Robot calms Japanese tsunami pain

Seal robots are the latest weapon in the fight against the mental collapse of Japanese tsunami survivors.

Paro is the name of a seal robot delivered to people who suddenly fell into a 15m high tsunami on March 11, 2011. This cute robot can bring a lot of emotion to people, when it makes small sounds and waving fins every time someone touches.

"It was lovely. He cooed every time he stroked it," said the 10-year-old Kosei Oyama. "After the tsunami, we have less to play than before."

Tsuyako Kumagai, a 47-year-old housewife, shared that her friends in the makeshift area were happy when Paro acted as a substitute for the pets, which had been swept away by the fierce tsunami."Many of my neighbors don't want new pets, because they don't want to remember sad memories , " Ms Kumagai said. "For them, the pets used to be family members."

Robot Paro seal

Seal robots have just been delivered to people living in makeshift shelters, built in a baseball field in the port city of Kesennmuma in Miyagi prefecture, an area heavily hit by the tsunami. .

For many people who survived the disaster, many things were better than before, but there is still a long way to go back to before March 11 last year.

"I have lost everything that was made throughout my life," Hiroshi Onodera, 51, said. Mr. Onodera lost his nephew and the whole house because of the tsunami. He currently lives with his mother in a makeshift home, and feels isolated from the community.

"When we were in an emergency evacuation zone, there were a lot of people living there. But since people were taken to makeshift shelters, we were separated and we all went through a period of fatigue. spirit " , Onodera said. "Therefore, it is great to have a place where we can heal spiritual wounds." The 51-year-old man wants to talk about community houses, where there are seal robots.

Seal robots, equipped with a variety of sound and motion sensors, have been used in hospitals or nursing homes, as a treatment for elderly or depressed people. memory.

In addition to seal robots, the organizers of the tsunami pain relief program have other options for victims of disaster survivors, including head massage machines or even one. The reception desk is served by the server.

"Maintaining a communication line for the people is very important," said Kazuhiro Kojima, a researcher at the Advanced Institute of Industrial Science and Technology, where Paro is developed.

After the Kobe earthquake in 1995, the number of people suffering from depression or mental health problems increased rapidly. One of the main reasons is because many of these people have lost their homes after the earthquake.

According to the Japanese government, about 325,000 people still live in makeshift houses, mostly in the northern part of the country, at nearly a year after the double disaster. Many of these people lost their homes in the tsunami disaster, while many others were forced to leave their homes to evacuate because of radiation leaks at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Researchers say that technical solutions can help reduce the mental impact of last year's disaster."We hope the robots will give people the opportunity to rebuild their communities , " Kojima said. "Spiritual support will become an important issue. I hope robots will do it."