Paro interventions

Paro is a social robot in the shape of a seal. Paro was designed and developed in Japan for the purposes of helping people who suffer from dementia. The goal of this cuddly looking piece of technology is to seek out communication and interaction with those who affected by dementia.

In the present day it is getting tougher to meet the vastly growing demand for healthcare by senior citizens. Due to the aging of the baby boomer generation, many industrialized countries now face great problems because of a large percentage of elderly people in the population that need medical care. This has also sparked a rise in age-related diseases such as dementia, where usually only a small percentage of the affected are of young age.

To reduce the strain on the healthcare systems, Paro was developed to reduce patient stress, stimulate interaction, work motivation and relaxing for the patient and to increase patient interaction among themselves. Paro is designed with five different kinds of sensors that can recognize audio, temperature, light, touch and movement. The seal, for example, will learn to recognize the voice of one of its patients and can respond with identifiable emotions.

Research, mainly in Japan, has shown that patients not only improve on a psychological level after contact with Paro, but also signs of physical improvement have been found.