Cyber Sensitive: Therapeutic Buddy Bots Get Emotional
Diabetic children that enter the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, Italy, are often full of apprehension about their disease, their diet and the possibility of giving themselves injections. Hospitals have tried introducing pets to calm young patients down. "Pets don't mind being at hospitals, can reduce patient hospital stays, but are expensive to train and keep, and are not very hygienic," says Tony Belpaeme of the University of Plymouth in England. Belpaeme is the coordinator of ALIZ-E, a European Union consortium of schools and institutions that is trying to develop a robot that will take the place of a pet, and that eventually may serve in the capacity of an older companion who can not only bond with the younger patient but offer counsel about diet and health matters. [More] Hospital - Milan - Italy -...