KANSEI Robotics to Open a New Epoch of Human-Machine Relationship - Machine with a Heart -

Abstract

Information processing technology can be classified into three historical phases. The first phase is the physical information processing to treat physical data from the real world. This technology is often called processing. As the target is mainly physical signal such as sound, brightness and force, the base of the processing is the law of nature. The reality of the system is examined by the physical explanationability of the input-output relations. and the causality is important. The second phase is the logical information processing to deal with knowledge and rule. ?Artificial Intelligence is included in this phase where symbols and languages are processed according to the rule. The most important is consistency and provability here. We are entering the third phase of information processing that is ?KANSEI? information processing to treat human emotion. ?KANSEI? is a Japanese word expressing some subjective concept including ?sensibility?, ?feelings?, ?intuitiveness? and ?mood?. The term ?human factor? has a close relation with KANSEI. However, in the KANSEI information processing, we intend to approach the human emotional world more positively by applying computer technology to the affective information processing and human communication including art, musical performance and entertainment. The computer is often said not to have KANSEI. The reason is that the computer seems to simulate the logical aspect of human brain function but not the KANSEI aspect so far. The KANSEI information has some characteristics different from that of the logical information such as the subjectivity, multivocality, ambiguity and intuitiveness.