The Seal Paro

A video from my trip to the Institute of Technology and this overgrown Tamagochi is called Paro. It's a therapeutic robot designed to help kids with autism, elderly people who suffer from depression and people who suffer from dementia. It's really cool and it responds to touch. It communicates via sounds and blinks at you. When it charges it uses a candypink pacifier. A bit overkill if you ask me :P

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Paro
• seal
• expensive
• robot
• dementia
• depression
• loneliness
• kids
• autism
• elderly
• people
• wtf
• fur
• sound
• blink
• eyes
• pacifier
• pink
• white
• danish
• american
• university
• Southern
• Denmark
• Institute
• of
• Technology
• japanese
• japan
• engineer
• engineering
• electronics
• health

[misspinkpunkykat]

Will these ever be avalable in the US? The amount of pressure you have to apply to a "fur real friend" robot pet just to make it respond is enough to kill a living animal.

[DChristophersen]

@misspinkpunkykat they should be available in the US. If I remember correctly from our interview with the woman in the video, Paro was developed in Japan with help and research material from US engineers.

[superdspt]

wow can it waddle on the floor

[DChristophersen]

@superdspt No, It needs a human touch to react. But it could have been a cool feature if it did waddle :P

[strawberrymuffin165]

awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

[bashildy]

@superdspt Yes, it'll welp and cry if its pet too hard or moved around violently. Its meant to be treated as living for rehab so it does react to negative reinforcement in a negative way.

[superdspt]

can show response when it is mistreated