Robot Companions to Befriend Sick Kids at European Hospital
From: Automation
By: Tim Hornyak

The ALIZ-E project is a European Commission-funded venture aimed at producing
robots that can forge "longer-term constructive bonds" with people in a
hospital setting. 

It's essentially an artificial intelligence effort. Aldebaran Robotics' Nao
humanoids, used in RoboCup and research centers around the world, will be
interacting with and helping kids at the Hospital San Rafaelle in Milan. The
children are about 8 years old, and have recently been diagnosed with
diabetes.  

The patients will be learning about diabetes and how to manage it during
their hospitalization. The researchers, meanwhile, will see whether these
robot caregivers can be as effective as pet therapy in hospitals, which can
be expensive and pose hygiene issues. Other groups are exploring similar
ideas using a robot seal called Paro. 

Read the entire article at:
http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/artificial-intelligence/robot-companions-to-befriend-sick-kids-at-european-hospital

Links:
ALIZ-E project
http://www.aliz-e.org/

Aldebaran Robotics' Nao humanoids
http://spectrum.ieee.org/tag/nao

Paro
http://spectrum.ieee.org/robotics/home-robots/paro-the-robotic-seal-could-diminish-dementia

Tony Belpaeme
http://www.tech.plym.ac.uk/socce/staff/tonybelpaeme/