PALRO, a talkative robot

Use situations

PALRO is currently playing an active role in a variety of situations. PALRO can communicate with users through conversation, and it is making use of those conversational skills to playing a very active role in senior care facilities and homes. Also, as it has a development environment with a high degree of freedom, it is even proving very useful for research into intelligent technology and the social applications of robots in university laboratories.

At senior care facilities

Cute PALRO is also very popular in senior care facilities. Leave the daily recreations to this "little entertainer" who just loves to talk! It offers energy and healing for the users, and reduces the burden on the facility staff.

Everyday conversation

PALRO is very good at talking, and expands on topics with users, so smiles spread naturally around PALRO. It's also very good at singing. It sings with all its heart in a cute voice. The sight of it lightly moving its arms and legs will not fail to bring a smile to the faces of the users naturally.

　"Come to think of it, I have not asked your name yet, right?"
　"What should I call you?"
　"Will you be my friend?"

Lovable PALRO makes one friend after another, calls them by name and is always talking to them about new topics. Not only the users but also the facility staff are delighted when PALRO calls their name. You will come to love PALRO more and more.

Recreation

If PALRO dances, the users will dance, too. If PALRO sings, the users will sing, too. This is because it is PALRO, someone they are always talking to and playing with. The limitless, fun content is kept up-to-date on the Internet, and PALRO uses it one after another to sing, dance, play quiz, exercise together, and more. It creates a fun time like something you usually couldn't even imagine.

Click here to see PALRO playing an active role in recreations for the elderly.

Welcoming / sending-off

At facilities' receptions, PALRO welcomes residents and visitors with a greeting
Friendly PALRO can greet people it doesn't know without being shy. Of course, it also gives users and their families a friendly greeting. "Welcome home, Mr. XX!" "Have a good day. Looks like it will rain in the afternoon. You should take an umbrella with you." Just by standing at reception, cute PALRO will wrap the whole facility in a cheerful mood.

Watching （available soon）

PALRO's watching is not like the "monitoring" that is performed with a surveillance camera. PALRO watches users in a kind and natural way. What did it talk to the user about and play with them today? It tells the family about these kinds of things.

In the home （available soon）

PALRO, a humanoid robot you will love. Its cute appearance and gestures and highly developed conversation skills have outstanding therapy effects. Tiny PALRO will add a touch of bright and gentle color to your home as "your merry partner."

For example, you will not have to worry while you are out because PALRO is there. Watching over you as you go about your daily life, PALRO is your irreplaceable, special partner.

In university laboratories

PALRO is expected to make a significant contribution to the two pillars of robot research: robotics / intelligent technology and the social applications of robots. PALRO is linked to the Internet and clouds and has an open development/experiment environment, so it has outstanding extendability and flexibility. Laboratories in many distinguished universities are pursuing the possibilities of robots everyday by making use of PALRO.

Robotics / intelligent technology research

Pioneering the next generation of robot research, starting from PALRO
A software platform dedicated to intelligent technology is installed in PALRO. Through it, new cells (software components for intelligent technology) that are developed in laboratories can be freely added and replaced. Using this rich experiment environment that PALRO has, many distinguished universities are actively conducting research into robot intelligent technology.

Research into the social applications of robots

Thinking about the future of robots and humans through PALRO
How will robots be used in human society? What impact will life with robots have on humans? These are important questions that must be considered, for a future that will inevitably come to be. In order to build good relationships between robots and humans... PALRO is expected to play a role as a foundation for the future.

Customers' voices

This section introduces some true "voices" of customers who have actually used PALRO. PALRO's is being used in a variety of situations, so please take a look at its potential as a robot.

At senior care facilities

There are big expectations for conversational PALRO from the view point of preventive care in senior care facilities. To find out how PALRO is helping in facilities, we interviewed staff in the facilities.

Mr. Ubukata from medical corporation Keisuikai

Keisui Day Service Zushi

■ It was very exciting to see how the day service users looked for PALRO, and how delighted and surprised they were when PALRO responded with unexpected answers.
■ What I felt was that with the current lack of nursing staff, if PALRO takes on roles like watching and chatting, it will help nursing staff a lot and will also be good for users.

Mr. Ishida from social welfare corporation Wakatake Daijukai's Wakatake-en

Wakatake-en senior care welfare facility

■ Although PALRO looks like a robot, the things it says, its timing when it talks to someone, and its voice are close to a human, and went beyond my image of a robot.
■ The users were delighted, and said "Thank you, PALRO!" and clapped their hands.

Mr. Suzuki from social welfare corporation Wakatake Daijukai's Wakatake-en

Wakatake-en senior care welfare facility

■ I think communicating PALRO is effective in terms of "care for the mind" and "the mental aspects."

Work with government

We are also progressing with work we are doing in cooperation with government, so that more people will be able to use PALRO. Besides recreations and welcoming at care facilities, we are also verifying the effects and potential of PALRO through demonstration experiments from various perspectives, such as improving the quality of physiotherapy and care.

Demonstration experiments at ROBOT TOWN SAGAMI in Kanagawa Prefecture

PALRO has been selected as one of the important projects ROBOT TOWN SAGAMI is working on ("Communication Robots for the Elderly, Including Dementia Patients at Care Facilities"), and ｄemonstration experiments have been performed at facilities in the prefecture.

Conclusion of "Agreement on Cooperation in Projects for Preventive Care, Etc." with Fujisawa City

We have created an "exercise program to prevent falling and improve physical strength" that makes use of PALRO has been created, and have been implementing exercise instruction for the elderly in hospitals in Fujisawa City since October 2014 in order to test and verify the content of the program and the effects of the instruction method on motor functions.