Robotics

ElliQ – The Robot To Cure Loneliness

This robot might be a way to help lonely people

By: Vaibhav Saravanan, Journalist

October 2, 2024

Loneliness can have lasting effects on our mental and physical health. Loneliness has been proven to increase a person’s risk of getting heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, depression, and anxiety. ElliQ might be the solution to loneliness. ElliQ is a robot created by Intuition Robotics. This robot is voice-activated and has a monitor on the side. This robot uses AI (Artificial Intelligence) to be able to create human-like responses. ElliQ was created to help those who are lonely, such as the elderly, have a companion to interact with.

Some of the features that ElliQ has include:

Measure heart rate and blood pressure
Message friends and family
Order rides and groceries
Play music and tell jokes
Talk to users

A partnership with the NYSOFA (New York State Office for the Aging) and Intuition Robotics allowed older people in New York to get an ElliQ robot. Data collected by NYSOFA show that 95% of older adults who used ElliQ experienced a decrease in loneliness and an increase in well-being. ElliQ users have shown high levels of engagement. Some users interact with the robot almost 30 times a day. Dor Skuler, co-founder and CEO of Intuition Robotics said, “It has been a pleasure to work alongside local offices for the aging and partners to identify older adults who would most benefit from empathetic AI”.

ElliQ has three models: ElliQ, ElliQ 2, ElliQ 3. Elli3 is the latest version of ElliQ as of 2024.

Improvements that the ElliQ 2 has: