A lifelike robotic puppy designed to comfort seniors with dementia

The Manila Times

A lifelike robotic puppy designed to comfort seniors with dementia  They say a dog is a man's best friend, but for many people living with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia, the demands of caring for a dog or pet can be a challenge. But 'Jennie,' a lifelike robotic puppy from Tombot, which has been wowing crowds at CES 2025, is designed to change all that, by providing companionship and unconditional love for those who are unable to look after a real animal on their own. 'Jennie' is a life-like robotic yellow Labrador puppy that responds to touch and voice commands and even wags its tail.  REUTERS / TOMBOT INC. HANDOUT  Subscribe to The Manila Times Channel - https://tmt.ph/YTSubscribe   Visit our website at https://www.manilatimes.net   Follow us:  Facebook - https://tmt.ph/facebook  Instagram - https://tmt.ph/instagram  Twitter - https://tmt.ph/twitter  DailyMotion - https://tmt.ph/dailymotion   Subscribe to our Digital Edition - https://tmt.ph/digital   Check out our Podcasts:  Spotify - https://tmt.ph/spotify  Apple Podcasts - https://tmt.ph/applepodcasts  Amazon Music - https://tmt.ph/amazonmusic  Deezer: https://tmt.ph/deezer  Tune In: https://tmt.ph/tunein  #TheManilaTimes #worldnews  #artificialintelligence  #dementia  #robots

Transcript

00:00Inspired by my mother, who after she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's dementia, I had to take away

00:23her dog for safety reasons, and she was very unhappy with me.

00:28I looked around for substitutes for live animal companions, she didn't like anything that

00:33I brought home, and it was at that time I realized there was a very large gap in the

00:37market.

00:38I learned that there are over 300 million seniors with dementia or pre-dementia mild

00:44cognitive impairment who, like my mother, are also limited in their ability to safely

00:50or practically care for a live animal, and so these puppies are designed to treat the

00:56behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia, reduce the need for certain medications,

01:01including psychotropics, and we aim for them to be the first FDA medical devices.

01:08Over 40 years worth of peer-reviewed data show that where a senior with dementia can

01:13form a robust emotional attachment to an object, traditionally that's a human baby doll or

01:19a stuffed animal, that senior gets a great deal of relief from their behavioral and psychological

01:24symptoms, so loneliness, anxiety, depression.

01:28With traditional objects, most seniors don't care for them, maybe 1%.

01:34Research on robotic animals show they significantly outperform those traditional objects and have

01:39the added benefit of reducing pain and the need for pain medications.

01:44So people talk about loneliness and isolation, but they're actually two different things.

01:50Loneliness is the feeling of not having social contacts.

01:53You could be in a 500-bed facility or in a community of many, many people and you could

01:57still be lonely if you don't have those social connections.

02:00Isolation is the circumstances of really being distant from others.

02:05So this is a device that one would think could solve for feelings of loneliness.

02:13I love it.

02:15When I was younger, I had a dog and with modern life, it's difficult in the town to have a dog.

02:45I love it.

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Transcript

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