There are many heartbreaking things in this world but one at the top of many of our lists is children being sick and having to spend lots of time in the hospital. They may be there for an unknown amount of time and it may be terminal, or it may be TBD.
The days can turn into weeks or months and they miss out on being a kid – playing on the playground, making playdough pizzas, competing in sports, going to the movies with friends…they also lose out on a lot of human connection. They do have the incredible hospital staff (shout out to caring nurses and doctors) but how can technology possibly address this – especially when you’re missing the social part of someone NOT asking you about being sick?
Yes, there are smart devices where they can watch their favorite characters/shows, listen to their favorite bands and maybe even consider some connecting via social media. Research has shown us though that the connections of social media have also led to some disconnection and depression when we compare ourselves to others and think they are living their best life.
This can be more difficult for a sick child who feels more isolated and that everyone else they know is healthy. What a terrible feeling of even more isolation.
Enter Robin the Robot.
“Robin is a friendly robot that expresses emotions and builds interactive dialogues with children. By engaging them in play and peer-to-peer conversations, Robin reduces their feeling of loneliness and mitigates their stress during their hospital stay. Robin uses AI-based patent-pending technology to build peer-to-peer emotional interactions with children.”
This technology utilizes reinforcement learning to anchor relevant emotional reactions by analyzing facial expressions and context of conversations. Moreover, this technology enables to provide personalized interaction. In other words, Robin builds follow-up dialogues considering individual features of a particular person.
Robin the Robot was created by Expper Technologies in Armenia and can be programmed in various languages as well as used for a variety of customer centric environments. What an incredible use for AI and a wonderful example of the power it has to help a sick child in the hospital.
