Robot Baby Seal - Is It Healing for the Elderly? Or Harmful?

Jun 29th 2010

With his dark, soulful eyes and his silky white fur, its easy to see how Paro the seal pup elicits cuteness-inspired squeals. But Paro isn't real. He's a $6,000 robot.

Paro was designed by a Japanese robot manufacturer five years ago, the Wall Street Journal reports. As a "socially interactive robot," he blinks and coos and wriggles his flippers when he's being cuddled. He was designed with a purpose: to provide emotional connection to elderly nursing-home residents. And last year, he was cleared by the FDA for use in the United States as a Class 2 medical device.

Not everyone is happy about that development. Critics argue it's unethical to trust robots -- even really cute baby-seal robots -- with the important task of emotional support, according to the Wall Street Journal. "Why are we so willing to provide our parents, then ourselves, with faux relationships?" Sherry Turkle, a professor of Science, Technology and Society at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said in the Wall Street Journal.

But supporters say Paro fills the same role that more traditional therapy pets, like dogs and cats, usually play. Far from being just a stuffed animal, Paro is a fancy piece of technology that can recognize and respond to voices, track motion, and remember behaviors that produce positive reactions in patients.

According the the manufacturer, "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 behavior. Paro also imitates the voice of a real baby harp seal."

Marleen Dean, activities manager at Vincentian Home in Pittsburgh told the Wall Street Journal that the Paros are particularly soothing to dementia patients. "Some of our residents need more than we as human beings can provide. We've tried soft teddy bears that talk and move. But they don't have the same effect."

Unlike therapy dogs and cats, Paro never bites and doesn't trigger allergies. And as you can see in the video, he's really pretty adorable. Then again, he costs as much as a used car.

So does Paro belong in nursing homes? Let us know what you think in the comments.