Trying to grasp the concept and come to terms that one might have cancer can be difficult, even as an adult. So you can imagine how confusing and scary it must be for young children who might not understand why this is happening to them. This is why some hospitals try to employ clowns and other professionals whose jobs are to help comfort sick kids.

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However it looks like hospitals could soon have a more hi-tech way of doing that as Aflac’s robotic therapy ducks have started to find their way to children’s cancer hospitals around the US. Aflac’s robotic ducks were debuted earlier this year at CES and one of the key features of the duck is that it was designed to be emphatic.

There will be RFID-enabled emoji cards on its chest that the patients can choose to reflect their feelings at the moment, so for example if the child picks the frowny face, the duck will move and let out a sound to indicate that it is feeling sad too. Children will also be able to play with the duck by giving It “baths”, feeding it, and also giving it medicine and pretend to give it chemotherapy.

It also has features like a heart beat and can also teach deep breathing that will help calm patients down. So far Aflac’s ducks have found their way to two hospitals, but there are plans to try and cover more hospitals across the US later this year.

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