Kennsuke Kato

Papers

Total Citations

231

H-Index

About

Kensuke Kato is a pioneering researcher in human-robot interaction, best known for his groundbreaking work on cross-cultural attitudes toward robots. His research focuses on understanding how cultural backgrounds shape people’s perceptions, fears, and acceptance of robotic technology. Kato’s most influential study, “A cross-cultural study on attitudes towards robots” (2005, 144 citations), challenged prevailing assumptions by revealing that Japanese participants did not hold more positive attitudes toward robots than their Dutch or Chinese counterparts—a finding that reshaped global discourse on robotics acceptance. He extended this work in “Cultural Differences in Attitudes Towards Robots” (2005, 87 citations), comparing responses across six nations and discovering that American participants were the least negative toward robots. These studies introduced the Negative Attitude towards Robots Scale (NARS) as a standard measurement tool, now widely used in robotics and social science research. Kato’s contributions have been instrumental in demonstrating that cultural context is critical to designing robots for global markets, influencing both academic research and industry practices. His work remains essential reading for anyone studying the social implications of robotics.