Robot Family System (RFS)
We are developing a foundational system for a new type of family composed of people and agents, including robots. Specifically, we are creating a basic operational environment that combines state-of-the-art conversational artificial intelligence (AI) and multiagent systems on the Robot Operating System (ROS) platform. Our goal is to make this environment available worldwide.
Taichi Hirano and Fumihide Tanaka. Dialogue Generation for Robot Family Using ROS and Generative AI: Initial Implementation of Centralized and Distributed Systems. 2026 IEEE/SICE International Symposium on System Integration (SII), Cancun, Mexico, 2026. (Paper PDF)
Physical AI
Our research focuses on developing general-purpose AI models, including VLM and VLA, for future applications in social robotics and human-robot interaction (HRI). While current mainstream AI relies on foundational models trained on text data, the forefront of research is shifting toward developing more versatile foundational models trained on video data. These models are better suited for real-world environments. Through our collaboration with the University of Washington, a world leader in this field, we are acquiring these insights and integrating them into our HRI and social robotics research and development.
Reliebo
Youchan Yim, Yohei Noguchi, and Fumihide Tanaka. A wearable soft robot that can alleviate the pain and fear of the wearer. Scientific Reports, 2022 (Paper PDF)
Youchan Yim and Fumihide Tanaka. Development of an Inflatable Haptic Device for Pain Reduction by Social Touch. HRI, 2021 [Awarded Best Student Robot Design] (Paper PDF)
OMOY
Yohei Noguchi and Fumihide Tanaka. OMOY: A Handheld Robotic Gadget that Shifts its Weight to Express Emotions and Intentions. CHI, 2020 (Paper PDF)
Yohei Noguchi, Hiroko Kamide, and Fumihide Tanaka. Weight Shift Movements of a Social Mediator Robot Make It Being Recognized as Serious and Suppress Anger, Revenge and Avoidance Motivation of the User. Frontiers in Robotics and AI, 2022 (Paper PDF)
Other Research Projects
temperature robot
Connecting People
Reinforcement Learning