Hiroki Kunimura

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About

Hiroki Kunimura’s research lies at the fascinating intersection of human-robot interaction, affective computing, and developmental robotics. He is best known for creating “YOTARO,” a baby-type robot designed to elicit innate caregiving and emotional responses from humans. Through this work, Kunimura explored how people unconsciously smile, wave, or make eye contact with infants—and how robots can be engineered to trigger these same nurturing instincts. His studies on YOTARO have been cited over a dozen times, laying foundational insights into how non-verbal social cues can be used to build more intuitive, emotionally resonant robots. By focusing on the universal human tendency to respond to babies, Kunimura’s contributions have implications for assistive robotics, therapy, and understanding the roots of social bonding. His work stands out for its creative use of a simple, baby-like platform to probe deep questions about empathy, attachment, and the design of robots that feel less like machines and more like companions.