A robot to drive loneliness away

Technology does not always have to be the preoccupation of ‘techies’ alone but can be interesting and interactive for any of us. Every week, Techtroniks will talk about new developments, tech czars and tech users, their favourite gadgets. Plus reviews and simply fun facts to know. THIS COULD be just the thing for those of us who live away from our loved ones and are increasingly feeling the distance and the isolation. Japanse researcher Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro, of Osaka University, has invented ‘Hugvie”, a new telenoid which promises to bridge the gap between the user and the loved one that they are talking to over the phone. The soft robot is eminently huggable, has its own heartbeat and internal vibrators which match the caller’s voice — its vibrations become faster and stronger depending on the pitch and volume of your conversation with the person on the other end. The Hugvie comes in a variety of bright, sunny, colours and is priced at £37. Shaped like a child, the telenoid and is composed of minimal human features such as a head, a face and upper body. Tele-operated, the android telenoid has nine “actuators” in the small body with enables it to be remote-controlled by sending voice and movement commands, captured with a camera. The robot was also designed for remote education. “When we gave telenoids to older people, most hugged them when they talked to the other person. We think this could be used by families and lovers. We’d like to develop this into a robot with an internal frame. We could build in lots of vibrators and special sensors, so that when you hug it, the other person’s robot moves as well,” Ishiguro said recently. The telenoid was on display at the H. Ishiguro Design show in Akihabara. Designing robots for the country’s rapidly increasing grey population is a sort of national mission in Japan and there have been several robots in the recent past that claim to meet the emotional needs of the elderly. Including a robotic seal, ‘paro’ which coos and flaps its flippers to amuse the lonely and the elderly, preventing the onset of dementia and depression.