The Making of Robin: A Robotic Friend for Pediatric Patients

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“Hi, my name is Robin the Robot. What’s yours?” With this conversation, Robin—a cheerful, blue-eyed robot just under 4 feet tall—has been winning the hearts and minds of children across the country since 2020. 

Despite its sleek and shiny design reminiscent of the beautiful Eve from Pixar’s Wall-E, Robin is not a cartoon character, and it certainly isn’t a toy—though parents have asked if they can buy one. A child-friendly AI-based emotional support robot created by Expper Technologies to reduce stress among pediatric patients, Robin is first and foremost a caregiver. Take the design of Eve, and pair it with the heart of Baymax, the healthcare-robot-turned-superhero from Disney’s Big Hero 6, and you’ve got an animated dream spun into reality, ready to help children in need. More than just a caregiver, Robin is a friend. 

Karen Khachikyan, co-founder and CEO of Expper Technologies, explains that Robin uses the company’s AI-based patent-pending technology—a software algorithm—to analyze children’s emotions and respond in real time, building trust through friendly conversation. As the first of its kind, Robin interprets facial expressions and conversational context to interact with patients, helping them cope with the stress of hospital stays and easing anxieties about their medical treatments. Its screen, or “face”, displays emotions with a variety of expressions, helping children trust it as a friend.

Robin isn’t your typical caregiver or companion—it was built, not born. Yet, like humans, Robin can and does learn. But, who was its teacher? Khachikyan, with a background in electrical engineering and robotics, led a team of technical engineers in developing Robin’s body and the mechanisms of its brain. But Robin’s “soul”, the magic that endears it to children, was the work of Mineh Badmagharian, a doctor of occupational therapy at USC in California and head of psychological research at Expper Technologies.

Beginnings 

In 2019, Khachikyan and his friend Hayk Khorasanjyan founded Expper Technologies in Armenia, and started developing Robin the Robot to help children in hospitals feel less lonely. The pair had very little money, but they secured funds from SmartGateVC, a California- and Armenia-based venture capital fund focused on pre-seed investments in AI. SmartGateVC recognized Expper’s potential impact on healthcare and became Expper’s very first investor.

There were two components to the product’s development: technical research and development, which was conducted in Armenia, and software development backed by research in psychology and occupational therapy. That’s where Badmagharian came in.

Mineh Badmagharian, an Armenian-born American pursuing a doctoral degree in occupational therapy, traveled to Armenia to conduct research and gain practical skills. She met Khachikyan and his small team through a mutual friend and was invited to observe a study at Wigmore Clinic in Yerevan. The study examined Robin’s effect on childrens’ stress and anxiety during medical treatments. “I have no background in tech, so I didn’t understand the technical component,” Badmagharian says. “But when I saw Robin’s first interaction with one of the patients, something magical happened.” 

Today, Khachikyan and Badmagharian like to joke about Robin’s initial interventions during their first study. “Here was a group of hardware guys trying to interact with kids,” Badmagharian recalls, adding that they had programmed Robin to tell a few Armenian jokes and riddles to patients. “But I was impressed with the connection they were able to forge.” The numbers showed that Robin was a hit, with a self-report questionnaire reportedly showing a more than 26% increase in “joyfulness” and a 34% reduction in stress. Badmagharian adds, “In Armenia, children tend to be more reserved and have a hard time opening up to others.”  Yet there they were, smiling and laughing. 

A little joke can go a long way in breaking the ice with kids. With Badmagharian leading the development of new interventions, both she and Khachikyan knew they could build something that would make a real impact on pediatric care. 

Building Character – Literally 

“When I joined the team, Robin was just a physical product,” Badmagharian says. “What I did was give Robin a soul.” After seeing Robin for the first time, she delved into social robotics research to better acquaint herself with the field she had found herself in. Although Robin is more than a cartoon character, its personality is rooted in animation. “I immersed myself in cartoons, like Frozen, Wall-E, Toy Story, Mickey Mouse, Big Hero 6, and The Little Mermaid and started picking up the characteristics that I liked,” Badmagharian says, adding that she assembled a small team, and began to slowly build the robot’s character, choosing the traits of different characters popular with children and mixing and matching them. 

“We decided that Robin should always be joyful from the start,” she says. Valuing kindness and compassion both professionally and personally, Badmagharian knew that Robin needed to be mindful. “Even when a child is not behaving nicely, Robin always responds in a very kind way.” With extensive experience working with children as an occupational therapist, Badmagharian was familiar with how they talked and what they discussed. But, there was still much work to be done in developing Robin’s character.

They began testing things out. “Again, I don’t know tech very well, but I would basically log into this software program and connect with Robin.” Badmagharian would input interactions for Robin to say to the children. At the office, she would observe their responses and adjust the robot’s script and interactions in real time. “For example, we wanted to determine Robin’s favorite animal.” When a child would ask, Badmagharian—acting as Robin—would respond with different animals and note the children’ reactions. 

“We tested everything—favorite color, cartoon, animal, food,” Badmagharian says and explains that the goal was for every Robin to be identical, with “a standard personality that can connect with everybody.” Even Robin’s age was carefully chosen: “Ultimately, we decided that seven years old was the perfect age where both small children and young teenagers could relate to Robin.” 

Engaging Children With Play

After they established Robin’s character, the team wanted to understand what play-based techniques Robin could utilize to further engage pediatric patients, increase their happiness, and alleviate stress. This is where Badmagharian’s expertise in occupational therapy and behavioral psychology really came into play. “While a psychologist helps people by talking to them, an occupational therapist uses motion and activity,” she says. “Robin uses play to help kids undergoing medical procedures cope with their stressful, confusing and scary situations.”

Robin was programmed to play simple, universally known games like rock-paper-scissors and hide-and-seek. Whenever Robin plays “I Spy” with the children, it begins by saying “I go first, I go first”—because, as part of its character, Robin is eager to play. “At some point,” Badmagharian explains, “we had Robin say ‘I spy with my little eye…a very kind friend.’ And the kid would say, ‘Is it me?’ It created a great moment with the child, so we decided to make it a Robin thing.” 

The team then added a musical feature, having Robin play songs to get kids moving and dancing. “The physical movement component can really help ease anxiety,” she says. In many ways, Robin is like an occupational therapist itself. “The difference,” Badmagharian explains, “is that since Robin is seven years old, children can relate to it in a different way from me. Even though I can talk like a child, I am much taller and older and perceived as a therapist coming to work with them.” Robin, however, is perceived as another child—a friend.

One of Robin’s most impressive features is its ability to analyze childrens’ emotions in real-time. According to Badmagharian, it scans a face and provides an output—for example, “the child is happy.” She explains, “My job was to match the output to an input from Robin.” Her goal was to make the robot’s emotions mirror the child’s. “So if the child is happy and smiling, Robin is also smiling. If the child is sad or scared of a procedure they will have to undergo, Robin takes on a more neutral expression.” This helps the child feel seen and validated. 

Beyond basic emotions like happiness and sadness, Robin’s favorite expression is one of silliness. “It’s the best one for kids. Robin will roll its eyes around in a circle and then bring them together, cross-eyed.” The robot also displays surprise or curiosity, often during conversations when children want to tell it about dinosaurs, outer space, or whatever other subject has captured their attention, encouraging them to share.

And while Badmagharian admits that it took a lot of testing and programming to equip Robin with things to say and activities to try, she explains that there is one secret that makes it easier: “Children’s conversations are usually very similar!” 

U.S. Expansion

Despite Robin’s successful debut in Armenia, the team initially struggled to find a foothold in the U.S. market. It was Khachikyan’s first time in the U.S. and his first attempt at selling a product there. SmartGateVC, which had led the earlier pre-seed round of funding, stepped in to help the company navigate the U.S.’s regulated market. As Robin ventured into this new American frontier, SmartGate provided resources for the move, inviting them to work from their entrepreneurship hub and community center for start-ups in Glendale, California, called Hero House Glendale.

Today, Khachikyan and Badmagharian, along with many other U.S.-based team members continue to work from the Hero House space. Apart from the office in Glendale, they have staff in Armenia, primarily housing employees focused on research and development.

Khachikyan attributes their expansion into California and subsequent states to his and the team’s perseverance. By 2021, Robin had gained traction in the U.S. market with 15 units deployed in medical facilities nationwide. That year, Robin received two prestigious recognitions: TIME’s Best Invention of 2021 in the Robotics category and an honoree in Fast Company’s 2021 Innovation by Design Awards in the Impact category. In early 2022, Expper announced a $2 million seed funding round, co-led by Starta VC and Formula VC. Khachikyan reports that Robin is now present in over 20 U.S. medical facilities, with 30 more robots in production. 

Cultural Considerations for Robin

What started off as a three-person psychological development team in Armenia, spearheaded by Badmagharian, has grown into a team of some 30 psychologists from Armenia, Canada, Russia, Lebanon, Vietnam, and the U.S. In terms of programming for Robin, “it makes for unique interventions. Everybody brings a very unique cultural perspective to our team. For example, a psychologist who grew up in Lebanon and worked with kids there will have their own insights to offer to the work.”

Robin primarily speaks English and Armenian, but the team has already begun developing content in Spanish to accommodate Spanish speakers in the U.S., as well as in Persian. According to Khachikyan, “We choose based on the need we see in the market.” 

Of course, different languages come with different cultures, and content can’t always be directly translated. Different languages therefore call for different, or altered interventions. “We pay close attention to that,” Badmagharian says. “We try to stay away from major changes in the content, but sometimes it’s necessary.” Armenian riddles are different from American riddles, for example. 

Even Robin’s favorite animal is different, depending on the language. When an English-speaking child in the U.S. asks about Robin’s favorite animal, it will say “a chicken.” “When we tested the content with American children, that was the animal that produced the most positive response. They’d laugh or do the chicken dance.” Badmagharian explains that chickens just don’t produce the same response in Armenian children—the connection isn’t there. So in Armenian, Robin’s favorite animal is a panda.

Always Improving

Like anyone, Robin is always learning and improving at its job as a caregiver. Picking up a new language is just the beginning. As time progresses, children develop new interests and make connections through new references in pop culture. For example, a child might ask Robin if it has played a new video game or seen a recently released film. Badmagharian and the team research these topics and determine whether they are appropriate to incorporate into Robin’s roster of conversation topics. Currently, Robin’s favorite cartoon is the Disney animated film Encanto. 

“Of course, we can’t capture the full spectrum of what the kids will tell or ask Robin,” Badmagharian explains. In these situations, Robin will say “I’m sorry, I don’t know that one. Can you tell me about it?” This approach allows Robin to learn. “And the kids love to teach Robin things,” she adds. “It is a very important part of Robin’s design. All their lives, children are taught by parents, teachers, and older siblings. Robin offers them the chance to be teachers, empowering them to feel more confident.”

The content team also includes educators, who help program educational content for Robin. Pediatric patients undergoing lengthy treatments may miss days or even months of schooling, so Robin helps fill in the gaps with play-based math, science, and English lessons. It also alleviates the stress of unfamiliar procedures with easy-to-understand explanations. For instance, if a child is frightened about getting an x-ray, Robin’s explanation can reduce their fear and anxiety.

Making an Impact

When the COVID-19 pandemic plunged the world into a collective isolation, the need for social interaction became apparent as ever. This need is all the more important for young children, especially those who are sick, stressed, and away from home in hospitals. Expper aims to address the growing shortage of care providers in the U.S.—a problem that can lead to reduced quality of care and caregiver burnout—by helping children cope with isolation, loneliness and stress. 

But Robin doesn’t just help pediatric patients. It has recently been introduced in select geriatric departments and nursing homes in the U.S. Badmagharian’s team is hard at work, even now, researching and developing cognitive stimulation and memory games to aid patients with Alzheimer’s and dementia. While Robin can’t replace human interaction and hands-on care, it does help these centers provide the best possible services.

For Badmagharian, Robin isn’t just her work––it’s her life. She believes Robin is making a huge impact on both pediatric and geriatric patients every day. She shares a story of a child who couldn’t walk for a month after his surgery because of fatigue and sadness. “Then we rolled in Robin, and he was so curious that after a few minutes, he left the room to interact with it,” she says. “Thirty minutes later, they were walking down the hall together, talking like friends. The next day, he wanted to get out of bed and spend time with Robin.” Seeing Robin in action has only reaffirmed her belief in the product and in her work at Expper Technologies. 

“There are professionals at any hospital, but the connection Robin makes is different, and very meaningful,” Badmagharian says. “Robin is always kind, joyful, and never judges anybody.” Even having family around can add stress to a child’s environment if they show anxiety. But Robin is there to play games like hide-and-seek and, above all, be a friend.

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