A study pits the Sony AIBO robotic dog against a real therapy dog named Sparky to compare their respective abilities to treat loneliness in long term care facilities.

The study by Saint Louis University, which will be published in the March issue of the Journal of The American Medical Directors Association, found that after an initial warm-up period patients would pet and talk to AIBO. The effects of companionship with Sparky and AIBO were similar. Using the Modified Lexington Attachment to Pets Scale (MLAPS) to measure pet attachment, the study concluded that interactive robotic dogs improves loneliness in residents of long term care facilities, and that those subjects become attached to the robots.

The AIBO has been used by many researchers for artificial intelligence studies. This one, however, means that we could be moving towards a time when robots are commonly used for more than just repetitive tasks. Maybe soon, we’ll be seeing them as companions. “AIBO is charismatic if you start to interact with him,” said the study’s author, Dr. William Banks, a professor of geriatric medicine at Saint Louis University. “He’s an engaging sort of guy.”

Sara Kiesler, professor of computer science and human-computer interaction at Carnegie Mellon University, was encouraged but not convinced. She suggested that maybe another study could compare the effects of the AIBO with a visit from someone bringing candy or a stuffed animal to discount the possibility that loneliness was improved by the person bringing AIBO instead.

Sony is currently manufacturing the third generation of AIBO, and are said to have sold approximately 150,000 AIBOs worldwide since the first generation was released in 1999.

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Entry was posted on Sunday, March 2nd, 2008 at 4:00 pm under Robotics, Science and technology.

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