perceived difficulty of a wide range of humanoid-mediated tele-conversations, regardless of their type, topic, and duration.
BibTeX:
@Article{Keshmiri2019d,
  author   = {Soheil Keshmiri and Hidenobu Sumioka and Ryuji Yamazaki and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  journal  = {IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L)},
  title    = {Older People Prefrontal Cortex Activation Estimates Their Perceived Difficulty of a Humanoid-Mediated Conversation},
  year     = {2019},
  abstract = {In this article, we extend our recent results on prediction of the older peoples’ perceived difficulty of verbal communication during a humanoid-mediated storytelling experiment to the case of a longitudinal conversation that was conducted over a four-week period and included a battery of conversational topics. For this purpose, we used our model that estimates the older people’s perceived difficulty by mapping their prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity during the verbal communication onto fine-grained cluster spaces of a working memory (WM) task that induces loads on human’s PFC through modulation of its difficulty level. This enables us to differentially quantify the observed changes in PFC activity during the conversation based on the difficulty level of the WM task. We show that such a quantification forms a reliable basis for learning the PFC activation patterns in response to conversational contents. Our results indicate the ability of our model for predicting the older peoples’ perceived difficulty of a wide range of humanoid-mediated tele-conversations, regardless of their type, topic, and duration.},
  doi      = {10.1109/LRA.2019.2930495},
  month    = oct,
  pages    = {4108-4115},
  url      = {https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8769897},
  volume   = {4, Issue 4},
  comment  = {(The contents of this paper were also selected by IROS2019 Program Committee for presentation at the Conference)},
}
Soheil Keshmiri, Hidenobu Sumioka, Ryuji Yamazaki, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Decoding the Perceived Difficulty of Communicated Contents by Older People: Toward Conversational Robot-Assistive Elderly Care", IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), vol. 4, Issue 4, pp. 3263-3269, October, 2019.
Abstract: In this study, we propose a semi-supervised learning model for decoding of the perceived difficulty of communicated content by older people. Our model is based on mapping of the older people’s prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity during their verbal communication onto fine-grained cluster spaces of a working memory (WM) task that induces loads on human’s PFC through modulation of its difficulty level. This allows for differential quantification of the observed changes in pattern of PFC activation during verbal communication with respect to the difficulty level of the WM task. We show that such a quantification establishes a reliable basis for categorization and subsequently learning of the PFC responses to more naturalistic contents such as story comprehension. Our contribution is to present evidence on effectiveness of our method for estimation of the older peoples’ perceived difficulty of the communicated contents during an online storytelling scenario.
BibTeX:
@Article{Keshmiri2019c,
  author   = {Soheil Keshmiri and Hidenobu Sumioka and Ryuji Yamazaki and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  journal  = {IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L)},
  title    = {Decoding the Perceived Difficulty of Communicated Contents by Older People: Toward Conversational Robot-Assistive Elderly Care},
  year     = {2019},
  abstract = {In this study, we propose a semi-supervised learning model for decoding of the perceived difficulty of communicated content by older people. Our model is based on mapping of the older people’s prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity during their verbal communication onto fine-grained cluster spaces of a working memory (WM) task that induces loads on human’s PFC through modulation of its difficulty level. This allows for differential quantification of the observed changes in pattern of PFC activation during verbal communication with respect to the difficulty level of the WM task. We show that such a quantification establishes a reliable basis for categorization and subsequently learning of the PFC responses to more naturalistic contents such as story comprehension. Our contribution is to present evidence on effectiveness of our method for estimation of the older peoples’ perceived difficulty of the communicated contents during an online storytelling scenario.},
  doi      = {10.1109/LRA.2019.2925732},
  month    = oct,
  pages    = {3263-3269},
  url      = {https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/8750900},
  volume   = {4, Issue 4},
  comment  = {(The contents of this paper were also selected by IROS2019 Program Committee for presentation at the Conference)},
}
Soheil Keshmiri, Hidenobu Suioka, Hiroshi Ishiguro Ryuji Yamazaki, "Differential Effect of the Physical Embodiment on the Prefrontal Cortex Activity as Quantified by Its Entropy", Entropy, vol. 21, Issue 9, no. 875, pp. 1-26, September, 2019.
Abstract: Computer-mediated-communication (CMC) research suggests that unembodied media can surpass in-person communication due to their utility to bypass the nonverbal components of verbal communication such as physical presence and facial expressions. However, recent results on communicative humanoids suggest the importance of the physical embodiment of conversational partners. These contradictory findings are strengthened by the fact that almost all of these results are based on the subjective assessments of the behavioural impacts of these systems. To investigate these opposing views of the potential role of the embodiment during communication, we compare the effect of a physically embodied medium that is remotely controlled by a human operator with such unembodied media as telephones and video-chat systems on the frontal brain activity of human subjects, given the pivotal role of this region in social cognition and verbal comprehension. Our results provide evidence that communicating through a physically embodied medium affects the frontal brain activity of humans whose patterns potentially resemble those of in-person communication. These findings argue for the significance of embodiment in naturalistic scenarios of social interaction, such as storytelling and verbal comprehension, and the potential application of brain information as a promising sensory gateway in the characterization of behavioural responses in human-robot interaction.
BibTeX:
@Article{Keshmiri2019i,
  author   = {Soheil Keshmiri and Hidenobu Suioka and Ryuji Yamazaki, Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title    = {Differential Effect of the Physical Embodiment on the Prefrontal Cortex Activity as Quantified by Its Entropy},
  journal  = {Entropy},
  year     = {2019},
  volume   = {21, Issue 9},
  number   = {875},
  pages    = {1-26},
  month    = sep,
  abstract = {Computer-mediated-communication (CMC) research suggests that unembodied media can surpass in-person communication due to their utility to bypass the nonverbal components of verbal communication such as physical presence and facial expressions. However, recent results on communicative humanoids suggest the importance of the physical embodiment of conversational partners. These contradictory findings are strengthened by the fact that almost all of these results are based on the subjective assessments of the behavioural impacts of these systems. To investigate these opposing views of the potential role of the embodiment during communication, we compare the effect of a physically embodied medium that is remotely controlled by a human operator with such unembodied media as telephones and video-chat systems on the frontal brain activity of human subjects, given the pivotal role of this region in social cognition and verbal comprehension. Our results provide evidence that communicating through a physically embodied medium affects the frontal brain activity of humans whose patterns potentially resemble those of in-person communication. These findings argue for the significance of embodiment in naturalistic scenarios of social interaction, such as storytelling and verbal comprehension, and the potential application of brain information as a promising sensory gateway in the characterization of behavioural responses in human-robot interaction.},
  day      = {8},
  url      = {https://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/21/9/875},
  doi      = {10.3390/e21090875},
  keywords = {differential entropy; embodied media; tele-communication; humanoid; prefrontal cortex},
}
Hidenobu Sumioka, Soheil Keshmiri, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Information-theoretic investigation of impact of huggable communication medium on prefrontal brain activation", Advanced Robotics, vol. 33, Issue19, pp. 1019-1029, August, 2019.
Abstract: This paper examines the effect of mediated hugs that are achieved with a huggable communication medium on the brain activities of users during conversations. We measured their brain activities with functional near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and evaluated them with two information theoretic measures: permutation entropy, an indicator of relaxation, and multiscale entropy, which captures complexity in brain activation at multiple time scales. We first verify the influence of lip movements on brain activities during conversation and then compare brain activities during tele-conversation through a huggable communication medium with a mobile phone. Our analysis of NIRS signals shows that mediated hugs decrease permutation entropy and increase multiscale entropy. These results suggest that touch interaction through a mediated hug induces a relaxed state in our brain but increases complex patterns of brain activation.
BibTeX:
@Article{Sumioka2019h,
  author   = {Hidenobu Sumioka and Soheil Keshmiri and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  journal  = {Advanced Robotics},
  title    = {Information-theoretic investigation of impact of huggable communication medium on prefrontal brain activation},
  year     = {2019},
  abstract = {This paper examines the effect of mediated hugs that are achieved with a huggable communication medium on the brain activities of users during conversations. We measured their brain activities with functional near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and evaluated them with two information theoretic measures: permutation entropy, an indicator of relaxation, and multiscale entropy, which captures complexity in brain activation at multiple time scales. We first verify the influence of lip movements on brain activities during conversation and then compare brain activities during tele-conversation through a huggable communication medium with a mobile phone. Our analysis of NIRS signals shows that mediated hugs decrease permutation entropy and increase multiscale entropy. These results suggest that touch interaction through a mediated hug induces a relaxed state in our brain but increases complex patterns of brain activation.},
  day      = {12},
  doi      = {10.1080/01691864.2019.1652114},
  month    = aug,
  pages    = {1019-1029},
  url      = {https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01691864.2019.1652114},
  volume   = {33, Issue19},
  keywords = {Mediated hug, huggable communication, telecommunication, information theory, permutation entropy, multiscale entropy analysis},
}
Soheil Keshmiri, Masahiro Shiomi, Kodai Shatani, Takashi Minato, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Facial Pre-Touch Space Differentiates the Level of Openness Among Individuals", Scientific Reports, vol. 9, no. 11924, August, 2019.
Abstract: Social and cognitive psychology provide a rich map of our personality landscape. What appears to be unexplored is the correspondence between these findings and our behavioural responses during day-to-day life interaction. In this article, we utilize cluster analysis to show that the individuals’ facial pre-touch space can be divided into three well-defined subspaces and that within the first two immediate clusters around the face area such distance information significantly correlate with their openness in the five-factor model (FFM). In these two clusters, we also identify that the individuals’ facial pre-touch space can predict their level of openness that are further categorized into six distinct levels with a highly above chance accuracy. Our results suggest that such personality factors as openness are not only reflected in individuals’ behavioural responses but also these responses allow for a fine-grained categorization of individuals’ personality.
BibTeX:
@Article{Keshmiri2019h,
  author   = {Soheil Keshmiri and Masahiro Shiomi and Kodai Shatani and Takashi Minato and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title    = {Facial Pre-Touch Space Differentiates the Level of Openness Among Individuals},
  journal  = {Scientific Reports},
  year     = {2019},
  volume   = {9},
  number   = {11924},
  month    = aug,
  abstract = {Social and cognitive psychology provide a rich map of our personality landscape. What appears to be unexplored is the correspondence between these findings and our behavioural responses during day-to-day life interaction. In this article, we utilize cluster analysis to show that the individuals’ facial pre-touch space can be divided into three well-defined subspaces and that within the first two immediate clusters around the face area such distance information significantly correlate with their openness in the five-factor model (FFM). In these two clusters, we also identify that the individuals’ facial pre-touch space can predict their level of openness that are further categorized into six distinct levels with a highly above chance accuracy. Our results suggest that such personality factors as openness are not only reflected in individuals’ behavioural responses but also these responses allow for a fine-grained categorization of individuals’ personality.},
  day      = {15},
  url      = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-48481-x},
  doi      = {10.1038/s41598-019-48481-x},
}
Jakub Zlotowski, Hidenobu Sumioka, Shuichi Nishio, Dylan F. Glas, Christoph Bartneck, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Appearance of a Robot Affects the Impact of its Behaviour on Perceived Trustworthiness and Empathy", Paladyn, Journal of Behavioral Robotics, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 55-66, December, 2016.
Abstract: An increasing number of companion robots started reaching the public in the recent years. These robots vary in their appearance and behavior. Since these two factors can have an impact on lasting human-robot relationships, it is important to understand their effect for companion robots. We have conducted an experiment that evaluated the impact of a robot's appearance and its behaviour in repeated interactions on its perceived empathy, trustworthiness and anxiety experienced by a human. The results indicate that a highly humanlike robot is perceived as less trustworthy and empathic than a more machinelike robot. Moreover, negative behaviour of a machinelike robot reduces its trustworthiness and perceived empathy stronger than for highly humanlike robot. In addition, we found that a robot which disapproves of what a human says can induce anxiety felt towards its communication capabilities. Our findings suggest that more machinelike robots can be more suitable as companions than highly humanlike robots. Moreover, a robot disagreeing with a human interaction partner should be able to provide feedback on its understanding of the partner's message in order to reduce her anxiety.
BibTeX:
@Article{Zlotowski2016a,
  author   = {Jakub Zlotowski and Hidenobu Sumioka and Shuichi Nishio and Dylan F. Glas and Christoph Bartneck and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title    = {Appearance of a Robot Affects the Impact of its Behaviour on Perceived Trustworthiness and Empathy},
  journal  = {Paladyn, Journal of Behavioral Robotics},
  year     = {2016},
  volume   = {7},
  number   = {1},
  pages    = {55-66},
  month    = Dec,
  abstract = {An increasing number of companion robots started reaching the public in the recent years. These robots vary in their appearance and behavior. Since these two factors can have an impact on lasting human-robot relationships, it is important to understand their effect for companion robots. We have conducted an experiment that evaluated the impact of a robot's appearance and its behaviour in repeated interactions on its perceived empathy, trustworthiness and anxiety experienced by a human. The results indicate that a highly humanlike robot is perceived as less trustworthy and empathic than a more machinelike robot. Moreover, negative behaviour of a machinelike robot reduces its trustworthiness and perceived empathy stronger than for highly humanlike robot. In addition, we found that a robot which disapproves of what a human says can induce anxiety felt towards its communication capabilities. Our findings suggest that more machinelike robots can be more suitable as companions than highly humanlike robots. Moreover, a robot disagreeing with a human interaction partner should be able to provide feedback on its understanding of the partner's message in order to reduce her anxiety.},
  url      = {https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/pjbr.2016.7.issue-1/pjbr-2016-0005/pjbr-2016-0005.xml},
  file     = {Zlotowski2016a.pdf:pdf/Zlotowski2016a.pdf:PDF},
}
Junya Nakanishi, Hidenobu Sumioka, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Impact of Mediated Intimate Interaction on Education: A Huggable Communication Medium that Encourages Listening", Frontiers in Psychology, section Human-Media Interaction, vol. 7, no. 510, pp. 1-10, April, 2016.
Abstract: In this paper, we propose the introduction of human-like communication media as a proxy for teachers to support the listening of children in school education. Three case studies are presented on storytime fieldwork for children using our huggable communication medium called Hugvie, through which children are encouraged to concentrate on listening by intimate interaction between children and storytellers. We investigate the effect of Hugvie on children's listening and how they and their teachers react to it through observations and interviews. Our results suggest that Hugvie increased the number of children who concentrated on listening to a story and was welcomed by almost all the children and educators. We also discuss improvement and research issues to introduce huggable communication media into classrooms, potential applications, and their contributions to other education situations through improved listening.
BibTeX:
@Article{Nakanishi2016,
  author   = {Junya Nakanishi and Hidenobu Sumioka and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title    = {Impact of Mediated Intimate Interaction on Education: A Huggable Communication Medium that Encourages Listening},
  journal  = {Frontiers in Psychology, section Human-Media Interaction},
  year     = {2016},
  volume   = {7},
  number   = {510},
  pages    = {1-10},
  month    = Apr,
  abstract = {In this paper, we propose the introduction of human-like communication media as a proxy for teachers to support the listening of children in school education. Three case studies are presented on storytime fieldwork for children using our huggable communication medium called Hugvie, through which children are encouraged to concentrate on listening by intimate interaction between children and storytellers. We investigate the effect of Hugvie on children's listening and how they and their teachers react to it through observations and interviews. Our results suggest that Hugvie increased the number of children who concentrated on listening to a story and was welcomed by almost all the children and educators. We also discuss improvement and research issues to introduce huggable communication media into classrooms, potential applications, and their contributions to other education situations through improved listening.},
  day      = {19},
  url      = {http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00510},
  doi      = {10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00510},
  file     = {Nakanishi2016.pdf:pdf/Nakanishi2016.pdf:PDF},
}
Kaiko Kuwamura, Takashi Minato, Shuichi Nishio, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Inconsistency of Personality Evaluation Caused by Appearance Gap in Robotic Telecommunication", Interaction Studies, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 249-271, November, 2015.
Abstract: In this paper, we discuss the problem of the appearance of teleoperated robots that are used as telecommunication media. Teleoperated robots have a physical existence that increases the feeling of copresence, compared with recent communication media such as cellphones and video chat. However, their appearance is xed, for example stuffed bear, or a image displayed on a monitor. Since people can determine their partner's personality merely from their appearance, a teleoperated robot's appearance which is different from the operator might construct a personality that conflicts with the operator's original personality. We compared the appearances of three communication media (nonhuman-like appearance robot, human-like appearance robot, and video chat) and found that due to the appearance gap, the human-like appearance robot prevented confusion better than the nonhuman-like appearance robot or the video chat and also transmitted an appropriate atmosphere due to the operator.
BibTeX:
@Article{Kuwamura2013a,
  author          = {Kaiko Kuwamura and Takashi Minato and Shuichi Nishio and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title           = {Inconsistency of Personality Evaluation Caused by Appearance Gap in Robotic Telecommunication},
  journal         = {Interaction Studies},
  year            = {2015},
  volume          = {16},
  number          = {2},
  pages           = {249-271},
  month           = NOV,
  abstract        = {In this paper, we discuss the problem of the appearance of teleoperated robots that are used as telecommunication media. Teleoperated robots have a physical existence that increases the feeling of copresence, compared with recent communication media such as cellphones and video chat. However, their appearance is xed, for example stuffed bear, or a image displayed on a monitor. Since people can determine their partner's personality merely from their appearance, a teleoperated robot's appearance which is different from the operator might construct a personality that conflicts with the operator's original personality. We compared the appearances of three communication media (nonhuman-like appearance robot, human-like appearance robot, and video chat) and found that due to the appearance gap, the human-like appearance robot prevented confusion better than the nonhuman-like appearance robot or the video chat and also transmitted an appropriate atmosphere due to the operator.},
  file            = {Kuwamura2013a.pdf:pdf/Kuwamura2013a.pdf:PDF},
  keywords        = {teleoperated android; telecomunication; robot; appearance; personality},
}
Jakub Zlotowski, Hidenobu Sumioka, Shuichi Nishio, Dylan Glas, Christoph Bartneck, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Persistence of the Uncanny Valley: the Influence of Repeated Interactions and a Robot's Attitude on Its Perception", Frontiers in Psychology, June, 2015.
Abstract: The uncanny valley theory proposed by Mori has been heavily investigated in the recent years by researchers from various fields. However, the videos and images used in these studies did not permit any human interaction with the uncanny objects. Therefore, in the field of human-robot interaction it is still unclear what and whether an uncanny looking robot will have an impact on an interaction. In this paper we describe an exploratory empirical study that involved repeated interactions with robots that differed in embodiment and their attitude towards a human. We found that both investigated components of the uncanniness (likeability and eeriness) can be affected by an interaction with a robot. Likeability of a robot was mainly affected by its attitude and this effect was especially prominent for a machine-like robot. On the other hand, mere repeated interactions was sufficient to reduce eeriness irrespective of a robot's embodiment. As a result we urge other researchers to investigate Mori's theory in studies that involve actual human-robot interaction in order to fully understand the changing nature of this phenomenon.
BibTeX:
@Article{Zlotowski,
  author   = {Jakub Zlotowski and Hidenobu Sumioka and Shuichi Nishio and Dylan Glas and Christoph Bartneck and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title    = {Persistence of the Uncanny Valley: the Influence of Repeated Interactions and a Robot's Attitude on Its Perception},
  journal  = {Frontiers in Psychology},
  year     = {2015},
  month    = JUN,
  abstract = {The uncanny valley theory proposed by Mori has been heavily investigated in the recent years by researchers from various fields. However, the videos and images used in these studies did not permit any human interaction with the uncanny objects. Therefore, in the field of human-robot interaction it is still unclear what and whether an uncanny looking robot will have an impact on an interaction. In this paper we describe an exploratory empirical study that involved repeated interactions with robots that differed in embodiment and their attitude towards a human. We found that both investigated components of the uncanniness (likeability and eeriness) can be affected by an interaction with a robot. Likeability of a robot was mainly affected by its attitude and this effect was especially prominent for a machine-like robot. On the other hand, mere repeated interactions was sufficient to reduce eeriness irrespective of a robot's embodiment. As a result we urge other researchers to investigate Mori's theory in studies that involve actual human-robot interaction in order to fully understand the changing nature of this phenomenon.},
  url      = {http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00883/abstract},
  doi      = {10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00883},
  file     = {Jakub2014a.pdf:pdf/Jakub2014a.pdf:PDF},
}
Martin Cooney, Shuichi Nishio, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Importance of Touch for Conveying Affection in a Multimodal Interaction with a Small Humanoid Robot", International Journal of Humanoid Robotics, vol. 12, issue 01, pp. 1550002 (22 pages), 2015.
Abstract: To be accepted as a part of our everyday lives, companion robots will require the capability to recognize people's behavior and respond appropriately. In the current work, we investigated which characteristics of behavior could be used by a small humanoid robot to recognize when a human is seeking to convey affection. A main challenge in doing so was that human social norms are complex, comprising behavior which exhibits high spatiotemporal variance, consists of multiple channels and can express different meanings. To deal with this difficulty, we adopted a combined approach in which we analyzed free interactions and also asked participants to rate short video-clips depicting human-robot interaction. As a result, we are able to present a wide range of findings related to the current topic, including on the fundamental role (prevalence, affectionate impact, and motivations) of actions, channels, and modalities; effects of posture and a robot's behavior; expected reactions; and contributions of modalities in complementary and conflicting configurations. This article extends the existing literature by identifying some useful multimodal affectionate cues which can be leveraged by a robot during interactions; we aim to use the acquired knowledge in a small humanoid robot to provide affection during play toward improving quality of life for lonely persons.
BibTeX:
@Article{Cooney2013b,
  author          = {Martin Cooney and Shuichi Nishio and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title           = {Importance of Touch for Conveying Affection in a Multimodal Interaction with a Small Humanoid Robot},
  journal         = {International Journal of Humanoid Robotics},
  year            = {2015},
  volume          = {12, issue 01},
  pages           = {1550002 (22 pages)},
  abstract        = {To be accepted as a part of our everyday lives, companion robots will require the capability to recognize people's behavior and respond appropriately. In the current work, we investigated which characteristics of behavior could be used by a small humanoid robot to recognize when a human is seeking to convey affection. A main challenge in doing so was that human social norms are complex, comprising behavior which exhibits high spatiotemporal variance, consists of multiple channels and can express different meanings. To deal with this difficulty, we adopted a combined approach in which we analyzed free interactions and also asked participants to rate short video-clips depicting human-robot interaction. As a result, we are able to present a wide range of findings related to the current topic, including on the fundamental role (prevalence, affectionate impact, and motivations) of actions, channels, and modalities; effects of posture and a robot's behavior; expected reactions; and contributions of modalities in complementary and conflicting configurations. This article extends the existing literature by identifying some useful multimodal affectionate cues which can be leveraged by a robot during interactions; we aim to use the acquired knowledge in a small humanoid robot to provide affection during play toward improving quality of life for lonely persons.},
  doi             = {10.1142/S0219843615500024},
  file            = {Cooney2014a.pdf:pdf/Cooney2014a.pdf:PDF},
  keywords        = {Affection; multi-modal; play; small humanoid robot, human-robot interaction},
}
Martin Cooney, Shuichi Nishio, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Affectionate Interaction with a Small Humanoid Robot Capable of Recognizing Social Touch Behavior", ACM Transactions on Interactive Intelligent Systems, vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 32, December, 2014.
Abstract: Activity recognition, involving a capability to automatically recognize people's behavior and its underlying significance, will play a crucial role in facilitating the integration of interactive robotic artifacts into everyday human environments. In particular, social intelligence in recognizing affectionate behavior will offer value by allowing companion robots to bond meaningfully with persons involved. The current article addresses the issue of designing an affectionate haptic interaction between a person and a companion robot by a) furthering understanding of how people's attempts to communicate affection to a robot through touch can be recognized, and b) exploring how a small humanoid robot can behave in conjunction with such touches to elicit affection. We report on an experiment conducted to gain insight into how people perceive three fundamental interactive strategies in which a robot is either always highly affectionate, appropriately affectionate, or superficially unaffectionate (emphasizing positivity, contingency, and challenge respectively). Results provide insight into the structure of affectionate interaction between humans and humanoid robots—underlining the importance of an interaction design expressing sincerity, liking, stability and variation—and suggest the usefulness of novel modalities such as warmth and cold.
BibTeX:
@Article{Cooney2014c,
  author          = {Martin Cooney and Shuichi Nishio and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title           = {Affectionate Interaction with a Small Humanoid Robot Capable of Recognizing Social Touch Behavior},
  journal         = {{ACM} Transactions on Interactive Intelligent Systems},
  year            = {2014},
  volume          = {4},
  number          = {4},
  pages           = {32},
  month           = Dec,
  abstract        = {Activity recognition, involving a capability to automatically recognize people's behavior and its underlying significance, will play a crucial role in facilitating the integration of interactive robotic artifacts into everyday human environments. In particular, social intelligence in recognizing affectionate behavior will offer value by allowing companion robots to bond meaningfully with persons involved. The current article addresses the issue of designing an affectionate haptic interaction between a person and a companion robot by a) furthering understanding of how people's attempts to communicate affection to a robot through touch can be recognized, and b) exploring how a small humanoid robot can behave in conjunction with such touches to elicit affection. We report on an experiment conducted to gain insight into how people perceive three fundamental interactive strategies in which a robot is either always highly affectionate, appropriately affectionate, or superficially unaffectionate (emphasizing positivity, contingency, and challenge respectively). Results provide insight into the structure of affectionate interaction between humans and humanoid robots—underlining the importance of an interaction design expressing sincerity, liking, stability and variation—and suggest the usefulness of novel modalities such as warmth and cold.},
  url             = {http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=2688469.2685395},
  doi             = {10.1145/2685395},
  file            = {Cooney2014b.pdf:pdf/Cooney2014b.pdf:PDF},
  keywords        = {human-robot interaction; activity recognition; small humanoid companion robot; affectionate touch behavior; intelligent systems},
}
Rosario Sorbello, Antonio Chella, Carmelo Cali, Marcello Giardina, Shuichi Nishio, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Telenoid Android Robot as an Embodied Perceptual Social Regulation Medium Engaging Natural Human-Humanoid Interaction", Robotics and Autonomous Systems Journal, vol. 62, issue 9, pp. 1329-1341, September, 2014.
Abstract: The present paper aims to validate our research on Human-Humanoid Interaction (HHI) using the minimalist humanoid robot Telenoid. We conducted the human-robot interaction test with 142 young people who had no prior interaction experience with this robot. The main goal is the analysis of the two social dimensions ("Perception" and "Believability" ) useful for increasing the natural behaviour between users and Telenoid. We administered our custom questionnaire to human subjects in association with a well defined experimental setting ("ordinary and goal-guided task"). A thorough analysis of the questionnaires has been carried out and reliability and internal consistency in correlation between the multiple items has been calculated. Our experimental results show that the perceptual behavior and believability, as implicit social competences, could improve the meaningfulness and the natural-like sense of human-humanoid interaction in everyday life taskdriven activities. Telenoid is perceived as an autonomous cooperative agent for a shared environment by human beings.
BibTeX:
@Article{Sorbello2013a,
  author   = {Rosario Sorbello and Antonio Chella and Carmelo Cali and Marcello Giardina and Shuichi Nishio and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title    = {Telenoid Android Robot as an Embodied Perceptual Social Regulation Medium Engaging Natural Human-Humanoid Interaction},
  journal  = {Robotics and Autonomous Systems Journal},
  year     = {2014},
  volume   = {62, issue 9},
  pages    = {1329-1341},
  month    = SEP,
  abstract = {The present paper aims to validate our research on Human-Humanoid Interaction (HHI) using the minimalist humanoid robot Telenoid. We conducted the human-robot interaction test with 142 young people who had no prior interaction experience with this robot. The main goal is the analysis of the two social dimensions ("Perception" and "Believability" ) useful for increasing the natural behaviour between users and Telenoid. We administered our custom questionnaire to human subjects in association with a well defined experimental setting ("ordinary and goal-guided task"). A thorough analysis of the questionnaires has been carried out and reliability and internal consistency in correlation between the multiple items has been calculated. Our experimental results show that the perceptual behavior and believability, as implicit social competences, could improve the meaningfulness and the natural-like sense of human-humanoid interaction in everyday life taskdriven activities. Telenoid is perceived as an autonomous cooperative agent for a shared environment by human beings.},
  url      = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S092188901400061X},
  doi      = {10.1016/j.robot.2014.03.017},
  file     = {Sorbello2013a.pdf:pdf/Sorbello2013a.pdf:PDF},
  keywords = {Telenoid; Geminoid; Social Robot; Human-Humanoid Robot Interaction},
}
Kaiko Kuwamura, Kurima Sakai, Takashi Minato, Shuichi Nishio, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Hugvie: communication device for encouraging good relationship through the act of hugging", Lovotics, vol. Vol. 1, Issue 1, pp. 10000104, February, 2014.
Abstract: In this paper, we introduce a communication device which encourages users to establish a good relationship with others. We designed the device so that it allows users to virtually hug the person in the remote site through the medium. In this paper, we report that when a participant talks to his communication partner during their first encounter while hugging the communication medium, he mistakenly feels as if they are establishing a good relationship and that he is being loved rather than just being liked. From this result, we discuss Active Co-Presence, a new method to enhance co-presence of people in remote through active behavior.
BibTeX:
@Article{Kuwamura2014a,
  author          = {Kaiko Kuwamura and Kurima Sakai and Takashi Minato and Shuichi Nishio and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title           = {Hugvie: communication device for encouraging good relationship through the act of hugging},
  journal         = {Lovotics},
  year            = {2014},
  volume          = {Vol. 1, Issue 1},
  pages           = {10000104},
  month           = Feb,
  abstract        = {In this paper, we introduce a communication device which encourages users to establish a good relationship with others. We designed the device so that it allows users to virtually hug the person in the remote site through the medium. In this paper, we report that when a participant talks to his communication partner during their first encounter while hugging the communication medium, he mistakenly feels as if they are establishing a good relationship and that he is being loved rather than just being liked. From this result, we discuss Active Co-Presence, a new method to enhance co-presence of people in remote through active behavior.},
  url             = {http://www.omicsonline.com/open-access/hugvie_communication_device_for_encouraging_good_relationship_through_the_act_of_hugging.pdf?aid=24445},
  doi             = {10.4172/2090-9888.10000104},
  file            = {Kuwamura2014a.pdf:pdf/Kuwamura2014a.pdf:PDF},
  keywords        = {hug; co-presence; telecommunication},
}
Ryuji Yamazaki, Shuichi Nishio, Hiroshi Ishiguro, Marco Nørskov, Nobu Ishiguro, Giuseppe Balistreri, "Acceptability of a Teleoperated Android by Senior Citizens in Danish Society: A Case Study on the Application of an Embodied Communication Medium to Home Care", International Journal of Social Robotics, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 429-442, 2014.
Abstract: We explore the potential of teleoperated androids,which are embodied telecommunication media with humanlike appearances. By conducting field experiments, we investigated how Telenoid, a teleoperated android designed as a minimalistic human, affect people in the real world when it is employed to express telepresence and a sense of ‘being there'. Our exploratory study focused on the social aspects of the android robot, which might facilitate communication between the elderly and Telenoid's operator. This new way of creating social relationships can be used to solve a problem in society, the social isolation of senior citizens. It has been becoming a major issue even in Denmark that is known as one of countries with advanced welfare systems. After asking elderly people to use Te-lenoid at their homes, we found that the elderly with or without dementia showed positive attitudes toward Telenoid and imaginatively developed various dialogue strategies. Their positivity and strong attachment to its minimalistic human design were cross-culturally shared in Denmark and Japan. Contrary to the negative reactions by non-users in media reports, our result suggests that teleoperated androids can be accepted by the elderly as a kind of universal design medium for social inclusion.
BibTeX:
@Article{Yamazaki2013a,
  author          = {Ryuji Yamazaki and Shuichi Nishio and Hiroshi Ishiguro and Marco N\orskov and Nobu Ishiguro and Giuseppe Balistreri},
  title           = {Acceptability of a Teleoperated Android by Senior Citizens in Danish Society: A Case Study on the Application of an Embodied Communication Medium to Home Care},
  journal         = {International Journal of Social Robotics},
  year            = {2014},
  volume          = {6},
  number          = {3},
  pages           = {429-442},
  abstract        = {We explore the potential of teleoperated androids,which are embodied telecommunication media with humanlike appearances. By conducting field experiments, we investigated how Telenoid, a teleoperated android designed as a minimalistic human, affect people in the real world when it is employed to express telepresence and a sense of ‘being there'. Our exploratory study focused on the social aspects of the android robot, which might facilitate communication between the elderly and Telenoid's operator. This new way of creating social relationships can be used to solve a problem in society, the social isolation of senior citizens. It has been becoming a major issue even in Denmark that is known as one of countries with advanced welfare systems. After asking elderly people to use Te-lenoid at their homes, we found that the elderly with or without dementia showed positive attitudes toward Telenoid and imaginatively developed various dialogue strategies. Their positivity and strong attachment to its minimalistic human design were cross-culturally shared in Denmark and Japan. Contrary to the negative reactions by non-users in media reports, our result suggests that teleoperated androids can be accepted by the elderly as a kind of universal design medium for social inclusion.},
  doi             = {10.1007/s12369-014-0247-x},
  file            = {Yamazaki2013a.pdf:pdf/Yamazaki2013a.pdf:PDF},
  keywords        = {teleoperated android; minimal design; embodied communication; social isolation; elderly care; social acceptance},
}
Hidenobu Sumioka, Shuichi Nishio, Takashi Minato, Ryuji Yamazaki, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Minimal human design approach for sonzai-kan media: investigation of a feeling of human presence", Cognitive Computation, vol. 6, Issue 4, pp. 760-774, 2014.
Abstract: Even though human-like robotic media give the feeling of being with others and positively affect our physical and mental health, scant research has addressed how much information about a person should be reproduced to enhance the feeling of a human presence. We call this feeling sonzai-kan, which is a Japanese phrase that means the feeling of a presence. We propose a minimal design approach for exploring the requirements to enhance this feeling and hypothesize that it is enhanced if information is presented from at least two different modalities. In this approach, the exploration is conducted by designing sonzai-kan media through exploratory research with the media, their evaluations, and the development of their systems. In this paper, we give an overview of our current work with Telenoid, a teleoperated android designed with our approach, to illustrate how we explore the requirements and how such media impact our quality of life. We discuss the potential advantages of our approach for forging positive social relationships and designing an autonomous agent with minimal cognitive architecture.
BibTeX:
@Article{Sumioka2013e,
  author          = {Hidenobu Sumioka and Shuichi Nishio and Takashi Minato and Ryuji Yamazaki and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title           = {Minimal human design approach for sonzai-kan media: investigation of a feeling of human presence},
  journal         = {Cognitive Computation},
  year            = {2014},
  volume          = {6, Issue 4},
  pages           = {760-774},
  abstract        = {Even though human-like robotic media give the feeling of being with others and positively affect our physical and mental health, scant research has addressed how much information about a person should be reproduced to enhance the feeling of a human presence. We call this feeling sonzai-kan, which is a Japanese phrase that means the feeling of a presence. We propose a minimal design approach for exploring the requirements to enhance this feeling and hypothesize that it is enhanced if information is presented from at least two different modalities. In this approach, the exploration is conducted by designing sonzai-kan media through exploratory research with the media, their evaluations, and the development of their systems. In this paper, we give an overview of our current work with Telenoid, a teleoperated android designed with our approach, to illustrate how we explore the requirements and how such media impact our quality of life. We discuss the potential advantages of our approach for forging positive social relationships and designing an autonomous agent with minimal cognitive architecture.},
  url             = {http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12559-014-9270-3},
  doi             = {10.1007/s12559-014-9270-3},
  file            = {Sumioka2014.pdf:pdf/Sumioka2014.pdf:PDF},
  keywords        = {Human–robot Interaction; Minimal design; Elderly care; Android science},
}
Kurima Sakai, Hidenobu Sumioka, Takashi Minato, Shuichi Nishio, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Motion Design of Interactive Small Humanoid Robot with Visual Illusion", International Journal of Innovative Computing, Information and Control, vol. 9, no. 12, pp. 4725-4736, December, 2013.
Abstract: This paper presents a novel method to express motions of a small human-like robotic avatar that can be a portable communication medium: a user can talk with another person while feeling the other's presence at anytime, anywhere. The human-like robotic avatar is expected to express human-like movements; however, there are technical and cost problems in implementing actuators in the small body. The method is to induce illusory motion of the robot's extremities with blinking lights. This idea needs only Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) and avoids the above problems. This paper presents the design of an LED blinking pattern to induce an illusory nodding motion of Elfoid, which is a hand-held tele-operated humanoid robot. A psychological experiment shows that the illusory nodding motion gives a better impression to people than a symbolic blinking pattern. This result suggests that even the illusory motion of a robotic avatar can improve tele-communications.
BibTeX:
@Article{Sakai2013,
  author          = {Kurima Sakai and Hidenobu Sumioka and Takashi Minato and Shuichi Nishio and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title           = {Motion Design of Interactive Small Humanoid Robot with Visual Illusion},
  journal         = {International Journal of Innovative Computing, Information and Control},
  year            = {2013},
  volume          = {9},
  number          = {12},
  pages           = {4725-4736},
  month           = Dec,
  abstract        = {This paper presents a novel method to express motions of a small human-like robotic avatar that can be a portable communication medium: a user can talk with another person while feeling the other's presence at anytime, anywhere. The human-like robotic avatar is expected to express human-like movements; however, there are technical and cost problems in implementing actuators in the small body. The method is to induce illusory motion of the robot's extremities with blinking lights. This idea needs only Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) and avoids the above problems. This paper presents the design of an LED blinking pattern to induce an illusory nodding motion of Elfoid, which is a hand-held tele-operated humanoid robot. A psychological experiment shows that the illusory nodding motion gives a better impression to people than a symbolic blinking pattern. This result suggests that even the illusory motion of a robotic avatar can improve tele-communications.},
  url             = {http://www.ijicic.org/apchi12-275.pdf},
  file            = {Sakai2013.pdf:pdf/Sakai2013.pdf:PDF},
  keywords        = {Tele-communication; Nonverbal communication; Portable robot avatar; Visual illusion of motion},
}
Martin Cooney, Shuichi Nishio, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Designing Robots for Well-being: Theoretical Background and Visual Scenes of Affectionate Play with a Small Humanoid Robot", Lovotics, November, 2013.
Abstract: Social well-being, referring to a subjectively perceived long-term state of happiness, life satisfaction, health, and other prosperity afforded by social interactions, is increasingly being employed to rate the success of human social systems. Although short-term changes in well-being can be difficult to measure directly, two important determinants can be assessed: perceived enjoyment and affection from relationships. The current article chronicles our work over several years toward achieving enjoyable and affectionate interactions with robots, with the aim of contributing to perception of social well-being in interacting persons. Emphasis has been placed on both describing in detail the theoretical basis underlying our work, and relating the story of each of several designs from idea to evaluation in a visual fashion. For the latter, we trace the course of designing four different robotic artifacts intended to further our understanding of how to provide enjoyment, elicit affection, and realize one specific scenario for affectionate play. As a result, by describing (a) how perceived enjoyment and affection contribute to social well-being, and (b) how a small humanoid robot can proactively engage in enjoyable and affectionate play—recognizing people's behavior and leveraging this knowledge—the current article informs the design of companion robots intended to facilitate a perception of social well-being in interacting persons during affectionate play.
BibTeX:
@Article{Cooney2013d,
  author          = {Martin Cooney and Shuichi Nishio and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title           = {Designing Robots for Well-being: Theoretical Background and Visual Scenes of Affectionate Play with a Small Humanoid Robot},
  journal         = {Lovotics},
  year            = {2013},
  month           = Nov,
  abstract        = {Social well-being, referring to a subjectively perceived long-term state of happiness, life satisfaction, health, and other prosperity afforded by social interactions, is increasingly being employed to rate the success of human social systems. Although short-term changes in well-being can be difficult to measure directly, two important determinants can be assessed: perceived enjoyment and affection from relationships. The current article chronicles our work over several years toward achieving enjoyable and affectionate interactions with robots, with the aim of contributing to perception of social well-being in interacting persons. Emphasis has been placed on both describing in detail the theoretical basis underlying our work, and relating the story of each of several designs from idea to evaluation in a visual fashion. For the latter, we trace the course of designing four different robotic artifacts intended to further our understanding of how to provide enjoyment, elicit affection, and realize one specific scenario for affectionate play. As a result, by describing (a) how perceived enjoyment and affection contribute to social well-being, and (b) how a small humanoid robot can proactively engage in enjoyable and affectionate play—recognizing people's behavior and leveraging this knowledge—the current article informs the design of companion robots intended to facilitate a perception of social well-being in interacting persons during affectionate play.},
  url             = {http://www.omicsonline.com/open-access/designing_robots_for_well_being_theoretical_background_and_visual.pdf?aid=24444},
  doi             = {10.4172/2090-9888.1000101},
  file            = {Cooney2013d.pdf:pdf/Cooney2013d.pdf:PDF},
  keywords        = {Human-robot interaction; well-being; enjoyment; affection; recognizing typical behavior; small humanoid robot},
}
Hidenobu Sumioka, Aya Nakae, Ryota Kanai, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Huggable communication medium decreases cortisol levels", Scientific Reports, vol. 3, no. 3034, October, 2013.
Abstract: Interpersonal touch is a fundamental component of social interactions because it can mitigate physical and psychological distress. To reproduce the psychological and physiological effects associated with interpersonal touch, interest is growing in introducing tactile sensations to communication devices. However, it remains unknown whether physical contact with such devices can produce objectively measurable endocrine effects like real interpersonal touching can. We directly tested this possibility by examining changes in stress hormone cortisol before and after a conversation with a huggable communication device. Participants had 15-minute conversations with a remote partner that was carried out either with a huggable human-shaped device or with a mobile phone. Our experiment revealed significant reduction in the cortisol levels for those who had conversations with the huggable device. Our approach to evaluate communication media with biological markers suggests new design directions for interpersonal communication media to improve social support systems in modern highly networked societies.
BibTeX:
@Article{Sumioka2013d,
  author          = {Hidenobu Sumioka and Aya Nakae and Ryota Kanai and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title           = {Huggable communication medium decreases cortisol levels},
  journal         = {Scientific Reports},
  year            = {2013},
  volume          = {3},
  number          = {3034},
  month           = Oct,
  abstract        = {Interpersonal touch is a fundamental component of social interactions because it can mitigate physical and psychological distress. To reproduce the psychological and physiological effects associated with interpersonal touch, interest is growing in introducing tactile sensations to communication devices. However, it remains unknown whether physical contact with such devices can produce objectively measurable endocrine effects like real interpersonal touching can. We directly tested this possibility by examining changes in stress hormone cortisol before and after a conversation with a huggable communication device. Participants had 15-minute conversations with a remote partner that was carried out either with a huggable human-shaped device or with a mobile phone. Our experiment revealed significant reduction in the cortisol levels for those who had conversations with the huggable device. Our approach to evaluate communication media with biological markers suggests new design directions for interpersonal communication media to improve social support systems in modern highly networked societies.},
  url             = {http://www.nature.com/srep/2013/131023/srep03034/full/srep03034.html},
  doi             = {10.1038/srep03034},
  file            = {Sumioka2013d.pdf:pdf/Sumioka2013d.pdf:PDF},
}
Martin Cooney, Takayuki Kanda, Aris Alissandrakis, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Designing Enjoyable Motion-Based Play Interactions with a Small Humanoid Robot", International Journal of Social Robotics, vol. 6, pp. 173-193, September, 2013.
Abstract: Robots designed to co-exist with humans in domestic and public environments should be capable of interacting with people in an enjoyable fashion in order to be socially accepted. In this research, we seek to set up a small humanoid robot with the capability to provide enjoyment to people who pick up the robot and play with it by hugging, shaking and moving the robot in various ways. Inertial sensors inside a robot can capture how the robot‘s body is moved when people perform such full-body gestures. Unclear is how a robot can recognize what people do during play, and how such knowledge can be used to provide enjoyment. People‘s behavior is complex, and naïve designs for a robot‘s behavior based only on intuitive knowledge from previous designs may lead to failed interactions. To solve these problems, we model people‘s behavior using typical full-body gestures observed in free interaction trials, and devise an interaction design based on avoiding typical failures observed in play sessions with a naïve version of our robot. The interaction design is completed by investigating how a robot can provide reward and itself suggest ways to play during an interaction. We then verify experimentally that our design can be used to provide enjoyment during a playful interaction. By describing the process of how a small humanoid robot can be designed to provide enjoyment, we seek to move one step closer to realizing companion robots which can be successfully integrated into human society.
BibTeX:
@Article{Cooney2013,
  author          = {Martin Cooney and Takayuki Kanda and Aris Alissandrakis and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title           = {Designing Enjoyable Motion-Based Play Interactions with a Small Humanoid Robot},
  journal         = {International Journal of Social Robotics},
  year            = {2013},
  volume          = {6},
  pages           = {173-193},
  month           = Sep,
  abstract        = {Robots designed to co-exist with humans in domestic and public environments should be capable of interacting with people in an enjoyable fashion in order to be socially accepted. In this research, we seek to set up a small humanoid robot with the capability to provide enjoyment to people who pick up the robot and play with it by hugging, shaking and moving the robot in various ways. Inertial sensors inside a robot can capture how the robot‘s body is moved when people perform such full-body gestures. Unclear is how a robot can recognize what people do during play, and how such knowledge can be used to provide enjoyment. People‘s behavior is complex, and na\"{i}ve designs for a robot‘s behavior based only on intuitive knowledge from previous designs may lead to failed interactions. To solve these problems, we model people‘s behavior using typical full-body gestures observed in free interaction trials, and devise an interaction design based on avoiding typical failures observed in play sessions with a na\"{i}ve version of our robot. The interaction design is completed by investigating how a robot can provide reward and itself suggest ways to play during an interaction. We then verify experimentally that our design can be used to provide enjoyment during a playful interaction. By describing the process of how a small humanoid robot can be designed to provide enjoyment, we seek to move one step closer to realizing companion robots which can be successfully integrated into human society.},
  url             = {http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12369-013-0212-0},
  doi             = {10.1007/s12369-013-0212-0},
  file            = {Cooney2013.pdf:pdf/Cooney2013.pdf:PDF},
  keywords        = {Interaction design for enjoyment; Playful human-robot interaction; Full-body gesture recognition; Inertial sensing; Small humanoid robot},
}
Chaoran Liu, Carlos T. Ishi, Hiroshi Ishiguro, Norihiro Hagita, "Generation of Nodding, Head Tilting and Gazing for Human-Robot Speech Interaction", International Journal of Humanoid Robotics, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 1350009(1-19), April, 2013.
Abstract: Head motion occurs naturally and in synchrony with speech during human dialogue communication, and may carry paralinguistic information, such as intentions, attitudes and emotions. Therefore, natural-looking head motion by a robot is important for smooth human-robot interaction. Based on rules inferred from analyses of the relationship between head motion and dialogue acts, this paperproposes a model for generating headtilting and nodding, and evaluates the model using three types of humanoid robot (a very human-like android, "Geminoid F", a typical humanoid robot with less facial degrees of freedom, "Robovie R2", and a robot with a 3-axis rotatable neck and movable lips, "Telenoid R2"). Analysis of subjective scores shows that the proposed model including head tilting and nodding can generate head motion with increased naturalness compared to nodding only or directly mapping peoples original motions without gaze information. We also nd that an upward motion of a robots face can be used by robots which do not have a mouth in order to provide the appearance that utterance is taking place. Finally, we conduct an experiment in which participants act as visitors to an information desk attended by robots. As a consequence, we verify that our generation model performs equally to directly mapping peoples original motions with gaze information in terms ofperceived naturalness.
BibTeX:
@Article{Liu2012a,
  author          = {Chaoran Liu and Carlos T. Ishi and Hiroshi Ishiguro and Norihiro Hagita},
  title           = {Generation of Nodding, Head Tilting and Gazing for Human-Robot Speech Interaction},
  journal         = {International Journal of Humanoid Robotics},
  year            = {2013},
  volume          = {10},
  number          = {1},
  pages           = {1350009(1-19)},
  month           = Apr,
  abstract        = {Head motion occurs naturally and in synchrony with speech during human dialogue communication, and may carry paralinguistic information, such as intentions, attitudes and emotions. Therefore, natural-looking head motion by a robot is important for smooth human-robot interaction. Based on rules inferred from analyses of the relationship between head motion and dialogue acts, this paperproposes a model for generating headtilting and nodding, and evaluates the model using three types of humanoid robot (a very human-like android, "Geminoid F", a typical humanoid robot with less facial degrees of freedom, "Robovie R2", and a robot with a 3-axis rotatable neck and movable lips, "Telenoid R2"). Analysis of subjective scores shows that the proposed model including head tilting and nodding can generate head motion with increased naturalness compared to nodding only or directly mapping peoples original motions without gaze information. We also nd that an upward motion of a robots face can be used by robots which do not have a mouth in order to provide the appearance that utterance is taking place. Finally, we conduct an experiment in which participants act as visitors to an information desk attended by robots. As a consequence, we verify that our generation model performs equally to directly mapping peoples original motions with gaze information in terms ofperceived naturalness.},
  day             = {2},
  url             = {http://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S0219843613500096},
  doi             = {10.1142/S0219843613500096},
  file            = {Liu2012a.pdf:pdf/Liu2012a.pdf:PDF},
  keywords        = {Head motion; dialogue acts; gazing; motion generation},
}
Ryuji Yamazaki, Shuichi Nishio, Kohei Ogawa, Kohei Matsumura, Takashi Minato, Hiroshi Ishiguro, Tsutomu Fujinami, Masaru Nishikawa, "Promoting Socialization of Schoolchildren Using a Teleoperated Android: An Interaction Study", International Journal of Humanoid Robotics, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 1350007(1-25), April, 2013.
Abstract: Our research focuses on the social aspects of teleoperated androids as new media for human relationships and explores how they can contribute and encourage people to associate with others. We introduced Telenoid, a teleoperated android with a minimalistic human design, to elementary school classrooms to see how children respond to it. We found that Telenoid encourages children to work cooperatively and facilitates communication with senior citizens with dementia. Children differentiated their roles spontaneously and cooperatively participated in group work. In another class, we applied Telenoid to remote communication between schoolchildren and assisted living residents. The children felt relaxed about continuing their conversations with the elderly and positively participated in them. The results suggest that limited functionality may facilitate cooperation among participants, and varied embodiments may promote the learning process of the association with others, even those who are unfamiliar. We propose a teleoperated android as an educational tool to promote socialization.
BibTeX:
@Article{Yamazaki2012e,
  author          = {Ryuji Yamazaki and Shuichi Nishio and Kohei Ogawa and Kohei Matsumura and Takashi Minato and Hiroshi Ishiguro and Tsutomu Fujinami and Masaru Nishikawa},
  title           = {Promoting Socialization of Schoolchildren Using a Teleoperated Android: An Interaction Study},
  journal         = {International Journal of Humanoid Robotics},
  year            = {2013},
  volume          = {10},
  number          = {1},
  pages           = {1350007(1-25)},
  month           = Apr,
  abstract        = {Our research focuses on the social aspects of teleoperated androids as new media for human relationships and explores how they can contribute and encourage people to associate with others. We introduced Telenoid, a teleoperated android with a minimalistic human design, to elementary school classrooms to see how children respond to it. We found that Telenoid encourages children to work cooperatively and facilitates communication with senior citizens with dementia. Children differentiated their roles spontaneously and cooperatively participated in group work. In another class, we applied Telenoid to remote communication between schoolchildren and assisted living residents. The children felt relaxed about continuing their conversations with the elderly and positively participated in them. The results suggest that limited functionality may facilitate cooperation among participants, and varied embodiments may promote the learning process of the association with others, even those who are unfamiliar. We propose a teleoperated android as an educational tool to promote socialization.},
  day             = {2},
  url             = {http://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S0219843613500072},
  doi             = {10.1142/S0219843613500072},
  file            = {Yamazaki2012e.pdf:pdf/Yamazaki2012e.pdf:PDF},
  keywords        = {Telecommunication; android robot; minimal design; cooperation; role differentiation; inter-generational relationship; embodied communication; teleoperation; socialization},
}
Kohei Ogawa, Shuichi Nishio, Kensuke Koda, Giuseppe Balistreri, Tetsuya Watanabe, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Exploring the Natural Reaction of Young and Aged Person with Telenoid in a Real World", Journal of Advanced Computational Intelligence and Intelligent Informatics, vol. 15, no. 5, pp. 592-597, July, 2011.
Abstract: This paper describes two field tests conducted with shopping mall visitors and with aged persons defined as in their 70s to 90s. For both of the field tests, we used an android we developed called Telenoid R1 or just Telenoid. In the following field tests we interviewed participants about their impressions of the Telenoid. The results of the shopping mall showed that almost half of the interviewees felt negative toward Telenoid until they hugged it, after which opinions became positive. Results of the other test showed that the majority of aged persons reported a positive opinion and, interestingly, all aged persons who interacted with Telenoid gave it a hug without any suggestion to do so. This suggests that older persons find Telenoid to be acceptable medium for the elderly. Younger persons may also find Telenoid acceptable, seeing that visitors developed positive feelings toward the robot after giving it a hug. These results should prove valuable in our future work with androids.
BibTeX:
@Article{Ogawa2011,
  author          = {Kohei Ogawa and Shuichi Nishio and Kensuke Koda and Giuseppe Balistreri and Tetsuya Watanabe and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title           = {Exploring the Natural Reaction of Young and Aged Person with Telenoid in a Real World},
  journal         = {Journal of Advanced Computational Intelligence and Intelligent Informatics},
  year            = {2011},
  volume          = {15},
  number          = {5},
  pages           = {592--597},
  month           = Jul,
  abstract        = {This paper describes two field tests conducted with shopping mall visitors and with aged persons defined as in their 70s to 90s. For both of the field tests, we used an android we developed called Telenoid R1 or just Telenoid. In the following field tests we interviewed participants about their impressions of the Telenoid. The results of the shopping mall showed that almost half of the interviewees felt negative toward Telenoid until they hugged it, after which opinions became positive. Results of the other test showed that the majority of aged persons reported a positive opinion and, interestingly, all aged persons who interacted with Telenoid gave it a hug without any suggestion to do so. This suggests that older persons find Telenoid to be acceptable medium for the elderly. Younger persons may also find Telenoid acceptable, seeing that visitors developed positive feelings toward the robot after giving it a hug. These results should prove valuable in our future work with androids.},
  url             = {http://www.fujipress.jp/finder/xslt.php?mode=present&inputfile=JACII001500050012.xml},
  file            = {Ogawa2011.pdf:Ogawa2011.pdf:PDF},
  keywords        = {Telenoid; Geminoid; human robot interaction},
}
Reviewed Conference Papers
Takuto Akiyoshi, Hidenobu Sumioka, Hirokazu Kumazaki, Junya Nakanishi, Masahiro Shiomi, Hirokazu Kato, "Practical Development of a Robot to Assist Cognitive Reconstruction in Psychiatric Day Care", In the 18th Annual ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human Robot Interaction (HRI 2023), Stockholm, Sweden (online), pp. 572-575, March, 2023.
Abstract: One of the important roles of social robots is to support mentalhealth through conversations with people. In this study, we focusedon the column method to support cognitive restructuring, whichis also used as one of the programs in psychiatric day care, and tohelp patients think flexibly and understand their own characteristics.To develop a robot that assists psychiatric day care patients inorganizing their thoughts about their worries and goals throughconversation, we designed the robot’s conversation content basedon the column method and implemented its autonomous conversationfunction. This paper reports on the preliminary experimentsconducted to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of this prototypesystem in an actual psychiatric day care setting, and on thecomments from participants in the experiments and day care staff.
BibTeX:
@InProceedings{Akiyoshi2023,
  author    = {Takuto Akiyoshi and Hidenobu Sumioka and Hirokazu Kumazaki and Junya Nakanishi and Masahiro Shiomi and Hirokazu Kato},
  booktitle = {the 18th Annual ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human Robot Interaction (HRI 2023)},
  title     = {Practical Development of a Robot to Assist Cognitive Reconstruction in Psychiatric Day Care},
  year      = {2023},
  address   = {Stockholm, Sweden (online)},
  day       = {13-16},
  month     = mar,
  pages     = {572-575},
  url       = {https://humanrobotinteraction.org/2023/},
  abstract  = {One of the important roles of social robots is to support mentalhealth through conversations with people. In this study, we focusedon the column method to support cognitive restructuring, whichis also used as one of the programs in psychiatric day care, and tohelp patients think flexibly and understand their own characteristics.To develop a robot that assists psychiatric day care patients inorganizing their thoughts about their worries and goals throughconversation, we designed the robot’s conversation content basedon the column method and implemented its autonomous conversationfunction. This paper reports on the preliminary experimentsconducted to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of this prototypesystem in an actual psychiatric day care setting, and on thecomments from participants in the experiments and day care staff.},
  keywords  = {human-robot interaction, cognitive reconstruction, stress-coping, psychiatric day care},
}
Qi An, Akito Tanaka, Kazuto Nakashima, Hidenobu Sumioka, Masahiro Shiomi, Ryo Kurazume, "Understanding Humanitude Care for Sit-to-stand Motion by Wearable Sensors", In 2022 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC2022), Prague, Czech Republic, pp. 1866-1871, October, 2022.
Abstract: Assisting patients with dementia is an importantsocial issue, and currently a mutli-modal care technique calledHumanitude is attracting attention. In Humanitude, it isimportant to have the patient stand up by utilizing theirown motor functions as much as possible. Humanitude caretechnique encourages caregivers to increase the area of contactwith patients during the sit-to-stand motion, but this caretechnique is not well understood for novice caregivers. Here, wedeveloped smock-type wearable sensors to measure proximitybetween caregivers and care recipients while assisting sit-tostandmotion. A measurement experiment was conducted toevaluate how proximity differs when the caregivers performsHumanitude care or they simulated care of novice. In addition,the effect of different care techniques on center of mass(CoM) trajectory and muscle activity of the care recipient wereinvestigated. As a result, it was found that the caregivers tendto bring their top and middle trunk closer in Humanitude carethan in novice simulated care. Furthermore, it resulted thatCoM trajectory and muscle activity under Humanitude carebecame more similar to those when the care recipient stood-upindependently than the condition with novice care. These resultsvalidate the effectiveness of Humanitude care and provideimportant aspect for learning techniques in Humanitude.
BibTeX:
@InProceedings{An2022,
  author    = {Qi An and Akito Tanaka and Kazuto Nakashima and Hidenobu Sumioka and Masahiro Shiomi and Ryo Kurazume},
  booktitle = {2022 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC2022)},
  title     = {Understanding Humanitude Care for Sit-to-stand Motion by Wearable Sensors},
  year      = {2022},
  address   = {Prague, Czech Republic},
  day       = {9-12},
  month     = oct,
  pages     = {1866-1871},
  url       = {https://ieeesmc2022.org/},
  abstract  = {Assisting patients with dementia is an importantsocial issue, and currently a mutli-modal care technique calledHumanitude is attracting attention. In Humanitude, it isimportant to have the patient stand up by utilizing theirown motor functions as much as possible. Humanitude caretechnique encourages caregivers to increase the area of contactwith patients during the sit-to-stand motion, but this caretechnique is not well understood for novice caregivers. Here, wedeveloped smock-type wearable sensors to measure proximitybetween caregivers and care recipients while assisting sit-tostandmotion. A measurement experiment was conducted toevaluate how proximity differs when the caregivers performsHumanitude care or they simulated care of novice. In addition,the effect of different care techniques on center of mass(CoM) trajectory and muscle activity of the care recipient wereinvestigated. As a result, it was found that the caregivers tendto bring their top and middle trunk closer in Humanitude carethan in novice simulated care. Furthermore, it resulted thatCoM trajectory and muscle activity under Humanitude carebecame more similar to those when the care recipient stood-upindependently than the condition with novice care. These resultsvalidate the effectiveness of Humanitude care and provideimportant aspect for learning techniques in Humanitude.},
  keywords  = {Wearable tactile sensor, Humanitude care, Sitto-stand},
}
Aya Nakae, Ikan Chou, Tetsuro Honda, Chie Kishimoto, Hidenobu Sumioka, Yuya Onishi, Masahiro Shiomi, "CAN ROBOT’S HUG ALLEVIATE HUMAN PAIN?", In 12th Congress of the European Pain Federation(EFIC2022), Dublin (online), April, 2022.
Abstract: As human-to-human contact is limited in Covid_19, the role of robots is gaining attention. It has been reported that hugging can reduce people's mental stress and alleviate pain. It has been reported that growth hormone secretion is decreased in fibromyalgia patients, and may be involved in the pain mechanism. We investigated the possibility that robot's hug could alleviate pain, along with changes in the secretion of growth hormone (GH). The results show that robots' hug has the potential to alleviate human pain. Its effects may be egulated via GH secretion.
BibTeX:
@InProceedings{Nakae2022,
  author    = {Aya Nakae and Ikan Chou and Tetsuro Honda and Chie Kishimoto and Hidenobu Sumioka and Yuya Onishi and Masahiro Shiomi},
  booktitle = {12th Congress of the European Pain Federation(EFIC2022)},
  title     = {CAN ROBOT’S HUG ALLEVIATE HUMAN PAIN?},
  year      = {2022},
  address   = {Dublin (online)},
  day       = {27-30},
  month     = apr,
  url       = {https://efic-congress.org/},
  abstract  = {As human-to-human contact is limited in Covid_19, the role of robots is gaining attention. It has been reported that hugging can reduce people's mental stress and alleviate pain. It has been reported that growth hormone secretion is decreased in fibromyalgia patients, and may be involved in the pain mechanism. We investigated the possibility that robot's hug could alleviate pain, along with changes in the secretion of growth hormone (GH). The results show that robots' hug has the potential to alleviate human pain. Its effects may be egulated via GH secretion.},
}
Ehsan Alizadeh Kashtiban, Tetsuro Honda, Chie Kishimoto, Yuya Onishi, Hidenobu Sumioka, Masahiro Shiomi, Aya Nakae, "THE EFFECT OF BEING HUGGED BY A ROBOT ON PAIN", In 12th Congress of the European Pain Federation(EFIC2022), online, April, 2022.
Abstract: As human-to-human contact is limited in Covid_19, the role of robots is gaining attention. It has been reported that hugging can reduce people's mental stress and alleviate pain.Pain is a subjective symptom; however, it is sometimes difficult to prescribe analgesics based on subjective complaints. The development of an objective evaluation method is desired. We have developed an algorithm based on EEG data with experimental pain stimuli.The purpose of this study was to objectively evaluate the effect of hugging by a robot on pain, using pain score (PS). PS could allow us to objectively evaluate the effect of hugging by the robot on pain.
BibTeX:
@InProceedings{Alizadeh2022,
  author    = {Ehsan Alizadeh Kashtiban and Tetsuro Honda and Chie Kishimoto and Yuya Onishi and Hidenobu Sumioka and Masahiro Shiomi and Aya Nakae},
  booktitle = {12th Congress of the European Pain Federation(EFIC2022)},
  title     = {THE EFFECT OF BEING HUGGED BY A ROBOT ON PAIN},
  year      = {2022},
  address   = {online},
  day       = {27-30},
  month     = apr,
  url       = {https://efic-congress.org/},
  abstract  = {As human-to-human contact is limited in Covid_19, the role of robots is gaining attention. It has been reported that hugging can reduce people's mental stress and alleviate pain.Pain is a subjective symptom; however, it is sometimes difficult to prescribe analgesics based on subjective complaints. The development of an objective evaluation method is desired. We have developed an algorithm based on EEG data with experimental pain stimuli.The purpose of this study was to objectively evaluate the effect of hugging by a robot on pain, using pain score (PS). PS could allow us to objectively evaluate the effect of hugging by the robot on pain.},
}
Takashi Takuma, Koki Haruno, Kosuke Yamada, Hidenobu Sumioka, Takashi Minato, Masahiro Shiomi, "Stretchable Multi-modal Sensor using Capacitive Cloth for Soft Mobile Robot Passing through Gap", In 2021 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics (IEEE ROBIO 2021), Sanya, China (online), pp. 1960-1967, December, 2021.
Abstract: A challenging issue for soft robots is developingsoft sensors that measure such non-contact informationas the distance between a robot and obstaclesas well as contact information such as stretch lengthby external force. Another issue is to adopt the sensorto the mobile robot to measure topography of pathway.We adopt capacitive cloth, which contains conductiveand insulation layers, and measure not only suchcontact information as the robot’s deformation but alsosuch non-contact information as the distance betweenthe cloth and objects. Because the cloth cannot stretchthough it deforms, it is processed by the Kirigami structureand embedded into a silicone plate. This papershows the cloth’s basic specifications by measuring therelationship between the capacitance and the stretchlength that corresponds to the contact information andthe one and distance that corresponds to the noncontactinformation. The cloth is also embedded ina soft mobile robot that passes through a narrowgap while making contact with it. The pathway’sshape is estimated by observing the profile of thecloth’s capacitance by using contact information. Fromthe results of the first experiment, which measuredthe stretch length, we observed a strong correlationbetween the stretch length and the capacitance. Inthe second experiment on non-contact information anddistance, the capacitance greatly changed when the conductive material was close to cloth, although lessconductivematerial did not greatly affect the capacitance. In the last experiment in which we embeddedthe cloth into the soft robot, the gap’s height andlength of the pathway were detected by observing theprofile of the cloth’s capacitance. These results suggestthat capacitive cloth has multi-modal sensing ability,including both conventional contact and novel non-contact information.
BibTeX:
@InProceedings{Takuma2021,
  author    = {Takashi Takuma and Koki Haruno and Kosuke Yamada and Hidenobu Sumioka and Takashi Minato and Masahiro Shiomi},
  booktitle = {2021 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics (IEEE ROBIO 2021)},
  title     = {Stretchable Multi-modal Sensor using Capacitive Cloth for Soft Mobile Robot Passing through Gap},
  year      = {2021},
  address   = {Sanya, China (online)},
  day       = {27-31},
  month     = dec,
  pages     = {1960-1967},
  url       = {https://ieee-robio.org/2021/},
  abstract  = {A challenging issue for soft robots is developingsoft sensors that measure such non-contact informationas the distance between a robot and obstaclesas well as contact information such as stretch lengthby external force. Another issue is to adopt the sensorto the mobile robot to measure topography of pathway.We adopt capacitive cloth, which contains conductiveand insulation layers, and measure not only suchcontact information as the robot’s deformation but alsosuch non-contact information as the distance betweenthe cloth and objects. Because the cloth cannot stretchthough it deforms, it is processed by the Kirigami structureand embedded into a silicone plate. This papershows the cloth’s basic specifications by measuring therelationship between the capacitance and the stretchlength that corresponds to the contact information andthe one and distance that corresponds to the noncontactinformation. The cloth is also embedded ina soft mobile robot that passes through a narrowgap while making contact with it. The pathway’sshape is estimated by observing the profile of thecloth’s capacitance by using contact information. Fromthe results of the first experiment, which measuredthe stretch length, we observed a strong correlationbetween the stretch length and the capacitance. Inthe second experiment on non-contact information anddistance, the capacitance greatly changed when the conductive material was close to cloth, although lessconductivematerial did not greatly affect the capacitance. In the last experiment in which we embeddedthe cloth into the soft robot, the gap’s height andlength of the pathway were detected by observing theprofile of the cloth’s capacitance. These results suggestthat capacitive cloth has multi-modal sensing ability,including both conventional contact and novel non-contact information.},
}
Takuto Akiyoshi, Junya Nakanishi, Hiroshi Ishiguro Hidenobu Sumioka, Masahiro Shiomi, "A Robot that Encourages Self-Disclosure to Reduce Anger Mood", In 2021 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2021), Prague, Czech Republic, September, 2021.
Abstract: One essential role of social robots is supporting human mental health by interaction with people. In this study, we focused on making people’s moods more positive through conversations about their problems as our first step to achieving a robot that cares about mental health. We employed the column method, which is typical stress coping technique in Japan, and designed conversational contents for a robot. We implemented conversational functions based on the column method for a social robot as well as a self-schema estimation function using conversational data. In addition, we proposed conversational strategies to support noticing their self-schemas and automatic thoughts, which are related to mental health support. We experimentally evaluated our system’s effectiveness and found that participants who used our system with the proposed conversational strategies made more self-disclosures and experienced less anger compared to those who did not use the proposed conversational strategies. On the other hand, the strategies did not significantly increase the performance of the self-schema estimation function.
BibTeX:
@InProceedings{Akiyoshi2021a,
  author    = {Takuto Akiyoshi and Junya Nakanishi and Hiroshi Ishiguro Hidenobu Sumioka and Masahiro Shiomi},
  booktitle = {2021 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2021)},
  title     = {A Robot that Encourages Self-Disclosure to Reduce Anger Mood},
  year      = {2021},
  address   = {Prague, Czech Republic},
  day       = {27-01},
  month     = sep,
  url       = {https://www.iros2021.org/},
  abstract  = {One essential role of social robots is supporting human mental health by interaction with people. In this study, we focused on making people’s moods more positive through conversations about their problems as our first step to achieving a robot that cares about mental health. We employed the column method, which is typical stress coping technique in Japan, and designed conversational contents for a robot. We implemented conversational functions based on the column method for a social robot as well as a self-schema estimation function using conversational data. In addition, we proposed conversational strategies to support noticing their self-schemas and automatic thoughts, which are related to mental health support. We experimentally evaluated our system’s effectiveness and found that participants who used our system with the proposed conversational strategies made more self-disclosures and experienced less anger compared to those who did not use the proposed conversational strategies. On the other hand, the strategies did not significantly increase the performance of the self-schema estimation function.},
  comment   = {(also accepted and published in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L))},
}
Hidenobu Sumioka, Kohei Nakajima, Kurima Sakai, Minato Takashi, Mashiro Shiomi, "Wearable Tactile Sensor Suit for Natural Body Dynamics Extraction: Case Study on Posture Prediction Based on Physical Reservoir Computing", In 2021 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2021), Prague, Czech Republic, pp. 9481-9488, September, 2021.
Abstract: We propose a wearable tactile sensor suit, which can be regarded as tactile sensor networks, for monitoring natural body dynamics to be exploited as a computational resource for estimating the posture of a human or robot that wears it. We emulated the periodic motions of a wearer (a human and an android robot) using a novel sensor suit with a 9-channel fabric tactile sensor on the left arm. The emulation was conducted by using a linear regression (LR) model of sensor states as readout modules that predict the next wearer’s movement using the current sensor data. Our result shows that the LR performance is comparable with other recurrent neural network approaches, suggesting that a fabric tactile sensor network is capable of monitoring the natural body motions, and further, this natural body dynamics itself can be used as an effective computational resource.
BibTeX:
@InProceedings{Sumioka2021c,
  author    = {Hidenobu Sumioka and Kohei Nakajima and Kurima Sakai and Minato Takashi and Mashiro Shiomi},
  booktitle = {2021 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2021)},
  title     = {Wearable Tactile Sensor Suit for Natural Body Dynamics Extraction: Case Study on Posture Prediction Based on Physical Reservoir Computing},
  year      = {2021},
  address   = {Prague, Czech Republic},
  day       = {27-01},
  month     = sep,
  pages     = {9481-9488},
  url       = {https://www.iros2021.org/},
  abstract  = {We propose a wearable tactile sensor suit, which can be regarded as tactile sensor networks, for monitoring natural body dynamics to be exploited as a computational resource for estimating the posture of a human or robot that wears it. We emulated the periodic motions of a wearer (a human and an android robot) using a novel sensor suit with a 9-channel fabric tactile sensor on the left arm. The emulation was conducted by using a linear regression (LR) model of sensor states as readout modules that predict the next wearer’s movement using the current sensor data. Our result shows that the LR performance is comparable with other recurrent neural network approaches, suggesting that a fabric tactile sensor network is capable of monitoring the natural body motions, and further, this natural body dynamics itself can be used as an effective computational resource.},
}
Nobuo Yamato, Hidenobu Sumioka, Masahiro Shiomi, Hiroshi Ishiguro, Youji Kohda, "Robotic Baby Doll with Minimal Designfor Interactive Doll Therapy in ElderlyDementia Care", In 12th International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (AHFE 2021), Virtual Conference, pp. 417-422, July, 2021.
Abstract: We designed HIRO, a robotic baby doll, to be used in an interactive, non-pharmacological intervention that combines doll therapy with robot technol-ogy for elderly people with dementia. We took a minimal design approach; on-ly the most basic human-like features are represented on the robotic system to encourage users to use their imagination to fill in the missing details. The ro-bot emits baby voice recordings as the user interacts with it, giving the robot more realistic mannerisms and enhancing the interaction between user and ro-bot. In addition, the minimal design simplifies the system configuration of the robot, making it inexpensive and intuitive for users to handle. In this paper, we discuss the benefits of the developed robot for elderly dementia patients and their caregivers.
BibTeX:
@InProceedings{Yamato2021,
  author    = {Nobuo Yamato and Hidenobu Sumioka and Masahiro Shiomi and Hiroshi Ishiguro and Youji Kohda},
  booktitle = {12th International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (AHFE 2021)},
  title     = {Robotic Baby Doll with Minimal Designfor Interactive Doll Therapy in ElderlyDementia Care},
  year      = {2021},
  address   = {Virtual Conference},
  day       = {25-29},
  doi       = {10.1007/978-3-030-80840-2_48},
  month     = jul,
  pages     = {417-422},
  url       = {https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-030-80840-2_48},
  abstract  = {We designed HIRO, a robotic baby doll, to be used in an interactive, non-pharmacological intervention that combines doll therapy with robot technol-ogy for elderly people with dementia. We took a minimal design approach; on-ly the most basic human-like features are represented on the robotic system to encourage users to use their imagination to fill in the missing details. The ro-bot emits baby voice recordings as the user interacts with it, giving the robot more realistic mannerisms and enhancing the interaction between user and ro-bot. In addition, the minimal design simplifies the system configuration of the robot, making it inexpensive and intuitive for users to handle. In this paper, we discuss the benefits of the developed robot for elderly dementia patients and their caregivers.},
  keywords  = {Elderly care, Therapy robot, Human-robot interaction, Welfare care, Dementia},
}
Hidenobu Sumioka, Masahiro Shiomi, Nobuo Yamato, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Acceptance of a minimal design of a human infant for facilitating affective interaction with older adults: A case study toward interactive doll therapy", In The 29th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN2020), no. WeP1P.19, Virtual Conference, pp. 775-780, August, 2020.
Abstract: We introduce a minimal design approach to achieve a robot for interactive doll therapy. Our approach aims for positive interactions with older adults with dementia by just expressing the most basic elements of human-like features and relying on the user’s imagination to supplement the missing information. Based on this approach, we developed HIRO, a baby-sized robot with abstract body representation and without facial expressions. The recorded voice of a real human infant emitted by robots enhance human-like features of the robot and then facilitate emotional interaction between older people and the robot. A field study showed that HIRO was accepted by older adults with dementia and facilitated positive interaction by stimulating their imagination.
BibTeX:
@InProceedings{Sumioka2020,
  author    = {Hidenobu Sumioka and Masahiro Shiomi and Nobuo Yamato and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  booktitle = {The 29th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN2020)},
  title     = {Acceptance of a minimal design of a human infant for facilitating affective interaction with older adults: A case study toward interactive doll therapy},
  year      = {2020},
  address   = {Virtual Conference},
  day       = {31-4},
  month     = aug,
  number    = {WeP1P.19},
  pages     = {775-780},
  url       = {https://ras.papercept.net/conferences/conferences/ROMAN20/program/ROMAN20_ContentListWeb_3.html},
  abstract  = {We introduce a minimal design approach to achieve a robot for interactive doll therapy. Our approach aims for positive interactions with older adults with dementia by just expressing the most basic elements of human-like features and relying on the user’s imagination to supplement the missing information. Based on this approach, we developed HIRO, a baby-sized robot with abstract body representation and without facial expressions. The recorded voice of a real human infant emitted by robots enhance human-like features of the robot and then facilitate emotional interaction between older people and the robot. A field study showed that HIRO was accepted by older adults with dementia and facilitated positive interaction by stimulating their imagination.},
}
Masahiro Shiomi, Hidenobu Sumioka, Kurima Sakai, Tomo Funayama, Takashi Minato, "SOTO: An Android Platform with a Masculine Appearance for Social Touch Interaction", In The 15th Annual ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human Robot Interaction (HRI2020), Cambridge, UK, pp. 447-449, March, 2020.
Abstract: In this paper, we report an android platform with a masculine appearance. In the human-human interaction research field, several studies reported the effects of gender in the social touch context. However, in the human-robot interaction research field, gender effects are mainly focused on human genders, i.e., a robot’s perceived gender is less focused. The purpose of developing the android is to investigate gender effects in social touch in the context of the human-robot interaction, comparing to existing android platforms with feminine appearances. For this purpose, we prepared a nonexistent face design in order to avoid appearance effects and fabric-based capacitance type upper-body touch sensors.
BibTeX:
@InProceedings{Shiomi2020,
  author    = {Masahiro Shiomi and Hidenobu Sumioka and Kurima Sakai and Tomo Funayama and Takashi Minato},
  booktitle = {The 15th Annual ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human Robot Interaction (HRI2020)},
  title     = {SOTO: An Android Platform with a Masculine Appearance for Social Touch Interaction},
  year      = {2020},
  address   = {Cambridge, UK},
  day       = {23-26},
  doi       = {10.1145/3371382.3378283},
  month     = mar,
  pages     = {447-449},
  url       = {https://humanrobotinteraction.org/2020/},
  abstract  = {In this paper, we report an android platform with a masculine appearance. In the human-human interaction research field, several studies reported the effects of gender in the social touch context. However, in the human-robot interaction research field, gender effects are mainly focused on human genders, i.e., a robot’s perceived gender is less focused. The purpose of developing the android is to investigate gender effects in social touch in the context of the human-robot interaction, comparing to existing android platforms with feminine appearances. For this purpose, we prepared a nonexistent face design in order to avoid appearance effects and fabric-based capacitance type upper-body touch sensors.},
}
Hidenobu Sumioka, Takashi Minato, Masahiro Shiomi, "Development of a sensor suit for touch and pre-touch perception toward close human-robot touch interaction", In RoboTac 2019: New Advances in Tactile Sensation, Perception, and Learning in Robotics: Emerging Materials and Technologies for Manipulation in a workshop on The 2019 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems(IROS2019), Macau, China, November, 2019.
Abstract: In this paper, we propose that recognition of social touch from a human should be considered as both pre-touch inter-action and post-touch interaction. To build a social robot that facilitates both interactions, we aim to develop a touch sensor system that enables a robot to detect situations before being touched by a human as well as ones after being touched. In the rest of the paper, we first summarize a design concept of a sensor system for social touch. Next, as a first step, we develop a sensor suit that detect situations before being touched by a human, using fabric-based proximity sensors. Then, we report a preliminary experiment to evaluate the developed sensor as a proximity sensor for touch interaction. Finally, we discuss future studies.
BibTeX:
@InProceedings{Sumioka2019e,
  author    = {Hidenobu Sumioka and Takashi Minato and Masahiro Shiomi},
  booktitle = {RoboTac 2019: New Advances in Tactile Sensation, Perception, and Learning in Robotics: Emerging Materials and Technologies for Manipulation in a workshop on The 2019 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems(IROS2019)},
  title     = {Development of a sensor suit for touch and pre-touch perception toward close human-robot touch interaction},
  year      = {2019},
  address   = {Macau, China},
  day       = {4-8},
  month     = nov,
  url       = {https://www.iros2019.org/about https://www.iros2019.org/workshops-and-tutorials https://robotac19.aau.at/},
  abstract  = {In this paper, we propose that recognition of social touch from a human should be considered as both pre-touch inter-action and post-touch interaction. To build a social robot that facilitates both interactions, we aim to develop a touch sensor system that enables a robot to detect situations before being touched by a human as well as ones after being touched. In the rest of the paper, we first summarize a design concept of a sensor system for social touch. Next, as a first step, we develop a sensor suit that detect situations before being touched by a human, using fabric-based proximity sensors. Then, we report a preliminary experiment to evaluate the developed sensor as a proximity sensor for touch interaction. Finally, we discuss future studies.},
}
Xiqian Zheng, Masahiro Shiomi, Takashi Minato, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Preliminary Investigation about Relationship between Perceived Intimacy and Touch Characteristics", In The 2019 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2019), Macau, China, pp. 3409, November, 2019.
Abstract: This study investigated the effects of touch characteristics that change the perceived intimacy of people in human-robot touch interaction with an android robot that has a feminine, human-like appearance. In this study, we investigate the effects of two kinds of touch characteristics (length and touch-part), and the results showed that the touch-part are useful to change the perceived intimacy, although the length did not show significant effects.
BibTeX:
@InProceedings{Zheng2019b,
  author    = {Xiqian Zheng and Masahiro Shiomi and Takashi Minato and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  booktitle = {The 2019 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2019)},
  title     = {Preliminary Investigation about Relationship between Perceived Intimacy and Touch Characteristics},
  year      = {2019},
  address   = {Macau, China},
  day       = {4-8},
  month     = nov,
  pages     = {3409},
  url       = {https://www.iros2019.org/},
  abstract  = {This study investigated the effects of touch characteristics that change the perceived intimacy of people in human-robot touch interaction with an android robot that has a feminine, human-like appearance. In this study, we investigate the effects of two kinds of touch characteristics (length and touch-part), and the results showed that the touch-part are useful to change the perceived intimacy, although the length did not show significant effects.},
}
Soheil Keshmiri, Hidenobu Sumioka, Takashi Minato, Masahiro Shiomi, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Exploring the Causal Modeling of Human-Robot Touch Interaction", In The Eleventh International Conference on Social Robotics (ICSR2019), Madrid, Spain, pp. 235-244, November, 2019.
Abstract: Interpersonal touch plays a pivotal role in individuals’ emotional and physical well-being which, despite its psychological and therapeutic effects, has been mostly neglected in such field of research as socially-assistive robotics. On the other hand, the growing emergence of such interactive social robots in our daily lives inevitably entails such interactions as touch and hug between robots and humans. Therefore, derivation of robust models for such physical interactions to enable robots to perform them in naturalistic fashion is highly desirable. In this study, we investigated whether it was possible to realize distinct patterns of different touch interactions that were general representations of their respective types. For this purpose, we adapted three touch interaction paradigms and asked human subjects to perform them on a mannequin that was equipped with a touch sensor on its torso. We then appliedWiener-Granger causality on the time series of activated channels of this touch sensor that were common (per touch paradigm) among all participants. The analyses of these touch time series suggested that different types of touch can be quantified in terms of causal association between sequential steps that form the variation information among their patterns. These results hinted at the potential utility of such generalized touch patterns for devising social robots with robust causal models of naturalistic touch behaviour for their human-robot touch interactions.
BibTeX:
@InProceedings{keshmiri2019f,
  author    = {Soheil Keshmiri and Hidenobu Sumioka and Takashi Minato and Masahiro Shiomi and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  booktitle = {The Eleventh International Conference on Social Robotics (ICSR2019)},
  title     = {Exploring the Causal Modeling of Human-Robot Touch Interaction},
  year      = {2019},
  address   = {Madrid, Spain},
  day       = {26-29},
  doi       = {https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35888-4_22},
  month     = nov,
  pages     = {235-244},
  url       = {https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-030-35888-4_22},
  abstract  = {Interpersonal touch plays a pivotal role in individuals’ emotional and physical well-being which, despite its psychological and therapeutic effects, has been mostly neglected in such field of research as socially-assistive robotics. On the other hand, the growing emergence of such interactive social robots in our daily lives inevitably entails such interactions as touch and hug between robots and humans. Therefore, derivation of robust models for such physical interactions to enable robots to perform them in naturalistic fashion is highly desirable. In this study, we investigated whether it was possible to realize distinct patterns of different touch interactions that were general representations of their respective types. For this purpose, we adapted three touch interaction paradigms and asked human subjects to perform them on a mannequin that was equipped with a touch sensor on its torso. We then appliedWiener-Granger causality on the time series of activated channels of this touch sensor that were common (per touch paradigm) among all participants. The analyses of these touch time series suggested that different types of touch can be quantified in terms of causal association between sequential steps that form the variation information among their patterns. These results hinted at the potential utility of such generalized touch patterns for devising social robots with robust causal models of naturalistic touch behaviour for their human-robot touch interactions.},
}
Carlos Ishi, Takayuki Kanda, "Prosodic and voice quality analyses of loud speech: differences of hot anger and far-directed speech", In Speech, Music and Mind 2019 (SMM 2019) Detecting and Influencing Mental States with Audio Satellite Workshop of Interspeech 2019, Vienna, Austria, pp. 1-5, September, 2019.
Abstract: Loud speech may appear in different attitudinal situations, so that in human-robot speech interactions, the robot should be able to understand such situations. In this study, we analyzed the differences in acoustic-prosodic and voice quality features of loud speech in two situations: hot anger (aggressive/frenzy speech) and far-directed speech (i.e., speech addressed to a person in a far distance). Analysis results indicated that both speaking styles are accompanied by louder power and higher pitch, while differences were observed in the intonation: far-directed voices tend to have large power and high pitch over the whole utterance, while angry speech has more pitch movements in a larger pitch range. Regarding voice quality, both styles tend to be tenser (higher vocal effort), but angry speech tends to be more pressed, with local appearance of harsh voices (with irregularities in the vocal fold vibrations).
BibTeX:
@InProceedings{Ishi2019b,
  author    = {Carlos Ishi and Takayuki Kanda},
  booktitle = {Speech, Music and Mind 2019 (SMM 2019) Detecting and Influencing Mental States with Audio Satellite Workshop of Interspeech 2019},
  title     = {Prosodic and voice quality analyses of loud speech: differences of hot anger and far-directed speech},
  year      = {2019},
  address   = {Vienna, Austria},
  day       = {14},
  doi       = {10.21437/SMM.2019-1},
  month     = sep,
  pages     = {1-5},
  url       = {http://smm19.ifs.tuwien.ac.at/},
  abstract  = {Loud speech may appear in different attitudinal situations, so that in human-robot speech interactions, the robot should be able to understand such situations. In this study, we analyzed the differences in acoustic-prosodic and voice quality features of loud speech in two situations: hot anger (aggressive/frenzy speech) and far-directed speech (i.e., speech addressed to a person in a far distance). Analysis results indicated that both speaking styles are accompanied by louder power and higher pitch, while differences were observed in the intonation: far-directed voices tend to have large power and high pitch over the whole utterance, while angry speech has more pitch movements in a larger pitch range. Regarding voice quality, both styles tend to be tenser (higher vocal effort), but angry speech tends to be more pressed, with local appearance of harsh voices (with irregularities in the vocal fold vibrations).},
  keywords  = {loud speech, hot anger, prosody, voice quality, paralinguistics},
}
Carlos Ishi, Takayuki Kanda, "Prosodic and voice quality analyses of offensive speech", In International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS 2019), Melbourne, Autralia, pp. 2174-2178, August, 2019.
Abstract: In this study, differences in the acoustic-prosodic features are analyzed in the low-moral or offensive speech. The same contents were spoken by multiple speakers with different speaking styles, including reading out, aggressive speech, extremely aggressive (frenzy), and joking styles. Acoustic-prosodic analyses indicated that different speakers use different speaking styles for expressing offensive speech. Clear changes in voice quality, such as tense and harsh voices, were observed for high levels of expressivity of aggressiveness and threatening.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Ishi2019a,
  author    = {Carlos Ishi and Takayuki Kanda},
  title     = {Prosodic and voice quality analyses of offensive speech},
  booktitle = {International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS 2019)},
  year      = {2019},
  pages     = {2174-2178},
  address   = {Melbourne, Autralia},
  month     = Aug,
  day       = {5-9},
  url       = {https://www.icphs2019.org/},
  abstract  = {In this study, differences in the acoustic-prosodic features are analyzed in the low-moral or offensive speech. The same contents were spoken by multiple speakers with different speaking styles, including reading out, aggressive speech, extremely aggressive (frenzy), and joking styles. Acoustic-prosodic analyses indicated that different speakers use different speaking styles for expressing offensive speech. Clear changes in voice quality, such as tense and harsh voices, were observed for high levels of expressivity of aggressiveness and threatening.},
  keywords  = {offensive speech, prosody, voice quality, acoustic features, speaking style},
}
Hidenobu Sumioka, Soheil Keshmiri, Junya Nakanishi, "Potential impact of Listening Support for Individuals with Developmental Disorders through A Huggable Communication Medium", In the 6th annual International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction (HAI2018), Southampton, UK, December, 2018.
Abstract: The 6th annual International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction aims to be the premier interdisciplinary venue for discussing and disseminating state-of-the-art research and results that reach across conventional interaction boundaries from people to a wide range of intelligent systems, including physical robots, software agents and digitally-mediated human-human communication. HAI focusses on technical as well as social aspects.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Sumioka2018b,
  author    = {Hidenobu Sumioka and Soheil Keshmiri and Junya Nakanishi},
  title     = {Potential impact of Listening Support for Individuals with Developmental Disorders through A Huggable Communication Medium},
  booktitle = {the 6th annual International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction (HAI2018)},
  year      = {2018},
  address   = {Southampton, UK},
  month     = Dec,
  day       = {15-18},
  url       = {http://hai-conference.net/hai2018/},
  abstract  = {The 6th annual International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction aims to be the premier interdisciplinary venue for discussing and disseminating state-of-the-art research and results that reach across conventional interaction boundaries from people to a wide range of intelligent systems, including physical robots, software agents and digitally-mediated human-human communication. HAI focusses on technical as well as social aspects.},
}
Jakub Zlotowski, Hidenobu Sumioka, Christoph Bartneck, Shuichi Nishio, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Understanding Anthropomorphism: Anthropomorphism is not a Reverse Process of Dehumanization", In The Ninth International Conference on Social Robotics (ICSR 2017), Tsukuba, Japan, pp. 618-627, November, 2017.
Abstract: Anthropomorphism plays an important role in affecting human interaction with a robot. However, our understanding of this process is still limited. We argue that it is not possible to understand anthropomorphism without understanding what is humanness. In the previous research, we proposed to look at the work on dehumanization in order to understand what factors can affect a robot's anthropomorphism. Moreover, considering that there are two distinct dimensions of humanness, a two-dimensional model of anthropomorphism was proposed. We conducted a study in which we manipulated the perceived intentionality of a robot and its appearance, and measured how they affected the anthropomorphization of a robot on two dimensions of humanness and its perceived moral agency. The results do not support a two-dimensional model of anthropomorphism and indicate that the distinction between positive and negative traits may be more relevant in HRI studies in Japan.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Zlotowski2017a,
  author    = {Jakub Zlotowski and Hidenobu Sumioka and Christoph Bartneck and Shuichi Nishio and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title     = {Understanding Anthropomorphism: Anthropomorphism is not a Reverse Process of Dehumanization},
  booktitle = {The Ninth International Conference on Social Robotics (ICSR 2017)},
  year      = {2017},
  series    = {LNAI 10652},
  pages     = {618-627},
  address   = {Tsukuba, Japan},
  month     = Nov,
  day       = {22-24},
  doi       = {10.1007/978-3-319-70022-9_61},
  url       = {http://www.icsr2017.org/index.html},
  abstract  = {Anthropomorphism plays an important role in affecting human interaction with a robot. However, our understanding of this process is still limited. We argue that it is not possible to understand anthropomorphism without understanding what is humanness. In the previous research, we proposed to look at the work on dehumanization in order to understand what factors can affect a robot's anthropomorphism. Moreover, considering that there are two distinct dimensions of humanness, a two-dimensional model of anthropomorphism was proposed. We conducted a study in which we manipulated the perceived intentionality of a robot and its appearance, and measured how they affected the anthropomorphization of a robot on two dimensions of humanness and its perceived moral agency. The results do not support a two-dimensional model of anthropomorphism and indicate that the distinction between positive and negative traits may be more relevant in HRI studies in Japan.},
  file      = {Zlotowski2017a.pdf:pdf/Zlotowski2017a.pdf:PDF},
}
Kurima Sakai, Carlos T. Ishi, Takashi Minato, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Online speech-driven head motion generating system and evaluation on a tele-operated robot", In IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, Kobe, Japan, pp. 529-534, August, 2015.
Abstract: We developed a tele-operated robot system where the head motions of the robot are controlled by combining those of the operator with the ones which are automatically generated from the operator's voice. The head motion generation is based on dialogue act functions which are estimated from linguistic and prosodic information extracted from the speech signal. The proposed system was evaluated through an experiment where participants interact with a tele-operated robot. Subjective scores indicated the effectiveness of the proposed head motion generation system, even under limitations in the dialogue act estimation
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Sakai2015,
  author    = {Kurima Sakai and Carlos T. Ishi and Takashi Minato and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title     = {Online speech-driven head motion generating system and evaluation on a tele-operated robot},
  booktitle = {IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication},
  year      = {2015},
  pages     = {529-534},
  address   = {Kobe, Japan},
  month     = AUG,
  abstract  = {We developed a tele-operated robot system where the head motions of the robot are controlled by combining those of the operator with the ones which are automatically generated from the operator's voice. The head motion generation is based on dialogue act functions which are estimated from linguistic and prosodic information extracted from the speech signal. The proposed system was evaluated through an experiment where participants interact with a tele-operated robot. Subjective scores indicated the effectiveness of the proposed head motion generation system, even under limitations in the dialogue act estimation},
  file      = {Sakai2015.pdf:pdf/Sakai2015.pdf:PDF},
}
Junya Nakanishi, Hidenobu Sumioka, Kurima Sakai, Daisuke Nakamichi, Masahiro Shiomi, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Huggable Communication Medium Encourages Listening to Others", In 2nd International Conference on Human-Agent Interraction, Tsukuba, Japan, pp. pp 249-252, October, 2014.
Abstract: We propose that a huggable communication device helps children concentrate on listening to others by reducing their stress and feeling a storyteller's presence close to them. Our observation of storytelling to preschool children suggests that Hugvie, which is one of such devices, facilitates children's attention to the story. This indicates the usefulness of Hugvie to relieve the educational problem that children show selfish behavior during class. We discuss Hugvie's effect on learning and memory and potential application to children with special support.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Nakanishi2014,
  author    = {Junya Nakanishi and Hidenobu Sumioka and Kurima Sakai and Daisuke Nakamichi and Masahiro Shiomi and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title     = {Huggable Communication Medium Encourages Listening to Others},
  booktitle = {2nd International Conference on Human-Agent Interraction},
  year      = {2014},
  pages     = {pp 249-252},
  address   = {Tsukuba, Japan},
  month     = OCT,
  url       = {http://hai-conference.net/hai2014/},
  abstract  = {We propose that a huggable communication device helps children concentrate on listening to others by reducing their stress and feeling a storyteller's presence close to them. Our observation of storytelling to preschool children suggests that Hugvie, which is one of such devices, facilitates children's attention to the story. This indicates the usefulness of Hugvie to relieve the educational problem that children show selfish behavior during class. We discuss Hugvie's effect on learning and memory and potential application to children with special support.},
  file      = {Nakanishi2014.pdf:pdf/Nakanishi2014.pdf:PDF},
}
Daisuke Nakamichi, Shuichi Nishio, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Training of telecommunication through teleoperated android "Telenoid" and its effect", In The 23rd IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, pp. 1083-1088, August, 2014.
Abstract: Telenoid, a teleoperated android is a medium through which its teleoperators can transmit both verbal and nonverbal information to interlocutors. Telenoid promotes conversation with its interlocutors, especially elderly people. But since teleoperators admit that they have difficulty feeling that they are actually teleoperating their robots, they can't use them effectively to transmit nonverbal information; such nonverbal information is one of Telenoid's biggest merits. In this paper, we propose a training program for teleoperators so that they can understand Telenoid's teleoperation and how to transmit nonverbal information through it. We investigated its effect on teleoperation and communication and identified three results. First, our training improved Telenoid's head motions for clearer transmission of nonverbal information. Second, our training found different effects between genders. Females communicated with their interlocutors more smoothly than males. Males communicated with their interlocutors more smoothly by simply more talking practice. Third, correlations exist among freely controlling the robot, regarding the robot as themselves, and tele-presence in the interlocutors room as well as correlations between the interactions and themselves. But there are not correlations between feelings about Telenoids teleoperation and the head movements.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Nakamichi2014,
  author          = {Daisuke Nakamichi and Shuichi Nishio and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title           = {Training of telecommunication through teleoperated android "Telenoid" and its effect},
  booktitle       = {The 23rd IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication},
  year            = {2014},
  pages           = {1083-1088},
  address         = {Edinburgh, Scotland, UK},
  month           = Aug,
  day             = {25-29},
  url             = {http://rehabilitationrobotics.net/ro-man14/},
  abstract        = {Telenoid, a teleoperated android is a medium through which its teleoperators can transmit both verbal and nonverbal information to interlocutors. Telenoid promotes conversation with its interlocutors, especially elderly people. But since teleoperators admit that they have difficulty feeling that they are actually teleoperating their robots, they can't use them effectively to transmit nonverbal information; such nonverbal information is one of Telenoid's biggest merits. In this paper, we propose a training program for teleoperators so that they can understand Telenoid's teleoperation and how to transmit nonverbal information through it. We investigated its effect on teleoperation and communication and identified three results. First, our training improved Telenoid's head motions for clearer transmission of nonverbal information. Second, our training found different effects between genders. Females communicated with their interlocutors more smoothly than males. Males communicated with their interlocutors more smoothly by simply more talking practice. Third, correlations exist among freely controlling the robot, regarding the robot as themselves, and tele-presence in the interlocutors room as well as correlations between the interactions and themselves. But there are not correlations between feelings about Telenoids teleoperation and the head movements.},
  file            = {Nakamichi2014.pdf:pdf/Nakamichi2014.pdf:PDF},
}
Rosario Sorbello, Antonio Chella, Marcello Giardina, Shuichi Nishio, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "An Architecture for Telenoid Robot as Empathic Conversational Android Companion for Elderly People", In the 13th International Conference on Intelligent Autonomous Systems, Padova, Italy, July, 2014.
Abstract: In Human-Humanoid Interaction (HHI), empathy is a crucial key in order to overcome the current limitations of social robots. In facts, a principal de ning characteristic of human social behaviour is empathy. The present paper presents a robotic architecture for an android robot as a basis for natural empathic human-android interaction. We start from the hypothesis that the robots, in order to become personal companions need to know how to empathic interact with human beings. To validate our research, we have used the proposed system with the minimalistic humanoid robot Telenoid. We have conducted human-robot interactions test with elderly people with no prior interaction experience with robot. During the experiment the elderly persons engaged a stimulated conversation with the humanoid robot. Our goal is to overcome the state of loneliness of elderly people using this minimalistic humanoid robot capa- ble to exhibit a dialogue similar to what usually happens in the real life between human beings.The experimental results have shown a humanoid robotic system capable to exhibit a natural and empathic interaction and conversation with a human user.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Sorbello2014,
  author    = {Rosario Sorbello and Antonio Chella and Marcello Giardina and Shuichi Nishio and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title     = {An Architecture for Telenoid Robot as Empathic Conversational Android Companion for Elderly People},
  booktitle = {the 13th International Conference on Intelligent Autonomous Systems},
  year      = {2014},
  address   = {Padova, Italy},
  month     = Jul,
  day       = {15-19},
  abstract  = {In Human-Humanoid Interaction (HHI), empathy is a crucial key in order to overcome the current limitations of social robots. In facts, a principal dening characteristic of human social behaviour is empathy. The present paper presents a robotic architecture for an android robot as a basis for natural empathic human-android interaction. We start from the hypothesis that the robots, in order to become personal companions need to know how to empathic interact with human beings. To validate our research, we have used the proposed system with the minimalistic humanoid robot Telenoid. We have conducted human-robot interactions test with elderly people with no prior interaction experience with robot. During the experiment the elderly persons engaged a stimulated conversation with the humanoid robot. Our goal is to overcome the state of loneliness of elderly people using this minimalistic humanoid robot capa- ble to exhibit a dialogue similar to what usually happens in the real life between human beings.The experimental results have shown a humanoid robotic system capable to exhibit a natural and empathic interaction and conversation with a human user.},
  file      = {Sorbello2014.pdf:pdf/Sorbello2014.pdf:PDF},
  keywords  = {Humanoid Robot; Humanoid Robot Interaction; Life Support Empathic Robot; Telenoid},
}
Kaiko Kuwamura, Shuichi Nishio, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Designing Robots for Positive Communication with Senior Citizens", In The 13th Intelligent Autonomous Systems conference, Padova, Italy, July, 2014.
Abstract: Several previous researches indicated that the elderly, especially those with cognitive disorders, have positive impressions of Telenoid, a teleoperated android covered with soft vinyl. Senior citizens with cognitive disorders have low cognitive ability and duller senses due to their age. To communicate, we believe that they have to imagine the information that is missing because they failed to completely receive it in their mind. We hypothesize that Telenoid triggers and enhances such an ability to imagine and positively complete the information, and so they become attracted to Telenoid. Based on this hypothesis, we discuss the factors that trigger imagination and complete positive impressions toward a robot for elderly care.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Kuwamura2014c,
  author          = {Kaiko Kuwamura and Shuichi Nishio and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title           = {Designing Robots for Positive Communication with Senior Citizens},
  booktitle       = {The 13th Intelligent Autonomous Systems conference},
  year            = {2014},
  address         = {Padova, Italy},
  month           = Jul,
  day             = {15-19},
  url             = {http://www.ias-13.org/},
  abstract        = {Several previous researches indicated that the elderly, especially those with cognitive disorders, have positive impressions of Telenoid, a teleoperated android covered with soft vinyl. Senior citizens with cognitive disorders have low cognitive ability and duller senses due to their age. To communicate, we believe that they have to imagine the information that is missing because they failed to completely receive it in their mind. We hypothesize that Telenoid triggers and enhances such an ability to imagine and positively complete the information, and so they become attracted to Telenoid. Based on this hypothesis, we discuss the factors that trigger imagination and complete positive impressions toward a robot for elderly care.},
  file            = {Kuwamura2014c.pdf:pdf/Kuwamura2014c.pdf:PDF},
}
Ryuji Yamazaki, Kaiko Kuwamura, Shuichi Nishio, Takashi Minato, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Activating Embodied Communication: A Case Study of People with Dementia Using a Teleoperated Android Robot", In The 9th World Conference of Gerontechnology, vol. 13, no. 2, Taipei, Taiwan, pp. 311, June, 2014.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Yamazaki2014a,
  author    = {Ryuji Yamazaki and Kaiko Kuwamura and Shuichi Nishio and Takashi Minato and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title     = {Activating Embodied Communication: A Case Study of People with Dementia Using a Teleoperated Android Robot},
  booktitle = {The 9th World Conference of Gerontechnology},
  year      = {2014},
  volume    = {13},
  number    = {2},
  pages     = {311},
  address   = {Taipei, Taiwan},
  month     = Jun,
  day       = {18-21},
  doi       = {10.4017/gt.2014.13.02.166.00},
  url       = {http://gerontechnology.info/index.php/journal/article/view/gt.2014.13.02.166.00/0},
  file      = {Yamazaki2014a.pdf:pdf/Yamazaki2014a.pdf:PDF},
  keywords  = {Elderly care robot; social isolation; embodied communication; community design},
}
Kaiko Kuwamura, Ryuji Yamazaki, Shuichi Nishio, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Elderly Care Using Teleoperated Android Telenoid", In The 9th World Conference of Gerontechnology, vol. 13, no. 2, Taipei, Taiwan, pp. 226, June, 2014.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Kuwamura2014,
  author    = {Kaiko Kuwamura and Ryuji Yamazaki and Shuichi Nishio and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title     = {Elderly Care Using Teleoperated Android Telenoid},
  booktitle = {The 9th World Conference of Gerontechnology},
  year      = {2014},
  volume    = {13},
  number    = {2},
  pages     = {226},
  address   = {Taipei, Taiwan},
  month     = Jun,
  day       = {18-21},
  doi       = {10.4017/gt.2014.13.02.091.00},
  url       = {http://gerontechnology.info/index.php/journal/article/view/gt.2014.13.02.091.00},
  file      = {Kuwamura2014.pdf:pdf/Kuwamura2014.pdf:PDF},
  keywords  = {Elderly care robot; teleoperated android; cognitive disorder},
}
Carlos T. Ishi, Hiroaki Hatano, Miyako Kiso, "Acoustic-prosodic and paralinguistic analyses of “uun" and “unun"", In Speech Prosody 7, Dublin, Ireland, pp. 100-104, May, 2014.
Abstract: The speaking style of an interjection contains discriminative features on its expressed intention, attitude or emotion. In the present work, we analyzed acoustic-prosodic features and the paralinguistic functions of two variations of the interjection “un", a lengthened pattern “uun" and a repeated pattern “unun", which are often found in Japanese conversational speech. Analysis results indicate that there are differences in the paralinguistic function expressed by “uun" and “unun", as well as different trends on F0 contour types according to the conveyed paralinguistic information.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Ishi2014,
  author          = {Carlos T. Ishi and Hiroaki Hatano and Miyako Kiso},
  title           = {Acoustic-prosodic and paralinguistic analyses of “uun" and “unun"},
  booktitle       = {Speech Prosody 7},
  year            = {2014},
  pages           = {100-104},
  address         = {Dublin, Ireland},
  month           = May,
  day             = {20-23},
  abstract        = {The speaking style of an interjection contains discriminative features on its expressed intention, attitude or emotion. In the present work, we analyzed acoustic-prosodic features and the paralinguistic functions of two variations of the interjection “un", a lengthened pattern “uun" and a repeated pattern “unun", which are often found in Japanese conversational speech. Analysis results indicate that there are differences in the paralinguistic function expressed by “uun" and “unun", as well as different trends on F0 contour types according to the conveyed paralinguistic information.},
  file            = {Ishi2014.pdf:pdf/Ishi2014.pdf:PDF},
  keywords        = {interjections; acoustic-prosodic features; paralinguistic information; spontaneous conversational speech},
}
Kaiko Kuwamura, Shuichi Nishio, "Modality reduction for enhancing human likeliness", In Selected papers of the 50th annual convention of the Artificial Intelligence and the Simulation of Behaviour, London, UK, pp. 83-89, April, 2014.
Abstract: We proposed a method to enhance one's affection by reducing number of transferred modalities. When we dream of an artificial partner for “love", its appearance is the first thing of con- cern; a very humanlike, beautiful robot. However, we did not design a medium with a beautiful appearance but a medium which ignores the appearance and let users imagine and complete the appearance. By reducing the number of transferred modalities, we can enhance one's affection toward a robot. Moreover, not just by transmitting, but by inducing active, unconscious behavior of users, we can increase this effect. In this paper, we will introduce supporting results from our experiments and discuss further applicability of our findings.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Kuwamura2014b,
  author          = {Kaiko Kuwamura and Shuichi Nishio},
  title           = {Modality reduction for enhancing human likeliness},
  booktitle       = {Selected papers of the 50th annual convention of the Artificial Intelligence and the Simulation of Behaviour},
  year            = {2014},
  pages           = {83-89},
  address         = {London, UK},
  month           = Apr,
  day             = {1-4},
  url             = {http://doc.gold.ac.uk/aisb50/AISB50-S16/AISB50-S16-Kuwamura-paper.pdf},
  abstract        = {We proposed a method to enhance one's affection by reducing number of transferred modalities. When we dream of an artificial partner for “love", its appearance is the first thing of con- cern; a very humanlike, beautiful robot. However, we did not design a medium with a beautiful appearance but a medium which ignores the appearance and let users imagine and complete the appearance. By reducing the number of transferred modalities, we can enhance one's affection toward a robot. Moreover, not just by transmitting, but by inducing active, unconscious behavior of users, we can increase this effect. In this paper, we will introduce supporting results from our experiments and discuss further applicability of our findings.},
  file            = {Kuwamura2014b.pdf:pdf/Kuwamura2014b.pdf:PDF},
}
Junya Nakanishi, Kaiko Kuwamura, Takashi Minato, Shuichi Nishio, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Evoking Affection for a Communication Partner by a Robotic Communication Medium", In the First International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan, pp. III-1-4, August, 2013.
Abstract: This paper reveals a new effect of robotic communication media that can function as avatars of communication partners. Users interaction with a medium may alter feelings their toward partners. The paper hypothesized that talking while hugging a robotic medium increases romantic feelings or attraction toward a partner in robot-mediated tele-communication. Our experiment used Hugvie, a human-shaped medium, for talking in a hugging state. We found that people subconsciously increased their romantic attraction toward opposite sex partners by hugging Hugvie. This resultant effect is novel because we revealed the effect of user hugging on the user's own feelings instead of being hugged by a partner.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Nakanishi2013,
  author          = {Junya Nakanishi and Kaiko Kuwamura and Takashi Minato and Shuichi Nishio and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title           = {Evoking Affection for a Communication Partner by a Robotic Communication Medium},
  booktitle       = {the First International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction},
  year            = {2013},
  pages           = {III-1-4},
  address         = {Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan},
  month           = Aug,
  day             = {7-9},
  url             = {http://hai-conference.net/ihai2013/proceedings/html/paper/paper-III-1-4.html},
  abstract        = {This paper reveals a new effect of robotic communication media that can function as avatars of communication partners. Users interaction with a medium may alter feelings their toward partners. The paper hypothesized that talking while hugging a robotic medium increases romantic feelings or attraction toward a partner in robot-mediated tele-communication. Our experiment used Hugvie, a human-shaped medium, for talking in a hugging state. We found that people subconsciously increased their romantic attraction toward opposite sex partners by hugging Hugvie. This resultant effect is novel because we revealed the effect of user hugging on the user's own feelings instead of being hugged by a partner.},
  file            = {Nakanishi2013.pdf:pdf/Nakanishi2013.pdf:PDF},
}
Shuichi Nishio, Koichi Taura, Hidenobu Sumioka, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Effect of Social Interaction on Body Ownership Transfer to Teleoperated Android", In IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, Gyeonguju, Korea, pp. 565-570, August, 2013.
Abstract: Body Ownership Transfer (BOT) is an illusion that we feel external objects as parts of our own body that occurs when teleoperating android robots. In past studies, we have been investigating under what conditions this illusion occurs. However, past studies were only conducted with simple operation tasks such as by only moving the robot's hand. Does this illusion occur under much complex tasks such as having a conversation? What kind of conversation setting is required to invoke this illusion? In this paper, we examined how factors in social interaction affects occurrence of BOT. Participants had conversation using the teleoperated robot under different situations and teleoperation settings. The results revealed that BOT does occur by the act of having a conversation, and that conversation partner's presence and appropriate responses are necessary for enhancement of BOT.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Nishio2013,
  author          = {Shuichi Nishio and Koichi Taura and Hidenobu Sumioka and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title           = {Effect of Social Interaction on Body Ownership Transfer to Teleoperated Android},
  booktitle       = {{IEEE} International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication},
  year            = {2013},
  pages           = {565-570},
  address         = {Gyeonguju, Korea},
  month           = Aug,
  day             = {26-29},
  doi             = {10.1109/ROMAN.2013.6628539},
  abstract        = {Body Ownership Transfer (BOT) is an illusion that we feel external objects as parts of our own body that occurs when teleoperating android robots. In past studies, we have been investigating under what conditions this illusion occurs. However, past studies were only conducted with simple operation tasks such as by only moving the robot's hand. Does this illusion occur under much complex tasks such as having a conversation? What kind of conversation setting is required to invoke this illusion? In this paper, we examined how factors in social interaction affects occurrence of BOT. Participants had conversation using the teleoperated robot under different situations and teleoperation settings. The results revealed that BOT does occur by the act of having a conversation, and that conversation partner's presence and appropriate responses are necessary for enhancement of BOT.},
  file            = {Nishio2013.pdf:pdf/Nishio2013.pdf:PDF},
}
Kaiko Kuwamura, Kurima Sakai, Takashi Minato, Shuichi Nishio, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Hugvie: A medium that fosters love", In IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, Gyeongju, Korea, pp. 70-75, August, 2013.
Abstract: We introduce a communication medium that en- courages users to fall in love with their counterparts. Hugvie, the huggable tele-presence medium, enables users to feel like hugging their counterparts while chatting. In this paper, we report that when a participant talks to his communication partner during their first encounter while hugging Hugvie, he mistakenly feels as if they are establishing a good relationship and that he is being loved rather than just being liked.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Kuwamura2013,
  author          = {Kaiko Kuwamura and Kurima Sakai and Takashi Minato and Shuichi Nishio and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title           = {Hugvie: A medium that fosters love},
  booktitle       = {{IEEE} International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication},
  year            = {2013},
  pages           = {70-75},
  address         = {Gyeongju, Korea},
  month           = Aug,
  day             = {26-29},
  doi             = {10.1109/ROMAN.2013.6628533},
  abstract        = {We introduce a communication medium that en- courages users to fall in love with their counterparts. Hugvie, the huggable tele-presence medium, enables users to feel like hugging their counterparts while chatting. In this paper, we report that when a participant talks to his communication partner during their first encounter while hugging Hugvie, he mistakenly feels as if they are establishing a good relationship and that he is being loved rather than just being liked.},
  file            = {Kuwamura2013.pdf:pdf/Kuwamura2013.pdf:PDF},
}
Hidenobu Sumioka, Kensuke Koda, Shuichi Nishio, Takashi Minato, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Revisiting ancient design of human form for communication avatar: Design considerations from chronological development of Dogu", In IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, Gyeongju, Korea, pp. 726-731, August, 2013.
Abstract: Robot avatar systems give the feeling we share a space with people who are actually at a distant location. Since our cognitive system specializes in recognizing a human, avatars of the distant people can make us strongly feel that we share space with them, provided that their appearance has been designed to sufficiently resemble humans. In this paper, we investigate the minimal requirements of robot avatars for distant people to feel their presence, Toward this aim, we give an overview of the chronological development of Dogu, which are human figurines made in ancient Japan. This survey of the Dogu shows that the torso, not the face, was considered the primary element for representing a human. It also suggests that some body parts can be represented in a simple form. Following the development of Dogu, we also use a conversation task to examine what kind of body representation is necessary to feel a distant person's presence. The experimental results show that the forms for the torso and head are required to enhance this feeling, while other body parts have less impact. We discuss the connection between our findings and an avatar's facial expression and motion.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Sumioka2013b,
  author          = {Hidenobu Sumioka and Kensuke Koda and Shuichi Nishio and Takashi Minato and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title           = {Revisiting ancient design of human form for communication avatar: Design considerations from chronological development of Dogu},
  booktitle       = {{IEEE} International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication},
  year            = {2013},
  pages           = {726-731},
  address         = {Gyeongju, Korea},
  month           = Aug,
  day             = {26-29},
  doi             = {10.1109/ROMAN.2013.6628399},
  abstract        = {Robot avatar systems give the feeling we share a space with people who are actually at a distant location. Since our cognitive system specializes in recognizing a human, avatars of the distant people can make us strongly feel that we share space with them, provided that their appearance has been designed to sufficiently resemble humans. In this paper, we investigate the minimal requirements of robot avatars for distant people to feel their presence, Toward this aim, we give an overview of the chronological development of Dogu, which are human figurines made in ancient Japan. This survey of the Dogu shows that the torso, not the face, was considered the primary element for representing a human. It also suggests that some body parts can be represented in a simple form. Following the development of Dogu, we also use a conversation task to examine what kind of body representation is necessary to feel a distant person's presence. The experimental results show that the forms for the torso and head are required to enhance this feeling, while other body parts have less impact. We discuss the connection between our findings and an avatar's facial expression and motion.},
  file            = {Sumioka2013b.pdf:pdf/Sumioka2013b.pdf:PDF},
}
Yu Tsuruda, Maiya Hori, Hiroki Yoshimura, Yoshio Iwai, "Generation of Facial Expression Emphasized with Cartoon Techniques Using a Cellular-phone-type Teleoperated Robot with a Mobile Projector", In International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (HCI 2013), Human-Computer Interaction. Towards Intelligent and Implicit Interaction, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, vol. 8008, Las Vegas, NV, USA, pp. 391-400, July, 2013.
Abstract: We propose a method for generating facial expressions emphasized with cartoon techniques using a cellular-phone-type teleoperated android with a mobile projector. Elfoid is designed to transmit the speaker’s presence to their communication partner using a camera and microphone, and has a soft exterior that provides the look and feel of human skin. To transmit the speaker’s presence, Elfoid sends not only the voice of the speaker but also emotional information captured by the camera and microphone. Elfoid cannot, however, display facial expressions because of its compactness and a lack of sufficiently small actuator motors. In this research, facial expressions are generated using Elfoid’s head-mounted mobile projector to overcome the problem. Additionally, facial expressions are emphasized using cartoon techniques: movements around the mouth and eyes are emphasized, the silhouette of the face and shapes of the eyes are varied by projection effects, and color stimuli that induce a particular emotion are added. In an experiment, representative face expressions are generated with Elfoid and emotions conveyed to users are investigated by subjective evaluation.
BibTeX:
@INPROCEEDINGS{Tsuruda2013,
  author = {Yu Tsuruda and Maiya Hori and Hiroki Yoshimura and Yoshio Iwai},
  title = {Generation of Facial Expression Emphasized with Cartoon Techniques
	Using a Cellular-phone-type Teleoperated Robot with a Mobile Projector},
  booktitle = {International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (HCI 2013),
	Human-Computer Interaction. Towards Intelligent and Implicit Interaction},
  year = {2013},
  volume = {8008},
  pages = {391-400},
  address = {Las Vegas, NV, USA},
  month = Jul,
  publisher = {Springer Berlin Heidelberg},
  abstract = {We propose a method for generating facial expressions emphasized with
	cartoon techniques using a cellular-phone-type teleoperated android
	with a mobile projector. Elfoid is designed to transmit the speaker’s
	presence to their communication partner using a camera and microphone,
	and has a soft exterior that provides the look and feel of human
	skin. To transmit the speaker’s presence, Elfoid sends not only the
	voice of the speaker but also emotional information captured by the
	camera and microphone. Elfoid cannot, however, display facial expressions
	because of its compactness and a lack of sufficiently small actuator
	motors. In this research, facial expressions are generated using
	Elfoid’s head-mounted mobile projector to overcome the problem. Additionally,
	facial expressions are emphasized using cartoon techniques: movements
	around the mouth and eyes are emphasized, the silhouette of the face
	and shapes of the eyes are varied by projection effects, and color
	stimuli that induce a particular emotion are added. In an experiment,
	representative face expressions are generated with Elfoid and emotions
	conveyed to users are investigated by subjective evaluation.},
  day = {21-26},
  doi = {10.1007/978-3-642-39342-6_43},
  file = {Tsuruda2013.pdf:pdf/Tsuruda2013.pdf:PDF},
  url = {http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-39342-6_43}
}
Rosario Sorbello, Hiroshi Ishiguro, Antonio Chella, Shuichi Nishio, Giovan Battista Presti, Marcello Giardina, "Telenoid mediated ACT Protocol to Increase Acceptance of Disease among Siblings of Autistic Children", In HRI2013 Workshop on Design of Humanlikeness in HRI : from uncanny valley to minimal design, Tokyo, Japan, pp. 26, March, 2013.
Abstract: We introduce a novel research proposal project aimed to build a robotic setup in which the Telenoid[1] is used as therapist for the sibling of children with autism. Many existing research studies have shown good results relating to the important impact of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)[2] applied to siblings of children with autism. The overall behaviors of the siblings may potentially benefit from treatment with a humanoid robot therapist instead of a real one. In particular in the present study, Telenoid humanoid robot[3] is used as therapist to achieve a specific therapeutic objective: the acceptance of diversity from the sibling of children with autism. In the proposed architecture, the Telenoid acts[4] in teleoperated mode[5] during the learning phase, while it becomes more and more autonomous during the working phase with patients. A goal of the research is to improve siblings tolerance and acceptance towards their brothers. The use of ACT[6] will reinforce the acceptance of diversity and it will create a psicological flexibilty along the dimension of diversity. In the present article, we briefly introduce Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) as a clinical model and its theoretical foundations (Relational Frame Theory). We then explain the six core processes of Hexaflex model of ACT adapted to Telenoid behaviors acting as humanoid robotic therapist. Finally, we present an experimental example about how Telenoid could apply the six processes[7] of hexaflex model of ACT to the patient during its human-humanoid interaction (HHI) in order to realize an applied clinical behavior analysis[8] that increase in the sibling their acceptance of brother' disease.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Sorbello2013,
  author    = {Rosario Sorbello and Hiroshi Ishiguro and Antonio Chella and Shuichi Nishio and Giovan Battista Presti and Marcello Giardina},
  title     = {Telenoid mediated {ACT} Protocol to Increase Acceptance of Disease among Siblings of Autistic Children},
  booktitle = {{HRI}2013 Workshop on Design of Humanlikeness in {HRI} : from uncanny valley to minimal design},
  year      = {2013},
  pages     = {26},
  address   = {Tokyo, Japan},
  month     = Mar,
  day       = {3},
  abstract  = {We introduce a novel research proposal project aimed to build a robotic setup in which the Telenoid[1] is used as therapist for the sibling of children with autism. Many existing research studies have shown good results relating to the important impact of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)[2] applied to siblings of children with autism. The overall behaviors of the siblings may potentially benefit from treatment with a humanoid robot therapist instead of a real one. In particular in the present study, Telenoid humanoid robot[3] is used as therapist to achieve a specific therapeutic objective: the acceptance of diversity from the sibling of children with autism. In the proposed architecture, the Telenoid acts[4] in teleoperated mode[5] during the learning phase, while it becomes more and more autonomous during the working phase with patients. A goal of the research is to improve siblings tolerance and acceptance towards their brothers. The use of ACT[6] will reinforce the acceptance of diversity and it will create a psicological flexibilty along the dimension of diversity. In the present article, we briefly introduce Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) as a clinical model and its theoretical foundations (Relational Frame Theory). We then explain the six core processes of Hexaflex model of ACT adapted to Telenoid behaviors acting as humanoid robotic therapist. Finally, we present an experimental example about how Telenoid could apply the six processes[7] of hexaflex model of ACT to the patient during its human-humanoid interaction (HHI) in order to realize an applied clinical behavior analysis[8] that increase in the sibling their acceptance of brother' disease.},
  file      = {Sorbello2013.pdf:pdf/Sorbello2013.pdf:PDF},
}
Yuhei Fujie, Maiya Hori, Hiroki Yoshimura, Yoshio Iwai, "Emotion Transmission by Color Effects for a Teleoperated Mobile Communication Robot", In HRI 2013 Workshop on Design of Humanlikeness in HRI from uncanny valley to minimal design, Tokyo, pp. 19-25, March, 2013.
Abstract: We propose a method to convey emotions by us- ing color effects for a cellular-phone-type teleoperated android called Elfoid. Video-conferencing and videotelephony are used as tools for communication between people in remote locations. These conventional systems are insufficient to convey the human presence that plays an important role in communication with a partner. Elfoid is designed to transmit the speaker’s presence to their communication partner using a camera and microphone, and has a soft exterior that provides the look and feel of human skin. To transmit the speaker’s presence, Elfoid sends not only the voice of the speaker, but also emotional information captured by the camera and microphone. Elfoid cannot, however, display facial expressions because of its compactness and a lack of sufficiently small actuator motors. We therefore use light-emitting diodes and generate color patterns to represent the speaker’s emotion as estimated by the camera. We focus on emotions that can be conveyed by Elfoid through light emission. It is widely recognized that colors have a strong effect on our emotions and feelings. However, conventional studies using robots with similar appearances to humans have not investigated the color effects. In our experiments, we investigate the emotions conveyed by Elfoid by emitting various light patterns.
BibTeX:
@INPROCEEDINGS{Fujie2013,
  author = {Yuhei Fujie and Maiya Hori and Hiroki Yoshimura and Yoshio Iwai},
  title = {Emotion Transmission by Color Effects for a Teleoperated Mobile Communication
	Robot},
  booktitle = {{HRI} 2013 Workshop on Design of Humanlikeness in {HRI} from uncanny
	valley to minimal design},
  year = {2013},
  pages = {19-25},
  address = {Tokyo},
  month = Mar,
  abstract = {We propose a method to convey emotions by us- ing color effects for
	a cellular-phone-type teleoperated android called Elfoid. Video-conferencing
	and videotelephony are used as tools for communication between people
	in remote locations. These conventional systems are insufficient
	to convey the human presence that plays an important role in communication
	with a partner. Elfoid is designed to transmit the speaker’s presence
	to their communication partner using a camera and microphone, and
	has a soft exterior that provides the look and feel of human skin.
	To transmit the speaker’s presence, Elfoid sends not only the voice
	of the speaker, but also emotional information captured by the camera
	and microphone. Elfoid cannot, however, display facial expressions
	because of its compactness and a lack of sufficiently small actuator
	motors. We therefore use light-emitting diodes and generate color
	patterns to represent the speaker’s emotion as estimated by the camera.
	We focus on emotions that can be conveyed by Elfoid through light
	emission. It is widely recognized that colors have a strong effect
	on our emotions and feelings. However, conventional studies using
	robots with similar appearances to humans have not investigated the
	color effects. In our experiments, we investigate the emotions conveyed
	by Elfoid by emitting various light patterns.},
  day = {3},
}
Hiroshi Ishiguro, Shuichi Nishi, Antonio Chella, Rosario Sorbello, Giuseppe Balistreri, Marcello Giardina, Carmelo Cali, "Investigating Perceptual Features for a Natural Human - Humanoid Robot Interaction inside a Spontaneous Setting", In Biologically Inspired Cognitive Architectures 2012, Palermo, Italy, October, 2012.
Abstract: The present paper aims to validate our research on human-humanoid interaction (HHMI) using the minimalistic humanoid robot Telenoid. We have conducted human-robot interactions test with 100 young people with no prier interaction experience with this robot. The main goal is the analysis of the two social dimension (perception and believability) useful for increasing the natural behavior between users and Telenoid. We administrated our custom questionnaire to these subjects after a well defined experimental setting (ordinary and goal-guided task). After the analysis of the questionnaires, we obtained the proof that perceptual and believability conditions are necessary social dimensions for a success fully and efficiency HHI interaction in every daylife activities.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Ishiguro2012a,
  author    = {Hiroshi Ishiguro and Shuichi Nishi and Antonio Chella and Rosario Sorbello and Giuseppe Balistreri and Marcello Giardina and Carmelo Cali},
  title     = {Investigating Perceptual Features for a Natural Human - Humanoid Robot Interaction inside a Spontaneous Setting},
  booktitle = {Biologically Inspired Cognitive Architectures 2012},
  year      = {2012},
  address   = {Palermo, Italy},
  month     = Oct,
  abstract  = {The present paper aims to validate our research on human-humanoid interaction (HHMI) using the minimalistic humanoid robot Telenoid. We have conducted human-robot interactions test with 100 young people with no prier interaction experience with this robot. The main goal is the analysis of the two social dimension (perception and believability) useful for increasing the natural behavior between users and Telenoid. We administrated our custom questionnaire to these subjects after a well defined experimental setting (ordinary and goal-guided task). After the analysis of the questionnaires, we obtained the proof that perceptual and believability conditions are necessary social dimensions for a success fully and efficiency HHI interaction in every daylife activities.},
}
Carlos T. Ishi, Chaoran Liu, Hiroshi Ishiguro, Norihiro Hagita, "Evaluation of formant-based lip motion generation in tele-operated humanoid robots", In IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Vilamoura, Algarve, Portugal, pp. 2377-2382, October, 2012.
Abstract: Generating natural motion in robots is important for improving human-robot interaction. We developed a tele-operation system where the lip motion of a remote humanoid robot is automatically controlled from the operator's voice. In the present work, we introduce an improved version of our proposed speech-driven lip motion generation method, where lip height and width degrees are estimated based on vowel formant information. The method requires the calibration of only one parameter for speaker normalization. Lip height control is evaluated in two types of humanoid robots (Telenoid-R2 and Geminoid-F). Subjective evaluation indicated that the proposed audio-based method can generate lip motion with naturalness superior to vision-based and motion capture-based approaches. Partial lip width control was shown to improve lip motion naturalness in Geminoid-F, which also has an actuator for stretching the lip corners. Issues regarding online real-time processing are also discussed.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Ishi2012,
  author    = {Carlos T. Ishi and Chaoran Liu and Hiroshi Ishiguro and Norihiro Hagita},
  title     = {Evaluation of formant-based lip motion generation in tele-operated humanoid robots},
  booktitle = {{IEEE/RSJ} International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems},
  year      = {2012},
  pages     = {2377--2382},
  address   = {Vilamoura, Algarve, Portugal},
  month     = Oct,
  day       = {7-12},
  abstract  = {Generating natural motion in robots is important for improving human-robot interaction. We developed a tele-operation system where the lip motion of a remote humanoid robot is automatically controlled from the operator's voice. In the present work, we introduce an improved version of our proposed speech-driven lip motion generation method, where lip height and width degrees are estimated based on vowel formant information. The method requires the calibration of only one parameter for speaker normalization. Lip height control is evaluated in two types of humanoid robots (Telenoid-R2 and Geminoid-F). Subjective evaluation indicated that the proposed audio-based method can generate lip motion with naturalness superior to vision-based and motion capture-based approaches. Partial lip width control was shown to improve lip motion naturalness in Geminoid-F, which also has an actuator for stretching the lip corners. Issues regarding online real-time processing are also discussed.},
  file      = {Ishi2012.pdf:pdf/Ishi2012.pdf:PDF},
}
Ryuji Yamazaki, Shuichi Nishio, Hiroshi Ishiguro, Marco Nørskov, Nobu Ishiguro, Giuseppe Balistreri, "Social Acceptance of a Teleoperated Android: Field Study on Elderly's Engagement with an Embodied Communication Medium in Denmark", In International Conference on Social Robotics, Chengdu, China, pp. 428-437, October, 2012.
Abstract: We explored the potential of teleoperated android robots, which are embodied telecommunication media with humanlike appearances, and how they affect people in the real world when they are employed to express a telepresence and a sense of ‘being there'. In Denmark, our exploratory study focused on the social aspects of Telenoid, a teleoperated android, which might facilitate communication between senior citizens and Telenoid's operator. After applying it to the elderly in their homes, we found that the elderly assumed positive attitudes toward Telenoid, and their positivity and strong attachment to its huggable minimalistic human design were cross-culturally shared in Denmark and Japan. Contrary to the negative reactions by non-users in media reports, our result suggests that teleoperated androids can be accepted by the elderly as a kind of universal design medium for social inclusion.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Yamazaki2012c,
  author          = {Ryuji Yamazaki and Shuichi Nishio and Hiroshi Ishiguro and Marco N\orskov and Nobu Ishiguro and Giuseppe Balistreri},
  title           = {Social Acceptance of a Teleoperated Android: Field Study on Elderly's Engagement with an Embodied Communication Medium in Denmark},
  booktitle       = {International Conference on Social Robotics},
  year            = {2012},
  pages           = {428-437},
  address         = {Chengdu, China},
  month           = Oct,
  day             = {29-31},
  doi             = {10.1007/978-3-642-34103-8_43},
  url             = {http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-34103-8_43},
  abstract        = {We explored the potential of teleoperated android robots, which are embodied telecommunication media with humanlike appearances, and how they affect people in the real world when they are employed to express a telepresence and a sense of ‘being there'. In Denmark, our exploratory study focused on the social aspects of Telenoid, a teleoperated android, which might facilitate communication between senior citizens and Telenoid's operator. After applying it to the elderly in their homes, we found that the elderly assumed positive attitudes toward Telenoid, and their positivity and strong attachment to its huggable minimalistic human design were cross-culturally shared in Denmark and Japan. Contrary to the negative reactions by non-users in media reports, our result suggests that teleoperated androids can be accepted by the elderly as a kind of universal design medium for social inclusion.},
  file            = {Yamazaki2012c.pdf:pdf/Yamazaki2012c.pdf:PDF},
  keywords        = {android;teleoperation;minimal design;communication;embodiment;inclusion;acceptability;elderly care},
}
Ryuji Yamazaki, Shuichi Nishio, Hiroshi Ishiguro, Takashi Minato, Marco Nørskov, Nobu Ishiguro, Masaru Nishikawa, Tsutomu Fujinami, "Social Inclusion of Senior Citizens by a Teleoperated Android : Toward Inter-generational TeleCommunity Creation", In 2012 IEEE International Workshop on Assistance and Service Robotics in a Human Environment, International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Vilamoura, Algarve, Portugal, pp. 53-58, October, 2012.
Abstract: As populations continue to age, there is a growing need for assistive technologies that help senior citizens maintain their autonomy and enjoy their lives. We explore the potential of teleoperated androids, which are embodied telecommunication media with humanlike appearances. Our exploratory study focused on the social aspects of Telenoid, a teleoperated android designed as a minimalistic human, which might facilitate communication between senior citizens and its operators. We conducted cross-cultural field trials in Japan and Denmark by introducing Telenoid into care facilities and the private homes of seniors to observe how they responded to it. In Japan, we set up a teleoperation system in an elementary school and investigated how it shaped communication through the internet between the elderly in a care facility and the children who acted as teleoperators. In both countries, the elderly commonly assumed positive attitudes toward Telenoid and imaginatively developed various dialogue strategies. Telenoid lowered the barriers for the children as operators for communicating with demented seniors so that they became more relaxed to participate in and positively continue conversations using Telenoid. Our results suggest that its minimalistic human design is inclusive for seniors with or without dementia and facilitates inter-generational communication, which may be expanded to a social network of trans-national supportive relationships among all generations.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Yamazaki2012d,
  author    = {Ryuji Yamazaki and Shuichi Nishio and Hiroshi Ishiguro and Takashi Minato and Marco N\orskov and Nobu Ishiguro and Masaru Nishikawa and Tsutomu Fujinami},
  title     = {Social Inclusion of Senior Citizens by a Teleoperated Android : Toward Inter-generational TeleCommunity Creation},
  booktitle = {2012 {IEEE} International Workshop on Assistance and Service Robotics in a Human Environment, International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems},
  year      = {2012},
  pages     = {53--58},
  address   = {Vilamoura, Algarve, Portugal},
  month     = Oct,
  day       = {7-12},
  abstract  = {As populations continue to age, there is a growing need for assistive technologies that help senior citizens maintain their autonomy and enjoy their lives. We explore the potential of teleoperated androids, which are embodied telecommunication media with humanlike appearances. Our exploratory study focused on the social aspects of Telenoid, a teleoperated android designed as a minimalistic human, which might facilitate communication between senior citizens and its operators. We conducted cross-cultural field trials in Japan and Denmark by introducing Telenoid into care facilities and the private homes of seniors to observe how they responded to it. In Japan, we set up a teleoperation system in an elementary school and investigated how it shaped communication through the internet between the elderly in a care facility and the children who acted as teleoperators. In both countries, the elderly commonly assumed positive attitudes toward Telenoid and imaginatively developed various dialogue strategies. Telenoid lowered the barriers for the children as operators for communicating with demented seniors so that they became more relaxed to participate in and positively continue conversations using Telenoid. Our results suggest that its minimalistic human design is inclusive for seniors with or without dementia and facilitates inter-generational communication, which may be expanded to a social network of trans-national supportive relationships among all generations.},
  file      = {Yamazaki2012d.pdf:Yamazaki2012d.pdf:PDF},
}
Martin Cooney, Shuichi Nishio, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Recognizing Affection for a Touch-based Interaction with a Humanoid Robot", In IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Vilamoura, Algarve, Portugal, pp. 1420-1427, October, 2012.
Abstract: In order to facilitate integration into domestic and public environments, companion robots can seek to communicate in a familiar, socially intelligent´ manner, recognizing typical behaviors which people direct toward them. One important type of behavior to recognize is the displaying and seeking of affection, which is fundamentally associated with the modality of touch. This paper identifies how people communicate affection through touching a humanoid robot appearance, and reports on the development of a recognition system exploring the modalities of touch and vision. Results of evaluation indicate the proposed system can recognize people's affectionate behavior in the designated context.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Cooney2012a,
  author          = {Martin Cooney and Shuichi Nishio and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title           = {Recognizing Affection for a Touch-based Interaction with a Humanoid Robot},
  booktitle       = {{IEEE/RSJ} International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems},
  year            = {2012},
  pages           = {1420--1427},
  address         = {Vilamoura, Algarve, Portugal},
  month           = Oct,
  day             = {7-12},
  abstract        = {In order to facilitate integration into domestic and public environments, companion robots can seek to communicate in a familiar, socially intelligent´ manner, recognizing typical behaviors which people direct toward them. One important type of behavior to recognize is the displaying and seeking of affection, which is fundamentally associated with the modality of touch. This paper identifies how people communicate affection through touching a humanoid robot appearance, and reports on the development of a recognition system exploring the modalities of touch and vision. Results of evaluation indicate the proposed system can recognize people's affectionate behavior in the designated context.},
  file            = {Cooney2012a.pdf:Cooney2012a.pdf:PDF},
}
Takashi Minato, Hidenobu Sumioka, Shuichi Nishio, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Studying the Influence of Handheld Robotic Media on Social Communications", In the RO-MAN 2012 workshop on social robotic telepresence, Paris, France, pp. 15-16, September, 2012.
Abstract: This paper describes research issues on social robotic telepresence using “Elfoid". It is a portable tele-operated humanoid that is designed to transfer individuals' presence to remote places at anytime, anywhere, to provide a new communication style in which individuals talk with persons in remote locations in such a way that they feel each other's presence. However, it is not known how people adapt to the new communication style and how social communications change by Elfoid. Investigating the influence of Elfoid on social communications are very interesting in the view of social robotic telepresence. This paper introduces Elfoid and shows the position of our studies in social robotic telepresence.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Minato2012c,
  author    = {Takashi Minato and Hidenobu Sumioka and Shuichi Nishio and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title     = {Studying the Influence of Handheld Robotic Media on Social Communications},
  booktitle = {the {RO-MAN} 2012 workshop on social robotic telepresence},
  year      = {2012},
  pages     = {15--16},
  address   = {Paris, France},
  month     = Sep,
  day       = {9-13},
  abstract  = {This paper describes research issues on social robotic telepresence using “Elfoid". It is a portable tele-operated humanoid that is designed to transfer individuals' presence to remote places at anytime, anywhere, to provide a new communication style in which individuals talk with persons in remote locations in such a way that they feel each other's presence. However, it is not known how people adapt to the new communication style and how social communications change by Elfoid. Investigating the influence of Elfoid on social communications are very interesting in the view of social robotic telepresence. This paper introduces Elfoid and shows the position of our studies in social robotic telepresence.},
  file      = {Minato2012c.pdf:Minato2012c.pdf:PDF},
}
Carlos T. Ishi, Chaoran Liu, Hiroshi Ishiguro, Norihiro Hagita, "Evaluation of a formant-based speech-driven lip motion generation", In 13th Annual Conference of the International Speech Communication Association, Portland, Oregon, pp. P1a.04, September, 2012.
Abstract: The background of the present work is the development of a tele-presence robot system where the lip motion of a remote humanoid robot is automatically controlled from the operator's voice. In the present paper, we introduce an improved version of our proposed speech-driven lip motion generation method, where lip height and width degrees are estimated based on vowel formant information. The method requires the calibration of only one parameter for speaker normalization, so that no training of dedicated models is necessary. Lip height control is evaluated in a female android robot and in animated lips. Subjective evaluation indicated that naturalness of lip motion generated in the robot is improved by the inclusion of a partial lip width control (with stretching of the lip corners). Highest naturalness scores were achieved for the animated lips, showing the effectiveness of the proposed method.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Ishi2012b,
  author          = {Carlos T. Ishi and Chaoran Liu and Hiroshi Ishiguro and Norihiro Hagita},
  title           = {Evaluation of a formant-based speech-driven lip motion generation},
  booktitle       = {13th Annual Conference of the International Speech Communication Association},
  year            = {2012},
  pages           = {P1a.04},
  address         = {Portland, Oregon},
  month           = Sep,
  day             = {9-13},
  abstract        = {The background of the present work is the development of a tele-presence robot system where the lip motion of a remote humanoid robot is automatically controlled from the operator's voice. In the present paper, we introduce an improved version of our proposed speech-driven lip motion generation method, where lip height and width degrees are estimated based on vowel formant information. The method requires the calibration of only one parameter for speaker normalization, so that no training of dedicated models is necessary. Lip height control is evaluated in a female android robot and in animated lips. Subjective evaluation indicated that naturalness of lip motion generated in the robot is improved by the inclusion of a partial lip width control (with stretching of the lip corners). Highest naturalness scores were achieved for the animated lips, showing the effectiveness of the proposed method.},
  file            = {Ishi2012b.pdf:pdf/Ishi2012b.pdf:PDF},
  keywords        = {lip motion, formant, tele-operation, humanoid robot},
}
Martin Cooney, Francesco Zanlungo, Shuichi Nishio, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Designing a Flying Humanoid Robot (FHR): Effects of Flight on Interactive Communication", In IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, Paris, France, pp. 364-371, September, 2012.
Abstract: This research constitutes an initial investigation into key issues which arise in designing a flying humanoid robot (FHR), with a focus on human-robot interaction (HRI). The humanoid form offers an interface for natural communication; flight offers excellent mobility. Combining both will yield companion robots capable of approaching, accompanying, and communicating naturally with humans in difficult environments. Problematic is how such a robot should best fly around humans, and what effect the robot's flight will have on a person in terms of paralinguistic (non-verbal) cues. To answer these questions, we propose an extension to existing proxemics theory (“z-proxemics") and predict how typical humanoid flight motions will be perceived. Data obtained from participants watching animated sequences are analyzed to check our predictions. The paper also reports on the building of a flying humanoid robot, which we will use in interactions.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Cooney2012b,
  author          = {Martin Cooney and Francesco Zanlungo and Shuichi Nishio and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title           = {Designing a Flying Humanoid Robot ({FHR}): Effects of Flight on Interactive Communication},
  booktitle       = {{IEEE} International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication},
  year            = {2012},
  pages           = {364--371},
  address         = {Paris, France},
  month           = Sep,
  day             = {9-13},
  doi             = {10.1109/ROMAN.2012.6343780},
  abstract        = {This research constitutes an initial investigation into key issues which arise in designing a flying humanoid robot ({FHR}), with a focus on human-robot interaction ({HRI}). The humanoid form offers an interface for natural communication; flight offers excellent mobility. Combining both will yield companion robots capable of approaching, accompanying, and communicating naturally with humans in difficult environments. Problematic is how such a robot should best fly around humans, and what effect the robot's flight will have on a person in terms of paralinguistic (non-verbal) cues. To answer these questions, we propose an extension to existing proxemics theory (“z-proxemics") and predict how typical humanoid flight motions will be perceived. Data obtained from participants watching animated sequences are analyzed to check our predictions. The paper also reports on the building of a flying humanoid robot, which we will use in interactions.},
  file            = {Cooney2012b.pdf:Cooney2012b.pdf:PDF},
}
Kaiko Kuwamura, Takashi Minato, Shuichi Nishio, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Personality Distortion in Communication through Teleoperated Robots", In IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, Paris, France, pp. 49-54, September, 2012.
Abstract: Recent research has focused on such physical communication media as teleoperated robots, which provide a feeling of being with people in remote places. Recent invented media resemble cute animals or imaginary creatures that quickly attract attention. However, such appearances could distort tele-communications because they are different from human beings. This paper studies the effect on the speaker's personality that is transmitted through physical media by regarding appearances as a function that transmits the speaker's information. Although communication media's capability to transmit information reportedly influences conversations in many aspects, the effect of appearances remains unclear. To reveal the effect of appearance, we compared three appearances of communication media: stuffed-bear teleoperated robot, human-like teleoperated robot, and video chat. Our results show that communication media whose appearance greatly differs from that of the speaker distorts the personality perceived by interlocutors. This paper suggests that the design of the appearance of physical communication media needs to be carefully selected.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Kuwamura2012,
  author    = {Kaiko Kuwamura and Takashi Minato and Shuichi Nishio and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title     = {Personality Distortion in Communication through Teleoperated Robots},
  booktitle = {{IEEE} International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication},
  year      = {2012},
  pages     = {49--54},
  address   = {Paris, France},
  month     = Sep,
  day       = {9-13},
  abstract  = {Recent research has focused on such physical communication media as teleoperated robots, which provide a feeling of being with people in remote places. Recent invented media resemble cute animals or imaginary creatures that quickly attract attention. However, such appearances could distort tele-communications because they are different from human beings. This paper studies the effect on the speaker's personality that is transmitted through physical media by regarding appearances as a function that transmits the speaker's information. Although communication media's capability to transmit information reportedly influences conversations in many aspects, the effect of appearances remains unclear. To reveal the effect of appearance, we compared three appearances of communication media: stuffed-bear teleoperated robot, human-like teleoperated robot, and video chat. Our results show that communication media whose appearance greatly differs from that of the speaker distorts the personality perceived by interlocutors. This paper suggests that the design of the appearance of physical communication media needs to be carefully selected.},
  file      = {Kuwamura2012.pdf:pdf/Kuwamura2012.pdf:PDF},
}
Ryuji Yamazaki, Shuichi Nishio, Kohei Ogawa, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Teleoperated Android as an Embodied Communication Medium: A Case Study with Demented Elderlies in a Care Facility", In IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, Paris, France, pp. 1066-1071, September, 2012.
Abstract: Teleoperated androids, which are robots with humanlike appearances, are being produced as new media of human relationships. We explored the potential of humanoid robots and how they affect people in the real world when they are employed to express a telecommunication presence and a sense of ‘being there'. We introduced Telenoid, a teleoperated android, to a residential care facility to see how the elderly with dementia respond to it. Our exploratory study focused on the social aspects that might facilitate communication between the elderly and Telenoid's operator. Telenoid elicited positive images and interactive reactions from the elderly with mild dementia, even from those with severe cognitive impairment. They showed strong attachment to its child-like huggable design and became willing to converse with it. Our result suggests that an affectionate bond may be formed between the elderly and the android to provide the operator with easy communication to elicit responses from senior citizens.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Yamazaki2012b,
  author    = {Ryuji Yamazaki and Shuichi Nishio and Kohei Ogawa and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title     = {Teleoperated Android as an Embodied Communication Medium: A Case Study with Demented Elderlies in a Care Facility},
  booktitle = {{IEEE} International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication},
  year      = {2012},
  pages     = {1066--1071},
  address   = {Paris, France},
  month     = Sep,
  day       = {9-13},
  abstract  = {Teleoperated androids, which are robots with humanlike appearances, are being produced as new media of human relationships. We explored the potential of humanoid robots and how they affect people in the real world when they are employed to express a telecommunication presence and a sense of ‘being there'. We introduced Telenoid, a teleoperated android, to a residential care facility to see how the elderly with dementia respond to it. Our exploratory study focused on the social aspects that might facilitate communication between the elderly and Telenoid's operator. Telenoid elicited positive images and interactive reactions from the elderly with mild dementia, even from those with severe cognitive impairment. They showed strong attachment to its child-like huggable design and became willing to converse with it. Our result suggests that an affectionate bond may be formed between the elderly and the android to provide the operator with easy communication to elicit responses from senior citizens.},
  file      = {Yamazaki2012b.pdf:Yamazaki2012b.pdf:PDF},
}
Hidenobu Sumioka, Shuichi Nishio, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Teleoperated android for mediated communication : body ownership, personality distortion, and minimal human design", In the RO-MAN 2012 workshop on social robotic telepresence, Paris, France, pp. 32-39, September, 2012.
Abstract: In this paper we discuss the impact of humanlike appearance on telecommunication, giving an overview of studies with teleoperated androids. We show that, due to humanlike appearance, teleoperated androids do not only affect interlocutors communicating with them but also teleoperators controlling them in another location. They enhance teleoperator's feeling of telepresence by inducing a sense of ownership over their body parts. It is also pointed out that a mismatch between an android and a teleoperator in appearance distorts the teleoperator's personality to be conveyed to an interlocutor. To overcome this problem, the concept of minimal human likeness design is introduced. We demonstrate that a new teleoperated android developed with the concept reduces the distortion in telecommunication. Finally, some research issues are discussed on a sense of ownership over telerobot's body, minimal human likeness design, and interface design.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Sumioka2012c,
  author          = {Hidenobu Sumioka and Shuichi Nishio and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title           = {Teleoperated android for mediated communication : body ownership, personality distortion, and minimal human design},
  booktitle       = {the {RO-MAN} 2012 workshop on social robotic telepresence},
  year            = {2012},
  pages           = {32--39},
  address         = {Paris, France},
  month           = Sep,
  day             = {9-13},
  abstract        = {In this paper we discuss the impact of humanlike appearance on telecommunication, giving an overview of studies with teleoperated androids. We show that, due to humanlike appearance, teleoperated androids do not only affect interlocutors communicating with them but also teleoperators controlling them in another location. They enhance teleoperator's feeling of telepresence by inducing a sense of ownership over their body parts. It is also pointed out that a mismatch between an android and a teleoperator in appearance distorts the teleoperator's personality to be conveyed to an interlocutor. To overcome this problem, the concept of minimal human likeness design is introduced. We demonstrate that a new teleoperated android developed with the concept reduces the distortion in telecommunication. Finally, some research issues are discussed on a sense of ownership over telerobot's body, minimal human likeness design, and interface design.},
  file            = {Sumioka2012c.pdf:Sumioka2012c.pdf:PDF},
}
Hidenobu Sumioka, Shuichi Nishio, Erina Okamoto, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Isolation of physical traits and conversational content for personality design", Poster presentation at IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, Paris, France, pp. 596-601, September, 2012.
Abstract: In this paper, we propose the "Doppel teleoperation system,'' which isolates several physical traits from a speaker, to investigate how personal information is conveyed to others during conversation. An underlying problem on designing personality in social robots is that it remains unclear how humans judge the personalities of conversation partners. With the Doppel system, for each of the communication channels to be transferred, one can choose it in its original form or in the one generated by the system. For example, voice and body motions can be replaced by the Doppel system while preserving the speech content. This allows us to analyze the individual effects of the physical traits of the speaker and the content in the speaker's speech on the identification of personality. This selectivity of personal traits provides a useful approach to investigate which information conveys our personality through conversation. To show the potential of our system, we experimentally tested how much the conversation content conveys the personality of speakers to interlocutors without any of their physical traits. Preliminary results show that although interlocutors have difficulty identifying speakers only using conversational contents, they can recognize their acquaintances when their acquaintances are the speakers. We point out some potential physical traits to convey personality
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Sumioka2012d,
  author          = {Hidenobu Sumioka and Shuichi Nishio and Erina Okamoto and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title           = {Isolation of physical traits and conversational content for personality design},
  booktitle       = {{IEEE} International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication},
  year            = {2012},
  pages           = {596--601},
  address         = {Paris, France},
  month           = Sep,
  day             = {9-13},
  doi             = {10.1109/ROMAN.2012.6343816},
  abstract        = {In this paper, we propose the "Doppel teleoperation system,'' which isolates several physical traits from a speaker, to investigate how personal information is conveyed to others during conversation. An underlying problem on designing personality in social robots is that it remains unclear how humans judge the personalities of conversation partners. With the Doppel system, for each of the communication channels to be transferred, one can choose it in its original form or in the one generated by the system. For example, voice and body motions can be replaced by the Doppel system while preserving the speech content. This allows us to analyze the individual effects of the physical traits of the speaker and the content in the speaker's speech on the identification of personality. This selectivity of personal traits provides a useful approach to investigate which information conveys our personality through conversation. To show the potential of our system, we experimentally tested how much the conversation content conveys the personality of speakers to interlocutors without any of their physical traits. Preliminary results show that although interlocutors have difficulty identifying speakers only using conversational contents, they can recognize their acquaintances when their acquaintances are the speakers. We point out some potential physical traits to convey personality},
  file            = {Sumioka2012d.pdf:Sumioka2012d.pdf:PDF},
}
Shuichi Nishio, "Transmitting human presence with teleoperated androids: from proprioceptive transfer to elderly care", In CogSci2012 Workshop on Teleopearted Android as a Tool for Cognitive Studies, Communication and Art, Sapporo, Japan, August, 2012.
Abstract: Teleoperated androids, robots owning humanlike appearance equipped with semi-autonomous teleoperation facility, was first introduce in 2007 with the public release of Geminoid HI-1. Both its appearance that resembles the source person and its teleoperation functionality serves in making Geminoid as a research tool for seeking the nature of human presence and personality traits, tracing their origins and implementing into robots. Since the development of the first teleoperated android, we have been using them in a variety of domains, from studies on basic human natures to practical applications such as elderly care. In this talk, I will introduce some of our findings and ongoing projects.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Nishio2012d,
  author    = {Shuichi Nishio},
  title     = {Transmitting human presence with teleoperated androids: from proprioceptive transfer to elderly care},
  booktitle = {CogSci2012 Workshop on Teleopearted Android as a Tool for Cognitive Studies, Communication and Art},
  year      = {2012},
  address   = {Sapporo, Japan},
  month     = Aug,
  abstract  = {Teleoperated androids, robots owning humanlike appearance equipped with semi-autonomous teleoperation facility, was first introduce in 2007 with the public release of Geminoid HI-1. Both its appearance that resembles the source person and its teleoperation functionality serves in making Geminoid as a research tool for seeking the nature of human presence and personality traits, tracing their origins and implementing into robots. Since the development of the first teleoperated android, we have been using them in a variety of domains, from studies on basic human natures to practical applications such as elderly care. In this talk, I will introduce some of our findings and ongoing projects.},
}
Hidenobu Sumioka, Shuichi Nishio, Erina Okamoto, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Doppel Teleoperation System: Isolation of physical traits and intelligence for personality study", In Annual meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (CogSci2012), Sapporo Convention Center, pp. 2375-2380, August, 2012.
Abstract: We introduce the “Doppel teleoperation system", which isolates several physical traits from a speaker, to investigate how personal information is conveyed to other people during conversation. With the Doppel system, one can choose for each of the communication channels to be transferred whether in its original form or in the one generated by the system. For example, the voice and body motion can be replaced by the Doppel system while the speech content is preserved. This will allow us to analyze individual effects of physical traits of the speaker and content in the speaker's speech on identification of personality. This selectivity of personal traits provides us with useful approach to investigate which information conveys our personality through conversation. To show a potential of this proposed system, we conduct an experiment to test how much the content of conversation conveys the personality of speakers to interlocutors, without any physical traits of the speakers. Preliminary results show that although interlocutors have difficulty identifying their speakers only by using conversational contents, they can recognize their acquaintances when their acquaintances are the speakers. We point out some potential physical traits to convey our personality.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Sumioka2012,
  author          = {Hidenobu Sumioka and Shuichi Nishio and Erina Okamoto and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title           = {Doppel Teleoperation System: Isolation of physical traits and intelligence for personality study},
  booktitle       = {Annual meeting of the Cognitive Science Society ({C}og{S}ci2012)},
  year            = {2012},
  pages           = {2375-2380},
  address         = {Sapporo Convention Center},
  month           = Aug,
  day             = {1-4},
  url             = {http://mindmodeling.org/cogsci2012/papers/0413/paper0413.pdf},
  abstract        = {We introduce the “Doppel teleoperation system", which isolates several physical traits from a speaker, to investigate how personal information is conveyed to other people during conversation. With the Doppel system, one can choose for each of the communication channels to be transferred whether in its original form or in the one generated by the system. For example, the voice and body motion can be replaced by the Doppel system while the speech content is preserved. This will allow us to analyze individual effects of physical traits of the speaker and content in the speaker's speech on identification of personality. This selectivity of personal traits provides us with useful approach to investigate which information conveys our personality through conversation. To show a potential of this proposed system, we conduct an experiment to test how much the content of conversation conveys the personality of speakers to interlocutors, without any physical traits of the speakers. Preliminary results show that although interlocutors have difficulty identifying their speakers only by using conversational contents, they can recognize their acquaintances when their acquaintances are the speakers. We point out some potential physical traits to convey our personality.},
  file            = {Sumioka2012.pdf:Sumioka2012.pdf:PDF},
  keywords        = {social cognition; android science; human-robot interaction; personality psychology; personal presence},
}
Takashi Minato, Shuichi Nishio, Kohei Ogawa, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Development of Cellphone-type Tele-operated Android", Poster presentation at The 10th Asia Pacific Conference on Computer Human Interaction, Matsue, Japan, pp. 665-666, August, 2012.
Abstract: This paper presents a newly developed portable human-like robotic avatar “Elfoid" which can be a novel communication medium in that a user can talk with another person in a remote location in such a way that they feel each other's presence. It is designed to convey individuals' presence using voice, human-like appearance, and touch. Thanks to its cellphone capability, it can be used at anytime, anywhere. The paper describes the design concept of Elfoid and argues research issues on this communication medium.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Minato2012b,
  author    = {Takashi Minato and Shuichi Nishio and Kohei Ogawa and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title     = {Development of Cellphone-type Tele-operated Android},
  booktitle = {The 10th Asia Pacific Conference on Computer Human Interaction},
  year      = {2012},
  pages     = {665-666},
  address   = {Matsue, Japan},
  month     = Aug,
  day       = {28-31},
  abstract  = {This paper presents a newly developed portable human-like robotic avatar “Elfoid" which can be a novel communication medium in that a user can talk with another person in a remote location in such a way that they feel each other's presence. It is designed to convey individuals' presence using voice, human-like appearance, and touch. Thanks to its cellphone capability, it can be used at anytime, anywhere. The paper describes the design concept of Elfoid and argues research issues on this communication medium.},
  file      = {Minato2012b.pdf:Minato2012b.pdf:PDF},
  keywords  = {Communication media; minimal design; human's presence},
}
Hidenobu Sumioka, Takashi Minato, Kurima Sakai, Shuichi Nishio, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Motion Design of an Interactive Small Humanoid Robot with Visual Illusion", In The 10th Asia Pacific Conference on Computer Human Interaction, Matsue, Japan, pp. 93-100, August, 2012.
Abstract: We propose a method that enables users to convey nonver- bal information, especially their gestures, through portable robot avatar based on illusory motion. The illusory mo- tion of head nodding is realized with blinking lights for a human-like mobile phone called Elfoid. Two blinking pat- terns of LEDs are designed based on biological motion and illusory motion from shadows. The patterns are compared to select an appropriate pattern for the illusion of motion in terms of the naturalness of movements and quick percep- tion. The result shows that illusory motions show better per- formance than biological motion. We also test whether the illusory motion of head nodding provides a positive effect compared with just blinking lights. In experiments, subjects, who are engaged in role-playing game, are asked to com- plain to Elfoids about their unpleasant situation. The results show that the subject frustration is eased by Elfoid's illusory head nodding.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Sumioka2012a,
  author    = {Hidenobu Sumioka and Takashi Minato and Kurima Sakai and Shuichi Nishio and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title     = {Motion Design of an Interactive Small Humanoid Robot with Visual Illusion},
  booktitle = {The 10th Asia Pacific Conference on Computer Human Interaction},
  year      = {2012},
  pages     = {93-100},
  address   = {Matsue, Japan},
  month     = Aug,
  day       = {28-31},
  url       = {http://dl.acm.org/authorize?6720741},
  abstract  = {We propose a method that enables users to convey nonver- bal information, especially their gestures, through portable robot avatar based on illusory motion. The illusory mo- tion of head nodding is realized with blinking lights for a human-like mobile phone called Elfoid. Two blinking pat- terns of LEDs are designed based on biological motion and illusory motion from shadows. The patterns are compared to select an appropriate pattern for the illusion of motion in terms of the naturalness of movements and quick percep- tion. The result shows that illusory motions show better per- formance than biological motion. We also test whether the illusory motion of head nodding provides a positive effect compared with just blinking lights. In experiments, subjects, who are engaged in role-playing game, are asked to com- plain to Elfoids about their unpleasant situation. The results show that the subject frustration is eased by Elfoid's illusory head nodding.},
  file      = {Sumioka2012a.pdf:Sumioka2012a.pdf:PDF},
  keywords  = {telecommunication; nonverbal communication; portable robot avatar; visual illusion of motion},
}
Hiroshi Ishiguro, Shuichi Nishio, Antonio Chella, Rosario Sorbello, Giuseppe Balistreri, Marcello Giardina, Carmelo Cali, "Perceptual Social Dimensions of Human-Humanoid Robot Interaction", In The 12th International Conference on Intelligent Autonomous Systems, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, vol. 194, Jeju International Convention Center, Korea, pp. 409-421, June, 2012.
Abstract: The present paper aims at a descriptive analysis of the main perceptual and social features of natural conditions of agent interaction, which can be specified by agent in human- humanoid robot interaction. A principled approach to human- robot interaction may be assumed to comply with the natural conditions of agents overt perceptual and social behaviour. To validate our research we used the minimalistic humanoid robot Telenoid. We have conducted human-robot interactions test with people with no prior interaction experience with robot. By administrating our questionnaire to subject after well defined experimental conditions, an analysis of significant variance corre- lation among dimensions in ordinary and goal guided contexts of interaction has been performed in order to prove that perception and believability are indicators of social interaction and increase the degree of interaction in human-humanoid interaction. The experimental results showed that Telenoid is seen from the users as an autonomous agent on its own rather than a teleoperated artificial agent and as a believable agent for its naturally acting in response to human agent actions.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Ishiguro2012,
  author    = {Hiroshi Ishiguro and Shuichi Nishio and Antonio Chella and Rosario Sorbello and Giuseppe Balistreri and Marcello Giardina and Carmelo Cali},
  title     = {Perceptual Social Dimensions of Human-Humanoid Robot Interaction},
  booktitle = {The 12th International Conference on Intelligent Autonomous Systems},
  year      = {2012},
  volume    = {194},
  series    = {Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing},
  pages     = {409-421},
  address   = {Jeju International Convention Center, Korea},
  month     = Jun,
  publisher = {Springer Berlin Heidelberg},
  day       = {26-29},
  doi       = {10.1007/978-3-642-33932-5_38},
  url       = {http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-33932-5_38},
  abstract  = {The present paper aims at a descriptive analysis of the main perceptual and social features of natural conditions of agent interaction, which can be specified by agent in human- humanoid robot interaction. A principled approach to human- robot interaction may be assumed to comply with the natural conditions of agents overt perceptual and social behaviour. To validate our research we used the minimalistic humanoid robot Telenoid. We have conducted human-robot interactions test with people with no prior interaction experience with robot. By administrating our questionnaire to subject after well defined experimental conditions, an analysis of significant variance corre- lation among dimensions in ordinary and goal guided contexts of interaction has been performed in order to prove that perception and believability are indicators of social interaction and increase the degree of interaction in human-humanoid interaction. The experimental results showed that Telenoid is seen from the users as an autonomous agent on its own rather than a teleoperated artificial agent and as a believable agent for its naturally acting in response to human agent actions.},
  file      = {Ishiguro2012.pdf:Ishiguro2012.pdf:PDF},
  keywords  = {Telenoid, Geminoid, Human Robot Interaction, Social Robot, Humanoid Robot},
}
Ryuji Yamazaki, Shuichi Nishio, Kohei Ogawa, Hiroshi Ishiguro, Kohei Matsumura, Kensuke Koda, Tsutomu Fujinami, "How Does Telenoid Affect the Communication between Children in Classroom Setting ?", In Extended Abstracts of the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Austin, Texas, USA, pp. 351-366, May, 2012.
Abstract: Recent advances in robotics have produced kinds of robots that are not only autonomous but can also tele- operated and have humanlike appearances. However, it is not sufficiently investigated how the tele-operated humanoid robots can affect and be accepted by people in a real world. In the present study, we investigated how elementary school children accepted Telenoid R1, a tele-operated humanoid robot. We conducted a school-based action research project to explore their responses to the robot. Our research theme was the social aspects that might facilitate communication and the purpose was problem finding. There have been considerable studies for resolving the remote disadvantage; although face-to-face is always supposed to be the best way for our communication, we ask whether it is possible to determine the primacy of remote communication over face-to-face. As a result of the field experiment in a school, the structure of children's group work changed and their attitude turned more positive than usual. Their spontaneity was brought out and role differentiation occurred with them. Mainly due to the limitations by Telenoid, children changed their attitude and could cooperatively work. The result suggested that the remote communication that set a limit to our capability could be useful for us to know and be trained the effective way to work more cooperatively than usual face-to-face. It remained as future work to compare Telenoid with various media and to explore the appropriate conditions that promote our cooperation.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Yamazaki2012,
  author          = {Ryuji Yamazaki and Shuichi Nishio and Kohei Ogawa and Hiroshi Ishiguro and Kohei Matsumura and Kensuke Koda and Tsutomu Fujinami},
  title           = {How Does Telenoid Affect the Communication between Children in Classroom Setting ?},
  booktitle       = {Extended Abstracts of the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems},
  year            = {2012},
  pages           = {351-366},
  address         = {Austin, Texas, {USA}},
  month           = May,
  day             = {5-10},
  doi             = {10.1145/2212776.2212814},
  url             = {http://dl.acm.org/authorize?6764060},
  abstract        = {Recent advances in robotics have produced kinds of robots that are not only autonomous but can also tele- operated and have humanlike appearances. However, it is not sufficiently investigated how the tele-operated humanoid robots can affect and be accepted by people in a real world. In the present study, we investigated how elementary school children accepted Telenoid R1, a tele-operated humanoid robot. We conducted a school-based action research project to explore their responses to the robot. Our research theme was the social aspects that might facilitate communication and the purpose was problem finding. There have been considerable studies for resolving the remote disadvantage; although face-to-face is always supposed to be the best way for our communication, we ask whether it is possible to determine the primacy of remote communication over face-to-face. As a result of the field experiment in a school, the structure of children's group work changed and their attitude turned more positive than usual. Their spontaneity was brought out and role differentiation occurred with them. Mainly due to the limitations by Telenoid, children changed their attitude and could cooperatively work. The result suggested that the remote communication that set a limit to our capability could be useful for us to know and be trained the effective way to work more cooperatively than usual face-to-face. It remained as future work to compare Telenoid with various media and to explore the appropriate conditions that promote our cooperation.},
  file            = {Yamazaki2012.pdf:Yamazaki2012.pdf:PDF},
  keywords        = {Tele-operation; android; minimal design; human interaction; role differentiation; cooperation},
}
Chaoran Liu, Carlos T. Ishi, Hiroshi Ishiguro, Norihiro Hagita, "Generation of nodding, head tilting and eye gazing for human-robot dialogue interaction", In ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human Robot Interaction, Boston, USA, pp. 285-292, March, 2012.
Abstract: Head motion occurs naturally and in synchrony with speech during human dialogue communication, and may carry paralinguistic information, such as intentions, attitudes and emotions. Therefore, natural-looking head motion by a robot is important for smooth human-robot interaction. Based on rules inferred from analyses of the relationship between head motion and dialogue acts, this paper proposes a model for generating head tilting and nodding, and evaluates the model using three types of humanoid robot (a very human-like android, ``Geminoid F'', a typical humanoid robot with less facial degrees of freedom, ``Robovie R2'', and a robot with a 3- axis rotatable neck and movable lips, ``Telenoid R2''). Analysis of subjective scores shows that the proposed model including head tilting and nodding can generate head motion with increased naturalness compared to nodding only and directly mapping people's original motions without gaze information. We also find that an upwards motion of a robot's face can be used by robots which do not have a mouth in order to provide the appearance that utterance is taking place. Finally, we conduct an experiment in which participants act as visitors to an information desk attended by robots. As a consequence, we verify that our generation model performs equally to directly mapping people's original motions with gaze information in terms of perceived naturalness.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Liu2012,
  author          = {Chaoran Liu and Carlos T. Ishi and Hiroshi Ishiguro and Norihiro Hagita},
  title           = {Generation of nodding, head tilting and eye gazing for human-robot dialogue interaction},
  booktitle       = {{ACM/IEEE} International Conference on Human Robot Interaction},
  year            = {2012},
  pages           = {285--292},
  address         = {Boston, USA},
  month           = Mar,
  day             = {5-8},
  doi             = {10.1145/2157689.2157797},
  abstract        = {Head motion occurs naturally and in synchrony with speech during human dialogue communication, and may carry paralinguistic information, such as intentions, attitudes and emotions. Therefore, natural-looking head motion by a robot is important for smooth human-robot interaction. Based on rules inferred from analyses of the relationship between head motion and dialogue acts, this paper proposes a model for generating head tilting and nodding, and evaluates the model using three types of humanoid robot (a very human-like android, ``Geminoid F'', a typical humanoid robot with less facial degrees of freedom, ``Robovie R2'', and a robot with a 3- axis rotatable neck and movable lips, ``Telenoid R2''). Analysis of subjective scores shows that the proposed model including head tilting and nodding can generate head motion with increased naturalness compared to nodding only and directly mapping people's original motions without gaze information. We also find that an upwards motion of a robot's face can be used by robots which do not have a mouth in order to provide the appearance that utterance is taking place. Finally, we conduct an experiment in which participants act as visitors to an information desk attended by robots. As a consequence, we verify that our generation model performs equally to directly mapping people's original motions with gaze information in terms of perceived naturalness.},
  file            = {Liu2012.pdf:Liu2012.pdf:PDF},
  keywords        = {Head motion; dialogue acts; eye gazing; motion generation.},
}
Ryohei Kimura, Noriko Takemura, Yoshio Iwai, Kosuke Sato, "Extracting Interval Distribution of Human Interactions", Poster presentation at Pacific-Rim Symposium on Image and Video Technology (PSIVT), Gwangju, Korea, pp. 262-273, November, 2011.
BibTeX:
@INPROCEEDINGS{Kimura2011,
  author = {Ryohei Kimura and Noriko Takemura and Yoshio Iwai and Kosuke Sato},
  title = {Extracting Interval Distribution of Human Interactions},
  booktitle = {Pacific-Rim Symposium on Image and Video Technology (PSIVT)},
  year = {2011},
  pages = {262--273},
  address = {Gwangju, Korea},
  month = Nov,
  day = {1},
}
Martin Cooney, Takayuki Kanda, Aris Alissandrakis, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Interaction Design for an Enjoyable Play Interaction with a Small Humanoid Robot", In IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids), Bled, Slovenia, pp. 112-119, October, 2011.
Abstract: Robots designed to act as companions are expected to be able to interact with people in an enjoyable fashion. In particular, our aim is to enable small companion robots to respond in a pleasant way when people pick them up and play with them. To this end, we developed a gesture recognition system capable of recognizing play gestures which involve a person moving a small humanoid robot's full body ("full-body gestures"). However, such recognition by itself is not enough to provide a nice interaction. In fact, interactions with an initial, naive version of our system frequently fail. The question then becomes: what more is required? I.e., what sort of interaction design is required in order to create successful interactions? To answer this question, we analyze typical failures which occur and compile a list of guidelines. Then, we implement this model in our robot, proposing strategies for how a robot can provide ``reward'' and suggest goals for the interaction. As a consequence, we conduct a validation experiment. We find that our interaction design with ``persisting intentions'' can be used to establish an enjoyable play interaction.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Cooney2011,
  author          = {Martin Cooney and Takayuki Kanda and Aris Alissandrakis and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title           = {Interaction Design for an Enjoyable Play Interaction with a Small Humanoid Robot},
  booktitle       = {{IEEE-RAS} International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids)},
  year            = {2011},
  pages           = {112--119},
  address         = {Bled, Slovenia},
  month           = Oct,
  day             = {26-28},
  abstract        = {Robots designed to act as companions are expected to be able to interact with people in an enjoyable fashion. In particular, our aim is to enable small companion robots to respond in a pleasant way when people pick them up and play with them. To this end, we developed a gesture recognition system capable of recognizing play gestures which involve a person moving a small humanoid robot's full body ("full-body gestures"). However, such recognition by itself is not enough to provide a nice interaction. In fact, interactions with an initial, naive version of our system frequently fail. The question then becomes: what more is required? I.e., what sort of interaction design is required in order to create successful interactions? To answer this question, we analyze typical failures which occur and compile a list of guidelines. Then, we implement this model in our robot, proposing strategies for how a robot can provide ``reward'' and suggest goals for the interaction. As a consequence, we conduct a validation experiment. We find that our interaction design with ``persisting intentions'' can be used to establish an enjoyable play interaction.},
  file            = {Cooney2011.pdf:Cooney2011.pdf:PDF},
  keywords        = {interaction design; enjoyment; playful human-robot interaction; small humanoid robot},
}
Giuseppe Balistreri, Shuichi Nishio, Rosario Sorbello, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Integrating Built-in Sensors of an Android with Sensors Embedded in the Environment for Studying a More Natural Human-Robot Interaction", In Lecture Notes in Computer Science (12th International Conference of the Italian Association for Artificial Intelligence), Springer, vol. 6934, Palermo, Italy, pp. 432-437, September, 2011.
Abstract: Several studies supported that there is a strict and complex relationship between outer appearance and the behavior showed by the robot and that a human-like appearance is not enough for give a positive impression. The robot should behave closely to humans, and should have a sense of perception that enables it to communicate with humans. Our past experience with the android ``Geminoid HI-1'' demonstrated that the sensors equipping the robot are not enough to perform a human-like communication, mainly because of a limited sensing range. To overcome this problem, we endowed the environment around the robot with per- ceptive capabilities by embedding sensors such as cameras into it. This paper reports a preliminary study about an improvement of the control- ling system by integrating cameras in the surrounding environment, so that a human-like perception can be provided to the android. The inte- gration of the development of androids and the investigations of human behaviors constitute a new research area fusing engineering and cognitive sciences.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Balistreri2011,
  author    = {Giuseppe Balistreri and Shuichi Nishio and Rosario Sorbello and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title     = {Integrating Built-in Sensors of an Android with Sensors Embedded in the Environment for Studying a More Natural Human-Robot Interaction},
  booktitle = {Lecture Notes in Computer Science (12th International Conference of the Italian Association for Artificial Intelligence)},
  year      = {2011},
  volume    = {6934},
  pages     = {432--437},
  address   = {Palermo, Italy},
  month     = Sep,
  publisher = {Springer},
  doi       = {10.1007/978-3-642-23954-0_43},
  url       = {http://www.springerlink.com/content/c015680178436107/},
  abstract  = {Several studies supported that there is a strict and complex relationship between outer appearance and the behavior showed by the robot and that a human-like appearance is not enough for give a positive impression. The robot should behave closely to humans, and should have a sense of perception that enables it to communicate with humans. Our past experience with the android ``Geminoid HI-1'' demonstrated that the sensors equipping the robot are not enough to perform a human-like communication, mainly because of a limited sensing range. To overcome this problem, we endowed the environment around the robot with per- ceptive capabilities by embedding sensors such as cameras into it. This paper reports a preliminary study about an improvement of the control- ling system by integrating cameras in the surrounding environment, so that a human-like perception can be provided to the android. The inte- gration of the development of androids and the investigations of human behaviors constitute a new research area fusing engineering and cognitive sciences.},
  bibsource = {DBLP, http://dblp.uni-trier.de},
  file      = {Balistreri2011.pdf:Balistreri2011.pdf:PDF},
  keywords  = {Android; gaze; sensor network},
}
Carlos T. Ishi, Chaoran Liu, Hiroshi Ishiguro, Norihiro Hagita, "Speech-driven lip motion generation for tele-operated humanoid robots", In the International Conference on Audio-Visual Speech Processing 2011, Volterra, Italy, pp. 131-135, August, 2011.
Abstract: (such as android) from the utterances of the operator, we developed a speech-driven lip motion generation method. The proposed method is based on the rotation of the vowel space, given by the first and second formants, around the center vowel, and a mapping to the lip opening degrees. The method requires the calibration of only one parameter for speaker normalization, so that no other training of models is required. In a pilot experiment, the proposed audio-based method was perceived as more natural than vision-based approaches, regardless of the language.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Ishi2011a,
  author          = {Carlos T. Ishi and Chaoran Liu and Hiroshi Ishiguro and Norihiro Hagita},
  title           = {Speech-driven lip motion generation for tele-operated humanoid robots},
  booktitle       = {the International Conference on Audio-Visual Speech Processing 2011},
  year            = {2011},
  pages           = {131-135},
  address         = {Volterra, Italy},
  month           = Aug,
  day             = {31-3},
  abstract        = {(such as android) from the utterances of the operator, we developed a speech-driven lip motion generation method. The proposed method is based on the rotation of the vowel space, given by the first and second formants, around the center vowel, and a mapping to the lip opening degrees. The method requires the calibration of only one parameter for speaker normalization, so that no other training of models is required. In a pilot experiment, the proposed audio-based method was perceived as more natural than vision-based approaches, regardless of the language.},
  file            = {Ishi2011a.pdf:pdf/Ishi2011a.pdf:PDF},
  keywords        = {lip motion; formant; humanoid robot; tele-operation; synchronization},
}
Kohei Ogawa, Shuichi Nishio, Kensuke Koda, Koichi Taura, Takashi Minato, Carlos T. Ishi, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Telenoid: Tele-presence android for communication", In SIGGRAPH Emerging Technology, Vancouver, Canada, pp. 15, August, 2011.
Abstract: In this research, a new system of telecommunication called "Telenoid" is presented which focuses on the idea of transferring human's "presence". Telenoid was developed to appear and behave as a minimal design of human features. (Fig. 2(A)) A minimal human conveys the impression of human existence at first glance, but it doesn't suggest anything about personal features such as being male or female, old or young. Previously an android with more realistic features called Geminoid was proposed. However, because of its unique appearance, which is the copy of a model, it is too difficult to imagine other people's presence through Geminoid while they are operating it. On the other hand, Telenoid is designed as it holds an anonymous identity, which allows people to communicate with their acquaintances far away regardless of their gender and age. We expect that the Telenoid can be used as a medium that transfers human's presence by its minimal feature design.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Ogawa2011a,
  author          = {Kohei Ogawa and Shuichi Nishio and Kensuke Koda and Koichi Taura and Takashi Minato and Carlos T. Ishi and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title           = {Telenoid: Tele-presence android for communication},
  booktitle       = {{SIGGRAPH} Emerging Technology},
  year            = {2011},
  pages           = {15},
  address         = {Vancouver, Canada},
  month           = Aug,
  day             = {7-11},
  doi             = {10.1145/2048259.2048274},
  url             = {http://dl.acm.org/authorize?6594082},
  abstract        = {In this research, a new system of telecommunication called "Telenoid" is presented which focuses on the idea of transferring human's "presence". Telenoid was developed to appear and behave as a minimal design of human features. (Fig. 2(A)) A minimal human conveys the impression of human existence at first glance, but it doesn't suggest anything about personal features such as being male or female, old or young. Previously an android with more realistic features called Geminoid was proposed. However, because of its unique appearance, which is the copy of a model, it is too difficult to imagine other people's presence through Geminoid while they are operating it. On the other hand, Telenoid is designed as it holds an anonymous identity, which allows people to communicate with their acquaintances far away regardless of their gender and age. We expect that the Telenoid can be used as a medium that transfers human's presence by its minimal feature design.},
  file            = {Ogawa2011a.pdf:Ogawa2011a.pdf:PDF},
}
Panikos Heracleous, Miki Sato, Carlos T. Ishi, Hiroshi Ishiguro, Norihiro Hagita, "Speech Production in Noisy Environments and the Effect on Automatic Speech Recognition", In International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Hong Kong, China, pp. 855-858, August, 2011.
Abstract: Speech is bimodal in nature and includes the audio and visual modalities. In addition to acoustic speech perception, speech can be also perceived using visual information provided by the mouth/face (i.e., automatic lipreading). In this study, the visual speech production in noisy environments is investigated. The authors show that the Lombard effect plays an important role not only in audio speech but also in visual speech production. Experimental results show that when visual speech is produced in noisy environments, the visual parameters of the mouth/face change. As a result, the performance of a visual speech recognizer decreases.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Heracleous2011e,
  author          = {Panikos Heracleous and Miki Sato and Carlos T. Ishi and Hiroshi Ishiguro and Norihiro Hagita},
  title           = {Speech Production in Noisy Environments and the Effect on Automatic Speech Recognition},
  booktitle       = {International Congress of Phonetic Sciences},
  year            = {2011},
  pages           = {855--858},
  address         = {Hong Kong, China},
  month           = Aug,
  day             = {18-21},
  abstract        = {Speech is bimodal in nature and includes the audio and visual modalities. In addition to acoustic speech perception, speech can be also perceived using visual information provided by the mouth/face (i.e., automatic lipreading). In this study, the visual speech production in noisy environments is investigated. The authors show that the Lombard effect plays an important role not only in audio speech but also in visual speech production. Experimental results show that when visual speech is produced in noisy environments, the visual parameters of the mouth/face change. As a result, the performance of a visual speech recognizer decreases.},
  file            = {Heracleous2011e.pdf:Heracleous2011e.pdf:PDF;Heracleous.pdf:http\://www.icphs2011.hk/resources/OnlineProceedings/RegularSession/Heracleous/Heracleous.pdf:PDF},
  keywords        = {speech; noisy environments; Lombard effect; lipreading},
}
Ayaka Yamamoto, Yoshio Iwai, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Memory Based Human Region Detection", Poster presentation at IAPR Conference on Machine Vision Applications (MVA), Nara, Japan, June, 2011.
BibTeX:
@INPROCEEDINGS{Yamamoto2011,
  author = {Ayaka Yamamoto and Yoshio Iwai and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title = {Memory Based Human Region Detection},
  booktitle = {IAPR Conference on Machine Vision Applications (MVA)},
  year = {2011},
  address = {Nara, Japan},
  month = Jun,
  day = {1},
}
Hideyuki Nakanishi, Kei Kato, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Zoom Cameras and Movable Displays Enhance Social Telepresence", In ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2011), Vancouver, Canada, pp. 63-72, May, 2011.
Abstract: This paper shows that the augmentation of a remote person's positional movement enhances social telepresence. There are three possible ways of representing a remote person's movement toward the user in visual communication: a) the remote person's movement toward the remote camera, b) the remote camera's zooming in to enlarge the remote person's picture, and c) a forward movement of the display that is displaying the remote person. We conducted an experiment to see the relationship among these three ways and the effects of a remote camera's zooming and a display's movement on social telepresence. In the experiment, we observed that the remote person's movement lowered the reality of conversations, and the remote camera's zooming lowered the visual quality. However, social telepresence was enhanced when both the person's movement and the camera's zooming occurred simultaneously. We also observed that a 6-centimeter movement of the display enhanced social telepresence, whether the remote person moved or not.
BibTeX:
@INPROCEEDINGS{Nakanishi2011,
  author = {Hideyuki Nakanishi and Kei Kato and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  title = {Zoom Cameras and Movable Displays Enhance Social Telepresence},
  booktitle = {ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems ({CHI} 2011)},
  year = {2011},
  pages = {63--72},
  address = {Vancouver, Canada},
  month = May,
  abstract = {This paper shows that the augmentation of a remote person's positional
	movement enhances social telepresence. There are three possible ways
	of representing a remote person's movement toward the user in visual
	communication: a) the remote person's movement toward the remote
	camera, b) the remote camera's zooming in to enlarge the remote person's
	picture, and c) a forward movement of the display that is displaying
	the remote person. We conducted an experiment to see the relationship
	among these three ways and the effects of a remote camera's zooming
	and a display's movement on social telepresence. In the experiment,
	we observed that the remote person's movement lowered the reality
	of conversations, and the remote camera's zooming lowered the visual
	quality. However, social telepresence was enhanced when both the
	person's movement and the camera's zooming occurred simultaneously.
	We also observed that a 6-centimeter movement of the display enhanced
	social telepresence, whether the remote person moved or not.},
  day = {7-12},
  file = {Nakanishi2011.pdf:Nakanishi2011.pdf:PDF},
  keywords = {Telepresence; videoconferencing; telerobotics},
  url = {http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/1980000/1978953/p63-nakanishi.pdf?ip=133.186.34.130&acc=AUTHOR%2DIZED&CFID=69682909&CFTOKEN=36457336&__acm__=1331267804_9a7d8caad7c0a5fcb7a17f73854c560b}
}
Panikos Heracleous, Hiroshi Ishiguro, Norihiro Hagita, "Visual-speech to text conversion applicable to telephone communication for deaf individuals", In International Conference on Telecommunications, Ayia Napa, Cyprus, pp. 130-133, May, 2011.
Abstract: The access to communication technologies has become essential for the handicapped people. This study introduces the initial step of an automatic translation system able to translate visual speech used by deaf individuals to text, or auditory speech. A such a system would enable deaf users to communicate with each other and with normal-hearing people through telephone networks or through Internet by only using telephone devices equipped with simple cameras. In particular, this paper introduces automatic recognition and conversion to text of Cued Speech for French. Cued speech is a visual mode used for communication in the deaf society. Using hand shapes placed in different positions near the face as a complement to lipreading, all the sounds of a spoken language can be visually distinguished and perceived. Experimental results show high recognition rates for both isolated word and continuous phoneme recognition experiments in Cued Speech for French.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Heracleous2011f,
  author    = {Panikos Heracleous and Hiroshi Ishiguro and Norihiro Hagita},
  title     = {Visual-speech to text conversion applicable to telephone communication for deaf individuals},
  booktitle = {International Conference on Telecommunications},
  year      = {2011},
  pages     = {130--133},
  address   = {Ayia Napa, Cyprus},
  month     = May,
  day       = {8-11},
  doi       = {10.1109/CTS.2011.5898904},
  url       = {http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?arnumber=5898904},
  abstract  = {The access to communication technologies has become essential for the handicapped people. This study introduces the initial step of an automatic translation system able to translate visual speech used by deaf individuals to text, or auditory speech. A such a system would enable deaf users to communicate with each other and with normal-hearing people through telephone networks or through Internet by only using telephone devices equipped with simple cameras. In particular, this paper introduces automatic recognition and conversion to text of Cued Speech for French. Cued speech is a visual mode used for communication in the deaf society. Using hand shapes placed in different positions near the face as a complement to lipreading, all the sounds of a spoken language can be visually distinguished and perceived. Experimental results show high recognition rates for both isolated word and continuous phoneme recognition experiments in Cued Speech for French.},
  file      = {Heracleous2011f.pdf:Heracleous2011f.pdf:PDF},
}
Panikos Heracleous, Norihiro Hagita, "Automatic Recognition of Speech without any audio information", In IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing, Prague, Czech Republic, pp. 2392-2395, May, 2011.
Abstract: This article introduces automatic recognition of speech without any audio information. Movements of the tongue, lips, and jaw are tracked by an Electro-Magnetic Articulography (EMA) device and are used as features to create hidden Markov models (HMMs) and conduct automatic speech recognition in a conventional way. The results obtained are promising, which confirm that phonetic features characterizing articulation are as discriminating as those characterizing acoustics (except for voicing). The results also show that using tongue parameters result in a higher accuracy compared with the lip parameters.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Heracleous2011a,
  author    = {Panikos Heracleous and Norihiro Hagita},
  title     = {Automatic Recognition of Speech without any audio information},
  booktitle = {{IEEE} International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing},
  year      = {2011},
  pages     = {2392--2395},
  address   = {Prague, Czech Republic},
  month     = May,
  day       = {22-27},
  doi       = {10.1109/ICASSP.2011.5946965},
  url       = {http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?arnumber=5946965},
  abstract  = {This article introduces automatic recognition of speech without any audio information. Movements of the tongue, lips, and jaw are tracked by an Electro-Magnetic Articulography ({EMA}) device and are used as features to create hidden Markov models ({HMM}s) and conduct automatic speech recognition in a conventional way. The results obtained are promising, which confirm that phonetic features characterizing articulation are as discriminating as those characterizing acoustics (except for voicing). The results also show that using tongue parameters result in a higher accuracy compared with the lip parameters.},
  file      = {Heracleous2011a.pdf:Heracleous2011a.pdf:PDF},
}
Panikos Heracleous, Miki Sato, Carlos Toshinori Ishi, Hiroshi Ishiguro, Norihiro Hagita, "The effect of environmental noise to automatic lip-reading", In Spring Meeting Acoustical Society of Japan, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan, pp. 5-8, March, 2011.
Abstract: In automatic visual speech recognition, verbal messages can be interpreted by monitoring a talker's lip and facial movements using automated tools based on statistical methods (i.e., automatic visual speech recognition). Automatic visual speech recognition has applications in audiovisual speech recognition and in lip shape synthesis. This study investigates the automatic visual and audiovisual speech recognition in the presence of noise. The authors show that the Lombard effect plays an important role not only in audio, but also in automatic visual speech recognition. Experimental results of a multispeaker continuous phoneme recognition experiment show that the performance of a visual and an audiovisual speech recognition system further increases when the visual Lombard effect is also considered.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Heracleous2011c,
  author          = {Panikos Heracleous and Miki Sato and Carlos Toshinori Ishi and Hiroshi Ishiguro and Norihiro Hagita},
  title           = {The effect of environmental noise to automatic lip-reading},
  booktitle       = {Spring Meeting Acoustical Society of Japan},
  year            = {2011},
  series          = {1-5-3},
  pages           = {5--8},
  address         = {Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan},
  month           = Mar,
  abstract        = {In automatic visual speech recognition, verbal messages can be interpreted by monitoring a talker's lip and facial movements using automated tools based on statistical methods (i.e., automatic visual speech recognition). Automatic visual speech recognition has applications in audiovisual speech recognition and in lip shape synthesis. This study investigates the automatic visual and audiovisual speech recognition in the presence of noise. The authors show that the Lombard effect plays an important role not only in audio, but also in automatic visual speech recognition. Experimental results of a multispeaker continuous phoneme recognition experiment show that the performance of a visual and an audiovisual speech recognition system further increases when the visual Lombard effect is also considered.},
  file            = {Heracleous2011c.pdf:Heracleous2011c.pdf:PDF},
}
Non-Reviewed Conference Papers
Yoji Kohda, Nobuo Yamato, Hidenobu Sumioka, "Role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to Provide Quality Public Health Services", In International Conference On Sustainable Development : Opportunities And Challenges, American International University Bangladesh, Bangladesh (online), January, 2022.
Abstract: In this talk, I would like to talk about the role of AI in general from a knowledge science perspective, using the heath care sector as an example. I discuss the role of AI to answer two questions: "Can doctors learn from AI?" and "Will patients listen to AI?".
BibTeX:
@InProceedings{Kohda2022,
  author    = {Yoji Kohda and Nobuo Yamato and Hidenobu Sumioka},
  booktitle = {International Conference On Sustainable Development : Opportunities And Challenges},
  title     = {Role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to Provide Quality Public Health Services},
  year      = {2022},
  address   = {American International University Bangladesh, Bangladesh (online)},
  day       = {12-13},
  month     = jan,
  url       = {https://aicss.aiub.edu/},
  abstract  = {In this talk, I would like to talk about the role of AI in general from a knowledge science perspective, using the heath care sector as an example. I discuss the role of AI to answer two questions: "Can doctors learn from AI?" and "Will patients listen to AI?".},
}
Soheil Keshmiri, "Higher Specificity of Multiscale Entropy than Permutation Entropy in Quantification of the Brain Activity in Response to Naturalistic Stimuli: a Comparative Study", In The 1st International Symposium on Human InformatiX: X-Dimensional Human Informatics and Biology, ATR, Kyoto, February, 2020.
Abstract: I provide results on the comparative analyses of these measures with the entropy of the human subjects’ EEG recordings who watched short movie clips that elicited negative, neutral, and positive affect. The analyses results identified significant anti-correlations between all MSE scales and the entropy of these EEG recordings that were stronger in the negative than the positive and the neutral states. They also showed that MSE significantly differentiated between the brain responses to these affect. On the other hand, these results indicated that PE failed to identify such significant correlations and differences between the negative, neutral, and positive affect. These results provide insights on the level of association between the entropy, the MSE, and the PE of the brain variability in response to naturalistic stimuli, thereby enabling researchers to draw more informed conclusions on quantification of the brain variability by these measures.
BibTeX:
@InProceedings{Keshmiri2020a,
  author    = {Soheil Keshmiri},
  booktitle = {The 1st International Symposium on Human InformatiX: X-Dimensional Human Informatics and Biology},
  title     = {Higher Specificity of Multiscale Entropy than Permutation Entropy in Quantification of the Brain Activity in Response to Naturalistic Stimuli: a Comparative Study},
  year      = {2020},
  address   = {ATR, Kyoto},
  day       = {27-28},
  month     = feb,
  abstract  = {I provide results on the comparative analyses of these measures with the entropy of the human subjects’ EEG recordings who watched short movie clips that elicited negative, neutral, and positive affect. The analyses results identified significant anti-correlations between all MSE scales and the entropy of these EEG recordings that were stronger in the negative than the positive and the neutral states. They also showed that MSE significantly differentiated between the brain responses to these affect. On the other hand, these results indicated that PE failed to identify such significant correlations and differences between the negative, neutral, and positive affect. These results provide insights on the level of association between the entropy, the MSE, and the PE of the brain variability in response to naturalistic stimuli, thereby enabling researchers to draw more informed conclusions on quantification of the brain variability by these measures.},
}
Soheil Keshmiri, Hidenobu Sumioka, Ryuji Yamazaki, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Older People Prefrontal Cortex Activation Estimates Their Perceived Difficulty of a Humanoid-Mediated Conversation", In 2019 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2019), The Venetian Macau, China, November, 2019.
Abstract: In this article, we extend our recent results on prediction of the older peoples’ perceived difficulty of verbal communication during a humanoid-mediated storytelling experiment to the case of a longitudinal conversation that was conducted over a four-week period and included a battery of conversational topics. For this purpose, we used our model that estimates the older people’s perceived difficulty by mapping their prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity during the verbal communication onto fine-grained cluster spaces of a working memory (WM) task that induces loads on human’s PFC through modulation of its difficulty level. This enables us to differentially quantify the observed changes in PFC activity during the conversation based on the difficulty level of the WM task. We show that such a quantification forms a reliable basis for learning the PFC activation patterns in response to conversational contents. Our results indicate the ability of our model for predicting the older peoples’ perceived difficulty of a wide range of humanoid-mediated tele-conversations, regardless of their type, topic, and duration.
BibTeX:
@InProceedings{Keshmiri2019b,
  author    = {Soheil Keshmiri and Hidenobu Sumioka and Ryuji Yamazaki and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  booktitle = {2019 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2019)},
  title     = {Older People Prefrontal Cortex Activation Estimates Their Perceived Difficulty of a Humanoid-Mediated Conversation},
  year      = {2019},
  address   = {The Venetian Macau, China},
  day       = {3-8},
  month     = nov,
  url       = {https://www.iros2019.org/},
  abstract  = {In this article, we extend our recent results on prediction of the older peoples’ perceived difficulty of verbal communication during a humanoid-mediated storytelling experiment to the case of a longitudinal conversation that was conducted over a four-week period and included a battery of conversational topics. For this purpose, we used our model that estimates the older people’s perceived difficulty by mapping their prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity during the verbal communication onto fine-grained cluster spaces of a working memory (WM) task that induces loads on human’s PFC through modulation of its difficulty level. This enables us to differentially quantify the observed changes in PFC activity during the conversation based on the difficulty level of the WM task. We show that such a quantification forms a reliable basis for learning the PFC activation patterns in response to conversational contents. Our results indicate the ability of our model for predicting the older peoples’ perceived difficulty of a wide range of humanoid-mediated tele-conversations, regardless of their type, topic, and duration.},
  comment   = {(also accepted and published in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L))},
}
Soheil Keshmiri, Hidenobu Sumioka, Ryuji Yamazaki, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Decoding the Perceived Difficulty of Communicated Contents by Older People: Toward Conversational Robot-Assistive Elderly Care", In 2019 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2019), The Venetian Macau, China, November, 2019.
Abstract: In this study, we propose a semi-supervised learning model for decoding of the perceived difficulty of communicated content by older people. Our model is based on mapping of the older people’s prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity during their verbal communication onto fine-grained cluster spaces of a working memory (WM) task that induces loads on human’s PFC through modulation of its difficulty level. This allows for differential quantification of the observed changes in pattern of PFC activation during verbal communication with respect to the difficulty level of the WM task. We show that such a quantification establishes a reliable basis for categorization and subsequently learning of the PFC responses to more naturalistic contents such as story comprehension. Our contribution is to present evidence on effectiveness of our method for estimation of the older peoples’ perceived difficulty of the communicated contents during an online storytelling scenario.
BibTeX:
@InProceedings{Keshmiri2019a,
  author    = {Soheil Keshmiri and Hidenobu Sumioka and Ryuji Yamazaki and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  booktitle = {2019 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2019)},
  title     = {Decoding the Perceived Difficulty of Communicated Contents by Older People: Toward Conversational Robot-Assistive Elderly Care},
  year      = {2019},
  address   = {The Venetian Macau, China},
  day       = {3-8},
  month     = nov,
  url       = {https://www.iros2019.org/},
  abstract  = {In this study, we propose a semi-supervised learning model for decoding of the perceived difficulty of communicated content by older people. Our model is based on mapping of the older people’s prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity during their verbal communication onto fine-grained cluster spaces of a working memory (WM) task that induces loads on human’s PFC through modulation of its difficulty level. This allows for differential quantification of the observed changes in pattern of PFC activation during verbal communication with respect to the difficulty level of the WM task. We show that such a quantification establishes a reliable basis for categorization and subsequently learning of the PFC responses to more naturalistic contents such as story comprehension. Our contribution is to present evidence on effectiveness of our method for estimation of the older peoples’ perceived difficulty of the communicated contents during an online storytelling scenario.},
  comment   = {(also accepted and published in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L))},
}
Soheil Keshmiri, "HRI and the Aging Society:Recent Findings on the Utility of Embodied Media for Stimulating the Brain Functioning", In Workshop on Socialware in human-robot interaction for symbiotic society in 7th annual International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction(HAI 2019), 京都工芸繊維大学, 京都, pp. 1-28, October, 2019.
Abstract: Physical embodiment of the media plays a crucial role in generating detectable brain responses to conversational interaction Entropic measures appear as reliable mathematical tools for quantification of such brain responses.
BibTeX:
@InProceedings{Keshmiri2019k,
  author    = {Soheil Keshmiri},
  booktitle = {Workshop on Socialware in human-robot interaction for symbiotic society in 7th annual International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction(HAI 2019)},
  title     = {HRI and the Aging Society:Recent Findings on the Utility of Embodied Media for Stimulating the Brain Functioning},
  year      = {2019},
  address   = {京都工芸繊維大学, 京都},
  day       = {6},
  month     = oct,
  pages     = {1-28},
  url       = {http://hai-conference.net/hai2019/},
  abstract  = {Physical embodiment of the media plays a crucial role in generating detectable brain responses to conversational interaction Entropic measures appear as reliable mathematical tools for quantification of such brain responses.},
}
Hidenobu Sumioka, "Mediated Social Touch to Build Human Intimate Relationship", In Emotional Attachment to Machines: New Ways of Relationship-Building in Japan, Freie Universiat, Germany, October, 2019.
Abstract: Interpersonal touch is a fundamental component of emotional attachment in social interaction and shows several effects such as stress reduction, a calming effect, and impression formation. Despite such effects on human, human-robot interactions have mainly focused on visual-auditory information. Although studies in machine-mediated interaction are developing various devices that provide tactile stimuli to human users, serious validation studies are scarce. In my talk, I present how touch interaction with our teleoperated robot and huggable communication medium affects our feeling, behavior, and physiological states, and discuss the potential for intimate interaction between human and robot at close distance.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Sumioka2019d,
  author    = {Hidenobu Sumioka},
  title     = {Mediated Social Touch to Build Human Intimate Relationship},
  booktitle = {Emotional Attachment to Machines: New Ways of Relationship-Building in Japan},
  year      = {2019},
  address   = {Freie Universiat, Germany},
  month     = oct,
  day       = {25-26},
  abstract  = {Interpersonal touch is a fundamental component of emotional attachment in social interaction and shows several effects such as stress reduction, a calming effect, and impression formation. Despite such effects on human, human-robot interactions have mainly focused on visual-auditory information. Although studies in machine-mediated interaction are developing various devices that provide tactile stimuli to human users, serious validation studies are scarce. In my talk, I present how touch interaction with our teleoperated robot and huggable communication medium affects our feeling, behavior, and physiological states, and discuss the potential for intimate interaction between human and robot at close distance.},
}
Xiqian Zheng, Masahiro Shiomi, Takashi Minato, Hirosh Ishiguro, "What Kinds of Robot's Touch Will Match Expressed Emotions?", In The 2019 IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots, Toronto, Canada, pp. 755-762, October, 2019.
Abstract: This study investigated the effects of touch characteristics that change the strengths and the naturalness of the emotions perceived by people in human-robot touch interaction with an android robot that has a feminine, human-like appearance. Past studies on human-robot touch interaction mainly focused on understanding what kinds of human touches conveyed emotion to robots, i.e., the robot’s touch characteristics that can affect people’s perceived emotions received less focus. In this study, we focused on three kinds of touch characteristics (length, type, and part) based on arousal/valence perspectives, their effects toward the perceived strength/naturalness of a commonly used emotion in human-robot interaction, i.e., happy, and its counterpart emotion, (i.e., sad) based on Ekman’s definitions. Our results showed that the touch length and its type are useful to change the perceived strengths and the naturalness of the expressed emotions based on the arousal/valence perspective, although the touch part did not fit such perspective assumptions. Finally, our results suggested that a brief pat and a longer touch by the fingers are better combinations to express happy and sad emotions with our robot.
BibTeX:
@InProceedings{Zheng2019,
  author    = {Xiqian Zheng and Masahiro Shiomi and Takashi Minato and Hirosh Ishiguro},
  booktitle = {The 2019 IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots},
  title     = {What Kinds of Robot's Touch Will Match Expressed Emotions?},
  year      = {2019},
  address   = {Toronto, Canada},
  day       = {15-17},
  month     = oct,
  pages     = {755-762},
  url       = {http://humanoids2019.loria.fr/},
  abstract  = {This study investigated the effects of touch characteristics that change the strengths and the naturalness of the emotions perceived by people in human-robot touch interaction with an android robot that has a feminine, human-like appearance. Past studies on human-robot touch interaction mainly focused on understanding what kinds of human touches conveyed emotion to robots, i.e., the robot’s touch characteristics that can affect people’s perceived emotions received less focus. In this study, we focused on three kinds of touch characteristics (length, type, and part) based on arousal/valence perspectives, their effects toward the perceived strength/naturalness of a commonly used emotion in human-robot interaction, i.e., happy, and its counterpart emotion, (i.e., sad) based on Ekman’s definitions. Our results showed that the touch length and its type are useful to change the perceived strengths and the naturalness of the expressed emotions based on the arousal/valence perspective, although the touch part did not fit such perspective assumptions. Finally, our results suggested that a brief pat and a longer touch by the fingers are better combinations to express happy and sad emotions with our robot.},
  comment   = {(also accepted and published in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L))},
}
Hidenobu Sumioka, Soheil Keshmiri, Masahiro Shiomi, "The influence of virtual Hug in human-human interaction", In Workshop on Socialware in human-robot interaction for symbiotic society in 7th annual International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction(HAI 2019), 京都工芸繊維大学, 京都, October, 2019.
Abstract: In this presentation, we will talk about what is required to achieve social touch between a human and a robot.
BibTeX:
@InProceedings{Sumioka2019c,
  author    = {Hidenobu Sumioka and Soheil Keshmiri and Masahiro Shiomi},
  booktitle = {Workshop on Socialware in human-robot interaction for symbiotic society in 7th annual International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction(HAI 2019)},
  title     = {The influence of virtual Hug in human-human interaction},
  year      = {2019},
  address   = {京都工芸繊維大学, 京都},
  month     = oct,
  url       = {http://hai-conference.net/hai2019/},
  abstract  = {In this presentation, we will talk about what is required to achieve social touch between a human and a robot.},
}
Sara Invitto, Alberto Grasso, Fabio Bona, Soheil Keshmiri, Hidenobu Sumioka, Masahiro Shiomi, Hiroshi Ishiguro, "Embodied communication through social odor, cortical spectral power and co-presence technology", In XXV Congresso AIP Sezione Sperimentale, Milano, Italy, September, 2019.
Abstract: Embodied communication (EC) happens through multisensory channels, involving not only linguistic and cognitive processes, but also complex cross-modal perceptive pathways. This type of bidirectional communication is applicable both to human interactions and to human-robot interaction (HRI). A cross-modal technological interface can increase the interaction and the feeling of co-presence (CP), highly related to an interactive relationship. Information Communication Technology (ICT) developed, in virtual interfaces, some embodied ‘communicative’ senses, placing little attention to the olfactory sense, which, instead, is developmentally and evolutionistically linked to social and affective relation. The purpose of this work is to investigate the EC through social odor (SO), EEG cortical spectral power and CP technology.
BibTeX:
@InProceedings{Invitto2019,
  author    = {Sara Invitto and Alberto Grasso and Fabio Bona and Soheil Keshmiri and Hidenobu Sumioka and Masahiro Shiomi and Hiroshi Ishiguro},
  booktitle = {XXV Congresso AIP Sezione Sperimentale},
  title     = {Embodied communication through social odor, cortical spectral power and co-presence technology},
  year      = {2019},
  address   = {Milano, Italy},
  day       = {18-20},
  month     = sep,
  url       = {https://aipass.org/xxv-congresso-aip-sezione-sperimentale-milano-san-raffaele-18-20-settembre-2019},
  abstract  = {Embodied communication (EC) happens through multisensory channels, involving not only linguistic and cognitive processes, but also complex cross-modal perceptive pathways. This type of bidirectional communication is applicable both to human interactions and to human-robot interaction (HRI). A cross-modal technological interface can increase the interaction and the feeling of co-presence (CP), highly related to an interactive relationship. Information Communication Technology (ICT) developed, in virtual interfaces, some embodied ‘communicative’ senses, placing little attention to the olfactory sense, which, instead, is developmentally and evolutionistically linked to social and affective relation. The purpose of this work is to investigate the EC through social odor (SO), EEG cortical spectral power and CP technology.},
}
劉超然, 石井カルロス寿憲, 石黒浩, 萩田紀博, "臨場感の伝わる遠隔操作システムのデザイン ~マイクロホンアレイ処理を用いた音環境の再構築~", In 第41回 人工知能学会 AIチャレンジ研究会, 慶應義塾大学日吉キャンパス 来住舎(東京), pp. 26-32, November, 2014.
Abstract: 本稿では遠隔地にあるロボットの周囲の音環境をマイクロフォンアレイ処理によって定位・分離し,ヴァーチャル位置にレンダリングするシステムを提案した。
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{劉超然2014,
  author    = {劉超然 and 石井カルロス寿憲 and 石黒浩 and 萩田紀博},
  title     = {臨場感の伝わる遠隔操作システムのデザイン ~マイクロホンアレイ処理を用いた音環境の再構築~},
  booktitle = {第41回 人工知能学会 AIチャレンジ研究会},
  year      = {2014},
  pages     = {26-32},
  address   = {慶應義塾大学日吉キャンパス 来住舎(東京)},
  month     = Nov,
  abstract  = {本稿では遠隔地にあるロボットの周囲の音環境をマイクロフォンアレイ処理によって定位・分離し,ヴァーチャル位置にレンダリングするシステムを提案した。},
  file      = {劉超然2014.pdf:pdf/劉超然2014.pdf:PDF},
}
Ryuji Yamazaki, Marco Nørskov, "Self-alteration in HRI", Poster presentation at International Conference : Going Beyond the Laboratory - Ethical and Societal Challenges for Robotics, Hanse Wissenschaftskolleg (HWK) - Institute for Advanced Study, Delmenhorst, Germany, February, 2014.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Yamazaki2014,
  author    = {Ryuji Yamazaki and Marco N\orskov},
  title     = {Self-alteration in HRI},
  booktitle = {International Conference : Going Beyond the Laboratory - Ethical and Societal Challenges for Robotics},
  year      = {2014},
  address   = {Hanse Wissenschaftskolleg (HWK) - Institute for Advanced Study, Delmenhorst, Germany},
  month     = Feb,
  day       = {13-15},
  file      = {Yamazaki2014.pdf:pdf/Yamazaki2014.pdf:PDF},
}
Ryuji Yamazaki, Shuichi Nishio, Kaiko Kuwamura, "Identity Construction of the Hybrid of Robot and Human", In 22nd IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, Workshop on Enhancement/Training of Social Robotics Teleoperation and its Applications, Gyeongju, Korea, August, 2013.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Yamazaki2013,
  author    = {Ryuji Yamazaki and Shuichi Nishio and Kaiko Kuwamura},
  title     = {Identity Construction of the Hybrid of Robot and Human},
  booktitle = {22nd IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, Workshop on Enhancement/Training of Social Robotics Teleoperation and its Applications},
  year      = {2013},
  address   = {Gyeongju, Korea},
  month     = Aug,
  day       = {26-29},
}
Yu Tsuruda, Maiya Hori, Hiroki Yoshimura, Yoshio Iwai, "Generation of Facial Expression Emphasized with Cartoon Techniques Using a Cellular-Phone-Type Teleoperated Robot with a Mobile Projector", In the 15th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (HCI 2013), Las Vegas, USA, pp. pp. 391-400, July, 2013.
Abstract: We propose a method for generating facial expressions emphasized with cartoon techniques using a cellular-phone-type teleoperated android with a mobile projector. Elfoid is designed to transmit the speaker’s presence to their communication partner using a camera and microphone, and has a soft exterior that provides the look and feel of human skin. To transmit the speaker’s presence, Elfoid sends not only the voice of the speaker but also emotional information captured by the camera and microphone. Elfoid cannot, however, display facial expressions because of its compactness and a lack of sufficiently small actuator motors. In this research, facial expressions are generated using Elfoid’s head-mounted mobile projector to overcome the problem. Additionally, facial expressions are emphasized using cartoon techniques: movements around the mouth and eyes are emphasized, the silhouette of the face and shapes of the eyes are varied by projection effects, and color stimuli that induce a particular emotion are added. In an experiment, representative face expressions are generated with Elfoid and emotions conveyed to users are investigated by subjective evaluation.
BibTeX:
@INPROCEEDINGS{Tsuruda2013a,
  author = {Yu Tsuruda and Maiya Hori and Hiroki Yoshimura and Yoshio Iwai},
  title = {Generation of Facial Expression Emphasized with Cartoon Techniques
	Using a Cellular-Phone-Type Teleoperated Robot with a Mobile Projector},
  booktitle = {the 15th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (HCI
	2013)},
  year = {2013},
  pages = {pp. 391-400},
  address = {Las Vegas, USA},
  month = Jul,
  abstract = {We propose a method for generating facial expressions emphasized with
	cartoon techniques using a cellular-phone-type teleoperated android
	with a mobile projector. Elfoid is designed to transmit the speaker’s
	presence to their communication partner using a camera and microphone,
	and has a soft exterior that provides the look and feel of human
	skin. To transmit the speaker’s presence, Elfoid sends not only the
	voice of the speaker but also emotional information captured by the
	camera and microphone. Elfoid cannot, however, display facial expressions
	because of its compactness and a lack of sufficiently small actuator
	motors. In this research, facial expressions are generated using
	Elfoid’s head-mounted mobile projector to overcome the problem. Additionally,
	facial expressions are emphasized using cartoon techniques: movements
	around the mouth and eyes are emphasized, the silhouette of the face
	and shapes of the eyes are varied by projection effects, and color
	stimuli that induce a particular emotion are added. In an experiment,
	representative face expressions are generated with Elfoid and emotions
	conveyed to users are investigated by subjective evaluation.},
  day = {21-26},
  doi = {10.1007/978-3-642-39342-6_43},
  url = {http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-642-39342-6_43}
}
Yuya Wada, Kazuaki Tanaka, Hideyuki Nakanishi, "Strengthening Social Telepresence and Social Bonding by a Remote Handshake", Poster presentation at International Conference on Human Robot Interaction (HRI 2013) Demo Session, Miraikan, Tokyo, March, 2013.
BibTeX:
@INPROCEEDINGS{Wada2013,
  author = {Yuya Wada and Kazuaki Tanaka and Hideyuki Nakanishi},
  title = {Strengthening Social Telepresence and Social Bonding by a Remote
	Handshake},
  booktitle = {International Conference on Human Robot Interaction ({HRI} 2013)
	Demo Session},
  year = {2013},
  address = {Miraikan, Tokyo},
  month = Mar,
  day = {3-6},
}
Maiya Hori, Hideki Takakura, Hironori Yoshimura, Yoshio Iwai, "Generation of Facial Expression for Communication Using Elfoid with Projector", In the International Workshop on Multimodal Pattern Recognition of Social Signals in Human Computer Interaction (MPRSS 2012), Tsukuba, Japan, November, 2012.
BibTeX:
@INPROCEEDINGS{Hori2012,
  author = {Maiya Hori and Hideki Takakura and Hironori Yoshimura and Yoshio
	Iwai},
  title = {Generation of Facial Expression for Communication Using Elfoid with
	Projector},
  booktitle = {the International Workshop on Multimodal Pattern Recognition of Social
	Signals in Human Computer Interaction (MPRSS 2012)},
  year = {2012},
  address = {Tsukuba, Japan},
  month = Nov,
  doi = {10.1007/978-3-642-39342-6_43},
  url = {http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-642-39342-6_43}
}
Yuhei Fujie, Maiya Hori, Hiroki Yoshimura, Yoshio Iwai, "Emotion Transmission Using a Cellular-phone-type Teleoperated Communication Robot with a Light-Emitting Diode", In the 2012 International Workshop on Human-Agent Interaction (iHAI 2012), 2012.
BibTeX:
@INPROCEEDINGS{Fujie2012,
  author = {Yuhei Fujie and Maiya Hori and Hiroki Yoshimura and Yoshio Iwai},
  title = {Emotion Transmission Using a Cellular-phone-type Teleoperated Communication
	Robot with a Light-Emitting Diode},
  booktitle = {the 2012 International Workshop on Human-Agent Interaction (i{HAI}
	2012)},
  year = {2012},
}
Carlos T. Ishi, Chaoran Liu, Hiroshi Ishiguro, Norihiro Hagita, "Tele-operating the lip motion of humanoid robots from the operator's voice", In 第29回日本ロボット学会学術講演会, 芝浦工業大学豊洲キャンパス, 東京, pp. C1J3-6, September, 2011.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Ishi2011,
  author          = {Carlos T. Ishi and Chaoran Liu and Hiroshi Ishiguro and Norihiro Hagita},
  title           = {Tele-operating the lip motion of humanoid robots from the operator's voice},
  booktitle       = {第29回日本ロボット学会学術講演会},
  year            = {2011},
  pages           = {C1J3-6},
  address         = {芝浦工業大学豊洲キャンパス, 東京},
  month           = Sep,
  day             = {7-9},
  file            = {Ishi2011.pdf:pdf/Ishi2011.pdf:PDF},
}
Panikos Heracleous, Norihiro Hagita, "A visual mode for communication in the deaf society", In Spring Meeting of Acoustical Society of Japan, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan, pp. 57-60, March, 2011.
Abstract: In this article, automatic recognition of Cued Speech in French based on hidden Markov models (HMMs) is presented. Cued Speech is a visual mode, which uses hand shapes in different positions and in combination with lip-patterns of speech makes all the sounds of spoken language clearly understandable to deaf and hearing-impaired people. The aim of Cued Speech is to overcome the problems of lip-reading and thus enable deaf children and adults to understand full spoken language. In this study, lip shape component is fused with hand component using multi-stream HMM decision fusion to realize Cued Speech recognition, and continuous phoneme recognition experiments using data from a normal-hearing and a deaf cuer were conducted. In the case of the normal-hearing cuer, the obtained phoneme correct was 87.3%, and in the case of the deaf cuer 84.3%. The current study also includes the description of Cued Speech in Japanese.
BibTeX:
@Inproceedings{Heracleous2011d,
  author          = {Panikos Heracleous and Norihiro Hagita},
  title           = {A visual mode for communication in the deaf society},
  booktitle       = {Spring Meeting of Acoustical Society of Japan},
  year            = {2011},
  series          = {2-5-6},
  pages           = {57--60},
  address         = {Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan},
  month           = Mar,
  abstract        = {In this article, automatic recognition of Cued Speech in French based on hidden Markov models ({HMM}s) is presented. Cued Speech is a visual mode, which uses hand shapes in different positions and in combination with lip-patterns of speech makes all the sounds of spoken language clearly understandable to deaf and hearing-impaired people. The aim of Cued Speech is to overcome the problems of lip-reading and thus enable deaf children and adults to understand full spoken language. In this study, lip shape component is fused with hand component using multi-stream HMM decision fusion to realize Cued Speech recognition, and continuous phoneme recognition experiments using data from a normal-hearing and a deaf cuer were conducted. In the case of the normal-hearing cuer, the obtained phoneme correct was 87.3%, and in the case of the deaf cuer 84.3%. The current study also includes the description of Cued Speech in Japanese.},
  file            = {Heracleous2011d.pdf:Heracleous2011d.pdf:PDF},
}

Contact: hil-contact@atr.jp