From the Inadvertent Findings Dept.:
Sony's robo-dog AIBO is just as good as a real dog at assuaging loneliness in nursing home residents. Could bona-fide robot caregivers be far off?
Here's my question: did the investigators control for the fact that most nursing homes are such soul-destroying places that residents could probably be "cheered up" by a #&*%ing pet rock, much less some cheesy plastic dog-droid?
Yes, let's find that sweet spot: the minimum possible threshold for maintaining our elderly folks' mental health combined with the mimimum number of biological beings involved. Hell, why not just swap out AIBOs for Roombas? Granny gets "quality time" AND the floor gets cleaned! She'll never know the difference!
Time to cue up The Who on my iPod.
