# Publications — Rintaro Makino ## 2026 ### 身体情報を外在化するエージェント表現の検討 - Type: Domestic conference - Peer review: No - Paper ID: 4A2-13 - Authors: Rintaro Makino, Masaki Ohno, Kyoshiro Sasaki, Kairi Sugimoto, Kohei Matsumura, Yuji Wada - Venue: 第31回日本バーチャルリアリティ学会大会 - Date: Sep 2026 - [Paper](https://www.conference.vrsj.org/ac2026/program/doc/4A2-13.pdf) #### Abstract Internal bodily states are often difficult to notice clearly or experience tangibly in everyday life. This work focuses on relationships between the shapes and movements of geometric forms and the emotional impressions they evoke. It proposes a method for externalizing changes in bodily information as an agent using geometric expressions, aiming to create an experience in which users can intuitively perceive changes in bodily state as originating from themselves. ## 2025 ### Paper Gallery: 論文要約スライドをコミュニティの資産に - Type: Domestic conference - Presentation: Oral presentation - Peer review: Yes - Paper ID: 13 - Authors: Rintaro Makino, Haruki Takahashi, Kohei Matsumura - Venue: WISS 2025 - Date: Dec 2025 - [Program](https://www.wiss.org/WISS2025/program.html) - [Paper](https://www.wiss.org/WISS2025Proceedings/data/paper/13.pdf) #### Abstract Paper-summary slides created in seminars and reading groups are valuable intellectual assets because they provide a visual understanding of research that text-centered paper information cannot offer as directly. However, these slides tend to become scattered after presentations, and their use is left to individual researchers and the operating policies of research communities. We propose Paper Gallery, a web system that supports research activities through paper-summary slides. It automatically builds a database through existing information-sharing platforms, supports knowledge discovery with a searchable gallery, and encourages communication among researchers through shared summary slides. ### Multiple Robots Enable Moderate Facilitation Through Approaching Movements in Group Discussions - Type: International conference - Presentation: Poster presentation - Peer review: Yes - Authors: Rintaro Makino, Yuki Okafuji, Haruki Takahashi, Kohei Matsumura - Venue: Entertainment Computing – ICEC 2025 - Date: Aug 2025 - DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-02555-5_53 - [Link](https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-02555-5_53) ### Gentle and Balanced Facilitation with Multiple Robots - Type: Domestic conference - Presentation: Poster presentation - Peer review: No - Paper ID: P2-20 - Authors: Rintaro Makino, Yuki Okafuji, Haruki Takahashi, Kohei Matsumura - Venue: HAIシンポジウム2025 - Date: Mar 2025 - [Link](https://hai-conference.net/symp2025/proceedings/pdf/P2-20.pdf) #### Abstract For participants in a discussion to reach a decision that everyone agrees on, it is important that everyone speaks actively and that diverse viewpoints are reflected. A facilitator is often placed to equalize speaking opportunities and provide an environment where people can speak comfortably, but weak facilitation leads to biased speaking opportunities while overly strong facilitation makes it harder for participants to speak freely. To address this, this study proposes "moderate facilitation," which balances equal speaking opportunities with ease of speaking, using a tabletop robot that approaches participants to gently encourage them to speak without disrupting the flow of discussion. Compared to a condition without the robot, the robot's presence reduced variation in speaking time without harming ease of speaking, demonstrating a certain speech-equalizing effect. ### Paper Gallery: A Web Gallery for Using Paper-Summary Slides - Type: Domestic conference - Paper ID: 2B-21 - Authors: Rintaro Makino, Haruki Takahashi, Kohei Matsumura - Venue: インタラクション2025 - Date: Mar 2025 - [Bibliography](https://www.interaction-ipsj.org/proceedings/2025/data/bib/2B-21.html) - [Paper](https://www.interaction-ipsj.org/proceedings/2025/data/pdf/2B-21.pdf) #### Abstract This work proposes a web gallery for browsing paper-summary slides accumulated in a research laboratory. It supports the reuse of past information and the discovery of new research questions, with large language models and communication among researchers helping generate ideas from multiple perspectives. ### Ice-kun: A Virtual Pet on a Low Energy Display Controlled by a Large Language Model - Type: International conference - Presentation: Oral presentation - Peer review: Yes - Paper ID: 1571085888 - Authors: Febri Abdullah, Augustin Roussely, Benjamin Dayres, Tristan Riehs, Xiaoxu Li, Rintaro Makino, Kohei Matsumura, Haruo Noma, Hideyuki Takada, Ruck Thawonmas - Venue: International Conference on Consumer Electronics 2025 (ICCE 2025) - Date: Jan 2025 - DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/ICCE63647.2025.10930195 - [Link](https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10930195) #### Abstract This paper presents "Ice-kun," a virtual pet controlled by a large language model (LLM) and displayed on addressable light-emitting diode (LED) boards. Unlike virtual pets with limited interactions, Ice-kun leverages an LLM to interpret natural language input and generate countless playful animations. Ice-kun is configured into several parts to generate the animations, and the LLM is tasked with generating animations for these parts. To achieve fast, correctly formatted responses from the LLM as a real-time control agent, two prompting strategies and six prompt engineering techniques are compared. Fast response time is achieved through a prompting strategy that uses multiple shorter prompts, each corresponding to a different part and executed asynchronously in parallel, while few-shot prompting and zero-shot CoT prompting are incorporated to ensure high-accuracy, correctly formatted responses. Code, experiment results, and demo videos are available in the authors' repository. ## 2024 ### Interaction Design of a Small Robot for Loose Facilitation - Type: Domestic conference - Presentation: Poster presentation - Peer review: No - Paper ID: 2-08-04 - Authors: Rintaro Makino, Yuki Okafuji, Haruki Takahashi, Kohei Matsumura - Venue: エンタテインメントコンピューティングシンポジウム2024 - Date: Sep 2024 - [Link](https://ipsj.ixsq.nii.ac.jp/ej/?action=repository_uri&item_id=238782&file_id=1&file_no=1) #### Abstract Lively discussion in meetings requires facilitation such as equalizing participants' opportunities to speak. However, prompting a specific speaker by name to equalize speaking opportunities creates tension not only for the person named but also for the other participants. In this study, multiple small robots approach participants who speak less, as if wanting to listen to them, aiming for moderate facilitation that encourages voluntary remarks without creating tension. This paper introduces several interaction methods designed toward this goal. ### How Should a Robot End Interaction with a User: Consideration from the Timing of Notice of Termination - Type: Domestic conference - Presentation: Poster presentation - Peer review: No - Paper ID: 3B-58 - Authors: Rintaro Makino, Kohei Matsumura, Haruki Takahashi - Venue: インタラクション2024 - Date: Mar 2024 - [Link](https://www.interaction-ipsj.org/proceedings/2024/data/pdf/3B-58.pdf) #### Abstract For a single robot providing some kind of service to respond to people efficiently, it is necessary to switch between the people it is attending to at appropriate timings, rather than spending a long time on a dialogue with one person. One way to achieve this switching is for the robot to proactively end the conversation itself, but people may feel discomfort when a robot unilaterally ends a conversation. This study investigated, through crowdsourcing, the timing at which a robot should give advance notice when it intends to end a conversation. The results showed that giving advance notice created a better impression than not giving notice, and that giving notice earlier in the conversation is preferable. ### Pixel Board: Development of an LED Board That Conveys a Sense of Coexistence - Type: Domestic conference - Presentation: Poster presentation - Peer review: No - Paper ID: 1C-67 - Authors: Rintaro Makino, Satoshi Kuroda, Tsubasa Yunoki, Ye Wente, Alessandro Brianti, Xingge Yang, Joe Volpato, Kohei Matsumura, Haruo Noma, Hideyuki Takada - Venue: インタラクション2024 - Date: Mar 2024 - [Link](https://www.interaction-ipsj.org/proceedings/2024/data/pdf/1C-67.pdf) #### Abstract In this study, we developed Pixel Board, a board with multiple full-color LEDs arranged in a grid, to create a "sense of co-presence" within a community. Pixel Board allows multiple users to control its displayed content over the internet, letting them freely draw pictures and characters on boards installed in different locations. By installing Pixel Board as an installation, we aim to help community members gain a sense of co-presence.