Children playing with Dogs. Photo courtesy Sony.com. image:37700:1::0

The researchers studied 38 lonely residents at three St. Louis nursing homes. The split the residents into three groups, in the first group the residents encountered Sony AIBO robots, the second group encountered real dogs, and the third group didn’t encounter either AIBO or real dogs.

Initially the residents were hesitant in handling AIBO, but with time the seniors began to like it. They began to talk with AIBO and start petting him also. AIBO usually responds by wagging his tail, saying a few words and blinking his lights.

Dr. William Banks, a professor of geriatric medicine at Saint Louis University, the study’s author said:

AIBO is charismatic if you start to interact with him…He's an engaging sort of guy."

Sparky, a 9 year old, reddish-brown mutt was used in this study and he was better in handling the elderly and it was trained by its owner Marian Banks, who was one of the main investigators for this study. According to Marion, Sparky was a good dog listens attentively, wags his tail and lets them to pet him.

The residents were asked several questions to determine their level of loneliness at the beginning and at the end of the study after eight weeks.

The study found both the groups with the real dog and AIBO robot were less lonely and more attached with them.

William Banks said this study shows that one day robots could be used to assist the elderly.

Sara Kiesler, professor of computer science and human-computer interaction at Carnegie Mellon University who was not involved in the study, said the results of the study are encouraging but not completely convincing. She said human interactions might have influenced this also.

Sony took AIBO off the market in 2006 because of poor sales. Maybe now Sony can reintroduce it again.