Paro is a robotic seal that is a social companion and a pet robot. Based on prior research it promotes the wellbeing of its user by increasing communication, relaxing and positive emotions. It is expected that the need for care will be increasing as the population ages, but already now nurses are in higher demand than their supply. Robotics are considered one option to ease this problem. The commissioner for this Bachelor’s thesis is Robo Hoiva -project. The aim of the project is to identify possibilities for robotics in care e.g. in improving the experience from the quality of care.

This Bachelor’s thesis included a user experiment, where Paro was brought into a peer support group of relatives of mental health patients. The aim of this experiment was to gather information on how the participants experience Paro in relative to their wellbeing. The data was collected by supervised interview/survey form and by observation in the group. The form included questions on how participants experienced Paro and its influence on wellbeing. The data was analyzed with inductive qualitative content analysis.

The results of the analysis were consistent with prior research on different kinds of groups. Relatives of mental health patients felt that Paro relaxes conversation atmosphere, making it easier to talk with others. Participants also liked to cuddle with Paro and had a positive attitude towards it. Relaxing effect of Paro was mentioned several times and other positive feelings were also evoked by Paro. The barriers of use for Paro were also similar in prior research and in the participants. The price that is several thousands of euros was considered too high for many. Even though someone mentioned also that price tag for mental health problems can easily be even more. Fear that robot replaces human and annoying voice of Paro were also mentioned in the data as in prior research also.

Based on the results of this Bachelor’s thesis and prior research, Paro is useful particularly in improving communication, instigating conversation, relaxation and bringing positive feelings. It is suitable for a wide variety of users, also for the relatives of mental health patients for improving wellbeing. The low number of participants (four) and their similarity (all female aged 30 to 62 years) makes the reliability of the data quite unreliable. This Bachelor’s thesis cannot say much for example on how male participants would have experienced Paro, but the results still support the results of prior research.