Using humanoid robots to study human behavior

Our understanding of human behavior advances as our humanoid robotics work progresses-and vice versa. This team's work focuses on trajectory formation and planning, learning from demonstration, oculomotor control and interactive behaviors. They are programming robotic behavior based on how we humans “program” behavior in-or train-each other

Strategic human resource management: An agenda for Japanese companies in the 21st century

All firms globally are responding to a new and unprecedented set of business challenges. Securing competitive advantage and high performance is harder than it has ever been because the 21st century is a far more complicated and changeable global operating environment. New technologies are turning established industries upside down. New and non-traditional competitors from anywhere in the world are wrestling market share from established companies across all sectors and in domestic markets. Customer buying behaviour is reshaping expectations of variety, bundling and personalisation of the products and services they purchase. Sales cycles are getting ever shorter. All of these drivers of change, and more, are forcing leadership teams to urgently reevaluate where they wish to compete for market share, which strategies will yield best results and how to build organisations – and valuable human resources especially - capable of delivering those strategies. It is well understood that managing human resources effectively is critical to firm performance . And yet, established human resource strategies don’t seem up to the task of securing performance and value in the face of 21st century organizational requirements for enhanced integration, agility and innovation . For instance, Japanese human resource management (HRM) has been characterized traditionally by three distinct features: lifetime employment, seniority based pay and promotion, and corporate unions. These employment practices were once the source of Japan’s tremendous industrial success. They are now considered by some to be out-dated and the cause of underperformance. Many up and coming executives we speak to in established Japanese companies express appetite for looking to the international scene for inspiration for how their company might reinvigorate their workforces and perform better. </p

Strategic human resource management: An agenda for Japanese companies in the 21st century

All firms globally are responding to a new and unprecedented set of business challenges. Securing competitive advantage and high performance is harder than it has ever been because the 21st century is a far more complicated and changeable global operating environment. New technologies are turning established industries upside down. New and non-traditional competitors from anywhere in the world are wrestling market share from established companies across all sectors and in domestic markets. Customer buying behaviour is reshaping expectations of variety, bundling and personalisation of the products and services they purchase. Sales cycles are getting ever shorter. All of these drivers of change, and more, are forcing leadership teams to urgently reevaluate where they wish to compete for market share, which strategies will yield best results and how to build organisations – and valuable human resources especially - capable of delivering those strategies. It is well understood that managing human resources effectively is critical to firm performance . And yet, established human resource strategies don’t seem up to the task of securing performance and value in the face of 21st century organizational requirements for enhanced integration, agility and innovation . For instance, Japanese human resource management (HRM) has been characterized traditionally by three distinct features: lifetime employment, seniority based pay and promotion, and corporate unions. These employment practices were once the source of Japan’s tremendous industrial success. They are now considered by some to be out-dated and the cause of underperformance. Many up and coming executives we speak to in established Japanese companies express appetite for looking to the international scene for inspiration for how their company might reinvigorate their workforces and perform better. </p

KASPAR - a minimally expressive humanoid robot for human-robot interaction research

Original article can be found at: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t778164488~db=all Copyright Taylor and Francis / InformaThis paper provides a comprehensive introduction to the design of the minimally expressive robot KASPAR, which is particularly suitable for human-robot interaction studies. A low-cost design with off-the-shelf components has been used in a novel design inspired from a multi-disciplinary viewpoint, including comics design and Japanese Noh theatre. The design rationale of the robot and its technical features are described in detail. Three research studies will be presented that have been using KASPAR extensively. Firstly, we present its application in robot-assisted play and therapy for children with autism. Secondly, we illustrate its use in human-robot interaction studies investigating the role of interaction kinesics and gestures. Lastly, we describe a study in the field of developmental robotics into computational architectures based on interaction histories for robot ontogeny. The three areas differ in the way as to how the robot is being operated and its role in social interaction scenarios. Each will be introduced briefly and examples of the results will be presented. Reflections on the specific design features of KASPAR that were important in these studies and lessons learnt from these studies concerning the design of humanoid robots for social interaction will also be discussed. An assessment of the robot in terms of utility of the design for human-robot interaction experiments concludes the paper.Peer reviewe