Health Spotlight: Robotic puppies are therapeutic

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A recent peer reviewed study indicates that children who spend time with therapy dogs can lower their stress even more than relaxation exercises. That outcome becomes even more important when the child is in the hospital. But what happens when there are not enough therapy dogs?

Josh Summitt, 7, misses walking his dogs during his time at the hospital. So, Stanford Children’s Health introduced him to the next best thing.

“I kinda felt a little bit nervous to meet the dogs. But after I met them, they were very, very friendly,” said Summitt.

The robotic dogs known as Max, Otis, and Stride are Stanford’s way to curb the anxiety being felt by their young patients.

The endeavor is a collaboration between the university’s robotic students and the hospital’s Chariot Program which seeks out innovations that can help patients.

“A lot of robotics technologies get developed in a lab and never has any real impact on the world. But we can see immediately the impact, cheering these kids up,” said Gabriel Levine, an engineering student at Stanford University.

While therapy animals have long been known to help reduce pain, anxiety, and depression, doctors are encouraged that the robotic dogs are already showing some of the same benefits.

“It’s amazing. They’re so joyful. I think that having these robotic puppies be a part of our team has allowed us to engage them in a way that was not possible before,” said Dr. Ellen Wang, the co-director of the Chariot Program.

“We’ve had experiences in the past where a patient enjoyed hanging out with the robot so much, he almost forgot he was going to surgery, and that’s really powerful,” said Dr. Teresa Nguyen, an anesthesiologist at Stanford Children’s Health.

Josh’s mom, Amelia Summitt, has also seen a difference.

“And it’s really sparked his curiosity,” Amelia said. “He can still be seven and be excited and play.”

Stanford Children’s Health is just completing its pilot phase with the robots, and based upon the popular response, this is only the beginning. The Stanford students are now developing a new version of the robot dog that promises to be more agile than before.

This story was created from a script aired on WISH-TV. Health Spotlight is presented by Community Health Network.