Robot Duck Aims to Help Kids With Cancer

It's good for medical play, with features like a port-a-cath with an RFID chip for children to familiarize themselves with the chemotherapy process. It has RFID-enabled emoji cards so children can use the duck to express their emotions.

It's meant to help children diagnosed with cancer come to grips with their treatment, which is often confusing, scary, and involves a lot of unpleasant procedures.

The duck, developed by robotics expert Aaron Horowitz and his company, is undergoing testing and is expected to be widely distributed by the end of this year.

Horowitz said he was diagnosed as a child with human growth development deficiency and had to give himself daily injections for five years. The experience, he said, made him want to help other children with illnesses, which led to his co-founding of the Rhode Island-based company Sproutel with a partner he met at Northwestern University.

Source: Medindia