Florida Children’s Hospital introduces new AI-enhanced therapeutic robot
By Jade Jarvis
Click here for updates on this story
WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (WPBF) — Palm Beach Children’s Hospital at St. Mary’s Medical Center unveiled the newest member of its team Tuesday.
It’s an AI-enhanced robot that is designed to help with patient experience.
Robin is a 7-year-old robot created by Expper Technologies to support both pediatric and geriatric patients in medical environments.
She is used in more than 40 facilities across the country, and Palm Beach Children’s Hospital is the first in Florida to have her.
“It took a lot of working with patients, working with therapists, medical staff to create this. And I often say that Robin is a combination of engineering, artificial intelligence and also therapy because we combined latest evidence-based techniques into Robin,” Káren Khachikyan, co-founder and CEO of Expper Technologies, said.
Robin remembers faces and details.
“Robin behaves as a child, which allows her to connect with patients and kids on a peer level. So, Robin is not their doctor or therapist or nurse. Robin is a friend. And Robin uses that relationship to make their stay a little bit better,” Khachikyan said.
She uses a variety of activities like games, therapeutic exercises and thoughtful interactions to connect with patients.
“If they have a favorite song, she’ll play the song. If they have a favorite video, should play the video. There was a doctor here before that said, ‘I wanted to play a game with you.’ And she said, ‘OK, let’s play rock, paper, scissors, shoot.’ And she won,” Janet Levy, president of Palm Beach Ray of Hope Foundation, said.
This was all made possible thanks to the Palm Beach Ray of Hope Foundation, which donated Robin to the hospital, hoping to brighten the days of the children being treated there.
“Just for a moment, if you could just take away that they, that they’re ill or that they’re in a hospital, that makes a meaningful difference. And that is very important to us,” Levy said.
Robin will stay at Palm Beach Children’s Hospital, but Palm Beach Ray of Hope Foundation hopes to bring more Robins to other children’s hospitals in our area.
Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.