Robot‐assisted therapy for improving social interactions and activity participation among institutionalized older adults: A pilot study

Abstract

By interacting with a robot pet, such as Paro, the communication, interaction skills, and activity participation of the older adults can be improved. The robot-assisted therapy can be provided as a routine activity program and has the potential to improve social health of older adults in residential care facilities.

What People with Dementia Want: Designing MARIO an Acceptable Robot Companion

“…Paro, a seal-like robot and other zoomorphic robots have built on the success of animal therapy and been successfully used to facilitate therapeutic work with PWD, to enhance social interactions and reduce social isolation [5,6,7,8,9]. Robotic animals can be more acceptable than real animals for reasons of safety, hygiene, and being hypoallergenic.…”

Living with the animals: animal or robotic companions for the elderly in smart homes?

“…Even if the results vary and stem from pilot studies (for a current study with a relatively large sample size see ref. 10), this research demonstrates overall positive effects of pet robots on the older residents, sometimes suffering from dementia, especially in comparison with control groups without living animals 4 6 9 11–13. Above all, where the use of animals seems problematic, or where this appears too costly, pet robots stand out as a notable alternative.…”

“…Further, pet owners can be injured by the scratching and biting of potentially stressed animals. The death of a beloved pet will lead to mourning and in some cases this will relativise the psychological benefits they provided, at least if this happens with some frequency 3 4 16 18…”

“…Some authors emphasise that the companions are presented ‘as a robotic pet and not a live animal’ (ref. 9, p. 51), yet in practice either consciously choose a feline appearance for the robot in order to connect with individual experiences of cats, or else firmly decide on the appearance of a seal because the patients usually have no experience with such animals and therefore are not easily prone to classify the robot as artificial 4 9. In either case, the connection to a living animal is consciously intended (cf.…”

Pet ownership and physical health

“…Little is known about the beneficial effects of other pets including exotics (e.g., snakes and lizards) and even robotic animals (e.g., robotic seals) [63,64]. A single-group pretest and posttest design [63] found that participants in a residential care facility had better communication and social skills and more activity participation after interacting with Paro, a robotic seal [63], whereas a better-controlled randomized controlled trial found significant decreases in loneliness with Paro [64]. Not all individuals may be good candidates for dog or cat ownership due to health or financial circumstances.…”