{
  "meta": {
    "publisher": "Companions.wiki",
    "schemaVersion": "1.0",
    "endpoint": "https://companions.wiki/api/v1/robots/paro",
    "canonicalUrl": "https://companions.wiki/robots/paro",
    "factualReviewDate": "2026-07-14",
    "lastEditorialModification": "2026-07-17",
    "rights": {
      "holder": "Companions.wiki",
      "notice": "Original Companions.wiki text, editorial ratings, and structured data are licensed CC BY 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Attribute the specific page or endpoint and indicate changes.",
      "thirdParty": "Third-party sources, quotations, product marks, and media retain their separate rights and licenses; inspect each media record before reuse.",
      "cors": "Cross-origin read access is permitted. CORS does not alter CC BY attribution duties or any third-party restrictions."
    },
    "provenance": "Each claim lists source IDs and resolved source URLs. Read support, confidence, model, region, verification date, source independence, and locator together."
  },
  "robot": {
    "schemaVersion": "1.0",
    "slug": "paro",
    "name": "PARO",
    "canonicalUrl": "https://companions.wiki/robots/paro",
    "apiUrl": "https://companions.wiki/api/v1/robots/paro",
    "identity": {
      "maker": "AIST / PARO Robots",
      "country": "Japan",
      "introduced": "2004",
      "category": "Therapeutic",
      "form": "Animal-inspired"
    },
    "editorial": {
      "tagline": "The therapeutic seal robot used in care and dementia settings.",
      "summary": "PARO is a tactile baby-seal robot that responds to touch, light, sound, temperature, and posture with movements and seal-like vocalizations.",
      "editorialTake": "A specialized therapeutic tool with a very different procurement and evidence context from consumer robot pets. Evaluate it with care staff, clinical evidence, infection-control needs, and local regulatory status in view.",
      "evidenceLevel": "Partial",
      "reviewedAt": "2026-07-14",
      "modifiedAt": "2026-07-17",
      "changeNote": "Rechecked current distribution and separated product facts from therapeutic-outcome claims."
    },
    "status": {
      "value": "Region-limited",
      "note": "Distributed through regional clinical and care-sector channels.",
      "availability": "Regional distributors and institutional procurement"
    },
    "ownership": {
      "price": "£6,000 excluding VAT from the official UK/Ireland distributor at review",
      "priceBand": 4,
      "subscription": "No cloud subscription documented; maintenance and distribution terms vary",
      "offers": [
        {
          "id": "paro-uk",
          "region": "United Kingdom",
          "currency": "GBP",
          "amount": 6000,
          "priceLabel": "£6,000 excluding VAT from the reviewed UK/Ireland distributor",
          "seller": "Regional PARO distributor",
          "observedAt": "2026-07-14",
          "taxStatus": "Excluded",
          "availability": "Region-limited",
          "requiredPlan": false,
          "purchaseModel": "institutional",
          "subscription": "No cloud subscription documented; maintenance terms vary",
          "shipping": "Institutional or distributor procurement",
          "warranty": "Distributor terms apply",
          "returns": "Verify with the regional distributor",
          "sourceIds": [
            "P1"
          ]
        }
      ]
    },
    "suitability": {
      "bestFor": [
        "Structured therapeutic engagement",
        "Dementia and care environments",
        "Tactile nonverbal interaction"
      ],
      "notFor": [
        "General consumer entertainment",
        "Open-ended conversation",
        "Unsupervised clinical substitution"
      ],
      "ageGuidance": "Specialist therapeutic device; use according to local clinical, care, and infection-control protocols"
    },
    "experience": {
      "capabilities": [
        "Responds to stroking, light, sound, position, and temperature",
        "Learns patterns of preferred responses",
        "Moves head, eyelids, and flippers",
        "Designed for repeated care-setting interaction"
      ],
      "limitations": [
        "High specialist purchase cost",
        "Therapeutic benefit depends on person, context, and facilitation",
        "No locomotion or spoken conversation"
      ],
      "interaction": [
        "Touch",
        "Sound",
        "Light",
        "Posture",
        "Seal-like vocalization"
      ],
      "scores": {
        "conversation": 1,
        "movement": 2,
        "touch": 5,
        "independence": 2,
        "offline": 5
      }
    },
    "hardware": {
      "connectivity": "No network, app, or cloud service documented for the standard model",
      "cloud": "Mostly local",
      "camera": "No camera documented",
      "microphone": "Audio sensing for sound direction and response",
      "mobility": "Held or bedside; articulated head, eyelids, and flippers",
      "battery": "Rechargeable; model and distributor documentation should be checked",
      "dimensions": "Approx. 570 mm long",
      "weight": "Approx. 2.5 kg",
      "sdk": "No public SDK"
    },
    "privacy": "The standard model’s public product information documents no network, app, or cloud service. Institutions should still verify the exact model and their own observation or record-keeping practices.",
    "safety": "Procurement should cover cleaning, infection control, lifting, allergy considerations, staff training, and the distinction between engagement support and medical treatment.",
    "claims": [
      {
        "id": "paro-price",
        "field": "price",
        "label": "Manufacturer-listed price",
        "value": "£6,000 excluding VAT from the official UK/Ireland distributor at review",
        "support": "Direct",
        "confidence": "Medium",
        "verifiedAt": "2026-07-14",
        "region": "Regional distributors and institutional procurement",
        "model": "PARO",
        "note": "Price snapshots can change without notice; taxes, shipping, and bundles may differ.",
        "sourceIds": [
          "P1",
          "P2"
        ],
        "sourceRefs": [
          {
            "id": "P1",
            "title": "PARO therapeutic robot",
            "publisher": "PARO Robots",
            "url": "http://www.parorobots.com/index.asp",
            "type": "Official product page",
            "accessedAt": "2026-07-14"
          },
          {
            "id": "P2",
            "title": "PARO in the UK and Ireland",
            "publisher": "PARO Seal UK",
            "url": "https://www.paroseal.co.uk/home",
            "type": "Official product page",
            "accessedAt": "2026-07-14"
          }
        ],
        "unresolvedSourceIds": []
      },
      {
        "id": "paro-service",
        "field": "service",
        "label": "Ongoing service",
        "value": "No cloud subscription documented; maintenance and distribution terms vary",
        "support": "Direct",
        "confidence": "Medium",
        "verifiedAt": "2026-07-14",
        "region": "Regional distributors and institutional procurement",
        "model": "PARO",
        "note": null,
        "sourceIds": [
          "P1",
          "P2"
        ],
        "sourceRefs": [
          {
            "id": "P1",
            "title": "PARO therapeutic robot",
            "publisher": "PARO Robots",
            "url": "http://www.parorobots.com/index.asp",
            "type": "Official product page",
            "accessedAt": "2026-07-14"
          },
          {
            "id": "P2",
            "title": "PARO in the UK and Ireland",
            "publisher": "PARO Seal UK",
            "url": "https://www.paroseal.co.uk/home",
            "type": "Official product page",
            "accessedAt": "2026-07-14"
          }
        ],
        "unresolvedSourceIds": []
      },
      {
        "id": "paro-availability",
        "field": "availability",
        "label": "Availability",
        "value": "Regional distributors and institutional procurement",
        "support": "Direct",
        "confidence": "Medium",
        "verifiedAt": "2026-07-14",
        "region": "Regional distributors and institutional procurement",
        "model": "PARO",
        "note": null,
        "sourceIds": [
          "P1",
          "P2"
        ],
        "sourceRefs": [
          {
            "id": "P1",
            "title": "PARO therapeutic robot",
            "publisher": "PARO Robots",
            "url": "http://www.parorobots.com/index.asp",
            "type": "Official product page",
            "accessedAt": "2026-07-14"
          },
          {
            "id": "P2",
            "title": "PARO in the UK and Ireland",
            "publisher": "PARO Seal UK",
            "url": "https://www.paroseal.co.uk/home",
            "type": "Official product page",
            "accessedAt": "2026-07-14"
          }
        ],
        "unresolvedSourceIds": []
      },
      {
        "id": "paro-capabilities",
        "field": "capabilities",
        "label": "Documented capabilities",
        "value": "Responds to stroking, light, sound, position, and temperature; Learns patterns of preferred responses; Moves head, eyelids, and flippers; Designed for repeated care-setting interaction",
        "support": "Direct",
        "confidence": "Medium",
        "verifiedAt": "2026-07-14",
        "region": null,
        "model": "PARO",
        "note": "Manufacturer documentation establishes the claim, not real-world performance.",
        "sourceIds": [
          "P1",
          "P2"
        ],
        "sourceRefs": [
          {
            "id": "P1",
            "title": "PARO therapeutic robot",
            "publisher": "PARO Robots",
            "url": "http://www.parorobots.com/index.asp",
            "type": "Official product page",
            "accessedAt": "2026-07-14"
          },
          {
            "id": "P2",
            "title": "PARO in the UK and Ireland",
            "publisher": "PARO Seal UK",
            "url": "https://www.paroseal.co.uk/home",
            "type": "Official product page",
            "accessedAt": "2026-07-14"
          }
        ],
        "unresolvedSourceIds": []
      },
      {
        "id": "paro-privacy",
        "field": "privacy",
        "label": "Privacy and data handling",
        "value": "The standard model’s public product information documents no network, app, or cloud service. Institutions should still verify the exact model and their own observation or record-keeping practices.",
        "support": "Direct",
        "confidence": "Low",
        "verifiedAt": "2026-07-14",
        "region": "Regional distributors and institutional procurement",
        "model": "PARO",
        "note": "No supporting privacy, policy, manual, or support source has been identified for this field.",
        "sourceIds": [],
        "sourceRefs": [],
        "unresolvedSourceIds": []
      },
      {
        "id": "paro-hardware",
        "field": "hardware",
        "label": "Hardware and sensing",
        "value": "No camera documented; Audio sensing for sound direction and response; No network, app, or cloud service documented for the standard model; Rechargeable; model and distributor documentation should be checked",
        "support": "Direct",
        "confidence": "Medium",
        "verifiedAt": "2026-07-14",
        "region": null,
        "model": "PARO",
        "note": null,
        "sourceIds": [
          "P1",
          "P2"
        ],
        "sourceRefs": [
          {
            "id": "P1",
            "title": "PARO therapeutic robot",
            "publisher": "PARO Robots",
            "url": "http://www.parorobots.com/index.asp",
            "type": "Official product page",
            "accessedAt": "2026-07-14"
          },
          {
            "id": "P2",
            "title": "PARO in the UK and Ireland",
            "publisher": "PARO Seal UK",
            "url": "https://www.paroseal.co.uk/home",
            "type": "Official product page",
            "accessedAt": "2026-07-14"
          }
        ],
        "unresolvedSourceIds": []
      },
      {
        "id": "paro-safety",
        "field": "safety",
        "label": "Safety context",
        "value": "Procurement should cover cleaning, infection control, lifting, allergy considerations, staff training, and the distinction between engagement support and medical treatment.",
        "support": "Inferred",
        "confidence": "Low",
        "verifiedAt": "2026-07-14",
        "region": "Regional distributors and institutional procurement",
        "model": "PARO",
        "note": "No supporting manual, privacy notice, or support source has been identified; treat this editorial safety context as unresolved.",
        "sourceIds": [],
        "sourceRefs": [],
        "unresolvedSourceIds": []
      },
      {
        "id": "paro-evidence",
        "field": "evidence",
        "label": "Independent evidence context",
        "value": "Independent or research material is available in the evidence trail; study design, population, conflicts, and limitations still matter.",
        "support": "Independently tested",
        "confidence": "Medium",
        "verifiedAt": "2026-07-17",
        "region": null,
        "model": "PARO",
        "note": null,
        "sourceIds": [
          "P4",
          "P5"
        ],
        "sourceRefs": [
          {
            "id": "P4",
            "title": "Use of a Robotic Seal as a Therapeutic Tool to Improve Dementia Symptoms",
            "publisher": "PubMed / Journal of the American Medical Directors Association",
            "url": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28780395/",
            "type": "Research",
            "accessedAt": "2026-07-17"
          },
          {
            "id": "P5",
            "title": "The effectiveness of the therapeutic robot PARO: systematic review and meta-analysis",
            "publisher": "PubMed / Journal of Clinical Nursing",
            "url": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37348392/",
            "type": "Systematic review",
            "accessedAt": "2026-07-17"
          }
        ],
        "unresolvedSourceIds": []
      }
    ],
    "sources": [
      {
        "id": "P1",
        "title": "PARO therapeutic robot",
        "publisher": "PARO Robots",
        "url": "http://www.parorobots.com/index.asp",
        "type": "Official product page",
        "independence": "Manufacturer",
        "reviewedLabel": "14 July 2026",
        "publishedAt": null,
        "accessedAt": "2026-07-14",
        "locator": null,
        "archiveUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.parorobots.com/index.asp",
        "notes": null
      },
      {
        "id": "P2",
        "title": "PARO in the UK and Ireland",
        "publisher": "PARO Seal UK",
        "url": "https://www.paroseal.co.uk/home",
        "type": "Official product page",
        "independence": "Manufacturer",
        "reviewedLabel": "14 July 2026",
        "publishedAt": null,
        "accessedAt": "2026-07-14",
        "locator": null,
        "archiveUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://www.paroseal.co.uk/home",
        "notes": null
      },
      {
        "id": "P4",
        "title": "Use of a Robotic Seal as a Therapeutic Tool to Improve Dementia Symptoms",
        "publisher": "PubMed / Journal of the American Medical Directors Association",
        "url": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28780395/",
        "type": "Research",
        "independence": "Research team",
        "reviewedLabel": "17 July 2026",
        "publishedAt": "2017-08-03",
        "accessedAt": "2026-07-17",
        "locator": "Cluster-randomized trial abstract",
        "archiveUrl": null,
        "notes": "PARO improved some observed outcomes versus usual care, but was not consistently superior to a look-alike plush toy."
      },
      {
        "id": "P5",
        "title": "The effectiveness of the therapeutic robot PARO: systematic review and meta-analysis",
        "publisher": "PubMed / Journal of Clinical Nursing",
        "url": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37348392/",
        "type": "Systematic review",
        "independence": "Research team",
        "reviewedLabel": "17 July 2026",
        "publishedAt": "2023-06-23",
        "accessedAt": "2026-07-17",
        "locator": "Abstract, methods, and GRADE assessment",
        "archiveUrl": null,
        "notes": "Twelve articles and 1,461 participants; effects varied and the overall evidence quality was graded low."
      }
    ],
    "revisions": [
      {
        "id": "paro-2026-07-17-evidence-system",
        "changedAt": "2026-07-17",
        "fields": [
          "citations",
          "source metadata",
          "revision history"
        ],
        "note": "Added field-level source mapping and a public revision record.",
        "rationale": "Editorial-system change only; product facts were not reverified on this date.",
        "editor": "Companions.wiki editors",
        "reviewer": "Automated data-integrity checks"
      },
      {
        "id": "paro-2026-07-14-fact-check",
        "changedAt": "2026-07-14",
        "fields": [
          "product facts"
        ],
        "note": "Rechecked current distribution and separated product facts from therapeutic-outcome claims.",
        "rationale": "Scheduled primary-source review.",
        "editor": "Companions.wiki editors",
        "reviewer": "Companions.wiki editors"
      }
    ],
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      {
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        "path": "/robots/paro.jpg",
        "alt": "A white PARO therapeutic seal robot connected to a charging cable at an exhibition",
        "caption": "PARO on exhibition in 2024. The visible cable and display setting are part of the source photograph.",
        "creator": "Syced",
        "sourceUrl": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PARO_seal_robot_for_dementia,_2018_Ryman_prize_explanation.jpg",
        "license": "CC0",
        "licenseUrl": "https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/",
        "permissionDate": "2026-07-17",
        "modelNote": "PARO; exact hardware revision not stated in the image record",
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}