{"id":88955,"date":"2025-09-27T13:58:26","date_gmt":"2025-09-27T13:58:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/88955\/"},"modified":"2025-09-27T13:58:26","modified_gmt":"2025-09-27T13:58:26","slug":"meet-robin-the-robot-comforting-kids-in-childrens-hospitals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/88955\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Robin, the Robot Comforting Kids in Children\u2019s Hospitals"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a hallway at UMass Memorial Children\u2019s Medical Center, a 6-year-old leukemia patient named Luca met eyes with a four-foot-tall, triangular robot with the voice of a cartoon kid and a screen for a face. This is Robin the Robot, a robotic pediatric caregiver being deployed in children\u2019s hospitals to lift spirits\u2014even if it doesn\u2019t have any of its own.<\/p>\n

As reported by the Associated Press<\/a>, Robin was developed by Expper Technologies and its CEO, Karen Khachikyan, who grew up lonely in Armenia and decided to build the kind of friend he never had.<\/p>\n

Robin isn\u2019t an AI. He\u2019s more of a complex puppet with some degree of autonomy. About 30 percent of Robin\u2019s actions are autonomous. The rest is the handiwork of a nearby team of operators. <\/p>\n

Suppose you\u2019ve watched behind-the-scenes footage of a movie monster animatronic being operated by special effects wizards with what looks like a custom-built RC car controller. In that case, you get the gist of it.<\/p>\n

\"UCLAUCLA Health<\/p>\n

Hospitals Are Using a Huggable Robot Named Robin to Support Children<\/p>\n

Robin is programmed to mirror emotions. It smiles if you do. If you cry, Robin will frown. Robin can even remember you, which Luca\u2019s mom couldn\u2019t believe when Robin entered the hospital room, greeting Luca like an old friend. Or, at the very least, a familiar acquaintance. <\/p>\n

Robin remembers a patient\u2019s favorite songs and plays them. Robin comes loaded with a series of jokes, like a stand-up comedian\u2019s repertoire of surefire knockout punch lines tailor-made to get a giggle out of a kid.<\/p>\n

In children\u2019s hospitals, Robin becomes a peer who\u2019s also getting an IV set in. His comes via video, demonstrating how quick and painless the procedure can be. In nursing homes, it plays memory games and leads breathing exercises. <\/p>\n

In 2020, UCLA Mattel Children\u2019s Hospital piloted Robin, and now the robot\u2019s making rounds in 30 U.S. facilities from Massachusetts to California.<\/p>\n

I couldn\u2019t find anything that mentioned the origins of the name Robin. Still, I can\u2019t help but notice the parallels between robotic Robin and Robin Williams, who once starred in the film Patch Adams, a movie based on a true story about an American physician turned clown who believed that humor and joy were essential to healing.<\/p>\n

That, of course, raises the question of why not just get a person to do this? While I\u2019m sure hospitals regularly bring in real clowns or some variety of entertainer for children, healthcare staffing shortages leave many doctors who would fill those roles unavailable. Robin might seem like a novelty now, but it might be a necessity soon.<\/p>\n

Future plans include equipping Robin with the ability to take vitals, send updates to medical teams, and assist with elderly care tasks such as dressing and bathroom visits. Khachikyan tells the Associated Press that Robin isn\u2019t going to replace nurses anytime soon, but it will act as a sidekick. We\u2019ll see about that. <\/p>\n

The tech industry doesn\u2019t seem to be satisfied with simply being an assistant. Why play second fiddle when you can get the spotlight all to yourself?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a hallway at UMass Memorial Children\u2019s Medical Center, a 6-year-old leukemia patient named Luca met eyes with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[275],"tags":[18,135,475,474,19,17,3255,5,58242,753,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-88955","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-health-care","11":"tag-healthcare","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-life","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-robin-the-robot","17":"tag-tech","18":"tag-technology"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}