Effect of an interactive therapeutic robotic animal on engagement, mood states, agitation and psychotropic drug use in people with dementia.

To compare Usual Care (UC) with an innovative interactive therapeutic robot (PARO) and with a look-alike Plush Toy (PT - without the artificial intelligent aspects of the robot) in terms of reducing emotional and behavioural (agitation) symptoms of dementia. PARO is a therapeutic pet-type robot, with the appearance of a baby harp seal and it is the size of a newborn baby. It has tactile sensors and moves its tail and flippers, and opens its eyes when petted. Artificial intelligence software changes the robot’s behaviours based on an array of sensors that monitor sound, light, temperature and touch. It responds to sounds, can learn its name and learns to respond to words its owner uses frequently. It can show emotions such as surprise, happiness and anger and will cry if it is not receiving sufficient attention. It produces sounds similar to a real baby seal and is active during the day and asleep at night. Participants allocated to the PARO condition will be introduced to and left to play with the robot delivered by the trained research assistants (RAs) at the start of each session and collected at the end of each session. Participants will receive three individual non-facilitated PARO sessions per week, for 15 minutes for 10 weeks. RAs will be kept constant for each individual throughout the intervention. Video observation will be done during intervention via a small unobtrusive video camera held by the RA, who will sit in a position where video footage can be captured without the RA being intrusive.