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About

Yousuke Ikeda is a pioneering researcher in human-robot interaction, best known for his foundational work on the therapeutic seal robot Paro. His key research areas include robot-assisted therapy, cross-cultural robotics, and the psychological and social effects of companion robots. Ikeda’s major contributions center on demonstrating how Paro can provide benefits similar to animal therapy for elderly populations, particularly in care facilities. His 2009 cross-cultural study, which gathered subjective evaluations from over 100 participants across seven countries—Japan, the UK, Sweden, Italy, South Korea, Brunei, and the US—remains a landmark work with 106 citations, revealing how cultural context shapes human perception of robotic companions. He also developed a caregiver’s manual for Paro therapy (79 citations), standardizing best practices for its use in elder care worldwide. By systematically analyzing questionnaire data from diverse cultural settings, Ikeda helped establish the field of “mental commitment robotics,” shifting focus from industrial precision to emotional and social engagement. His work has been instrumental in validating robot therapy as a non-pharmacological intervention, influencing both robotic design and therapeutic protocols across the globe.