This research is about the two robot prototypes inspired to Shinto/Buddhism (DarumaTO) and to Christianity (SanTO).

In the ageing societies of Japan and Europe, there is a growing need of socially assistive devices. For this purpose, the proposer made prototypes of robots inspired by religious objects, which are commonly familiar to elderly people, as they typically do not feel comfortable in using technological devices. Religion is a very important theme, as studies reported the association between religion and physical and mental health.

During the last part of the year, covered by this grant, I brought the robot SanTO with me in UK and Italy, and managed to have a hearing with Mons. Ruiz, secretary of the Vatican. Based on that hearing, I decided the direction to take for the following developments.

The latest results were presented in RO-MAN conference in New Delhi, India, in October 2019, where I am also associate editor, session chair and jury member.

Back in Waseda, the robot DarumaTO was used by students of Science and Engineering to improve the dialogue system for the application in nursery homes.