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About

Hironori Matsuzaki is a leading scholar at the intersection of robotics, ethics, and society, whose work critically examines the cultural and normative dimensions of humanoid and service robots. His research spans key areas including humanoid robotics development, the societal reception of autonomous systems, and comparative cross-cultural analysis of robotic care. Matsuzaki’s major contributions include co-developing the iconic Waseda University humanoids Hadaly-2 and WABIAN (110 citations), which advanced bipedal locomotion and human-robot interaction. He is also renowned for articulating the “autonomy-safety-paradox” in service robotics (37 citations), a framework that exposes the inherent tension between robot independence and human safety across Europe and Japan. His influential German-language study on the societal status of humanoid robots (26 citations) probes whether these machines should be obedient servants or equal partners, challenging technocentric narratives. More recently, Matsuzaki has pioneered comparative research on “norms of care,” revealing how cultural expectations shape the acceptance of robotic assistance in nursing (2023). His interdisciplinary approach—bridging engineering, sociology, and legal studies—has made him a vital voice in debates on risk, regulation, and the ethical integration of robots into aging societies.