Goals:
- Study how the TIAGo robot should act effectively in different cultures by adjusting its human interaction.
- What kind of interaction is best, and how does this differ between Norway and Japan (verbal and non-verbal regarding distance/speed/timing etc. during a session)?
- There is a possibility of collaborating with people at Kyoto University where a master’s student started on a project in 2026 (he will submit his Master's thesis February 2028).
What to do (possible to collaborate with master's student in Japan):
- Create an interaction game for rehabilitation with the TIAGo robot where objects have to be moved between locations (near or far).
- Test different interaction styles between participants and the robot.
- Compare how the results in Norway vs Japan are similar and different.
HRI-lab contacts in Japan: Prof. Kanda and Assoc. Prof. Dražen Brščić's, they also have the same type of robot as us in ROBIN.
University of Oslo contact: Prof. Jim Torresen
References
A popular science introduction to physical therapy.
Fazekas, Gábor. (2013). Robotics in rehabilitation: Successes and expectations. International journal of rehabilitation research. 36. 10.1097/MRR.0b013e32836195d1.
Gassert, R., Dietz, V. Rehabilitation robots for the treatment of sensorimotor deficits: a neurophysiological perspective. J NeuroEngineering Rehabil 15, 46 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12984-018-0383-x https://doi.org/10.1186/s12984-018-0383-x
Earlier master projects undertaken i collaboration with Sunnaas:
- (Haakon Drews: Classification of Error Types in Physiotherapy Exercises (2017) )
- Vincent C. Olsen, Robotic Rehabilitation Aiding with Upper-limb Impairments – Using the Robot TIAGo, ROBIN Master's thesis, June 2022
Kanda-lab work that may be relevant:
X. Pan, M. Doering, S. H. Seo and T. Kanda, "Communicating Physical Properties Through Robot Object Manipulation," 2025 20th ACM/IEEE Int. Conf. on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), Melbourne, Australia, 2025, pp. 738-746, doi: 10.1109/HRI61500.2025.10973989
Rui Chen, Takashi Minato, Takayuki Kanda, “Wow, You’re Really the Champion of the Resting Competition’ , Huh?!”: Robot Knows How to Use Irony Effectively, ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction, Vol.15, No.1, pp.1-33, 2025.9.18. [DOI:10.1145/3759157]
Sachi Edirisinghe, Satoru Satake, Takayuki Kanda, Welcome to the Shop! Field Trial of a VLM-powered Autonomous Shop Worker Robot, Proceedings of the 21st ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI2026), 2026.3.16. [DOI:10.1145/3757279.3785619]