Hospitals rely on a food therapy robot powered by AI to act as a 7 -year -old girl

“Luca, how are you?” He asked in an acute voice programmed to look like a 7 -year -old girl. “It’s been a while.”

Brazil-Sheehan said they had not met the 4-foot high (1.2 meter high) robot with a large screen with characteristics such as cartoons once before after being admitted several days earlier.

“Her face turned on,” she said about the interaction in June in Worcester, Massachusetts. “It was so special because she remembered him.”

Robin is a therapeutic robot powered by the artificial intelligence programmed to act as a little girl because she provides emotional support in nursing homes and pediatric units of the hospital while helping to fight against staff shortages. Five years after launching in the United States, he became a familiar face in 30 health care establishments in California, Massachusetts, New York and Indiana.

“Nurses and medical staff are really overloaded with work, under a lot of pressure, and unfortunately, often, they do not have the capacity to provide commitments and links with patients,” said Karen Khachyan, CEO of Expper Technologies, who developed the robot. “Robin helps to alleviate this part of them.”

While AI becomes more and more part of daily life, it has found a foothold in medical care – providing everything, taking notes during exams to electronic nurses. Although they are announced by some for the effectiveness it brings, others are concerned about its impact on patient care.

Robin is around 30% autonomous, while a team of operators working remotely controls the rest under the vigilant eyes of clinical personnel. Khachikyan said that with each interaction, they are able to collect more data – while complying with the Portability and Health Insurance Act, or HIPAA – and get closer to its possibility of operating independently.

“Imagine a pure emotional intelligence like Wall-E. We are trying to create this,” he said, referring to the 2008 animated film.

Circle

Recent Friday, a member of the staff of the Healthbridge Children’s Hospital of Orange County, California, has read a list of patients she needed to visit, as well as the time to spend with each.

The robot with an elegant white triangle frame that Khachikyan said was designed for hugs, rolled in a room with a teenager injured in a car accident. The robot played what he described as his favorite song – “No Fear” by Dej Loaf – and he danced. In the corridor, Robin fell for a young child run by his mother when he put a series of stupid glasses and a big red nose. In another room, the robot played a simplified version of TIC-TAC-TOE with a patient.

Samantha Da Silva, speech therapist at the hospital, said that patients light up when Robin enters their room and remembers not only their names but their favorite music.

“She brings joy to everyone,” said Da Silva. “She walks in the corridors, everyone likes to chat with her, say hello.”

Robin reflects the emotions of the person he is talking about, said Khachikyan. If the patient laughs, the robot laughs, but if he shares something difficult, his face reflects sadness and empathy.

In nursing homes, Robin plays memory games with people with dementia, takes them through breathing exercises on difficult days and offers them a form of company that looks like a little child with a grandparent.

Khachyan recalled for a moment last year in an establishment in Los Angeles where a woman had a panic attack and specifically asked for the robot. Robin played songs from his musician and favorite videos of his favorite animal – Elvis Presley and puppies – until she calmed down.

But with the association of American Medical Colleges projecting that the United States will face a shortage of 86,000 doctors in the next 11 years, Khachikyan’s vision for Robin goes far beyond this type of support.

He said they worked to make the robot capable of measuring the vital signs of patients and checking how they are, then sending this information to their medical team. The longer term plans include Robin design to help older patients change their clothes and go to the toilet.

“Our objective is to design Robin’s next evolution; that Robin will take more and more responsibility and become even more essential from the service provision,” said Khachyan.

He said it is not a question of replacing health workers but of filling the gaps in the labor market.

At Umass Memorial Children’s, the robot is part of a patient support team. When Luca needed an IV after not having obtained one for some time, Micaela Cotas, a specialist certified in children’s life came with the robot and showed him an intravenousness and what was going to happen, then Robin played a cartoon of his creation IV.

“It just helps to show that Robin also crossed these procedures, just like a peer,” said Cotas.

Find your niche

Robin was developed by Khachikyan while he obtained his doctorate. He said that growing up in a single -parent household in Armenia had been lonely, so years later, he wanted to build a type of robot that could act as a person.

The developers tested it in a variety of industries before an investor suggests that pediatric hospitals would be a good choice due to the stress and loneliness that children often feel.

“It was a kind of moment Aha,” he said. “We decided, OK try it.”

They managed to introduce it into a pediatric hospital in Armenia and, in 2020, launched a pilot program at the UCLA Mattel children’s hospital.

Since Robin was created, his personality and character have changed considerably according to the responses of the people with whom he interacts.

Khachikyan gave the example of Robin’s answer to the question: “What is your favorite pet.” At the start, they tried to make the robot respond with a dog. They also tried CAT. But when they tried the chicken, the children cracked. So they stayed with it.

“We have created Robin’s personality by really taking users to the equation,” he said. “We therefore often say that Robin was designed by users.”

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The journalist of Associated Press, Damian Dovarganes, contributed to this report.