Biology subjects

Minami, T.

Publications and source records attributed to Minami, T..

2 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2022

Human collision avoidance behavior against autonomous mobile robot

Currently, the probability of pedestrians on the streets of smart cities encountering autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) is increasing. Previous studies have discussed collision avoidance between humans as they cross paths. Their avoidance behavior toward AMRs, however, remains unclear. To address this, we experimentally investigated the avoidance direction a human would choose against an AMR approaching head-on. This experiment included recording human locomotion under such a scenario. Further, an AMR was programmed to approach from various starting points, including directly through the participants (head-on collision). The participants were directed to evade it by moving rightward or leftward, and their paths were tracked. We found that the participants did not strongly prefer either direction, suggesting that the avoidance direction is not solely determined by the participants attributes, such as their adherence to the traffic rules of their region. The probability of rightward evasion when the AMR approached head-on indicated that humans use different avoidance strategies when encountering other humans and obstacles. Moreover, the participants motion analysis revealed that they involuntarily twisted their waists in the avoidance direction before they evaded the AMR. These results suggest that this twist is the most important predictor of the avoidance direction. These findings could be encoded into the programs of AMRs to adapt these vehicles to our locomotory responses more organically.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2022

Glossiness perception and its pupillary response

Recent studies have discovered that pupillary response changes depend on cognitive factors, such as subjective brightness caused by optical illusions and luminance. However, it remains unclear how the cognitive factor derived from the glossiness perception of object surfaces affects pupillary response. We investigated the relationship between glossiness perception and pupillary response through a gloss rating experiment that includes recording pupil diameter. For the stimuli, we prepared general object images (original) and randomized images (shuffled) that comprised of the same images with randomized small square regions. The image features were then controlled by matching the luminance histogram. The observers were asked to rate the perceived glossiness of the stimuli presented for 3,000 ms and changes in their pupil diameter were recorded. Consequently, if glossiness of the original images were rated as high, those of the shuffled were rated as low, and vice versa. High-gloss images constricted the pupil size more than the low-gloss ones near the pupillary light reflex. By contrast, the shuffled images dilated the pupil size more than the original image at a relatively later stage. These results suggest that local features comprising specular highlights involve the cognitive factor for pupil constriction, and this process is faster than pupil dilation derived from the inhibition of object recognition.

neuroscience↗