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About

Yosuke Hoshi is a pioneering researcher in human-robot interaction, with a specialized focus on designing socially intelligent museum guide robots. His work centers on developing robots that can engage multiple visitors through nuanced nonverbal communication, particularly by leveraging gaze as a selective tool for interaction. Hoshi’s major contribution lies in creating robots that can observe and respond to visitors’ gaze responses to choose appropriate answerers during question-and-answer sessions, effectively mimicking human guide behaviors. His most influential paper, "Revealing Gauguin" (2009), with 81 citations, introduces a groundbreaking approach where a robot guide uses ethnographic fieldwork insights to explain art exhibits, fostering deeper visitor engagement. This work is complemented by his development of a robot with three integrated communication modes—autonomous, remote-control, and remote-interactive—enabling seamless adaptation to diverse social contexts. Through detailed video analysis of human guides, Hoshi has demonstrated how robots can use pre-question and during-question gaze to select answerers, enhancing interactive museum experiences. His research, though modest in citation counts for individual papers, represents a foundational step toward more natural and effective human-robot collaboration in public spaces.