In her tiny sunlit Seoul apartment, Kim Jeong-ran sat on her bed, talking affectionately to a cloth doll perched on her lap.
“Hyodol, you’re my lovely granddaughter,” the 81-year-old said, cupping the doll’s stubby hands. “I love you to the moon and back.”
“Grandma, I miss you even when you’re by my side,” Hyodol cooed back.
Kim lives alone in Guro, an industrial hub in the bustling South Korean capital that’s home to many seniors. Her cabinets are crowded with framed photos of her grandchildren, and her nightstand is stacked with bottles of medicines for her aching joints, worn out from decades working grueling shifts on the city’s subway lines. In this solitude, Hyodol has become her most cherished companion.
Designed and built by the South Korean startup Hyodol, the eponymous robot is named after the Confucian value of caring for elders, which is deeply embedded in Korean culture. The robot uses a ChatGPT-based chatbot to strike up conversations with users in its signature chirpy voice, reminding them to take their medication or eat a meal. Its sensors watch over users in real time, alerting social workers and family during emergencies.
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