Part of the study “is to see how art therapy can decrease people’s levels of depression and improve their overall quality of life,” Rastogi said. So patients will use art-therapy through an app, and see how the electronic art exercises help.
Some patients in the study will use only the art therapy app, while the others will have both the art therapy and the robotic dogs.
For the study, researchers are looking for a very specific type of participant: People with vestibular schwannoma, or acoustic neuromas, which are tumors on nerves connecting the inner ear with the brain. They often have their tumors removed, and often lose hearing and suffer balance issues.
By choosing those people as subjects, researchers have an easy-to-diagnose condition, adding fewer variables to patient diagnoses, said Dr. Soma Sengupta, associate director of UC’s Brain Tumor Center. The condition often leads to depression.
Furry fake friends
The mechanical mutts, which resemble small Golden Retrievers, come in.
“I have adopted some of them, and it’s really amazing, the companionship that they offer in the sense that you feel the presence of this entity in your environment,” said Claudia Rebola, director of a new center that focuses on innovation in the area of health and wellbeing at UC’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP).
“And while you know it’s an animal robotic agent — it’s not a real dog — you attach feelings to it, in terms of routines, and interactions, and you expect a bark in response to, let’s say I turn on the lights, and then the dog barks, like saying, ‘hello.’ So you quickly develop a sense of presence with these robots in your life.”
The dogs and other pets have expressive eyes. They can bark, lick, nuzzle and help lift spirits of people who are isolated, possibly those with long-term COVID-19 symptoms, people with traumatic brain injuries or recovering from strokes.
Can help elders, others
Rebola said the electronic pets can brighten the lives of the elderly, just as they do children.
“It’s incredible to see how older adults adopt these pets, how they take care of them, they buy food for them, they put a bed by their beds, and they go out more often because they’re wanting to show off their pet,” Rebola said. “Their pet becomes a social connector. People say, ‘Oh, look at that pet!’ And they’re more interactive.”
Yet the pets don’t need to be fed or walked, although some like to do that, too.
CaptionThree University of Cincinnati researchers, from left, Meera Rastogi, Dr. Soma Sengupta and Claudia Rebola combined expertise from their respective disciplines to study alleviating depression using robotic dogs and art therapy. PROVIDED
CaptionThree University of Cincinnati researchers, from left, Meera Rastogi, Dr. Soma Sengupta and Claudia Rebola combined expertise from their respective disciplines to study alleviating depression using robotic dogs and art therapy. PROVIDED
During the study, the dogs wear special “smart bandanas” a UC team designed so researchers can track how often and how long they interact with the pets. The researchers emphasize the bandanas are not a Big Brother device that lets them watch their subjects, but only tells them how often and how long a patient is interacting with the dog.
Subjects, who only need to visit UC at the start of the study, can live far from campus because only an initial visit for training about the art-therapy app is needed. People interested in joining the study can call Jamie Denlinger in the brain tumor center at 513-675-9656.
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