Hirofumi Katsuno

About

Hirofumi Katsuno is a cultural anthropologist whose research sits at the fascinating intersection of human-robot relations, artificial emotional intelligence, and Japanese technoculture. Best known for his foundational 1992 paper "On the Difference between Updating a Knowledge Base and Revising It" — a landmark contribution to knowledge representation in artificial intelligence that has garnered 80 citations — Katsuno has since carved out a distinctive scholarly niche examining how Japanese society negotiates questions of animacy, intimacy, and personhood through robotic technologies. His ethnographic work explores how humanoid and social robots become objects of genuine emotional investment, as seen in his widely cited studies of robot pet memorial services and android bodhisattvas in Buddhist temples. With 48 citations, his 2021 essay on robot pet memorials demonstrates how a culturally specific "sense of life" shapes both robotics design and human attachment. Across multiple papers, Katsuno challenges simplistic East-West dichotomies in AI discourse, arguing that Japanese narratives of human-machine partnership reflect deeply embedded cultural and spiritual values. His more recent work on Buddhist models of emotion for human-robot flourishing signals an exciting and provocative new direction, bringing contemplative philosophy into conversation with cutting-edge affective computing research.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   On the Difference between Updating a Knowledge Base and Revising It

   80 citations · 1992
2. 2
   Toward an Affective Sense of Life: Artificial Intelligence, Animacy, and Amusement at a Robot Pet Memorial Service in Japan

   48 citations · 2021
3. 3
   The Robot's Heart: Tinkering with Humanity and Intimacy in Robot-Building

   45 citations · 2011
4. 4
   Engineering Robots with Heart in Japan

   15 citations · 2023
5. 5
   Modelling emotion, perfecting heart: disassembling technologies of affect with an android bodhisattva in Japan

   7 citations · 2022
6. 6
   Haptic Creatures

   7 citations · 2021
7. 7
   TOWARD AN AFFECTIVE SENSE OF LIFE: Artificial Intelligence, Animacy, and Amusement at a Robot Pet Memorial Service in Japan

   6 citations · 2021
8. 8
   Cultural Anthropology for Social Emotion Modeling: Principles of Application toward Diversified Social Signal Processing

   5 citations · 2019
9. 9
   The Japanese Pursuit of Human–Robot Companionship

   3 citations · 2023
10. 10
    Mindful Machines: Buddhist Models of Emotion for Human–Robot Flourishing

    2 citations · 2025

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links