The founder of the IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS),Professor Fumio Harashima, receives a set of Playware Moto Tiles at IROS 2016. The Moto Tiles are developed for playful physical rehabilitation by DTU Elektro's Center for Playware.
Professor Fumio Harashima’s innovative research at University of Tokyo since the late 1960s laid the foundation for mechatronics, a field that merges mechanical engineering, electronics, and computer science. The field has led to invaluable inventions including industrial and medical robots, and Professor Fumio Harashima is the founder of the IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), which now attracts more than 2,000 researchers annually.
After an accident last year, unfortunately Professor Fumio Harashima lost some of his physical abilities. In order to help Professor Fumio Harashima make a good recovery of his physical skills and for allowing him to be able to attend his IROS conference many years ahead, the IROS conference awarded Harashima with a set of Moto tiles for playful physical rehabilitation. As a result of the research in the IROS field, which Prof. Harashima founded decades ago, the Moto Tiles have emerged as an innovative tool for playful training of balancing skills and other functional abilities. Research at DTU Center for Playware shows the high clinical effects of the playful training with Moto tiles amongst elderly. Now, 30 years after founding the IROS conferences, this result of the IROS research will have a direct positive impact on Prof. Harashima’s own daily life helping him to make recovery and have good functional abilities to attend IROS for many years ahead.