Here’s Huggable—Teddy Ruxpin for the new millennium. It’s a talking blue teddy bot designed to care for and comfort hospitalized children.

　　The New York Times reported today it’s currently being used in a study that gathers kids’physiological responses to various stress-alleviating stimuli to determine whether Huggable offers ill children therapeutic benefits or not. Eventually, that data will be integrated in the robo-bear to make it automated and able to respond to kids’ various needs.

　　這就是抱抱熊(Huggable)——新千年的泰迪熊華斯比。它是一個(gè)會說話的藍(lán)色機(jī)器人，為了關(guān)心和安慰住院的孩子們而設(shè)計(jì)。

　　據(jù)《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》報(bào)道，在某研究中該泰迪熊被用于收集孩子們應(yīng)對各種壓力緩解刺激的生理反應(yīng)，以此來決定抱抱熊是否對病中兒童的治療有好處。最終，這些數(shù)據(jù)將被整合到機(jī)器熊里，使它能夠自動回復(fù)孩子們的各種需求。

　　Right now, the bear is more of a “high-tech puppet,” the Times writes. An adult down the hall controls the bear, serving as its voice, shooting the breeze with the young patient. The robot’s a collaboration between MIT’s Media Lab and Boston Children’s Hospital, which has invested half a million bucks to research social robots.

　　As with most robots, the ultimate goal is to get it to adapt to changing situations on its own, just as humans do. So maybe one day, if a child doesn’t respond to the bear’s jokes, it could shift strategies automatically. Switching to a calmer activity might help that particular child relax, for instance.

　　Will robots be caring for our future offspring? If the tech’s up to snuff, maybe. After playing with Huggable, the young patient in the Times video says the bear suffered from lagged responses and limited motion—a major problem when they tried to play peek-a-boo.

　　現(xiàn)在，這只熊遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)不止是一個(gè)“高科技玩偶”那么簡單。一個(gè)成人可以在走廊操控這只熊，通過它來發(fā)聲和小病人們閑聊。這個(gè)機(jī)器人是麻省理工大學(xué)媒體實(shí)驗(yàn)室和波士頓兒童醫(yī)院合作研發(fā)，投資50萬美元的研究型社交機(jī)器人。

　　和絕大多數(shù)機(jī)器人一樣，抱抱熊的終極目標(biāo)是讓他們能夠像人類一樣適應(yīng)不斷變化的情況。如此一來，也許某天，如果一個(gè)孩子聽了熊的笑話沒有笑出來，它可以自動轉(zhuǎn)換策略。例如，切換成更為平和的活動模式，也許能幫助這個(gè)小孩放松下來。

　　機(jī)器人會照顧我們的后代嗎?如果科技能達(dá)到一定水平的話，也許可以。在和抱抱熊玩耍過后，小病人們在《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》視頻里說，這只熊反應(yīng)滯后而且動作幅度有限，若他們想要和抱抱熊玩捉迷藏，這就會成為一個(gè)大問題。