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About

Satomi Sugiyama is a leading scholar at the intersection of human-computer interaction, social robotics, and media studies, with a particular focus on how mobile information and communication technologies (ICTs) and social robots reshape human emotion, identity, and social bonds. Her work critically examines the blurring boundaries between humans and machines, exploring how devices become extensions of the self and relational partners. In her most cited paper, “The Automation of Taste” (2015, 46 citations), Sugiyama offers a groundbreaking theoretical framework for understanding how mobile ICTs and social robots curate music consumption, effectively automating personal aesthetics. Her research on “Social Robots and Emotion” (2013, 19 citations) challenges traditional divides by analyzing how robots simulate and evoke human emotional responses. A notable contribution is her Japanese case study, “Melding with the Self, Melding with Relational Partners” (2013, 17 citations), which reveals how young people in Japan experience mobile devices as quasi-social robots, merging with their sense of self and relational networks. Sugiyama also co-edited a special issue of the *International Journal of Social Robotics* (2015), further cementing her role in shaping critical discourse on robotic form and content. Her work has profound implications for designing empathetic, socially integrated technologies.