Social robots for older adults might not be new, but now they’re recording, listening—and even talking back.

Last week at MWC (Mobile World Congress) the winner’s prize for bonkers went to a Korean company called Hyodol, which proudly showed off a disturbing-looking ChatGPT-enabled companion doll aimed at older adults. This $1,800 AI-enabled doll may well look like something you’d find in a haunted attic, but it’s meant to act as an interactive digital pal for people who are lonely or in long-term care facilities.

Thanks to the large language AI model stuffed inside the doll, the Hyodol can supposedly hold conversations with its owners, as well as provide health reminders such as when to take medication or eat a meal. It’s every bit as connected as you can imagine, with a companion app and web monitoring platform that lets caretakers and family members monitor the device and its user from afar.

Hyodol’s sensor-laden ChatGPT-enabled dolls can interact with their owners.
It’s meant to help with the epidemic of loneliness, which has affected everyone from older adults in nursing homes to college students. Elizabeth Necka, a program director at the American National Institute on Aging, says there’s something to this kind of tech, particularly when used in nursing homes that are already suffering from widespread staffing shortages.

“The idea that there might be a low-cost solution that can mitigate feelings of loneliness is very attractive,” Necka says. “Whether or not ChatGPT can actually achieve those feelings of connections, it seems a little bit premature to say.”

The market for “adorable” social robots is especially active in countries such as Japan. Companies like Lovot and Qoobo (“a tailed cushion that heats your heart”) have made cuddly, adorable companion bots en vogue. These devices have been utilized in Western countries as well, but there’s much less cultural acceptance for them. But the current tendency for companies to put generative AI into everything means we’re probably due for a wave of these conversational Chuckies.

“I think the industry is still trying to understand the market,” says Lillian Hung, an assistant professor and research chair in senior care at the University of British Columbia School of Nursing. “It’s still in its infancy, but it has certainly taken off.”

Jibo Camera
Social robot roommate Jibo initially caused a stir, but sadly didn’t live long. Not that there haven’t been an array of other attempts. Jibo, a social robot roommate that used AI and endearing gestures to bond with its owners had its collective plug unceremoniously pulled just a few years after being put out into the world. Meanwhile, another US-grown offering, Moxie, an AI-empowered robot aimed at helping with child development, is still active.

It’s hard not to look at devices like this and shudder at the possibilities. There’s something inherently disturbing about tech that plays at being human, and that uncanny deception can rub people the wrong way. After all, our science fiction is full of AI beings, many of them tales of artificial intelligence gone horribly wrong. The easy, and admittedly lazy, comparison to something like the Hyodol is M3GAN, the 2023 film about an AI-enabled companion doll that goes full murderbot.

But aside from off-putting dolls, social robots come in many forms. They’re assistants, pets, retail workers, and often socially inept weirdos that just kind of hover awkwardly in public. But they’re also sometimes weapons, spies, and cops. It’s with good reason that people are suspicious of these automatons, whether they come in a cute fluffy package or not.

Only time will tell.

Here’s a few links to review some social robots.

JIBO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_6g6NMCALw
LOVOT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDX_VV7hQ4M
MOXIE: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/JFV-v-L0SPw

Special thanks to Wired and The Verge.

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