Robots Getting Cuddly With The Most Vulnerable Humans

In the recent trend of replacing our service animals with robots. MIT has produced a "Huggable", a robotic teddy bear to replace the animals used in animal assisted therapy sessions for the infirmed. Now Discovery News is running a story on how the bear will be loaded with biometric sensors to warn the hospital staff if something is awry with the patient.

"We are designing the Huggable to be much more than a fun, interactive robotic companion, but rather to function as a team member that works with both the patient or resident and the hospital or nursing home staff with the ultimate goal of promoting the well-being of the person," said Walter Dan Stiehl, a PhD candidate at the Institute and team leader for the project.
...
For example, if a patient is hugging the bear and then it falls to the floor, that action could prompt a nurse to check that all's well.

Now the robots play the waiting game. Soon enough, the doctors and nurses will be sitting idly by thinking that the bear will warn them if anything were to happen to their helpless charges. The teddy will soon replace the uncomfortable electrode-based sensors we use today. When the time comes the teddy just says, "Little bobby wasn't hugging me when his heart stopped."

Thanks to Discovery News and Technovelgy