Panel Discussion

“Collaboration among Medicine, Psychology and Engineering for Disaster Management”

Panelist
Medicine                         : Prof. Yasuhiro Otomo,
Psychology                      : Dr. Toshiharu Makishima,
Information Technology   : Dr. Itsuki Noda
Civil Engineering              : Prof. Norio Okada, Prof. John Mander
Robotics                         : Prof. Hajime Asama, Prof. Robin Murphy

Coordinator
Prof. Fumitoshi Matsuno

   2011 is a special year for safety, security and rescue robotics (SSRR). It is the 10th anniversary of 9/11 in the USA. On 2/22 the 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck Christchurch, New Zealand. The great east Japan earthquake on 3/11 caused a complex disaster with seismic motion, a Tsunami, and an accident of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. These disasters have shown the importance of research on SSRR in a very emphatic way. Moreover for effective activities in emergency and reconstruction/recovery phase, collaboration among medicine, psychology and engineering is very important. From experience of the great east Japan earthquake we find that there are many unsolved problems in mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery phases of a complex disaster. In this panel discussion we consider effective application of information communication and robot technology (ICRT) for disaster response, and possibility of fusion among medicine, psychology and engineering for the disaster management.