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About

Yoshihiro Kai is a pioneering nursing and healthcare researcher whose work sits at the transformative intersection of robotics, caring science, and gerontological practice. With a career devoted to understanding how technology can humanely complement nursing care, Kai has emerged as a leading voice in the integration of robots into healthcare settings, particularly for older adult populations. Kai's most influential contribution, "Robots and Robotics in Nursing" (2022, 75 citations), established a foundational framework for understanding robots as partners within nursing theory rather than mere mechanical tools. Building on this, his earlier trilogy of 2019 papers explored real-world applications of Pepper, a humanoid robot, examining transactive relationships between older adults and care workers, safety management protocols, and the philosophical grounding of robotics within Japanese caring perspectives — collectively accumulating nearly 60 citations. Beyond clinical application, Kai has tackled critical dimensions of robot-assisted care, including legal liability frameworks, autonomic nervous system responses in patients with schizophrenia, and innovative research design methodologies tailored for human-robot interaction studies. His development of velocity-based mechanical safety devices for walking support robots further demonstrates his commitment to patient safety. Across his body of work, Kai has shaped how the nursing community conceptualizes, implements, and ethically interrogates the role of robots in human care.