Study Finds Dogs, Robots Cheer Elderly


	Study Finds Dogs, Robots Cheer Elderly

mmcnatt

3-2-2008 10:27 AM

149 views

tags:

companionship, pets, robotic pets, companions for the elderly, pets for the elderly, overcoming lonliness

mmcnatt says:

I find this very suprising, but I've also never been around one of these new doggie-style robots in person. My grandmother is very lonely in a retirement community her health has required her to move to. Maybe I'll give this one my own little personal experiment! Anyone else game to try with a family member? If so contact me and we'll compile our results over time.

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/c66cec2c-a913-4115-96af-7d5de114f6d1/B0480814-34DE-4B07-9591-C32012DB903E/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://news.wired.com/dynamic/stories/D/DOGS_LONELINESS?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-03-01-04-30-58" href="http://news.wired.com/dynamic/stories/D/DOGS_LONELINESS?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-03-01-04-30-58" style="font-size: 11px;">news.wired.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.wired.com/dynamic/stories/D/DOGS_LONELINESS?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-03-01-04-30-58"><SPAN class="headline">Study Finds Dogs, Robots Cheer Elderly    </SPAN></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.wired.com/dynamic/stories/D/DOGS_LONELINESS?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-03-01-04-30-58"><div align="center"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/news.wired.com/img/8F87FD81-9685-4A3F-A3F5-89F3AC0CFBCD" alt="AP Photo" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.wired.com/dynamic/stories/D/DOGS_LONELINESS?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-03-01-04-30-58"><P class="ap-story-p">     ST. LOUIS     (AP) -- Dogs may have a hard time wrapping their paws around this one: Robotic competition is nipping at their heels in the man's-best-friend department. A study by Saint Louis University found that a lovable pooch named Sparky and a robotic dog, AIBO, were about equally effective at relieving the loneliness of nursing home residents and fostering attachments.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.wired.com/dynamic/stories/D/DOGS_LONELINESS?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-03-01-04-30-58"><P class="ap-story-p">The study, which appears in the March issue of the Journal of The American Medical Directors Association, builds on previous findings by the researchers that frequent dog visits decreased loneliness of nursing home residents.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.wired.com/dynamic/stories/D/DOGS_LONELINESS?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-03-01-04-30-58"><P class="ap-story-p">Andrew Ng, who leads Stanford University's team in building a home-assistance robot and was not involved in the study, said the strength of the research is very encouraging.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.wired.com/dynamic/stories/D/DOGS_LONELINESS?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-03-01-04-30-58"><P class="ap-story-p">If humans can feel an emotional bond with robots, even fairly simple ones, some day they could "not just be our assistants, but also our companions," he said.</P></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/B0480814-34DE-4B07-9591-C32012DB903E/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>