Papers
22
Total Citations
841
H-Index
12
About
Hideki Asoh is a pioneering researcher in human-robot interaction, symbol emergence, and socially intelligent robotics, whose work has fundamentally shaped how robots communicate and learn within human environments. He is perhaps best known for his landmark development of Jijo-2, an office mobile robot that integrates speech recognition, dialogue management, and statistical learning to navigate real-world office settings and converse naturally with humans — work that has collectively garnered nearly 300 citations. His influential 2016 survey on symbol emergence in robotics (153 citations) examined how robots might autonomously develop symbol systems through environmental interaction, mirroring human language acquisition. Asoh's contributions extend to multimodal speech processing, including audio-visual information fusion for humanoid robot HRP-2 (113 citations) and sophisticated sound source localization techniques. His concept of "socially embedded learning," introduced in the late 1990s, was notably forward-thinking, anticipating modern approaches to robots learning through social context. More recently, his work on motion segmentation using Hidden Semi-Markov Models and Gaussian Processes reflects a sustained commitment to advancing machine understanding of continuous human behavior. Across decades of research, Asoh has consistently bridged machine learning, speech technology, and embodied robotics into coherent, practically deployable systems.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1Symbol emergence in robotics: a survey153 citations · 2016
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- 3Jijo-2: an office robot that communicates and learns104 citations · 2001
- 4Socially embedded learning of the office-conversant mobile robot Jijo-283 citations · 1997
- 5Jijo-2: an office robot that communicates and learns71 citations · 2001
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- 8Sound source localization and signal separation for office robot "JiJo-2"52 citations · 2003
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- 10Natural dialogue with the Jijo-2 office robot30 citations · 2002