UPI – Emotional support dogs provide comfort to individuals with diverse mental health needs, but not everyone is in a position to care for a live animal.
That’s where Tombot Inc, a company based in Santa Clarita, California, steps in. They’ve developed a robotic puppy designed to assist individuals, families, and communities in navigating health challenges.
This week, Tombot unveiled “Jennie,” its yellow Labrador retriever puppy at the International CES – formerly known as the Consumer Electronics Show – in Las Vegas. More than 15,000 people flocked to the annual trade show, often billed as the world’s most powerful tech event, which ended on Friday.
The futuristic Jennie is intended to provide emotional support and mental health care for people with dementia, mild cognitive impairment, autism, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and other conditions, the company said.
“It’s designed to accurately emulate an eight-to-10-week-old Labrador retriever puppy, so it has authentic Labrador retriever sounds,” Tombot CEO Tom Stevens told UPI.
The sounds are from actual recordings of dogs barking, whining, howling, cooing and snoring. And the puppy can open and close its mouth and eyes, move its head and neck, and wag its tail.
Meanwhile, a sensory system allows the puppy to “tell the difference between a simple touch, a slow caress, a vigorous pet and being held,” Stevens said.
In addition, “she responds to a very long list of voice commands, but only to her name,” he said. By using a smartphone app, a user can give the robot any name.
Stevens got the inspiration to create the puppy from his mother, Nancy, who became very upset that he had to take her dog away for safety reasons after her diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease.
“The journey to launching Tombot began as a journey to solve my mother’s problem,” Stevens said. “Only later did I realise her story is shared by more than 300 million seniors with dementia or pre-dementia mild cognitive impairment.”
Along with a team of contract engineers, Tombot handles all aspects of design. A manufacturing partner will oversee part fabrication and final assembly, Stevens said.
