Integration of therapeutic robot, Paro, into welfare systems

Since 1993, Paro, a baby seal robot, has been developed for two purposes: one is for as companion at home, and the other is for therapy at hospitals, elderly institutions, schools, and so on. In 2005, Paro was commercialized in Japan, and so far, more than 1,300 units have been sold there. About 70% of customers are individuals, and about 20% are institutions.

As research on international comparison of evaluation of Paro by people, we had questionnaires to visitors who interacted with Paro at exhibitions in seven countries; Japan, Korea, Sweden, UK, Italy, Brunei, and US. Most people had high evaluation value on Paro regardless of countries. However, when we analyzed the data by the principal component analysis, two different usages of Paro were observed; one was for pet, and the other was for therapy.

In Japan and Korea, people expected Paro to be a pet for them. In Sweden, Italy and UK, people expected Paro to be for therapy. In US and Brunei, people expected Paro for both types. In Japan, this result has similar tendency to the ratio of individual customers of Paro. In relationship between human and animals, there are cultural differences between Asia and Europe. For example, most Japanese people do not know nor believe animals in therapy.

In Denmark, Danish Technological Institute (DTI) have been distributing Paro only to welfare institutions and hospitals in Denmark since late 2008. So far, more than 100 welfare institutions and hospitals in Denmark have been using Paro, especially for caring elderly people with dementia. DTI plan that they will introduce 1,000 Paros to elderly institutions in Denmark by 2011.

In the US, FDA (Food and Drug Administration) certified Paro as a "medical device" in Sep. 2009. Since Dec. 2009, Paro has been officially sold in the US. So far, about 50 Paros have been used there.

I will explain details of how Paro works for therapy, especially for elderly people with dementia. Then, I will explain how Paro has been introduced in the welfare systems.