WXYZ-TV, 2/15

Robotic pets helping people combat loneliness during COVID-19 pandemic

By Jennifer Ann Wilson

It's not a real dog, but the health benefits of a robotic companion pet are proving to be just as real. Evalina Standifer received an Ageless Innovations Joy For All companion pet in November. The pet was originally designed as a consumer product to inspire play, but the pandemic revealed an even more powerful use, a potential treatment for depression and anxiety, possibly even slowing or reversing dementia disorders, which are all proven to progress more rapidly in isolation. "I was a little skeptical at first, but the feedback we have gotten has just been so positive. I mean this has been a life changing experience for some folks," says Thomas B. Jankowski, a research gerontologist at Wayne State University. He says social isolating to protect loved ones from COVID-19 has amplified another serious health risk, loneliness.

"Severe loneliness can affect your physical health as much as smoking and obesity does," says Jankowski. "The lonelier you are, the sicker you get." But in the midst of a pandemic: "How do you help people when you can't have contact with them," says Jankowski.