Robot baby seal 'Paro' helps elderly dementia patients in Hong Kong - Daily Mail

The 'tranquillity chair' is a fabric doll built into a rocking chair, designed to comfort those in desperate need of some understanding. It was showcased yesterday at the International Home care and Rehabilitation exhibition in Tokyo, amongst 20,000 other products. Japan presently has the oldest population in the world, with one quarter of the population over the age of 65.
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[@naanviolence8260]

As someone who deals with depression regularly, hugging a Paro would really help me. I'm getting tearful just thinking about it.

[@CyberWanderer101]

I need one of these. I have depression and social anxiety, so when I talk to someone new I either try to talk normally or get frozen. Then I get all guilty, worried and that's when the depressive thoughts come in.

[@Mr_Valentin.]

Cuuuuuute cute cute cute

[@user-tc6sn7le7b]

Ok

[@gersoneduardojimenezbarret9086]

and there aibo also

[@nikan_arami]

that last pun 🤦‍♂

[@bluerosesarefrail]

Simpsons reference

[@ghanaboyz]

I think there has been placebo tests in Sweden where fury animals toys were used and compared to Paro. Guess what: no difference on the effect on the demented users. I guess this may be one reason why this kind of expensive robots has been very little adopted in the care for elders in Sweden: REAL, UNBIASED SCIENCE. Anyways, the usage of real animals has increased a lot as far as I can tell. Aside from a potential risks for allergies, the things some people make sounds as "negatives" with real pets are actually positives as they also includes a level of interaction. Adult indoors cats do their natural needs very very tidy all bv themselves by the way and doesn't require any "walking" at all and the total cost of ownership is neglible compared to a robot.

[@tcmb55]

do you have a reference for that?

[@user-tc6sn7le7b]

Ok

[@rushnerd]

The furrys would like a word with you.

[@saafiiiraa]

"A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association in 2017 looked at the use of the PARO seal in more than 400 patients with dementia at long-term care facilities in Queensland, Australia. People who interacted with PARO were more verbally and visually engaged and reported experiencing more pleasure than people with dementia who received their usual care. The robotic seal also helped reduce neutral affect-a lack of facial expressions that can be common among patients with dementia-and made them less agitated. Interestingly, the study also tested a similar-looking plush toy without robotic features and found that while PARO was very effective, the simple plush toy offered many of the same benefits."@@tcmb55