Prof. Hiroshi Ishiguro: Human, android, and media (TEDx)

In this talk

1. 1:41

   Robots as a way to study people

   Ishiguro says questions about why people work and what makes them human motivate his robotics research. Since starting his project in 1991, he has focused on interactive robots for everyday life, exploring how appearance, perception, behavior, and sensing shape human interaction.

2. 4:47

   Teleoperated androids can convey presence

   Ishiguro describes an android controlled remotely over the internet: an operator’s head movements and voice drive the robot’s movements and speech. People may initially notice its artificial features, then grow comfortable talking with it; operators can also come to experience its body as their own. He gives examples of remote meetings, a café experiment, and sharing a meal with a staff member who disliked eating alone.

3. 8:21

   Androids challenge ideas about identity

   Ishiguro argues that people have limited awareness of their own faces, voices, and movements, which helps explain why they can identify with a robot synchronized to them. He also describes an android conversation with a blind person, where the robot enabled a sense of shape and touch beyond what a standard video call could offer. These cases raise questions about how presence and trust shape who people recognize as human.

4. 14:13

   Minimal design invites imagination

   Ishiguro says androids can represent people in ways that exceed ordinary human presence, and that the most human-like design need not be the most realistic one. His “minimal human” design leaves age and gender unclear, allowing listeners to imagine who is speaking; he says this approach worked well in conversations involving older people and children.

5. 17:12

   Making communication devices feel human

   Based on elder-care applications in Denmark, Ishiguro proposes making media more human-like and describes a phone-shaped robot intended to convey a distant speaker’s presence. He contrasts this with phones that mainly offer voice interaction and asks whether a human-like device could make talking with technology more natural. He closes by framing robots as a way to investigate whether people can recognize a mind or heart through belief and interaction.