This article is from: srnnews.com
How a Talking Panda Robot Could Help Combat Loneliness Among Older Adults
Israeli-developed Beffi combines artificial intelligence, conversation, calming physical interaction, and health monitoring in an effort to provide companionship and support for older adults who spend much of their time alone
By Maayan Hoffman / The Media Line
What if a panda bear could talk, listen, and provide companionship?
It might sound like something out of an animated film, but Beffi is very real. The pet-like robotic panda was designed to provide companionship to lonely older adults and people suffering from mild cognitive impairment.
Interactive Companion and Israeli scientists Yosi Lahad and Dr. Oren Fuerst developed the robot. The company is developing assistive technologies to support people experiencing loneliness, as and their caregivers, while improving mental health and quality of life.
According to Fuerst, the global population aged 60 and over is growing rapidly and is expected to reach 2.1 billion by 2050. At the same time, about one-third of older adults already suffer from loneliness.
“Loneliness has been estimated to shorten a person’s life by 15 years, more than the impact of being obese or smoking 15 cigarettes a day,” a video about Beffi claimed. “Loneliness increases the risk of many illnesses that already affect more than 50% of elderly people, including high blood pressure and other cardiovascular diseases, obesity and diabetes, and insomnia, anxiety, and depression. In the mid- and long term, there are also increased risks of cognitive decline and dementia.”
Fuerst, who spoke to The Media Line, said that many older people live alone and lack communities.
“Loneliness is the number one mortality factor nowadays among the elderly,” he stressed. “It’s not cancer. It’s not diabetes. It’s not cardiovascular disease. We’re trying to address this challenge with our little friend.”
The Beffi panda can provide companionship through conversation and offer physical interaction intended to have a calming effect. The robot can support therapy and monitor users.
The system consists of three main components: the robot, a related app, and cloud services where information gathered through the panda can be stored.
According to the video, Beffi uses a cost-efficient microprocessor that the Beffi app can control via Bluetooth. The company says it does not store any sensitive data that could identify individual users.
Among Beffi’s features is a “cuddle” function that simulates breathing, allowing users to breathe along with the panda to help them calm down. Another feature uses a small photoplethysmography sensor to measure heart rate and calculate heart rate variability, metrics commonly used to indicate arousal and stress.
Finally, Beffi can talk. Its chat function uses speech recognition and natural language processing powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning. The system is also designed to recognize emotions such as happiness, sadness, and anger based on a user’s speech. According to the video, those detected emotions can trigger alerts or suggested responses, including activating the cuddle function.
Fuerst founded the nonprofit Israeli Intelligence Robotics Center about four years ago, shortly after Beffi was developed. The organization brings together Israeli robotics companies working at the intersection of robotics and artificial intelligence.
“Obviously now the new robots are sold with AI, but a few years back that was not intuitive for many people,” Fuerst explained.
The consortium focuses on robotics across a range of fields, from education to industry and healthcare. Fuerst previously focused on chronic disease management but has recently shifted his attention toward elderly care.
“The intersection of elderly care with robotics is a new and emerging field addressing the aging populations of the world,” Fuerst said. “One of the things where robotics could be useful is companion pets. There have been a variety of attempts in the world over the years, and in recent years as AI has become more readily available or possible for implementation in the consumer field.”
When the team began developing Beffi, it tested various models in Germany, Israel, and the United States to determine what form a robotic companion should take. The researchers initially experimented with a box or something more computer-like, but people did not feel comfortable talking to it.
Surveys showed that older adults initially preferred a dog or cat. But once they realized the animal would talk, that preference changed. Dogs and cats, after all, do not speak.
The team eventually settled on a roughly 30-centimeter-tall panda. It does not look human or particularly robotic, nor does it resemble the kind of animal someone might actually keep as a pet.
“A stuffed animal kind of reminded them of their childhood, and it was acceptable to them to have something that is talking and listening to them,” Fuerst said.
Beffi is not yet available on the open market, but Fuerst said it is being used primarily at centers in Asia as the team continues to develop and test the product. The eventual goal is for consumers to purchase a robot and subscribe to a service that healthcare providers could potentially reimburse. Fuerst stressed that his company is focused on developing the software and is partnering with others to explore how the product could ultimately reach consumers.
Caregivers could potentially use data collected through Beffi to identify warning signs or even predict future trends in the person’s physical or emotional well-being. The technology could also help evaluate how different treatments affect a user’s energy or stress levels over time.
Beffi is, of course, far from the only attempt to use artificial intelligence in mental healthcare. Robots specifically and AI more broadly are increasingly being explored as ways to supplement therapy, expand access to care, and enhance treatment.
“In an era dominated by AI, innovative solutions are emerging that can significantly enhance mental health care,” wrote Emanuel Natanov, founder of the Arhimotion biofeedback platform, who is quoted in the authors’ upcoming book, Traumatech Nation. “AI innovations are transforming mental health treatment, making it more accessible, personalized, and effective.”
For Fuerst, however, Beffi’s promise comes back to something much simpler: whether technology can provide meaningful companionship to an older person who might otherwise be alone.
But for Fuerst, Beffi’s potential comes down to whether an older person will actually accept a robot as a companion. And, he said, the team’s experience testing the panda across multiple countries suggests that many do.
“It takes them five seconds to really fall in love with the pet,” Fuerst said. “If it’s not too abstract on the one hand and it doesn’t look like a pillow or it doesn’t look too much like a robot, they could relate to it, and after a few seconds … it comes naturally to them.”
That, ultimately, is what Fuerst hopes Beffi can provide: not a replacement for human companionship, but another source of interaction for older people who may otherwise spend much of their time alone.
This report is part of Traumatech, a series developed and created by Maayan Hoffman and debuting on The Media Line. The series explores how Israel is building and exporting breakthrough mental health technologies that can transform life at home and bring hope to communities worldwide.
Photos courtesy of Beffi
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