11-year-old boy's letter across the ocean moves Aflac CEO

"My Special Aflac Duck", a duck-shaped robot developed in the United States by Aflac, a major cancer insurance company, to support children with cancer in Japan has recently been presented to children with cancer in Japan. .

The trigger was a letter from an 11-year-old boy who once fought childhood cancer to CEO Daniel P. Amos of the company.

One of TIME's Top 50 Inventions of 2018

From 2018, Aflac will present My Special Aflac Duck, a duck-shaped robot, to children with childhood cancer in the United States engaged in activities.

This Aflac Duck was jointly developed in 2016 by Aflac and Sproutel, which designs and develops robots in the United States, as a tool for communication as well as for alleviating children's anxiety. In an environment full of adults, some children with cancer who are undergoing treatment cannot play freely with children of the same age and are not good at expressing their feelings honestly. I have a child. Therefore, I created this Aflac Duck so that I can express my emotions smoothly when my symptoms have temporarily calmed down and stabilized.

At a height of about 20 centimeters, it looks like a stuffed toy, but it is the latest robot. If you stroke it gently, the duck will respond. It comes with 7 round cards that represent emotions, and when placed on the chest of the duck, it expresses that emotion. Children can express their feelings to others. If you stroke it gently, the duck responds and dances to the music. When a duck falls asleep, you can wake it up by touching its tail feathers.

As the latest robot equipped with various functions, it was selected as a "Tech for a Better World Award" at the 2018 CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in the United States. In addition, it has been highly evaluated, such as being selected as one of the top 50 inventions in 2018 by TIME magazine.

Because it deals with children with childhood cancer, it took a lot of care to develop it. With the cooperation of more than 100 people in the United States, including children with childhood cancer and medical professionals, the test was repeated for more than a year, and since last year, it has been provided free of charge to children aged 3 to 13 who have been diagnosed with childhood cancer in the United States. began to 3,000 birds have already been given to children in the United States.

In the midst of this, a boy who learned about the existence of the Aflac Duck from an article introducing the US trade fair told Mr. Masatoshi Furude, the president of Aflac Life Insurance (a Japanese corporation), "My Special Aflac Duck as soon as possible in Japan." I sent a letter saying, The boy wrote the letter after learning that the robot Aflac Duck was being given to children in the United States.

The letter was passed from President Furude to CEO Amos. According to CEO Amos, who came to Japan to attend the My Special Aflac Duck presentation ceremony held on May 22, 2019, he was considering offering it in Japan from 2020, based on the development in the United States. We moved it forward a year.

"After reading the letter, we have decided to bring forward the offer in Japan to respond quickly to his feelings," said Amos.

The boy's letter moved CEO Amos.