Mika Yasumoto

Papers

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About

Mika Yasumoto’s research sits at the intersection of human-robot interaction and virtual reality, exploring how people psychologically perceive and physically coexist with humanoid robots. Her most influential work, “Comparative evaluation of virtual and real humanoid with robot-oriented psychology scale” (2011, 25 citations), pioneered a direct comparison between real robots and their VR counterparts. By employing a robot-oriented psychology scale, she demonstrated whether virtual robots could reliably substitute for physical ones in experimental settings—a foundational insight for cost-effective and scalable HRI research. Yasumoto also made important contributions to understanding personal space around humanoid robots. In studies from 2010 and 2011, she measured the comfortable distances humans maintain when facing both real and VR-presented humanoids, revealing how presentation method influences spatial behavior. Her work is notable for its methodological rigor: by systematically comparing real and virtual platforms, she helped validate VR as a tool for studying social robotics. Though her citation counts are modest, Yasumoto’s research addresses a core challenge in robotics—how to design robots that respect human social norms—and provides practical frameworks for evaluating robot presence in both physical and simulated environments.