Kana Higashino
Papers
2
Total Citations
20
H-Index
2
About
Dr. Kana Higashino is a leading researcher in human-robot interaction, with a specific focus on how tactile and social stimuli influence human motivation and performance in virtual and physical environments. Her work bridges robotics, psychology, and human-computer interaction to explore the nuanced ways robots can encourage and engage people. In her highly cited 2021 study (11 citations), she demonstrated that tactile stimulus is essential for increasing motivation during touch interactions in virtual environments, showing that adding physical feedback to visual cues significantly boosts user engagement in monotonous tasks. Her 2023 work (9 citations) broke new ground by comparing the effects of polite versus impolite robot encouragement, revealing unexpected insights into how a robot's attitude impacts not only a user's performance and mood, but also the propagation of that behavior to others. These studies are pivotal for designing more effective and socially aware robots for education, therapy, and workplace assistance. Dr. Higashino’s research is shaping the future of how we design robots that can genuinely motivate and connect with humans.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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