Israeli Robot Comforts Elderly in Lockdown

Free use of a social robot is being offered by Intuition Robotics during Covid-19 across the US, to help as many seniors as possible during these tough times. The company’s digital companion, ElliQ, is a proactive social robot designed to help the elderly. ElliQ, aims to reduce loneliness and social isolation and has already spent over 10,000 days in older adults’ homes in the US. A majority of users are 80-90 years old, and have each spent at least 90 consecutive days with ElliQ. The company observed a surprising sense of attachment towards ElliQ. Older adults refer to ElliQ as an entity that is almost lifelike rather than a device. ElliQ engages them proactively in activities and conversation to promote their well being. Currently, ElliQ users participate in an average of eight interactions per day, at least two of which are actions initiated proactively by ElliQ, totalling in six minutes of net interaction (excluding consumption of media and content) per day. Intuition Robotics enables the creation of relationships between humans and machines that influence behaviors and emotions through digital companion agents, powered by the company’s cognitive AI engine, Q. The company was founded in 2016 and is based in Israel, with offices in San Francisco and Greece. Intuition Robotics’ investors include: SPARX group, Toyota AI Ventures, OurCrowd, Samsung NEXT, iRobot and Venture Capital firms from California, Israel, Japan and Asia.