Grandmother, meet Hyodol: 12,000 chatty little robots are keeping South Korea's older adults company

Hyodol looks like a soft doll a grandchild might leave behind — and behaves like a attentive one. The Korean care robot reminds its owner to take medicine and eat, chats, sings, and quietly alerts carers if something seems wrong. More than 12,000 older adults living alone now have one, placed through local-government programmes, and studies of the deployments report lower depression, better cognitive scores over 12 months, and about a fifth less time needed from human carers — time carers can spend on the human parts of care. The maker's goal is 100,000 robots by 2030.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: tech innovation