Ethel and her Telenoid: Toward using humanoids to alleviate symptoms of dementia

The aim and motivation for this article is to elaborate on a longitudinal study investigating if conversations with the teleoperated humanoid robot Telenoid can alleviate symptoms of dementia. The article initially frames Telenoid in the field of social robotics and relevant dementia-initiatives before dwelling on the emerging relationship between Telenoid and a person with severe dementia. Here it is shown how persons with severe dementia can benefit greatly from interaction with Functionally Designed Anthropomorphic Robots such as Telenoid as a means of providing a temporary ‘conversational stepping stone’, working toward improving quality of life and regaining conversational and social confidence to seek and interact socially with others. In conclusion, the article argues for the robotics community to embrace Functionally Designed Anthropomorphic Robots just as well as it has Zoomorphic robots. Centrally, Telenoid and other non-realistic humanoid initiatives should be further evaluated as non-pharmacological approaches to e.g. alleviating symptoms of dementia, and in relation to other user-groups.