Takanori Shibata

Takanori Shibata is Chief Scientist and Senior Research Fellow at Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology. He has been a professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology and a visiting member of AgeLab, at MIT. He was Deputy Director of Information and Communication Technology Policy at the Office of Science, Technology and Innovation Policy of the Government of Japan from 2009 to 2010. His research interests include human-robot interaction, robot therapy, and mine clearance.

He is the creator of Paro (Nuka in Spain), a robot seal that applies animal interaction techniques for therapy with people.