50+ Lifestyles

PUBLISHER’S CORNER

By Eloise Graham

Those Four-legged Furry Friends for Seniors

Pets are an important part for the lifestyle of families or individuals. Many refer to their pets as “Fur-Babies” or “Four-Legged Children” – a tru part of any family. They bring joy and comfort to us, but they also bring responsibility of their care and sorrow when they pass away.

It has been proven that seniors seem to thrive when they have a furry companion. However, as seniors continue to age, the added responsibility of carrying for a pet might become a little much. There is also the added concern for the senior: “Can I cope with another loss in my life when my pet dies?” or “What if my pet outlives me? Who will care for it?”

A toy company and university come to the rescue.

Many toy companies have life-like cats and dogs; little ones, big ones, cuddly, plush ones. Some have “speakers” in them that are battery operated to make sounds. Some hav moveable parts. But now Brown University and Hasbro has teamed together to  make a purrfect cat or wonderful woofie dog for seniors to enjoy. In November of last year, Brown University received a three-year $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation to develop robotic cats and dogs to help elderly people. According to the university, the researchers are “to design a smart robotic companion capable of assisting older people with simple but sometimes challenging tasks of everyday living.” Hasbro already has a line of animatronic cats and dogs on the market. This line of animals is called Joy for All Companion Pets. Now Brown’s research team’s goal is to develop additional capabilities for the ARIES (Affordable Robotic Intelligence for Elderly Support) project. The capabilities include help in finding lost objects, medication reminders or other tasks that sometimes become challenging for seniors, especially those who may have mild dementia. Hasbro has done an excellent job in creating a ‘pet’ that can provide comfort and joy for anyone. Brown researchers want to add more computer science capabilities to this robotic pet.

Say “Hello” to Joy and her owner Barb Thede

Barb makes her home at Ridgecrest Retirement Village. She has been a cat owner all of her life but no longer had a pet. She wanted one, but weighed the pros and cons: having a companion to cuddle and pet, hearing the soothing purr of the contented cat, being entertained by cute antics, versus buying cat food and serving it, having a littler box to clean, cat fur on furniture and clothing. There would also be trips to the vets, the vet bills and, again, the worry of losing another loved pet – or concern of the pet outliving her. Well, enter Joy.

Barb claims that Precious Joy, her name for the cat, has brought so much more entertainment and happiness than she had imagined any toy cat could. Joy purrs, meows and blinks her eyes. She turns her head, rolls back to get a belly rub and raises her paw to lick it. The Hasbro cat comes in three colors; white, silvber gray and the yellow tabby that Barb has.

A good friend of Barb’s is Lou. He is also a resident at Ridgecrest, but no longer in independent living. He has a companion dog, Pooch. Barb keeps Pooch in her apartment for Lou to play with when he comes to spend the afternoona. Pooch has the puppy whimper, a little bark and a tail that wags constantly. What joy these pets have brought to Barb, Lou and all their friends. It will be exciting to see the new advances that Brown University will make with the robotic intelligence in the toy industry.

To find out more about these pets, please visit https://joyforall.hasbro.com/en-us.