Hyodol (CEO Kim Ji-hee) announced its participation in the 2024 World IT Show (WIS 2024), which will be held from April 17th (Wednesday) to 19th (Friday) at COEX in Seoul.
As an AI healthcare & smart home platform company, Hyodol has been operating the Senior Emotional Design Research Institute since its establishment in 2009 to study services, policies, and solutions needed for the aging society. The company provides products and services for parents' AI companion robots called 'Hyodol for Parents.' Its goal is to improve the quality of life and happy aging of older people by providing support for loneliness, depression relief, daily life, physical health, and cognitive function enhancement, whether they live alone, have disabilities, or are neither.
Recently, Hyodol won the 'Best Mobile Innovation Award for Connected Health and Well-being' at the 'GLOMO Awards' held at the 'MWC Barcelona 2024,' one of the world's top three IT exhibitions. The company will then participate in the WIS 2024 to introduce Hyodol's unique technology and services. Hyodol plans to demonstrate its advanced technology on-site and share how AI care robots like Hyodol can contribute to a society where the need for care is increasing. In particular, during the demo, the company will showcase the '2nd Generation Hyodol' model featuring ChatGPT.
Hyodol is a talking AI care robot in the form of a stuffed doll that lives alongside the elderly 24 hours a day, engaging in conversation and providing personalized care based on collected data. Equipped with various sensors, the product greets users with a voice when touched. By registering the doll in a dedicated smartphone app, senior users can receive personalized daily life reminders (such as medication and meals), access senior-specific content like exercises, quizzes, and trot music, remotely send the activities to monitors, send voice and schedule reminder messages, and more. Hyodol promises these functions can encourage seniors' healthy lifestyles.
Hyodol immediately connects to caregivers or emergency services (such as 119) upon request for help in emergencies. Integrated VoIP functionality allows direct calls between older people and caregivers through Hyodol.
A representative from Hyodol explained, "In 2015, while contemplating services for elderly people living alone, we came up with the idea of providing services that are like family members living with the elderly 24 hours a day and ensuring their safety by connecting them to the outside world. As a result, we developed the prototype in 2018." They further stated, "With the successful launch of the Hyodol 2nd Generation product, which incorporates ChatGPT, two-way conversations with the elderly are now possible, enabling emotional and psychological care through interaction. Additionally, we have developed the 2nd generation model to provide smart care services for the elderly, such as connecting them to the caregiver center to call for help and provide smart care services to the elderly."
Currently, pilot projects for Hyodol are being conducted targeting elderly Korean immigrants in New York and older people in the Netherlands. All services are conducted via LTE communication rather than Wi-Fi, and an integrated control system is utilized. Hyodol emphasized that while it may be difficult to create universal services due to differences in the elderly care ecosystems and cultures of each country, Hyodol is preparing a platform with expandability for each country, patient, and caregiver. Particularly, with the global interest in solutions for an aging society confirmed through participation in MWC, Hyodol plans to enter the overseas market in earnest from the second half of this year through cooperation with companies like Microsoft. It aims to expand the market based on successful pilot tests in the United States and Europe and obtain FDA and CE certifications.
The representative added, "With the successful launch of the Hyodol 2nd Generation product, we will continue to refine the AI-powered personalized health management engine and control system." They further stated, "Based on this, we aim to expand senior-targeted healthcare services and establish a platform for personalized health management and remote medical care. We are developing an intelligent and personalized service platform that is capable of providing AI care services tailored to individual conditions using our sLLM engine. Moreover, we are developing products conveniently integrated with IoT sensor devices based on Matter standards, with 24-hour companion robots serving as smart home controllers and user interfaces."
Under the theme 'Innovation and Connection, All Possibilities of the Digital World,' WIS 2024 will showcase the latest technologies and products in the fields of AI & IoT technology and platforms, 5G connectivity, wireless communication technology and networks, cloud & big data, digital twins & metaverse, smart living and healthcare, robotics, autonomous driving, and eco-friendly mobility, UAM, blockchain, security, and quantum information technology.