Robot pets are being given away by the Broome County Office for Aging to help seniors deal with anxiety or social isolation.

After seeing the social and behavioral effects brought by the COVID pandemic, the Broome County Office for Aging thought of a program that can help aid affected seniors dealing with social isolation, depression, and memory impairment. The program consists of giving robot pets; specifically robot dogs, robot cats, and robot birds to qualified seniors.

Program Director, Shellie Spinelli, acknowledges how these robot pets can help affected seniors from the COVID pandemic. “A lot of folks were not affected by COVID the disease so much as they were by the shutdown and the isolation”, Spinelli says. Seeing the need to help combat such effects, the Broome County Office for Aging has put up a screening process that will help them determine the qualified seniors who are in need of a robot pet companion.

Robot pets are known to give many benefits to their owners, especially aging seniors with dementia and Alzheimer’s. There are plenty of real-life stories and testaments of how robot dogs even helped seniors by providing them with emotional support, physical activity, and mental stimulation.

Should you know anyone or have a loved one who may benefit from a robot pet companion, you may call the Office for Aging at (607) 778-2411. A screening process will be conducted and if qualified, the Broome County Office for Aging will provide a robot pet for free.

The joys of owning a pet without the responsibility, such is the selling point of Panasonic’s companion robot, NICOBO.

Meet NICOBO. An adorable companion robot that may be moody, but also empathetic. Just like a real pet, Nicobo can wiggle, wag its tail, make cute noises, snuggle, and even fart! Don’t worry, the farts won’t smell a thing.

Panasonic describes NICOBO as a “weak” companion robot in the sense that it cannot do much more than the aforementioned. However, it certainly is a smart pet as it has voice recognition and can also learn a few words in Japanese (seeing as how this is a Japanese companion robot).

Unlike most pet robots, NICOBO also has facial and emotional recognition, making it an advanced companion robot to own.

Panasonic first announced NICOBO back in February 2021 when they began their crowdfunding for the moody yet empathetic companion robot. Two years later, the companion robot is now available for pre-order online and will officially make its way into stores on May 16, 2023.