Mizuki Nakajima | Searcharxiv

arXiv2026

Cybernetic Android Avatar "Yui": System Integration, Field Deployment, and Evaluation

Remote communication technologies have become widely used; however, supporting a sense of shared physical space and conveying rich non-verbal cues remain challenging in many social interaction scenarios. This study presents "Yui," a full-body cybernetic android avatar designed to integrate operator-side immersive teleoperation with interlocutor-side human-like social signaling. Yui combines a 55-degrees of freedom full-body mechanism with a previously developed android head, facial expression and gaze control, upper-body and arm motion, hand actuation, and a mobile platform. It can be operated through either the immersive mode using a head mounted display-based interface or desktop mode using a webcam-based interface. We evaluated the system through three real-world deployments: a long-term public exhibition at Expo 2025 in Osaka, Kansai, Japan; a remote educational exchange between elementary school students; and a public interaction study with general participants. During the Expo deployment, two units accumulated approximately 1131 h of operation, demonstrating both operational feasibility and maintenance challenges. In the public study, both operators and interlocutors reported positive impressions of co-presence and willingness to use the system. Interlocutors also rated the avatar positively in terms of human likeness and the transmission of emotions and intentions. The results indicate usability for general operators while suggesting room for improvement in precise controllability. These findings provide field-derived evidence and design implications for socially deployable full-body android avatars.

cs.RO↗

arXiv2023

Development of the Lifelike Head Unit for a Humanoid Cybernetic Avatar `Yui' and Its Operation Interface

In the context of avatar-mediated communication, it is crucial for the face-to-face interlocutor to sense the operator's presence and emotions via the avatar. Although androids resembling humans have been developed to convey presence through appearance and movement, few studies have prioritized deepening the communication experience for both operator and interlocutor using android robot as an avatar. Addressing this gap, we introduce the ``Cybernetic Avatar `Yui','' featuring a human-like head unit with 28 degrees of freedom, capable of expressing gaze, facial emotions, and speech-related mouth movements. Through an eye-tracking unit in a Head-Mounted Display (HMD) and degrees of freedom on both eyes of Yui, operators can control the avatar's gaze naturally. Additionally, microphones embedded in Yui's ears allow operators to hear surrounding sounds in three dimensions, enabling them to discern the direction of calls based solely on auditory information. An HMD's face-tracking unit synchronizes the avatar's facial movements with those of the operator. This immersive interface, coupled with Yui's human-like appearance, enables real-time emotion transmission and communication, enhancing the sense of presence for both parties. Our experiments demonstrate Yui's facial expression capabilities, and validate the system's efficacy through teleoperation trials, suggesting potential advancements in avatar technology.

cs.RO↗