A Small Robot Car Can Reduce Children'S Stress before Surgery

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A team of researchers in Spain has developed a small robot car that it says can ease children's anxiety before surgery, Phys.org reports.

According to a study conducted by Sant Joan de D'u Barcelona Children's Hospital, six out of every 10 young patients who have to undergo surgery suffer from stress before they receive anesthesia.

The hospital has tried everything from letting parents enter the operating theater to therapies involving dogs and clowns, but the most commonly used strategy is usually pharmacological, which can make children even more stressed.

"We try to minimize the stress that children experience during this process by using a robot car that changes color, makes music and creates smells, and talks to them and interacts with them,"rdi Albo, the scientific director of the project, says in a press release.

The robot car, which was developed by South Korea's Hyundai car company, is equipped with sensors that capture the child's facial expressions, heart rate, and breathing patterns, and can change its color to help the child relax, Phys.org reports.

"This enables the car to capture the child's facial expressions, heart rate, and breathing patterns, which areindicators of their emotions, and adapt to how the child is feeling by changing the music, or Read the Entire Article

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