Itasca firm's robotic baby seal no toy -- it's a cute form of therapy

The baby harp seal can purr, squirm, bat its eye lashes and turn its head when it's called.

At night, you can give it a pacifier when it goes to "sleep" to recharge.

The 2-foot-long, 6-pound robotic animal intends to offer some TLC to nursing home patients, autistic children, people with disabilities, and others needing therapeutic-type healing. Japan-based Paro Robots U.S. Inc., headquartered in Itasca, will start distribution here on Dec. 1.

Price tag: $6,000 each.

"We had to work with the FDA first before we could sell it here," said Christine Hsu, general manager of the Itasca office.

The FDA issued a Class 2 exempt pre-marketing notification in September, meaning the robot isn't considered a medical device. But it's being used to help people along in their regular medical routines, Hsu said.

The seal was created by Takanori Shibata, a senior research scientist at Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology. Paro has sold about 1,300 robotic baby seals in Europe and Japan since 2005.

The robot was exhibited at a robotic trade show in Rosemont in June and will be seen at the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging annual meeting Nov. 9-11 in Chicago. Then it will be seen at the Consumer electronics Show in Las Vegas in January.

People first see a baby seal with hypoallergenic fake fur on the outside.

But the inside has two 32-bit central processing units, known as CPUs, which process voice recognition and imitate animal behavior. This enables it to develop its own character. There are five different types of sensors over the body that allows it to perceive people and the environment. It also responds to touch, light, sound, temperature and posture, the company said.

While the current version of the baby seal is about 2-feet long, a future version is expected to be slightly smaller, Hsu said.

"The next generation might be smaller for different functions," she said.