title: Is an entertainment robot useful in the care of elderly people with severe dementia?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  An entertainment robot was used as occupational therapy instead of animal-assisted therapy to avoid any danger or injury to the patient and maintain cleanliness. This study compared the effectiveness of a robot animal, AIBO, with a toy.
  
  
  METHODS
  AIBO is made of metal and responds to spoken commands. We demonstrated AIBO to severely demented elderly people living in a geriatric home and observed their reactions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The most frequent reactions to AIBO consisted of looking at, communicating with, and caring for AIBO. The patients recognized that AIBO was a robot. However, once we dressed AIBO, the patients perceived AIBO as either a dog or a baby. Nevertheless, the presentation of AIBO resulted in positive outcomes for the severe dementia patients, including increased communication between the patients and AIBO.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  AIBO was clearly an effective rehabilitation tool in the treatment of severely demented patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gerontechnology, National Institute for Longevity Sciences, 36-3 Gengo, Aichi 464-8522, Japan. tamura@nils.go.jp
authors.forename: Toshiyo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tamura
authors.forename: Satomi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yonemitsu
authors.forename: Akiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Itoh
authors.forename: Daisuke
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Oikawa
authors.forename: Akiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kawakami
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Higashi
authors.forename: Toshiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fujimooto
authors.forename: Kazuki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakajima
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003704:Dementia / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010989:Play Therapy; D012371:Robotics; D012720:Severity of Illness Index