New York state is distributing robot caretakers to some 800 elderly adults in an effort to combat a burgeoning epidemic of loneliness, the New York State Office for the Aging announced in a press release on Wednesday.
Manufactured by Israeli company Intuition Robotics, the ElliQ bots being distributed to New Yorkers’ households are said to “foster independence and provide support for older adults through daily check-ins, assistance with wellness goals and physical activities, connection to family and friends, and more.”
The program is supposedly aimed at combating loneliness, which a growing body of scientific studies has shown has detrimental health effects as bad or worse than smoking and obesity. Noting the loneliness epidemic has only gotten worse with social distancing and other devastating government responses to Covid-19, the press release hails ElliQ as more human-like than other “smart technologies,” describing how the robot “proactively suggests activities and initiates conversations” rather than simply responding to commands.