DURHAM, N.H. — Following the loss of their second service dog, Booker T. Bones, Brenda and Brian Marquis found themselves searching for assistance with challenging daily tasks.
Their solution came in the form of Robbie, a mechanical assistant that emerges from their hallway into the main living area multiple times throughout each day.
“Do you want to exercise now? Please answer yes or no,” the caregiving machine inquires of 59-year-old Brian Marquis, who has been managing a traumatic brain injury following a 2012 automobile accident.
“Yes,” he replies. He then rises as the robot’s cartoon-like digital display transforms into a fitness video that leads him through his daily physical activity routine.
The multi-decade effort to create household robots that combine usefulness with human-like qualities — inspired by fictional characters such as the humanoid domestic helper Rosie from The Jetsons — remains largely unrealized. This persists even as demand grows, with the oldest members of the baby boom generation reaching 80 years old this year and the nation confronting an escalating shortage of in-home care workers, caused by inadequate compensation, frequent job changes, and challenging work conditions.
However, the device assisting the Marquis household — a robot operated through a laboratory at the University of New Hampshire with support from the National Institute of Aging — provides insight into developing opportunities.
The mobile robot that observers have compared to a clothing rack differed from what Brenda Marquis originally envisioned when she sent a message to a robotics instructor at the nearby university, seeking guidance about robotic canines.
Robbie, the pair’s chosen name for the latest robot version officially designated Stretch 4, remains at its power station located between the cooking area and sleeping quarters for most hours. During active periods, it performs essential functions, such as encouraging Brian, who lives with dementia, to consume his midday meal or stay hydrated.
Brenda Marquis, 59, explained that she and her spouse experience physical, mental, and emotional challenges that complicate their daily existence.
“We’ve been kind of trapped in a problem here in New Hampshire of being able to find and recruit enough home care support,” Brenda Marquis said in an interview at the couple’s Durham, New Hampshire apartment, where she scoots around in a motorized wheelchair while taking care of her husband. “That was when I started looking into robotics and trying to figure out what to do.”
Receiving Brenda’s message was Momotaz Begum, a computer science instructor at the university who has dedicated years to testing “socially assistive” robots designed to support individuals with dementia or similar cognitive conditions. Her research facility houses numerous experimental machines, including four-legged models.
According to the professor, the laboratory consulted focus groups consisting of senior citizens from memory care facilities to determine their preferred type of robotic home companion. Most participants favored animal-inspired robot designs.
“The common feedback that we got about Stretch was, ‘OK, this one looks like a coat hanger,’” she said. “But what we learned over time is that the look doesn’t matter.”
Beyond robotic cleaning devices, the nearest equivalent many elderly individuals have to caregiving robots consists of speakers equipped with artificial intelligence voice technology like Alexa. Certain robot manufacturers have extended this idea into rotating desktop devices such as ElliQ, created for senior companionship.
However, those machines lack sufficient mobility or functionality for the professor, who stated she is “trying to reduce that caregiver burden. And the caregiver actually does way more than social companionship.”
Human-shaped robots, meanwhile, remain impractical for most residential settings and create safety risks for individuals with restricted mobility should the machine stumble and topple over.
The creators of Hello Robot, which produces the Stretch robots, emphasized that its straightforward design is intentional.
“Our robot’s very practical, pragmatic. I think it communicates that,” said CEO Aaron Edsinger, a former director of robotics at Google. “If you show up looking like a humanoid, that expectation’s going to be set so high, it’s going to be very hard to do.”
The standard configuration of the Stretch 4 features an extending mechanical arm capable of retrieving a water container and positioning it for someone to drink using a straw. When presented with a medication container, it can assist in reading small text. The machine combines data from its visual sensors and internal equipment, along with additional sensors placed throughout a residence, to determine its position and identify room occupants.
Produced at Hello Robot’s facility in Martinez, California, and priced at nearly $30,000, the newest model introduced in May remains far from achieving the widespread adoption of a cleaning robot or an AI-enabled speaker. Yet for its intended users, it can provide crucial support.
Robbie’s scheduled care routine for Brian is displayed on the family’s wall, featuring exercise directions, food and medication alerts, bedtime routine reminders, and brief cleaning prompts that activate only when Brian uses the restroom.
“I was never into technology,” Brian Marquis said. “Then I realized I can’t remember to wash my face and my armpits. So, it just really kind of set me free almost.”
According to Brenda Marquis, the robot also relieved her of hours of daily responsibilities and helped reduce costs. Previously concerned about leaving her husband alone for extended periods, she relied on grocery delivery services. Now she can leave him under Robbie’s supervision while she handles shopping personally.
“I can go ahead and go to that mahjong game or whatever. Robbie’s gonna take care of him,” she said.
