Gadgets of Doraemon

The ability to conceive objects that do not exist in real life is a hallmark of human creativity. A prominent example is the Japanese manga Doraemon. The manga tells the story of how Doraemon, a cat-shaped robot from the future, helps children with futuristic gadgets. His gadgets are powerful, but their usage often leads to unexpected and hilarious effects.

Having surveyed five volumes of the manga, we propose nine creative strategies that can account for the creation of the gadget ideas and a symbolic AI algorithm that could utilize these strategies to conceive gadgets of Doraemon.

A review article by Dan McIntyre considered this work "undoubtedly one of the most creative pieces of work I read [in the year 2011], both in terms of research design and object of study" and "charmingly wacky".

A Dynamic and Dual-Process Theory of Humor

I postulated a cognitive theory of humor, which unifies several mainstream theories which had been seen as incompatible. The theory is supported by evidence from cognitive science and neuroscience.