Paro: Paro is still as cute and fluffy as ever; there are no hardware updates but Paro did get approval this year from the FDA to be sold as a medical device. Your insurance company still isn’t likely to pay for one if you get sick, but they’re working on that too.

[ Paro ]

Keepon: the big news here is that Keepon is getting redesigned with a new internal structure that reduces costs by a factor of ten without sacrificing any functionality. Four figures is still not a whole lot better than five as far as you and I buying one goes, but give it another year or two and maybe we’ll see another zero (or two, please make it two) chopped off of that price.

Oh, and thanks to a night out clubbing in Vegas with Marek Michalowski, I think I’ve figured out where Keepon gets his awesome dance moves.

Or maybe it’s the other way around.

[ Keepon ]

Dear Paro,

My name is Evan, and I am a very influential and handsome robot blogger. I met you at CES last January and was very impressed with your warmness and softness and squishyness and general omgIwantone-ness. I especially like how you modify your behavior based on tactile feedback and can recognize greetings and learn your name. In order to educate the rest of the world on just how theraputic you can be, I would like to offer you the opportunity to come live with me. Also, you can spend time with my girlfriend, who could use a snuggly therapy robot… Plus, she is sort of a robot herself, so I’m sure you two would have a lot in common. I know you cost $6,000, but when you consider how very influential and handsome I am, I’m sure you will agree that visiting me would be awesome.

Yours truly,

-Evan
BotJunkie Editor, Influential, Handsome

[ Paro Therapeutic Robot ] VIA [ Robot Watch (Translated) ]

First Keepon, and now Paro… I’m suffering from serious cute robot overload here at CES. As you may recall, Paro is a handmade robotic baby harp seal designed to provide cuteness therapy to people with debilitating physical and mental illnesses. I don’t have either one of those things, and I still desperately need more Paro snuggling time. Not only is Paro soft and fluffy, it’s also warm, heating itself to your body temperature. Plus, it has those big round black eyes and makes the most adorable noises:

Paro reacts to your touch, and learns what makes you happy by paying attention to how much you stroke it, and when. It’ll also learn and respond to whatever name you’d like to give it. When it needs more power, Paro gets sleepy, and it recharges when you give it a pacifier to suck on. Paro is currently for sale in the US for $5000, and they’re trying to get insurance companies to agree to cover Paro for people who might need one.

[ Paro ]

Paro, the world’s “Most Theraputic Robot” (seriously, ask Guinness), has just gone on sale in the US. Finally. I mean, there is a serious shortage of cuddly baby sealbots on the market right now. Paro (which stands for personal robot) originated in Japan, where about a thousand of them are being used to treat patients with Alzheimer’s and other debilitating physical and emotional illnesses. Each Paro is handmade, so each one is a bit different and can learn and respond to an individual name. They have light sensors, tactile sensors, pressure sensors, and audio sensors, and can respond to a variety of stimuli with sound and movement.

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.

A harp seal pup wasn’t chosen as a model for Paro just because it’s one of the cutest animals on the planet. Rather, it was a carefully thought out decision to choose an animal that people couldn’t directly identify with. If you have a robotic dog, for example, it’s far too easy to compare it to a real dog and end up disappointed (not that that necessarily happens). But since nobody has pet seals, that comparison (subconscious or otherwise) doesn’t take place, making it far easier for users to suspend their incredulity at the robot and develop an emotional bond with it. And it really, really works to improve people’s lives, both in clinical and domestic settings:

Unfortunately, Paro costs about $5000. Honestly, I can’t help but think if you did a little bit of anatomical hacking on a Pleo and bought it a fur coat you might get better results for a lot less money. Paro is several years old, however… My guess is that we’ll be seeing a lot more companion robots like Paro in the near future, most likely originating in Japan and drifting over to the US just as Paro has done.

[ Paro ] VIA [ Smart Machines ]