Papers
8
Total Citations
52
H-Index
4
About
Tomo Funayama is a pioneering researcher in human-robot interaction, specializing in the development and deployment of android robots for natural, hospitable dialogue. His most significant contribution is the creation of "SŌTO," a masculine android platform (22 citations), which has become a key tool for studying gender effects in social touch and interaction. Funayama is best known for founding the world’s first Dialogue Robot Competition series (2020–2023), which systematically benchmarks spoken dialogue systems using humanoid robots in real-world tasks like travel agency recommendations. His work on motion generation during laughing speech (8 citations) advances the naturalness of android expressions, while his recent study on "robot harassment" (2025, 1 citation) critically examines antisocial behaviors toward androids during a three-year exhibition. With over 50 total citations across his most-cited papers, Funayama’s research bridges engineering and social science, demonstrating how androids can serve as platforms for studying both cooperative and adversarial human-robot dynamics. His competition framework has become a global benchmark, inspiring new approaches to evaluating robot hospitality and dialogue quality.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1SŌTO22 citations · 2020
- 2
- 3Motion generation in android robots during laughing speech8 citations · 2016
- 4
- 5Overview of Dialogue Robot Competition 20222 citations · 2022
- 6Overview of Dialogue Robot Competition 20232 citations · 2024
- 7
- 8