My second pick: The PARO, from the Intelligent Systems Research Institute of Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in collaboration with Microjennics Co.

PHOTO: Aleksandar Lazinica

BABY SEAL BOT: The therapeutic robot PARO.

PARO is an eighth-generation mimetic mental-committed robot in the form of a baby harp seal [see photo, "Baby Seal Bot"]. Immediately, upon seeing this robot, you feel emotionally connected to it. When you touch it, you get the feeling you are playing with a real baby seal.

PARO is modeled after the little harp seals found on Madeleine Island in northeastern Canada. It is covered with soft artificial fur to make people feel comfortable, as if they were touching a real animal. A baby harp seal spends most of the day sleeping. However, PARO has a diurnal rhythm of morning, afternoon, and night. For example, PARO is active during the day but gets sleepy at night. PARO has five kinds of sensors: tactile, light, audition, temperature, and posture. So it can perceive people and its environment.

An autonomous robot, PARO can express feelings such as surprise and happiness, voluntarily, by blinking its eyes and moving its head and legs. This behavior can be perceived as if PARO has feelings. Every PARO has a different appearance thanks to the hand-built craftsmanship. They also have individual "personalities," which they develop through a process of interactive behavioral learning with their owners. (The robot's artificial fur is hygienic, with an antibacterial, soil-resistant finish, and hair-loss prevention, so that it can be used for a long time. It also features an electromagnetic shield, so that it won't interfere with a user's pacemaker.)

PARO's main application is in so-called animal therapy, where it can serve in three different capacities: the psychological (relaxation, stress relief), the physiological (improvement of vital signs), and the sociological (improvement of communication capabilities). The robot was tested in nursing homes and hospitals for handicapped children in France, Italy, Japan, Sweden, and the United States. After a few months of use, tests showed that having a PARO robot companion can bring about the same effects as interaction with a real animal.

PHOTO: Aleksandar Lazinica

SOOTHING TOUCH: A Japanese child playing with PARO.

In interacting with a PARO robot, I noticed excellent motor and sensor capabilities. It has a tremendous impact on children, as you might imagine [see photo, "Soothing Touch"]. In this alone, I think the joy I saw in the faces of children playing with a PARO justifies high marks for its developers' 13 years of research.

These two outstanding proof-of-concept robots were just a small part of the IREX 2005 exhibition, hosted by the Japanese Robot Association, which also is the organizer of the International Symposium on Robotics, held concurrently. The two conferences jointly are referred to locally as "Tokyo Robot Week."