At the quaint home of Audrey and Ken Mattlin in Bakersfield, there are many fancy gadgets, including Google and Alexa Home, a bidet in the toilet, and remote light switches. But the most eccentric pieces of tech that the Mattlins own are their robots.
Each of their robots is unique. There is ElliQ, which resembles a table lamp and features a screen that plays trivia, guides a virtual museum tour, and can carry a conversation with the 84-year-old Audrey. Their second robot is named Astro. Astro is a tablet on wheels that can bring you drinks around the house and play music for you. And last but not least, Jibo, the most life-like of the bunch, that can even produce dance moves like twerking( Los Angeles Times).
These robots, particularly ElliQ, are now being tested by California’s Department of Aging as a possible solution in offering companionship to isolated older adults (Los Angeles Times). In the words of Murali Doraiswamy, a Duke University professor of psychiatry and geriatrics, “Robots are a solution for the millions of isolated people who have no other solutions” (Los Angeles Times). There are $50 million available to Californian counties in the form of technology grants, though most of these resources are used on smartphones and tablets designed for older people.
There are some downsides to these new and promising technologies, however. The robots that are designed to relieve isolation may have the opposite effect. Steve Lopez of the Los Angeles Times notes that the sleuth of new social media has hijacked actual human interactions in today’s youth and “turned so many younger people into zombies”, as people spend more and more of their time online, they came to under-value real human interactions (Los Angeles Times). The same could happen with these companion robots — isolated people could just distance themselves further and further from real humans and live with robots.
The Mattlins’ robots, however, have been beneficial to the couple’s quality of life. The Mattlins are not on any state-funded programs – they just bought the robots to entertain their curiosity, and they spoke highly of their electronic companions. For example, ElliQ was able to entertain Audrey in a game of trivia when her husband dozed off (Los Angeles Times).
Link to article: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-07-22/column-these-family-robots-can-play-trivia-and-act-as-security-can-they-cure-loneliness
Each of their robots is unique. There is ElliQ, which resembles a table lamp and features a screen that plays trivia, guides a virtual museum tour, and can carry a conversation with the 84-year-old Audrey. Their second robot is named Astro. Astro is a tablet on wheels that can bring you drinks around the house and play music for you. And last but not least, Jibo, the most life-like of the bunch, that can even produce dance moves like twerking( Los Angeles Times).
These robots, particularly ElliQ, are now being tested by California’s Department of Aging as a possible solution in offering companionship to isolated older adults (Los Angeles Times). In the words of Murali Doraiswamy, a Duke University professor of psychiatry and geriatrics, “Robots are a solution for the millions of isolated people who have no other solutions” (Los Angeles Times). There are $50 million available to Californian counties in the form of technology grants, though most of these resources are used on smartphones and tablets designed for older people.
There are some downsides to these new and promising technologies, however. The robots that are designed to relieve isolation may have the opposite effect. Steve Lopez of the Los Angeles Times notes that the sleuth of new social media has hijacked actual human interactions in today’s youth and “turned so many younger people into zombies”, as people spend more and more of their time online, they came to under-value real human interactions (Los Angeles Times). The same could happen with these companion robots — isolated people could just distance themselves further and further from real humans and live with robots.
The Mattlins’ robots, however, have been beneficial to the couple’s quality of life. The Mattlins are not on any state-funded programs – they just bought the robots to entertain their curiosity, and they spoke highly of their electronic companions. For example, ElliQ was able to entertain Audrey in a game of trivia when her husband dozed off (Los Angeles Times).
Link to article: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-07-22/column-these-family-robots-can-play-trivia-and-act-as-security-can-they-cure-loneliness
