D.C. is America’s loneliest city. Can 1,000 robotic pets help?Some senior residents are receiving battery-powered cats and dogs thanks to a new program from three local nonprofit groups.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/01/27/elderly-robotic-pets-health-loneliness-isolation/
Rose Watkins, 67, kisses a robotic pet at Edenbridge PACE in Southeast Washington last month. She named her new companion Little Rose. (Valerie Plesch for The Washington Post)
Rose Watkins, 67, says she doesn’t really have anyone to talk to, not since her mother passed away.
Brenda Jacobs, 70, doesn’t drive anymore and, after a heart attack made her pull back from her hobbies, could do with more company at home.
Yvonne Gathers, 74, wishes she had something to keep her occupied, to keep her mind from drifting back to the day she learned her son — who lived with her — was shot and killed.
All three seniors live in D.C. and are now part of a new program distributing robotic pets to residents 60 and older who live in Wards 1, 7 and 8. The initiative, spearheaded by three local nonprofits, is part of a broader push nationwide to use battery-powered pets to ease the loneliness and isolation that often accompanies older age and help lessen associated health risks.
The pets nuzzle, stretch and roll on their tummies for scratches. You can feel their heartbeat through their soft fur. The dogs bark and wag. The cats purr and meow.
“I’ve been lonely, I’ve been depressed,” Watkins said recently, stroking a beige dog with a red bandanna that turns its head when she talks. “I think this will help.”
The Washington Home, East River Family Strengthening Collaborative and Capital Caring Health partnered to bring 1,000 robotic pets to D.C. seniors. (Valerie Plesch for The Washington Post)
Washingtonians are more likely to live alone than residents of any other major U.S. city, according to a recent analysis of Census Bureau data by real estate research company Chamber of Commerce. For elderly Americans, the isolation can be especially perilous.
Seniors living on their own are at higher risk of becoming depressed and inactive, having accidents and neglecting their health, research shows. They tend to be hospitalized more often and suffer earlier-than-expected deaths.
A 2022 study found that older adults who had owned a pet (living, not robotic) for more than five years showed slower decline in verbal memory — for example, being able to recall words — over time compared to non-pet owners.
“We can’t say the pets are definitely causing this, but we think pets can buffer stress,” said medical sociologist Jennifer Applebaum, a study author and professor at the University of Florida.
“Pets for older adults tend to mitigate isolation and loneliness,” she said.
But vet bills, exercise demands and more can make living pets unfeasible for many.
The robotic pets — Joy for All Companion Pets from parent company Ageless Innovation — “really do provide companionship and need nothing in return,” said Steve Cone, chief communications officer at nonprofit provider Capital Caring Health, one of the organizations involved in the D.C. program. “There is no upkeep, no cleanup.”
In 2018, New York State Office for the Aging launched a pilot project, distributing the robots to 60 state residents and tracking them over time. Researchers concluded that 70 percent of participants felt less lonely after one year. The program has since expanded.
“Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could try this in the District?” Cone recalls saying to Crystal Townsend, chief executive of the Washington Home, a foundation that seeks to improve the lives of older adults in the region. They estimate that about three-quarters of older adults in D.C. are aging alone and experiencing social isolation.
So, the duo set out to follow in New York’s footsteps.
“People are looking for solutions and, not that this is the solution for everything, but it offers a low-lift opportunity to have a great impact,” Townsend said. “This is an accessible intervention to a big problem.”
The Washington Home spent $150,000 to purchase 1,000 pets and then partnered with the nonprofit East River Family Strengthening Collaborative distribute them to residents last month.
“The one problem that we see is with dementia patients. They sometimes try to feed them and that kills the pet,” Cone said. “We replace the pet if that happens.”
East River handed them out at the Washington Seniors Wellness Center, senior housing complexes and with other community partners.
Yvonne Gathers, who says she'd benefit from more companionship and activity, tries out a robotic pet in Southeast Washington. (Valerie Plesch for The Washington Post)
Long before the pandemic, loneliness and social disconnection were acknowledged public health problems for older people. In the years since covid-19 first wreaked havoc on communities, East River deputy director Aisha Bailey has noticed heightened isolation in the seniors her organization cares for.
They don’t go to social clubs anymore, they don’t go out to play bingo or things like that,” she said. “They’re mostly at home, watching TV without many visitors.”
Historic numbers of older Americans are now living by themselves, most of them women.
Bailey hopes robotic pets can help fill the void. Her team will be carrying out surveys to measure pet recipients’ mood in the months to come.
The pets from Joy For All respond to touch and sound. (Valerie Plesch for The Washington Post)
Since retiring as a security guard and cleaner, Brenda Jacobs has kept busy. She founded a food pantry in her community and enjoys water aerobics and Bible study.
Still, she longed for something to hold on to in the evening time. Her new robotic dog, she said, is “pretty cool company.” His head will turn to the television. He snores.
“That tickles me,” she said.
Her granddaughter, who named him Rascal, is also fond of him and wants to take him home.
“No,” Jacobs says. “Rascal belongs to me.”
On a morning last month at a senior center a few miles away, Yvonne Gathers and Rose Watkins sat around a table with a robotic cat and dog, giggling as they reacted to their touch and voice.
“It’ll keep my mind occupied, to stop it drifting back to the sad times,” said Gathers. She’s owned dogs before — German shepherds, recently a Jack Russell terrier — but they’re too much hassle now.
Rose Watkins, 67, talks to Little Rose. (Valerie Plesch for The Washington Post)
Watkins also didn’t have the capacity to care for an animal anymore but still wanted company. She stroked the furry machine, straightened the bandanna around its neck and gave it a kiss.
She paused and added, “I just wish it could talk back.”
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