Abstract
Early development unfolds in caregiver-infant dyads, where infants' sensorimotor streams are shaped by physical contact and face-to-face interaction. Yet developmental robotics simulators commonly model infants in isolation, limiting the study of caregiver-mediated experience. We present a caregiver-enabled extension of the Multi-Modal Infant Model (MIMo) in MuJoCo that turns MIMo into a controllable platform for replaying dyadic interaction and generating dense infant-perspective observations. The system provides (i) an articulated caregiver model compatible with MIMo morphologies, parameterized from anthropometrics and optionally resized to a recorded caregiver; (ii) a workflow to replay naturalistic caregiver-infant holding and soothing interactions; and (iii) logging and visualizing the infant's first-person multimodal experience (we show touch and vision). We showcase the tool on touch by introducing origin-aware contact logging that disambiguates self-, caregiver-, and environment-generated contact and supports aggregation into touch-rate statistics comparable to manual coding. While we showcase tactile analysis, the platform is intended more broadly as a generator of multimodal dyadic datasets (touch and egocentric vision) for modeling the development of social interaction.
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Publication details
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- Green open access
Cite this article
APA 7
Vaculinova, N., & Hoffmann, M. (2026). Infant simulator with an embodied caregiver: Generating infant-perspective touch and vision during social interaction. https://omanscience.com/en/articles/infant-simulator-with-an-embodied-caregiver-generating-infant-perspective-touch-and-vision-during-social-interaction
MLA 9
Vaculinova, Noemi, and Matej Hoffmann. "Infant simulator with an embodied caregiver: Generating infant-perspective touch and vision during social interaction." https://omanscience.com/en/articles/infant-simulator-with-an-embodied-caregiver-generating-infant-perspective-touch-and-vision-during-social-interaction.
Chicago (author–date)
Vaculinova, Noemi, and Matej Hoffmann. 2026. "Infant simulator with an embodied caregiver: Generating infant-perspective touch and vision during social interaction." https://omanscience.com/en/articles/infant-simulator-with-an-embodied-caregiver-generating-infant-perspective-touch-and-vision-during-social-interaction.
Harvard
Vaculinova, N. and Hoffmann, M. (2026) 'Infant simulator with an embodied caregiver: Generating infant-perspective touch and vision during social interaction', Available at: https://omanscience.com/en/articles/infant-simulator-with-an-embodied-caregiver-generating-infant-perspective-touch-and-vision-during-social-interaction.
Vancouver
Vaculinova N, Hoffmann M. Infant simulator with an embodied caregiver: Generating infant-perspective touch and vision during social interaction. https://omanscience.com/en/articles/infant-simulator-with-an-embodied-caregiver-generating-infant-perspective-touch-and-vision-during-social-interaction
IEEE
N. Vaculinova, and M. Hoffmann, "Infant simulator with an embodied caregiver: Generating infant-perspective touch and vision during social interaction," https://omanscience.com/en/articles/infant-simulator-with-an-embodied-caregiver-generating-infant-perspective-touch-and-vision-during-social-interaction.