Dr.Takanori Shibata has been Chief Senior Research Science at AIST since 2013. His research interests include human-robot interaction, robot therapy, mental health for astronauts in long-term mission (e.g. to Mars), and humanitarian de-mining. He was certified as the inventor of a seal robot named PARO, the World’s Most Therapeutic Robot, by Guinness World Records in 2002. He has received many awards including the Robot of the Year by Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan in 2006, The Outstanding Young Person (TOYP) of the World by Junior Chamber International (JCI) in 2004, and the Japanese Prime Minister’s Award in 2003. In 2015, PARO was awarded the “Patient Trophy” as innovation of non-pharmacological therapy for dementia by the Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris, France, that is one of the largest medical group in the World.