Robot Pets? Gimme a Break!

The March issue of the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association includes a study that looked at relieving the loneliness of nursing home residents. Previous findings indicated that frequent pet visits (by d*gs, cats, other critters) decreased the loneliness compared to nursing home residents that had no visits at all. Makes sense to me. In particular, people who once shared their lives with special furry companions would appreciate visits from kitties or the occasional pooch. That offers an opportunity for cuddling, unconditional love and attention, and maybe even normalizes the environment a bit. So this most recent study decided to see how the nursing home residents reacted to a ROBOT dog compared to a real-live-furry-panting-wagging pooch. The results? Visits from a sweet doggy and from a robotic dog made by Sony (AIBO) were about equally effective at relieving the loneliness. The Artificial Intelligence roBOt (AIBO) Yikes! Sure, the shiny lil’ guy might relieve the boredom, maybe even could be programmed to wag, sit up and beg, or bark on cue. Maybe the researchers like the idea of not having to feed, walk, or scoop up any accidents. I’ve no doubt that plans for a robotic CAT must be in the works (shudder!). But c’mon, guys. There ain’t no machine can equal the lap-snuggling purr-power of a real-live cat, no matter how many official studies push the notion. Do you have a robot pet? How do you think he compares with a real pet? Let me know about it by writing me at stories@petside.com