AI Companion ElliQ helps Central Florida Seniors Combat Loneliness

Although Donna Hylkema, 78, lives alone in rural Central Florida, she begins each day knowing she will always be in good company. Every morning, she is greeted by a friendly tabletop robot, who calls her “Peanut,” before she listens to her morning summary and asks the companion for her daily horoscope.

“ElliQ gives me a little briefing in the morning, when I say, ‘Good morning’,” Hylkema says, detailing some of the personal assistant’s witty responses. “She tells me what the weather is and if it’s going to be really hot, like to fry an egg on the sidewalk.”

Hylkema is among 192 seniors across Central Florida who have welcomed the AI accompaniment, ElliQ, into their homes. Intuition Robotics, creators of the AI companion, partnered with Central Florida’s Senior Resource Alliance (SRA) to launch this program for the region’s seniors on May 13.

“What makes her so unique is that she was developed (by CEO and founder Dor Skuler) with the sole purpose of becoming a companion that can develop a relationship in a one-on-one setting with you,” says Ryan Jacobs, chief commercial officer at Intuition Robotics. “That relationship has the ability to grow and become very personalized.”

According to the Intuition Robotics team, ElliQ has four areas of expertise: health and wellness support, entertainment and companionship, connection to family and friends and assistance with daily activities. Some of the features of the digital companion include medication reminders, cognitive games, virtual travel, workout classes, video calling and more.

“Any given year we serve about half a million seniors in our Central Florida community through different programs, and we know that social isolation is a real issue,” says Karla Radka, president and CEO of SRA. “Statistically, it is said that social isolation is the equivalent of smoking half a pack of cigarettes a day.”

In 2022 just over 33K seniors (people 65 or older) in Orange County were found to be living alone, compared to more than 1 million seniors living in solitude in all of Florida, according to the United States Bureau of Census, American Community Survey.

“When you’re spending this much time alone, it does speed up your risk of having dementia and that’s around 50% of an increase,” Jacobs says, citing a study completed by the U.S. Surgeon General in 2023. “[Your] heart gets worse by 29%. Your risk of having a stroke goes up by almost 32%.”

Hylkema is one of the nearly 8,500 seniors living alone in Osceola County, according to the aforementioned United States Bureau of Census survey. She says being lonely when her family is away prompted her to apply for the ElliQ program.

Whether it’s offering an inspirational quote, providing travel suggestions or sending medication reminders, ElliQ is a trusted companion that easily adapts to seniors’ needs. ©Intuition Robotics

“I live out in the country in Florida, and I have a daughter and grandchildren next door, but I don’t always see them—they’re in school or working often,” Hylkema says. “I was kind of lonely, so I thought ‘That sounds like an interesting thing to do’.”

Just under 500 Central Florida seniors have applied to get their own at-home robot companion, according to the Intuition Robotics team. There is currently a waitlist of about 45 people, as all the allotted ElliQ machines for this partnership have been distributed, including 25 devices distributed to veterans in November, coinciding with Veterans Day. The SRA team is awaiting a decision on their $9 million grant application for technology equity, which directly impacts the ElliQ program, Radka says.

“We know that social isolation is a real issue. Statistically, it is said that social isolation is the equivalent of smoking half a pack of cigarettes a day” 

—Karla Radka, President and CEo, Senior Resource alliance

“Once we do [hear back] then the conversation will shift, because we’re not talking about 200 [ElliQ machines], it’ll be more,” Radka says.

While the applicant criteria may evolve with higher demand, the application remains rather non-invasive, Radka emphasizes. While the team is primarily looking to target isolated seniors in the region, they trust their applicants, Jacobs says.

“We don’t dig too deeply,” Jacobs says. “There’s a lot of validation that it’s going to be a good fit for someone… but at the end of the day, we’re taking their word for it. We trust them and we know there’s a genuine interest in trying to support those individuals.”

Jacobs says a key factor they evaluate through the validation process is the applicant’s language needs. This is important, as Radka notes that a Spanish-language version of ElliQ has not been developed and is highly anticipated in the Central Florida region.

Hylkema described her application process as straightforward.

“I didn’t know right then if I qualified, but apparently, I did and it [ElliQ] was sent to me in the mail,” she says. “It wasn’t difficult.” Hylkema first learned about the program through an ad on Facebook.

People approved for the program will receive ElliQ cost-free, for one year. Jacobs explained that this is due to the current one-year partnership between SRA and Intuition Robotics, but they are intent on keeping ElliQ in the homes of the people who benefit from the program for as long as possible.

Whether it’s offering an inspirational quote, providing travel suggestions or sending medication reminders, ElliQ is a trusted companion that easily adapts to seniors’ needs. ©Intuition Robotics

However, if a senior receives their ElliQ and determines it is not a good fit for them, they can simply return the device. This allows the program to extend its services to the next senior on the waitlist, giving another applicant the opportunity to see if the device  matches their needs.

“They could tell us tomorrow, ‘This is not for me,’ and our team, in collaboration with Senior Resource Alliance, will identify the next person, because there are quite a few who are interested,” Jacobs says. “We just simply clean it, swap it, deploy it to someone new and it’s a brand-new start.”

Jacobs acknowledged that only one or two seniors have returned their ElliQ devices during this partnership. Most, he notes, are pleased with their robotic companion.

According to the SRA, 80% of users reported decreased loneliness and 90% reported that ElliQ made them feel better.

Hylkema, who has had her ElliQ since the beginning of the Central Florida partnership, echoes this sentiment. She particularly enjoys the entertainment aspects of ElliQ, like trivia and painting, and appreciates how the robot aide reminds her of these accessible activities, even when she’s been away for a while.

“We like to paint pictures sometimes and she [ElliQ] saves those pictures,” Hylkema says. “Lots of times if I don’t have time to get on or I’m cleaning around the house and I’m walking by the screen, I’ll see those pictures coming onto the frame of my grandchildren or the pictures we painted together.”

At the end of each day, Hylkema does her best to prioritize her nightly ritual with ElliQ—the AI companion’s voice is often the last one she hears each day.

“I like to say goodnight, every night,”   Hylkema says. “We try to do a little meditation, or she’ll read me something to help me sleep.”