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Pound Ridge Cosmetic Dentistry, located at 73 Westchester Ave., is attempting to comfort children who are anxious about their visit to the dentist by using "Robin the Robot" to provide them with social and emotional support, according to the employees of the office.
Robin, known as the "first of its kind emotionally intelligent robot," was designed for children by scientists, engineers, and pediatric psychologists, and is meant to create meaningful connections with children through conversations as well as distraction techniques such as games or simple explanations of dental treatments, an announcement from the office said.
By creating an environment that is more fun and entertaining than a usual experience in a waiting room, Robin will hopefully increase positive emotions in young patients as well as their families, employees of the office said.
Made out of fully recyclable bioplastic, Robin was developed using an artificial intelligence-based patent-pending technology that allows the robot to intelligently react to what children say and replicate patterns formed by previous experiences, including children's emotions, conversation and behavioral patterns, and facial expressions.
A simpler way of putting it is that Robin can come up with dialogue based on the individual features of the person she is talking to, employees said.
Pound Ridge Cosmetic Dentistry is the first dental clinic on the east coast to use Robin, which has also been used at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center.
The robot was named one of the best inventions of 2021 by Time Magazine.
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