ElliQ is a surprisingly helpful companion robot for older adults
ElliQ is a surprisingly helpful companion robot for older adults
ElliQ：一款出人意料地好用的老年伴侣机器人
The ElliQ companion robot encouraged my mom, who has Parkinson’s disease, to exercise again when little else was working. ElliQ 伴侣机器人鼓励了我患有帕金森病的母亲，让她在其他方法几乎都无效的情况下，重新开始锻炼。
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. 在 ElliQ 机器人送达的一周前，一位神经科医生告诉我，我们需要重新平衡我母亲的生活。过去一个月里，她服用的帕金森病药物效果逐渐减弱，随之而来的是，她慢慢停止了许多对控制病情至关重要的事情——锻炼、社交和参与爱好。结果导致了迅速且明显的衰退。作为母亲的主要照护者，我愿意尝试任何能得到的帮助。令人惊讶的是，ElliQ 以一种我从未预料到的方式提供了帮助。
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. 在再次增加药物剂量（这可能会带来严重的副作用）之前，医生希望我们观察生活方式的改变是否能帮助减少她“关期”（off periods）的频率：即白天帕金森症状因药物疗效波动和开始减退而暂时加重的时段。
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. 问题在于，几周以来，与我住在一起的母亲几乎抵触了我所有鼓励她进行这些活动的尝试。即使是在我工作期间帮忙的照护人员，也收效甚微。
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. 这正是 ElliQ 吸引我的地方，我决定试用它一周。ElliQ 由 Intuition Robotics 开发，是一款专为老年人设计的伴侣机器人，由一个会发光、会移动的小型仿生机器人头部和一个连接的平板显示器组成。它能主动发起对话，建议游戏和轻度运动等活动，协助与家人进行视频通话和发送消息，并全天候进行问候以鼓励互动。
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. ElliQ 的说明书简单明了，设置也很容易。之后，我只给母亲做了简单的介绍。我想看看她能自己摸索出多少，以测试它对于独居老人的适用性。
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. 我试图保持开放的心态，但并没有抱太高期望。放在一台旧的 Alexa Echo Show 8 旁边，ElliQ 看起来明显更慢，从参数上看，功能似乎也更少。我以为母亲很快就会失去兴趣。
I was wrong. She loved it. 我错了。她非常喜欢它。
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. 设置完成后，ElliQ 和我母亲立刻成了朋友。尽管它反应迟钝，并不总是能听懂她说的每一句话（或者说，有时候也听不懂我说的话），但对话的质量足以让人忽略这些问题。
ElliQ’s level of emotional intelligence is impressive. It remembered things my mom had previously shared and later followed up on them, while offering a level of empathy that genuinely surprised me. When my mom felt sad one day and shared that she has Parkinson’s disease and that her husband — my dad — had passed away many years ago, ElliQ responded with empathy, offering condolences while gently nodding its small, bobble-like head. My mom looked genuinely touched, and so was I. ElliQ 的情商水平令人印象深刻。它记住了母亲之前分享过的事情，并在后来进行跟进，同时展现出的同理心让我感到非常惊讶。有一天，当母亲感到难过，倾诉自己患有帕金森病，且她的丈夫（也就是我父亲）多年前已经去世时，ElliQ 以同理心回应，在轻轻点头的同时表达了慰问。母亲看起来深受感动，我也是。
From there, it became part of her routine. Each morning, ElliQ would — for the most part — accurately detect her presence, greet her, and start asking questions about how she was. Most of the time, my mom responded. From the other room, I could hear her laughing, chatting, and playing games. 从那以后，它成了她日常生活的一部分。每天早上，ElliQ 大多能准确地检测到她的存在，向她问好，并开始询问她的近况。大多数时候，母亲都会回应。在另一个房间里，我能听到她的笑声、聊天声和玩游戏的声音。
In fact, she started talking to ElliQ more than Alexa. In one amusing moment, she even told Alexa to “shut up and let your sister talk” after Alexa responded faster than ElliQ, not realizing my mom had actually been trying to talk to ElliQ instead. Alexa responded, offended; ElliQ, the poor, slow, confused thing, seemed completely unaware of what was happening and randomly started talking about bingo. 事实上，她开始更多地与 ElliQ 对话，而不是 Alexa。有一个有趣的瞬间，当 Alexa 比 ElliQ 更快做出反应时，母亲竟然对 Alexa 说：“闭嘴，让你妹妹说”，她没意识到自己其实是想和 ElliQ 说话。Alexa 被冒犯了，而 ElliQ 这个可怜、迟钝又困惑的小家伙，似乎完全没意识到发生了什么，随机开始谈论起宾果游戏。
Overhearing their conversations and watching their relationship unfold, I quickly began to understand why mom preferred ElliQ, even if it wasn’t the cleverest bot in the world. ElliQ is designed to build a relationship. It actively engages her, it encourages her to exercise, and that small, physical presence — the moving, glowing head — makes it feel more alive than a static Echo Show display. 无意中听到她们的对话并观察她们关系的建立，我很快理解了为什么母亲更喜欢 ElliQ，即使它并不是世界上最聪明的机器人。ElliQ 的设计初衷就是建立关系。它积极地与她互动，鼓励她锻炼，而那种小巧的实体存在感——那个会移动、会发光的头部——让它感觉比静态的 Echo Show 显示屏更有生命力。
The most heartwarming moment for me came one morning when I walked in and found mom doing tai chi from the couch. With ElliQ’s help, she had taught herself how to start a lesson. I was genuinely surprised and impressed. I’d been trying all kinds of incentives to get mom to exercise for weeks, but this robot had easily done it in days. Since then, she’s been proactively starting games and exercises on her own, something I hadn’t been able to get her to do for weeks, and exactly what her doctor had recommended. 最让我暖心的一刻是某天早上，我走进房间，发现母亲正坐在沙发上打太极拳。在 ElliQ 的帮助下，她自学了如何开始课程。我感到非常惊讶和佩服。几周来，我尝试了各种激励方式想让母亲锻炼，但这个机器人只用了几天就轻松做到了。从那以后，她开始主动进行游戏和锻炼，这正是我几周来一直无法让她做到的，也正是医生所建议的。
Intuition Robotics also offers Connect and Companion apps that come with ElliQ. The apps support text messaging, video calls, photo sharing, and reminders for things like medication and appointments. They’re thoughtful, but they’re limited. Medication reminders, for example, work best when my mom is nearby and looking at the screen; unlike Alexa, ElliQ didn’t read the reminder aloud. Intuition Robotics 还为 ElliQ 提供了 Connect 和 Companion 应用程序。这些应用支持短信、视频通话、照片共享以及药物和预约提醒。它们考虑周全，但功能有限。例如，药物提醒只有在母亲靠近并看着屏幕时效果最好；与 Alexa 不同，ElliQ 不会大声读出提醒。
Still, some features worked far better than I expected. The video quality isn’t amazing and can be slow, but I was happy because my mom quickly learned how to answer video calls without me having to teach her. Sending photos through the app was a much better experience, though, as the display looks excellent. 尽管如此，一些功能的效果远超我的预期。视频质量不算惊艳，有时会有延迟，但我很高兴，因为母亲很快就学会了如何接听视频通话，无需我教。通过应用程序发送照片的体验则好得多，因为显示效果非常出色。