Interaction with pets helps reduce stress levels, distracts from unpleasantness and reduces anxiety. There is even a method of treatment with the help of pets – pet therapy. Four-legged pets make people move more and expand its circle of communication – because pet lovers always find common topics of conversation.
Socializing with animals is especially useful for the elderly with Alzheimer’s or dementia, for children with mental disorders and for patients who have been in the hospital for a long time. Pets save them from loneliness, help them overcome depression, and reduce anxiety and irritability.
But patients can’t always get a cat or a dog – they can’t afford to look after them, and residents of nursing homes and hospital patients are forbidden by regulations to keep animals. That is why robotic companions were made for such people.
Scientists in New Zealand have found that communicating with electronic pets is as useful as communicating with real animals. The robots will not be a full-fledged replacement for real cats or puppies, but for sick people they may be the best option: artificial animals do not cause allergies, do not need expensive food, they do not need a litter box or a regular walk.
What are robotic animals
These are electronic toys with artificial intelligence, imitating the appearance and habits of real and fictional animals. They have built-in sensors, microphones, motors and processors that process incoming signals. Special applications for smartphones are used to set up and control them.
Electronic pets bark, meow, scream, respond to stroking and scratching, respond to their name, imitate different emotions: pleasure and displeasure, joy, fear and fatigue.
Different manufacturers use their own approaches to the production of robotic animals. Let’s look at the most curious ones.
Cats and dogs Joy for All by Hasbro
These are realistic robotic cats and dogs designed by Hasbro specifically for people with Alzheimer’s.
Joy for All cats are covered in soft synthetic fur with a long pile. They don’t walk, but they look and act like real animals: they open their mouths, move their heads and bodies, blink, purr and meow. Robots wash with their paw and, when scratched, roll over on their back and put their stomachs under them.
Robot pups bark in response to human voices, poke their noses, and respond to strokes and hugs. When they are taken in their arms, their “heartbeat” increases.
And when the room gets dark, the robot animals fall asleep.
Cats and puppies Joy for All. Image: official LoveThisPet website
The robots have touch and light sensors built into their bodies. The toys make realistic barks and meows thanks to recordings of real animal voices.
People with mental problems perceive them better than real cats and dogs: artificial animals are always ready for affection, their behavior is predictable, they are not angry, not scratching, not biting and do not need care.
Since 2017, scientists from Brown University have been working with Hasbro’s robotic animals. They are developing software for the toys that will make them effective assistants for the elderly. Robotic cats and dogs will help the elderly with complex tasks, such as helping them find their keys and glasses, reminding them to take their medications, and important matters and events.