Robot therapy for hospitalized kids

Children with incurable diseases are undergoing robot therapy at a hospital in Tokyo. In a trial program at the National Center for Child Health and Development, conversation robot ifbot, developed by Nagoya's Business Design Laboratory, has been entertaining long-term patients and their families. The hospital is looking into whether robots can have a healing effect on the children.

The robot research program was conceived in conjunction with an NPO. Said one 10-year-old patient about the robots: "I want them to come and play at my bedside every day."