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A sophisticated(1) robotic(2) dog could be a good companion for your dog-loving grandmother who can't care for a living pet, a new Saint Louis University study suggests.

The researchers(3) compared how residents(4) of three nursing homes(5) interacted with(6) Sparky(7), a living, medium-sized gentle mutt(8), and Aibo(9), a doggie(10) robot once manufactured(11) by Sony(12) that looks like a three-dimensional(13) cartoon(14).

"The most surprising thing is they worked almost equally well in terms of(15) alleviating(16) loneliness(17) and causing(18) residents to form attachments(19)," says William A. Banks, M.D., professor of geriatric medicine(20) at Saint Louis University.

"For those people who can't have a living pet but who would like to have a pet, robotics(21) could address the issue of companionship(22)," Banks says.

Study Design(23):
To test whether residents connected better with Sparky or Aibo, researchers divided a total of 38 nursing home residents into three groups. All were asked questions to assess(24) their level of loneliness.
One group saw Sparky once a week for 30 minutes, another group had similar visits with Aibo, and a control group(25) saw neither furry(26) nor mechanical(27) critter(28).

During visits, Marian Banks, Banks' wife and co-researcher(29), brought Sparky or Aibo into a resident's room and placed the pet companion(30) near the resident. Both pets interacted with residents -- wagging their tails(31) and responding to the people they visited.

After seven weeks, all residents were asked questions about how lonely they felt and how attached(32) they were to Sparky or Aibo.