Tetsuya Watanabe

The University of Osaka, Saitama University

Papers

Total Citations

155

H-Index

About

Tetsuya Watanabe is a pioneering researcher in human-robot interaction, with a focus on android teleoperation and the psychological and physiological mechanisms underlying body ownership transfer. His most influential work, "Exploring the Natural Reaction of Young and Aged Person with Telenoid in a Real World" (2011, 103 citations), investigates how people of different ages interact with his team’s minimalist android, Telenoid R1, in naturalistic settings like shopping malls. This study revealed key insights into the social acceptance of androids across generations. Watanabe’s subsequent work, "Body Ownership Transfer to Teleoperated Android Robot" (2012, 46 citations), explores how operators can feel a sense of embodiment when controlling a remote android—a foundational concept for telepresence and assistive robotics. His research bridges engineering, cognitive science, and social robotics, with implications for elderly care and remote communication. Though his earlier work on fingertip friction modeling (2008) demonstrates a broader interest in haptics, his core contributions lie in advancing our understanding of how humans perceive and bond with robotic avatars. Watanabe’s studies have shaped the design of more intuitive, human-centered teleoperated systems.