Robotic Baby Doll with Minimal Design for Interactive Doll Therapy in Elderly Dementia Care

We designed HIRO, a robotic baby doll, to be used in an interactive, non-pharmacological intervention that combines doll therapy with robot technology for elderly people with dementia. We took a minimal design approach; only the most basic human-like features are represented on the robotic system to encourage users to use their imagination to fill in the missing details. The robot emits baby voice recordings as the user interacts with it, giving the robot more realistic mannerisms and enhancing the interaction between user and robot. In addition, the minimal design simplifies the system configuration of the robot, making it inexpensive and intuitive for users to handle. In this paper, we discuss the benefits of the developed robot for elderly dementia patients and their caregivers.

Automated summary

By combining doll therapy with robot technology, the HIRO robotic baby doll provides an interactive, non-pharmacological intervention for elderly people with dementia. The minimal design approach encourages users to use their imagination, and the robot emitting baby voice recordings enhances its realism.