PARO, the”CAREBOT”:

                           

What is it about?

Paro, the therapeutic seal marketed as a “carebot,” was designed specifically for the elderly, especially for those with dementia. It is an advanced interactive robot developed by AIST, a leading Japanese industrial automation pioneer. Paro is a socially responsive robot that reacts to the individual in response to the way in which it is treated as they follow social behaviour and rules. It weighs approximately 6 pounds (2.73kg) much alike to a baby seal.

Why was it created?

Animal-assisted therapy is perhaps the best-known form of recreational therapy in the aged care setting. Studies suggest that animal-assisted therapy reduces depressive symptoms and agitation and results in an overall positive experience for the elderly. As a result, robots, and particularly pet robots, have arisen as a viable alternative.

How does it work?

A baby harp seal spends most of the day sleeping. However, PARO has a diurnal rhythm of morning, daytime, and night. For example, PARO is active during the daytime, but gets sleepy at night.

PARO has five kinds of sensors: tactile, light, audition, temperature, and posture sensors, with which it can perceive people and its environment. With the light sensor, PARO can recognize light and dark. He feels being stroked and beaten by tactile sensor or being held by the posture sensor. PARO can also recognize the direction of voice and words such as its name, greetings, and praise with its audio sensor.

PARO can learn to behave in a way that the user prefers, and to respond to its new name. For example, if you stroke it every time you touch it, PARO will remember your previous action and try to repeat that action to be stroked. If you hit it, PARO remembers its previous action and tries not to do that action.   By interaction with people, PARO responds as if it is alive, moving its head and legs, making sounds, and showing your preferred behaviour, imitating the voice of a real baby harp seal.

 

PROs:

#1) It allows the documented benefits of animal therapy to be administered to patients in environments such as hospitals and extended care facilities where live animals present treatment or logistical difficulties. There is no need to feed, walk or clean up after the robot and it doesn’t come with the risk of biting or unpredictable behaviour.

#2) PARO has been shown to have a psychological effect on patients, improving their relaxation and motivation and hence reduce patient stress between them and their caregivers. The emotional benefits extended to providing happiness and comfort at the end of life. This is especially significant for elderly who had been exhibiting disruptive, loud behaviour. They became more relaxed, contented, and settled for a period of time.

#3)  Reduced loneliness has been identified as a benefit of Paro with the establishment of a direct relationship with the robotic seal and its use in facilitating better social connections with others. Isolated and withdrawn residents talked to Paro in a conversational manner and elderly reaching the end-of-life stage verbalised their internal world,  seemingly reducing a sense of being alone.

 

CONS:

#1) While robotic pets can offer a novelty in the beginning, over time, the spontaneity goes away. That’s because the owner has to engage the robot to respond versus a live animal who can innately and intuitively read a person’s emotions and give him or her a lick on the hand or set its head on a lap. This may not be useful for completely immobile elderly.

#2) They “learn” in very limited ways, according to pre-designed algorithms. They respond in pre-programmed ways, with little room for on-the-fly decision making.

#3) The battery runs out quickly and has to be recharged often through the seal’s pacificer. There was a suggestion that some residents with dementia appeared to lack the understanding that it was not real and truly believed that a live seal has come to live with them. Some felt that this can be an ethical implication where Paro can be emotionally deceiving.

 

Similar adaptations in Singapore: 

Meet HUGGLER from Singapore: 

             

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This stuffed monkey can laugh, grunt and whine depending on where it’s touched, and Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) researchers hope to use it as an alternative to pet therapy to improve quality of life for the elderly. The idea is to offer a tactile companion for elderly patients, while monitoring for risks of Alzheimer’s and dementia.

Developed in Singapore, the Huggler is currently on trial at the St Luke’s Eldercare Hospital, in the north of the island. Huggler can engage the elderly where traditional stimulation can’t, and alert caregivers to moods in an unobtrusive way. The robot tracks how people are interacting with it, picking up on both physical actions (how hard a person squeezes, say) and the noises they make. This data is then fed into a “sound-event classification” system that assesses the hugger’s state of mind. The use of HuGGler will also provide clinicians with reports related to the interaction behavior pattern of the users performed towards the robotic platform.

“The current method of monitoring the mental well-being of elderly is based on manual observation and questionnaires that are very subjective,” wrote Tan Yeow Yee, one of the developers, in an email. “We can use Huggler to monitor and provide the information to geriatrician to allow them to make more accurate deduction.”

 

Evaluation: 

Personally, I find this a very useful interactive device that can act as an alternative companion for the elderly especially for those who are suffering from dementia. In Singapore’s context where we face a rapidly aging population, this device may come in particularly useful.

Like the Huggler, perhaps Paro can be improved with added on abilities such as:

  1. Heart rate monitor to be activated when the elderly is hugging Paro (or Huggler) and data to be sent to caregivers.
  2. Beeping alert system for caregivers as reminders for the elderly to take their medication at regular intervals.

The interactive device can also be modified to fit other age groups such as for young children. It can be paired with a mobile application where data about the interaction can be collected and sent via the application for parents to monitor their children’s behaviour and better understand them.

References:

Research Article: Robotic Seals as Therapeutic Tools in an Aged Care Facility: A Qualitative Study By Melanie Birks, Marie Bodak, Joanna Barlas, June Harwood, and Mary Pether

Research Article: The ethical implications of using PARO with a focus on dementia patient care https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/ec2e/5cc752693539c640347450882509e1d32653.pdf

https://youtu.be/oJq5PQZHU-I (PARO ROBOT URL)

https://www.fastcompany.com/3019678/this-huggable-monkey-robot-will-make-you-feel-better-about-the-world

http://www.huggler-pet.com/about/

https://nurse.org/articles/nurse-robots-friend-or-foe/

https://www.city.ac.uk/news/2017/june/can-robots-help-care-for-people-with-dementia

https://www.psd.gov.sg/challenge/ideas/deep-dive/living-and-working-alongside-robot-buddies

http://www.parorobots.com/photogallery.asp

https://www.nextavenue.org/robotic-pets-good-real-pets/

http://www.kalw.org/post/robotic-seals-comfort-dementia-patients-raise-ethical-concerns#stream/0

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/robot-exercise-coach-for-the-elderly-5-other-robotic-helpers-that-make-ageing-easier