http://www.parorobots.com/
For this contextualization post, I have found an article that presents a positive avenue for robotics in animals: pet therapy. A fuzzy white mechanical baby harp seal, PARO is far from the uncanny and takes pet therapy to places where it would be logistically inconvenient or even impossible. A video on the site shows PARO being used for the first time, its trial taking place at a nursing home. Usually a locale of isolation and a hub of mental illness (such as depression), the senior home was revolutionized when staff members introduced the baby harp seal. Formerly shy members began to play with the robot and converse with one another. There was even a man who stroked the baby seal and sang to it, making others laugh. The atmosphere was lively and jovial. Even tensions between the staff and patients were eased.
The cuddly machine was more than just a machine– it was evident that the patients found it adorable and lifelike. PARO is equipped with five sensing abilities: light, temperature, posture, audition, and tactile. It is intelligent enough to respond to a new name, and can even go as far as behavioral training in the form of tactile input (for example, a stroke or pet from a patient affirms whatever activity the seal was executing previously, while a hit tells the seal not to repeat whatever it was doing). In light of controversial robotic animals used for entities such as the military-industrial complex, it is a relief to see this area, the one of therapy, blossom and expand through the lens of such technology.