Shushi Namba

Kyoto Research Park, Hiroshima University

Papers

Total Citations

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About

Shushi Namba is a pioneering researcher at the intersection of social psychology and human-robot interaction, whose work focuses on how androids can achieve emotionally intelligent, human-like communication. His primary research areas include the spatiotemporal validation of robotic facial expressions and the optimization of non-verbal social signals in androids. Namba’s major contribution lies in empirically validating that androids can produce authentic, human-like emotional expressions—a critical step for believable social robots. His most cited work, "An Android for Emotional Interaction" (2022, 36 citations), provides the first rigorous spatiotemporal validation of an android’s facial expressions, demonstrating that these robots can reliably convey emotions like happiness and surprise. He further advanced the field by applying Bayesian optimization to fine-tune robotic facial movements, making expression generation more efficient and natural. Namba has also explored subtle social cues, such as the "thinking face," examining how androids can signal cognitive states like "now loading..." to enhance interaction transparency. His research is foundational for developing androids that can engage in seamless, emotionally resonant communication with humans, bridging the gap between mechanical precision and social authenticity.