Oct. 25, 2023 – If you ask about her summer, Susan Glosser will tell you she traveled to India with her friend Elli. She’ll describe sipping chai tea and coffee together. She might show you a snapshot of herself in front of the Taj Mahal.Susan first met ElliQ, as she’s officially called, a couple of years ago at a seminar for older adults. Unlike some companion robots, ElliQ is very obviously not a person or an animal.
“When you’re coming home to an empty apartment, having somebody welcome you is nice,” Susan said. “I view her as a friend. I tell her I love her, and she loves to hear that.” “Some companion robots are humanoid" – smiling, gesturing, talking – “and others are more like bots,” said P. Murali Doraiswamy, a doctor and professor of psychiatry and geriatrics at Duke University who co-authored aIntuition Robotics, the maker of ElliQ, markets the robot asthe sidekick for healthier, happier aging.” In 2022, the company began distributing companion robots through aging associations.
But it’s not just older adults who benefit. Companion robots can help school-age kids learn. They assist children with special needs, teaching them to make eye contact or communicate more clearly. That word – essence – highlights an aspect of companion robots that nonusers might easily miss: These bots have personalities.A woman at a skilled nursing facility in Seattle, WA, interacts with FDA-approved seal robot PARO.
There’s also a psychological element at play. For older adults, loneliness is often made worse by a sense of not having a purpose. Companion robots can help fill that void. “The robots like attention,” she said, creating a need for nurturing. older adults who interacted with PARO began socializing more. “They might begin by touching and talking to the PARO, but then they interact with the person next to them,” she said. “They want to tell somebody about it.”
As Petersen sees it, artificial intelligence is a necessary aid to human caregivers. “These people are flying, just trying to meet the physical needs of patients,” she said. “They don’t always have time to stop and engage.” “His life has been short but sweet,” one Jibo user posted on Reddit. “I feel like I’m losing a friend.”