A scientist with Slavic roots created a robot in the US helping children with cancer

Slavic-born Associate Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech.) Sonya Chernova, together with a group of colleagues, has developed a toy robot for children with cancer.

It looks like a regular plush duck, but this social robot has many functions that make life easier for children who are opposed to oncological ailment, writes The New York Post.

The robot can show emotions: fun, joy, anger, fear, and also demonstrate poor health, repeating after its owners - thus, during the game, the duck helps the child emotionally cope with the illness.

The duck is in the final stages of testing and will be available at the end of 2018.

Children's hospitals and nursing homes have been experimenting for over ten years with the use of robots for social communication and improving the emotional health of patients.

Some robots look like ordinary robots, and some resemble animals, which, according to Japanese researchers, improves the emotional state of patients.

The technological characteristics of these machines are different, but they have similar goals: improving the psychological state of patients and reminding them about health-related tasks and procedures.

The first social robot that the company launched Sproutel, who developed the duck, was Jerry Bear, an interactive companion for children with diabetes. The children take care of Jerry, feeding him, giving him insulin and monitoring his blood glucose levels.

Now it was decided to help children with cancer, every year in the USA almost 11 000 babies put this diagnosis.

A plush duck on the outside has a complex mechanism inside; after completing the testing for children with cancer, these toys will be distributed free of charge. The manufacturing company intends to independently cover the costs of duck for sick children, without demanding money from hospitals or insurance companies.

Sproutel does not claim that the toy has therapeutic value, but this toy can provide a child with comfort, help him cope with medical procedures and distract from feelings.

The duck can reproduce the soothing sounds of the beach or rainforest. The duck also has a special tube for chemotherapy, it can be treated with the child, showing the same emotions as he.

Sonya Chernova said that social robots can provide unique support for toddlers as the child experiences physical and emotional stress from cancer treatment.

“Children interact with robots differently than adults. For a child, a robot can be a peer, an equal—a status that an adult cannot achieve in his eyes,” Chernova explained.

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