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Honda has revealed details of its compact, desktop robot that uses advanced AI to help children undergoing long-term treatment in hospital.
A departure from its typical cars and motorcycles, the small but social robot has been trialled at the Virgen del Rocío University Hospital (HUVR) in Seville, Spain, where it has been guiding paediatric patients through their treatments and assisting with recovery programmes.
According to Honda, Haru (as it is affectionately known) can sense biometric information of the user, such as facial expressions and voice tones, through its built-in camera and microphones, to better understand the person’s current state.
On top of this, it can offer emotionally supportive responses and deliver empathetic expressions to encourage children to more enthusiastically react to their treatment. Following the trial, the results have shown that 95% of children became more actively engaged with their rehabilitation since trials began in 2021.
A great project we are really happy to contribute to, part of the collaboration of our Service Robotics Lab at @pablodeolavide with Honda Research Institute Japan:
Honda Introduces AI-powered Social Robot, Haru, to University Hospital in Spain https://t.co/2T4OizyoPX
— Luis Merino (@lmercab) November 29, 2024
A spokesperson for the Virgen del Rocío University Hospital in Seville (HUVR), said: “Typically, technologies used in hospitals focus on medical treatments or physical well-being. However, Haru has a positive psychological effect of lightening the mood of our young patients and also contributes to the well-being of the hospital as a whole.”
In order to connect hospitalized children with the wider world, Haru is also capable of providing a video link to the classroom, so younger patients can receive education together with those in the classroom, and to interact with other children.
Haru has also been used in conjunction with smartwatches and other wearables to give the diminutive AI-powered robot a more detailed overview of a patient’s condition. According to a spokesperson for HUVR in Seville, the robot can also help neuropsychologists more efficiently undertake emotional and cognitive assessments.
Honda claims Haru has the potential to increase the number of assessments conducted per year by almost nine times, going from 510 to as many as 4,500.
Honda developed a hands-free wheelchair named UNI-ONE that glides as users tilt their bodies in the direction they want to move. The chair design lets people with mobility problems use their hands while moving, for example in sports
[?? SupercarBlondie]pic.twitter.com/VFJJGbvryi— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) April 28, 2024
Satoshi Shigemi, part of the Honda Research Institute Japan, says that Haru was developed with the founding principles of Honda in mind, principles that see the company use its technology to help people.?
“Moving forward, we will continue our efforts to further advance Haru as a robot which can co-exist with people 24/7 and be more helpful to young patients as well as all hospital staff to contribute to the well-being of the hospital as a whole.”
As a result of the trial, Honda says it is now introducing 10 social robots to the same hospital in Seville following the successful three-year trial and that it hopes to introduce Haru to a wider audience in the future.
