Yusaku Nishiwaki

Papers

Total Citations

H-Index

About

Yusaku Nishiwaki is a pioneering researcher in human-robot interaction (HRI), focusing on how robot group dynamics and designed vulnerabilities shape social engagement. His most influential work, "Threatening Flocks and Mindful Snowflakes" (2017, 60 citations), challenges conventional one-to-one HRI by examining how entitativity—the perception of a group as a unified entity—can provoke negative or aggressive behaviors in humans toward robot collectives, offering critical insights for deploying robot groups in public spaces. Nishiwaki also explores the power of robot weakness through projects like "iBones" (2017, 9 citations), a social robot that distributes tissue packs by appearing helpless, thereby arousing human sympathy and willingness to assist. Extending this concept, his "Talking-Bones" (2019, 4 citations) features a forgetful robot that intentionally stumbles over stories, prompting humans to collaboratively recall missing words—a design that transforms perceived incompetence into a tool for deeper interaction. By demonstrating that fragility and forgetfulness can foster cooperation and empathy, Nishiwaki’s work redefines robot design paradigms, moving beyond efficiency to embrace vulnerability as a catalyst for meaningful human-robot relationships.