Dubbed Haru, the artificial intelligence (AI)-powered robot was recently trialed at the Virgen del Rocío University Hospital (HUVR) in Seville, Spain.

Source: Honda
Haru is designed to function as a social robot that makes people smile through expressive communication and forms empathetic relationships with people.

At 12 inches tall, Haru can be placed on a table to engage in conversations with people and collects biometric information — such as facial expressions and voice tones — using its onboard camera and microphones. That data is analyzed to determine the user’s emotional state, which then enables Haru to respond with appropriate demonstrations of empathy and emotional support.

Haru’s developers noted that Haru can also be linked to a wearable sensor worn by the user, which offers even more detailed analysis of the user’s conditions.

In its role at HUVR, Haru is used to enhance the well-being of children undergoing long-term cancer treatment as well as assisting the hospital’s neuropsychologists in conducting emotional and cognitive assessments.

To accomplish this, the team uses AI to enable Haru to communicate with children while also assisting neuropsychologists to conduct emotional and cognitive assessments.

Because the amount of time it takes to perform such assessments, neuropsychologists are limited in the number of such assessments it can conduct each year. However, its developers believe that with the introduction of Haru, the number of assessments the hospital can conduct each year is expected to increase dramatically.

So far, Haru has been supporting intellectual and physical rehabilitation programs provided to young patients at the hospital. To accomplish this, Haru learns the rehabilitation programs and then guides the children through the process while engaging them in conversation. During trials of Haru, the developers found that 95% of children were more actively engaged in rehabilitation while receiving guidance from Haru, versus those conducted by human guides.

“The support that Haru provides, enabling children under hospital care to feel more happiness and connection with others, is unique only to Haru and offers valuable benefits not found in traditional medical care. We believe that Haru is a groundbreaking presence that creates an environment where young patients can enjoy their time here at our hospital,” added HUVR in a statement.