The Hindu : Front Page : Robots, dogs equally reduce loneliness

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Sunday, Mar 02, 2008
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Robots, dogs equally reduce loneliness

ST. LOUIS: Dogs may have a hard time wrapping their paws around this one: Robotic competition is nipping at their heels in the man’s-best-friend department.

A study by Saint Louis University found that a lovable real dog named Sparky and a robotic dog, AIBO, were about equally effective at relieving the loneliness of nursing home residents and fostering attachments.

The study, which appears in the March issue of the Journal of The American Medical Directors Association, builds on previous findings by the researchers that frequent dog visits decreased loneliness of nursing home residents.

Encouraging

Andrew Ng, who leads Stanford University’s team in building a home-assistance robot and was not involved in the study, said the strength of the research is very encouraging.

If humans can feel an emotional bond with robots, even fairly simple ones, some day they could “not just be our assistants, but also our companions,” he said.

To test whether residents responded better to Sparky, a trained therapy dog, or the Sony-made robot dog, researchers divided 38 nursing home residents into three groups at a trio of long-term care facilities here.

One group had weekly, 30-minute one-on-one visits with Sparky; another group had similar visits with AIBO; a control group did not visit with either dog. Their level of loneliness — determined by residents’ answers to several questions — was tested at the beginning and near the end of eight weeks of visits.

Investigator Marian Banks delivered the dogs, but did not interact with the residents. In the end, both groups were less lonely and more attached.

The research could mean that a world is possible where robots could substitute for living dogs and help people, Professor Banks said. — AP

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