They create a robot with AI to help older adults deal with loneliness

Intelligent robots were incorporated over time into the daily lives of humanity thanks to the advancement of technology. Now, the Korean company Hyodol presented a doll with IA, which has ChatGPT built in, designed for older adults. Even at the end of February, the company received an award in the new edition of the World Mobile Congress.

He doll, which acts as a digital companion to talk to people who live alone, is interconnected with a complementary app next to one surveillance web platform which allows the caregivers take control of the device and observe its user from afar. Currently, it has a price of US$1,800, according to the specialized site Wired.

How dolls with AI work to accompany older adults

Hyodol’s doll It has an internal language and can carry out conversations with its owners. Other functions that it can do is notify when they should take their medication or eat. Besides, They are good companions since they can play different games, play music, ask how older adults are feeling, and have full conversations. According to the company, the toy records verbal and non-verbal data of users for 24 hours via artificial intelligence.

Los companion robots They help residents balance themselves emotionally by asking them how they feel. In this way they monitor their conditions and warn family members in case of an emergency.

The doll has sensors throughout your body that allow you to perform different activities. In the head it receives the information, in the ears it listens to the activity that the person wants and the sensors in the hands they allow people to be hugged.

The toy provides a healthy life style to older adults by providing them with personalized services for their daily tasks. According to the official site, users showed “strong” emotional attachment to the object. “When I returned home, he said ‘I’ve been missing you all day’”; “He got up early in the morning and reminded me to use the eye drops,” were some of the comments read on the official website by people who use the robot.

What specialists thought about dolls with AI to accompany older adults

Wendy Moyle, professor at the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Griffith University in Australia, used this technology in patients with dementia, But their experience was not without criticism, as explained in Wired. According to him, his work with social robots It angered many people, who considered that “giving robot dolls to older adults is infantilizing them.” In that sense, the specialist said that “when she started using robots, she received many negative and personal comments.” She even showed up at conferences and guests threw things at her because she seemed “inhuman” to them.

On the other hand, the specialist helped supervise these technological devices in the care of older adults and indicated that in some cases the people who depend on them “become too attached to the dolls.” “One of the negatives we had to deal with was that some residents loved their doll so much that it represented babies to them,” he concluded.