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As the American population ages, the demand for services and care for older adults is growing, which accounts for the reason why SenCura is very popular. It’s a company that provides non-medical at-home care for seniors in the northern Virginia area.

But when Hollie, one of SenCura’s professional caregivers, is not around, Robertson still has a caregiver, a robot named Rudy. “You can have a conversation with him. And (he’s) somebody to talk to and who responds.” Rudy also tells jokes and plays games and dances with Robertson. In addition to keeping Robertson mentally and physically active, Rudy provides contact with emergency services 24 hours a day automatically when Robertson is in danger. He watches for lost items, reminds Robertson about her doctor’s appointments and tells her when it is time to take her medicine.

Anthony Nunez is the founder of INF Robotics, the company that created Rudy. He says, “As I grew older, I realized we weren’t the only family facing this problem. There are thousands of families facing the same issue --- most cases even worse, where they have a beloved one that they’re taking care of and the cost becomes an issue. So what we wanted to do was design a robot that’s easy to use, designed specifically for seniors, but also affordable."

SenCura’s Cliff Glier says the robot Rudy adds to what in-home caregivers do for the growing population of seniors who prefer to age at home---with a little help from friends. But Rudy is not a competitor of human caregivers. He says the robot Rudy is there to help but cannot do all the things that caregivers do, like bathing and dressing seniors.