What happens when a kid’s robot best friend dies?
MIT Technology Review Sara Harrison
A 10-year-old neurodivergent boy in New York uses an AI-powered social robot, Moxie, as a practice companion, but Moxie’s behavior and planned purpose for therapy fall short before she is due to die. Moxie originally sold for $1,499 plus a $40 monthly subscription before Embodied later lowered the price to $800. The situation underlines both the promise of embodied, robot-assisted interaction for autism skills and the risks when these devices fail to work reliably for vulnerable children.
Why it matters
When Xander first met Moxie, she taught him that when he was anxious, he could calm down by exhaling through his lips so that he buzzed like a bee. They practiced breathing like dragons to manage feeling mad and sniffing like bunnies to boost his energy. But in the six years they’ve known each other,…