Bet you’ve never seen a baby seal sucking on a pacifier before! What you are looking at above is PARO – an adorable fuzzy robotic seal pup designed to help sick and elderly people relax and heal through Animal-Assisted therapy. We spotted Paro at the ICFF, (not really sure why it was there, since a robo-seal isn’t exactly furniture) and instantly fell in love.
Modeled after the extremely adorable Canadian baby harp seal, Paro was designed to be a vehicle of Animal Therapy for the elderly and hospital patients. Since it has been shown that having pets around can help humans by providing increased relaxation, decreased stress and, in some cases, better vital signs and decreased symptoms of illness, the concept of a healing robot is not at all far-fetched. And unlike a real pet, Paro does not need to be fed or cleaned so keeping it in a hospital is quite easy.
Like a real animal, Paro can express happiness and anger depending on how people interact with it. Each handmade seal pup has five kinds of sensors: tactile, light, audition, temperature, and posture sensors, which it uses to perceive its environment, and can even respond to a new name if its owner chooses to give it one! In terms of durability, Paro has been improved through rigorous tests to have a very long shelf-life, so that people can pet and play with it without fear of breakage.
Though Paro sort of looks like a toy and seems to melt the hearts of children and adults alike – unless you have 4000 bucks to drop on an artificially intelligent seal-bot, I’d recommend going with the real deal and getting a dog or a cat instead.
Novel, yes. Creative, yes. Brilliant? No.
Yes, live animals require feeding and care because, suprise, they are living animals. To say an animitronic device can regularly inspire the same biophilic responses as a puppy yet again removes humanity from the natural world. I’m not suprised inhabitat applaud’s the devices claimed benefits, but come on, it’s another material/energy consuming product that steps away from a true relationship with nature.
Hi Georgiajustice-
These seal-bots are designed for people who – for varying reasons – such as being bed-ridden, in the hospital, or infirm, cannot care for living pets. They are not designed to replace pets (or ‘nature’) for healthy, active people who can take care of pets or go outside. Have some empathy for people who are sick and bedridden and can benefit from something like this.
-Jill
Editor, Inhabitots
It’s great to see that PARO finally made it to US shores. The piece NPR did on it is worth a listen.
What a useless idea and a shamless waste of money. This robot does not heal anything. How is this any different to giving someone a rag doll or teddy bear for comfort? Because it “responds” to you? It has some clever chips inside? Give them a mobile phone wrapped ina fluffy cover. At least that would perform some sort of function. I find this patronising towards the elderly. they have more brains than to be given this rubbish.
How can I purchase one of these?