Michita Imai

About

Michita Imai is a pioneering researcher in human-robot interaction (HRI), whose work has fundamentally shaped how robots communicate and coexist with humans in everyday social environments. Best known for his contributions to the development of **Robovie** — an interaction-oriented humanoid robot designed to engage naturally with people — Imai's research bridges cognitive science and robotics to enable richer, more intuitive human-machine relationships. His early papers on Robovie (2001–2004) collectively earned over 800 citations, establishing the platform as a landmark achievement in social robotics. Imai's research extends beyond hardware, delving into the nuanced dynamics of nonverbal communication, joint attention, body movement analysis, and conversational timing. His investigations into system response time in communication robots offer practical design guidelines still relevant to developers today. Notably, his 2009 study on robot approach behavior — drawing lessons from real-world deployment in a shopping mall — demonstrates his commitment to grounding research in authentic human contexts. His work on gesture-integrated route direction generation further highlights his interest in multimodal, socially aware robot behavior. With a body of work exceeding 1,500 cumulative citations, Imai remains an influential voice in making robots genuinely capable social partners.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   How to approach humans?

   300 citations · 2009
2. 2
   Development and evaluation of an interactive humanoid robot "Robovie"

   272 citations · 2003
3. 3
   Development and evaluation of interactive humanoid robots

   267 citations · 2004
4. 4
   Robovie: an interactive humanoid robot

   261 citations · 2001
5. 5
   Physical relation and expression: joint attention for human~robot interaction

   172 citations · 2003
6. 6
   A humanoid robot that pretends to listen to route guidance from a human

   108 citations · 2006
7. 7
   How quickly should communication robots respond?

   108 citations · 2008
8. 8
   Body movement analysis of human-robot interaction

   86 citations · 2003
9. 9
   Providing route directions

   83 citations · 2009
10. 10
    How Quickly Should a Communication Robot Respond? Delaying Strategies and Habituation Effects

    76 citations · 2009

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links