A delegation of eight, led by the Honorable Grant Woodhams, MLA of the Parliament of Western Australia, arrived at Kobe University on April 8. They came for a meeting with President FUKUDA Hideki, Vice President /Director of International Exchange NAKAMURA Chiharu and other members of Kobe University. Also present were Dean TADA Yukio, Prof. LUO Zhiwei and Prof. KAIHARA Toshiya of the Graduate School of System Informatics, and the Deputy Director KUREBAYASHI Yoichi of the Office of Collaborative Research and Technology Development.

The meeting began with a welcome address from Dr. FUKUDA in English, answered by a speech from Hon. Grant Woodhams in Japanese. Dr. FUKUDA spoke of the fruitful relationship between Kobe University and its partner Universities in Western Australia. The Honorable Grant Woodhams referred to the history of exchanges between Japan and Australia and expressed his wish to develop an even stronger relationship between the two countries.

Professor LUO then gave a presentation on robotics in health sciences using his recent data regarding robots for human care and rehabilitation.

Kobe University, the University of Western Australia and Zhejiang University concluded a trilateral agreement in the field of health sciences and bioengineering in 2008. An annual forum has been held in one of the three countries ever since. This year, the forum will be held in Australia at the the University of Western Australia from April 28 to 30.