Rintaro MakinoJA
Illustrated portrait of Rintaro Makino

HCI · HAI · SOCIAL ROBOTS

Rintaro Makino

牧野 倫太郎
First-year doctoral studentGraduate School of Information Science and Engineering, Ritsumeikan UniversityPlayful Interaction LaboratoryRitsumeikan Advanced Research Academy (RARA) Student Fellow

I study how robots and interactive systems can support communication between people and between humans and agents.

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About

My work sits at the intersection of human-computer interaction (HCI) and human-agent interaction (HAI). I am particularly interested in gentle interaction design that encourages participation and conversation without forcing human behavior.

Research interests

  • Human–Computer Interaction
  • Human–Agent Interaction
  • Social Robots
  • Interaction Design
  • Facilitation

Education

  1. Entered the doctoral program, Graduate School of Information Science and Engineering, Ritsumeikan University (ongoing)
  2. Completed the master's program, Graduate School of Information Science and Engineering, Ritsumeikan University
  3. Graduated from the College of Information Science and Engineering, Ritsumeikan University

Awards

  1. WISS 2025 DreamArts Award (Paper Gallery)
  2. WISS 2025 Future Award (Paper Gallery)
  3. EC2024 Special Committee Recommendation Award for Demo and Poster Presentations

Research projects

I design subtle interventions that emerge between people and technology.

Externalization of internal bodily information through geometric agents shown on a wearable device, tabletop robot, and shared display
2026VRSJ Annual Conference 2026

Externalizing Bodily Information Through a Geometric Agent

Shapes and movements make hard-to-notice internal bodily states visible.

  • HCI
  • Affective Computing
  • Embodiment
  • Agent Design

Related publications

People around a table with small robots approaching quieter participants
2025ICEC 2025 / HAI Symposium 2025 / EC 2024

Moderate Facilitation with Multiple Small Robots

Small robots approach quieter participants to gently encourage spontaneous contributions.

  • HCI
  • HAI
  • Social Robots
  • Facilitation

Related publications

View research

Selected publications

2026

  1. Domestic conferenceIn JapaneseNot peer-reviewed
    身体情報を外在化するエージェント表現の検討

    Rintaro Makino, Masaki Ohno, Kyoshiro Sasaki, Kairi Sugimoto, Kohei Matsumura, Yuji Wada

    第31回日本バーチャルリアリティ学会大会 · Sep 2026

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2025

  1. Domestic conferenceIn JapaneseOral presentationPeer-reviewed
    Paper Gallery: 論文要約スライドをコミュニティの資産に

    Rintaro Makino, Haruki Takahashi, Kohei Matsumura

    WISS 2025 · Dec 2025

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  2. International conferencePoster presentationPeer-reviewed
    Multiple Robots Enable Moderate Facilitation Through Approaching Movements in Group Discussions

    Rintaro Makino, Yuki Okafuji, Haruki Takahashi, Kohei Matsumura

    Entertainment Computing – ICEC 2025 · Aug 2025

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  3. Domestic conferenceIn JapanesePoster presentationNot peer-reviewed
    Gentle and Balanced Facilitation with Multiple Robots

    Rintaro Makino, Yuki Okafuji, Haruki Takahashi, Kohei Matsumura

    HAIシンポジウム2025 · Mar 2025

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  4. International conferenceOral presentationPeer-reviewed
    Ice-kun: A Virtual Pet on a Low Energy Display Controlled by a Large Language Model

    Febri Abdullah, Augustin Roussely, Benjamin Dayres, Tristan Riehs, Xiaoxu Li, Rintaro Makino, Kohei Matsumura, Haruo Noma, Hideyuki Takada, Ruck Thawonmas

    International Conference on Consumer Electronics 2025 (ICCE 2025) · Jan 2025

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All publications

CONTACT

Contact

For collaboration or questions about this research, please contact me by email.