Papers
70
Total Citations
668
H-Index
14
About
Kenichi Ohara is a robotics researcher whose work spans human-robot interaction, autonomous navigation, bipedal locomotion, and robot psychology. His research is distinguished by its ambition to make robots genuinely compatible with human social environments — not merely functional, but socially intelligent. Ohara's most influential contributions center on social navigation and collision avoidance. His modified Social Force Model, which incorporates body pose and face orientation to anticipate human movement, has garnered 54 citations and represents a meaningful advance in how robots interpret human intent in shared spaces. A companion paper on social navigation using face orientation further cemented this approach with 33 citations. Equally notable is his sustained investigation into how humans psychologically perceive humanoid robots. Through the development of evaluation instruments such as PERNOD and related scales, and through direct comparisons of virtual and real humanoids, Ohara has helped establish a rigorous empirical foundation for robot-oriented psychology — work collectively drawing over 90 citations. His technical breadth is evident in contributions to bipedal rough-terrain walking using ZMP criteria maps, ubiquitous robot localization, vision-based dismantling robotics, and real-time trajectory planning for mobile manipulators. Together, these works position Ohara as a versatile researcher bridging the mechanical and social dimensions of robotics.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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- 2Ubiquitous Localization and Mapping for Robots with Ambient Intelligence35 citations · 2006
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- 6Rough terrain walking for bipedal robot by using ZMP criteria map25 citations · 2009
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- 9Development of a scale of perception to humanoid robots: PERNOD19 citations · 2010
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