Robot assisted activity at a health service facility for the aged for 17 months: an interim report of long-term experiment

A long-term experiment of robot assisted activity for elderly people has been conducted at a health service facility for the aged since Aug. 2003. Three therapeutic seal robots, Paro, were introduced there. This paper describes the results of the experiment for 17 months. Face scales that consist of illustrations of person's faces were used to evaluate person's moods. In addition, geriatric depression scales were used to measure person's depression by questionnaires. As the results, feelings of the elderly people were improved by interaction with the seal robots.