Social Entrepreneurship @ Jacobs-University: PARO

PARO – a therapeutic robot

http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/tech/2009/04/15/eod.lah.robot.seal.cnn

The Entrepreneur: Takanori Shibata, Ph.D.,

Senior Research Scientist of Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)

The problem:

With a rapidly aging population in many countries the need and costs for nursing will increase tremendously. Animal therapy has proven to be very effective for psychological, physiological and social well being of the elderly. As animals require care, can make difficulties and for hygienic issues, this therapy is not without restraint employable. Especially in elderly homes or hospitals, animals can do more damage than good. A new solution hence brought by through technological progress are animal-mimic robots.

The solution:

PARO - seal-mimetic mental-committed robot

The PARO robot imitates animal behavior, interacts with human beings and responds to light, sound, temperature, touch and posture. Furthermore it can recognize voices and even his own name and react to it. It develops individuality by memorizing liked and disliked behavior patterns and acting accordingly. PARO looks like a baby harp seal, this model was chosen because most people do rarely have contact with the real animal and therefore the difference between the robot and the original is not that obvious and disturbing. Every robot is handmade and covered in pure white synthetic fur. The robot has over 100 sensors, 5 different types, all over the body that enable it to perceive its environment.

History:

Takanori Shibata, Ph. D. and his team started research in 1993 in Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST). Shibata has been at the forefront of service robotics for over 15 years. After several trials, PARO was certified as the most therapeutic robot in February 2002, and entered the World Records in the following edition.

The robot has been in use in Japan and Europe since 2003, commercialization started on September 20, 2004 in Japan. Since 2005 more than 1,300 PAROs have been sold in Japan, 2008 the robot entered the US market and worldwide now more than 1500 robots are in use, for 2011 900 more are scheduled for delivery. Most of the robots have been purchased by individuals, in Japan about 70%, but many are applied in nursing homes, hospitals and schools.

One robot costs about 6.000$, including a one-year service warranty. It is also possible to rent PARO for a short term trial. The marketing is carried out by the Intelligent Systems Company (ISC), a venture business created in September 2004 with the support of the AIST Innovation Center for Start-Ups. The project is supported by the government, especially the ministry of technology, as well as independent research associations.

Reflection:

”You see people who had lost language pronouncing words or talking to Paro as if it was a pet they had in the past”

The feedback from elderly homes is impressive. PARO is loved by the patients, makes them happy and healthier. Many patients build a relationship to the robot and it calms them down, entertains them and cheers them up. The probably most important function is its compa-nionship to the often lonely people and that they, whom is cared for, can care for something themselves. To sum up, it enhances their quality of life.

But even more striking is the scientific evidence.

Research conducted in Japan from August 2003 to September 2004 shows that psychological effects are: “remedy of depressive state, cheering up and motivation; physiological effects such as remission of stress as proved by urine test; and social effects such as increased interaction among the aged and with care personnel. Moreover, PARO has proved to be effective for reducing care-laden stress of helpers.” and improved the communication between caretakers and patients.

Further tests prove that interacting with the robot improves brain function and cognitive disorders and mitigates the debilitating effects of Alzheimer's disease.

All over the wold follow-up tests confirm these results and PARO was certified as a Class Two medical advice, this class includes massage chairs e.g., by the Federal Drug Administration in the United States of America.

In Europe long-term studies are undertaken to specialize PARO for interaction with specific groups of people, like children with autism and people who suffer from senile dementia.

”But so far Paro is more like a general-purpose therapeutic tool,” Shibata says. ”To improve the therapeutic effect, we need to create specialized versions.”

Scaling Up:

To improve the therapeutic effect and make PARO employable to even more people, more specialized versions must be created. Therefore PARO's behavioral abilites can be enhanced and become directed to more specific goals, for example communication or interaction. The development of these new versions will however take several years.

Meanwhile greater capacities of the robot are requested in several European Countries and the United States of America.

References:

PARO homepage:

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

Press releases on PARO homepage:

under http://www.parorobots.com/pressreleases.asp

http://www.parorobots.com/pdf/pressreleases/PARO%20to%20be%20marketed%202004-9.pdf

http://www.parorobots.com/pdf/pressreleases/Paro%20found%20to%20improve%20Brain%20Function.pdf

http://www.parorobots.com/pdf/pressreleases/PARO%20Robots%20US-Press%20Release%202008-11-20.pdf

http://www.parorobots.com/pdf/pressreleases/PARO%20Robots%20US-Press%20Release%202009-11-04.pdf

Post Gazette, March 4, 2010, Len Barcousk: “Two Vincentian nursing homes experiment with robotic pets for Alzheimer's patients“

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10063/1039961-54.stm