Yukiko Uehara

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Total Citations

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About

Yukiko Uehara is a robotics researcher whose work centers on human-robot interaction, affective computing, and expressive robotic systems. Her research focuses on developing intuitive communication interfaces between humans and robots, with a particular emphasis on using eye and eyelid motion as a medium for conveying emotional and intentional states. Uehara's most recognized contribution is her pioneering work on eye robot systems designed for mascot and information terminal robots, explored through the lens of humatronics — a field bridging human psychology and robotic engineering. Her 2006 paper on mentality expression within an affinity pleasure-arousal space, which has garnered 10 citations, introduced a novel framework for mapping emotional states to ocular movements, enabling robots to express nuanced mental states nonverbally. Complementing this, her work on fuzzy inference-based mentality estimation applies soft computing techniques to interpret and simulate robot "emotions," making interactions feel more natural and intuitive. Collectively, her publications demonstrate a sustained commitment to making robots more socially legible, particularly in household and public-facing contexts. While her citation counts are modest, her contributions represent foundational explorations in a rapidly growing area of socially intelligent robotics that continues to inform contemporary human-robot communication research.