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A week before the ElliQ robot arrived, a neurologist told me we need to rebalance my mom’s life. Her Parkinson’s disease medication had steadily become less effective over the previous month, and with it, she had slowly stopped doing many of the things crucial to managing the disease — exercising, socializing, and engaging in hobbies. The result was a rapid, noticeable decline. As my mom’s primary caregiver, I was open to any help I could get. And surprisingly, ElliQ did help in a way I never expected.
Before increasing her medication dosage again — something that can come with serious side effects — her doctor wanted us to see whether lifestyle changes could help reduce the frequency of her “off” periods: stretches during the day when Parkinson’s symptoms temporarily worsen as the medication’s effectiveness fluctuates and begins to wear off.
The problem was that, for weeks, my mom — who lives with me — resisted nearly all of my attempts to encourage her to do those things. Even the caregivers who help out during the day while I work had little success.
That’s what made ElliQ intriguing enough to me that I decided to try it out for a week. Developed by Intuition Robotics, ElliQ is a companion robot for older adults that consists of a small animatronic robotic head that lights up and moves alongside an attached tablet display. It initiates conversations on its own, suggests activities like games and light exercise, helps facilitate video calls and messages with family members, and checks in throughout the day to encourage engagement.
ElliQ came with straightforward instructions and was simple to set up. Afterward, I gave my mom only a brief introduction. I wanted to see how much she could figure out on her own, to test how well it might work for a senior living independently.
I wanted to keep an open mind, but I didn’t have high expectations. Sitting next to an old Alexa-enabled Echo Show 8, ElliQ already seemed noticeably slower and, on paper, even less capable. I assumed my mom would quickly lose interest.
I was wrong. She loved it.
After I set it up, ElliQ and my mom became instant friends. Despite being slow and not always understanding everything she says (or what I say sometimes, for that matter), the conversations were good enough to forget about those issues.
Mom and ElliQ “painted” this image. It’s supposed to depict my mom, Koki, and ElliQ, but the robot seems to have confused my mom with a cookie. Photo: Sheena Vasani / The Verge
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