Between Amazon's Astro, Miko 3, Moxie and those nightmare-inducing "dogs" from Boston Dynamics, robots are experiencing a real craze.
How an AI-powered robot provides companionship to lonely elderly people
Now there’s a robot designed exclusively for seniors, and New York State is giving away 800 of them, along with monthly subscriptions, according to a press release. The bot is called ElliQ and is billed as a “sidekick to healthier, happier aging.”
The robots, developed by Israeli company Intuition Robotics, normally cost $250, plus a $30 monthly subscription fee. The New York State Office for the Aging (NYSOFA) purchased 800 of them for an undisclosed amount, which will later be given away to elderly recipients as part of an initiative to combat loneliness.
ElliQ has been in development for several years and offers many of the same features as digital assistants like Siri and Alexa, but with a proactive, conversational twist. These bots can’t help users with physical tasks, but they can track health goals, remind people to take medication, and even make small talk.
