“The PaakShooy”: A Robotics Cell for Washing and Preparation of a Corpse for an Islamic Burial

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Washing the body and dressing the corpse prior to burial is an act of love and necessity in many religions. Applying robotics and automation technologies for washing and preparation of a deceased Moslem in accordance to the Islamic Shari’a laws has been the challenging foundation of this research. With increasing annual population growth and as a result an increase in number of deaths (historically and/or immediately after a national disaster), automating part of this procedure to increase speed of operation, reducing the health risks to the personnel of washing rooms “Ghassalkhaneh” at the cemeteries and enhancing their quality of life has been the utmost objective of this project. We have named and patented this semi-automated corpse preparation machine as the “PaakShooy” or “ ??? ??? ” in Persian (Farsi) which means purifying the deceased. The whole process is composed of three operational units lined up in series; the automatic washing chamber, drying cell, and the semi-automatic shrouding table. This paper covers an introductory concept of the subject in Islam, a conceptual design of various machines and mechanism to automate the important tasks in accordance to Islamic laws, and the final detailed design, simulation, and animation of the PaakShooy machine. In doing so, consultation with Islamic scholars has been a priority from the beginning of the project to the end.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• Abstract
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Preparing the Corpse for Islamic Burial: The Traditional Way
• 3. The PaakShooy Operational Procedures
• 4. The Complete PaakShooy Cycle
• 5. Controls and Electricals
• 6. Conclusions
• Acknowledgements
• References