With greater attention paid to our mental health, we need more chances to pour out our anxieties. But talking to an adult about feelings can be an uneasy experience for children and adolescents. With this in mind, a recent study from the University of Cambridge tested a robot’s effectiveness in determining children’s well-being.

The study involved 28 children between the ages of 8 and 13 and their parents or guardians completing a well-being questionnaire focused on the young individuals. Then a human-like robot asked the young participants open-ended questions about happy and sad memories over the last week and had them respond to prompts (提示) around pictures. The parents or guardians and research team members observed the interaction from a separate room.

Children with mental well being issues were likelier to divulge the extent of these problems while talking to the robot. Researchers thus found they felt more negative than stated in the initial questionnaire. On the other hand, children without previously stated mental well-being concerns presented an even more positive image to the robot.

Actually, the idea that children would share more with a robot than parents or mental health professionals is easy to understand. “Not all children have a secure attachment style, meaning they feel safe and connected to their caregivers,” says Dr. Katherine Grill, a behavioral scientist. “Children without secure attachments often find comfort in companions like imaginary friends. In this instance, a robot may serve as a practical option for children to open up about their well-being. Even in cases where children have secure attachment styles, a robot may provide them with a non-judgmental relationship where they’re willing to share their feelings.”

“While this study demonstrates the benefit of robots, it doesn’t remove the need for human interaction in the mental health field. Technology-enabled services mean digital support and even enhanced care, but they don’t replace work with a human being,” says Dr. Aaron Haddock, associate professor of Clark University. “After all, the relationship between clients and providers is a key driver of positive treatment outcomes.”

Can a robot provide helpful answers to your health concerns? That’s the goal of Reach Digital Health, an organization that uses mobile technologies, like text messages, to provide helpful health-care information and guidance to people across Africa who can’t easily reach a health-care provider. The continent has 17.89% of the world’s population, 23% of the diseases that disable and kill people, and only a small part of the world’s health workers.

Reach Digital Health deals with millions of questions and sends millions of mostly automatic (自动的) and computerized answers per day. That is, “We first try to respond automatically to any question that they might have,” says Debbie Rogers, CEO of Reach Digital Health, “because we want to be able to give them an answer as quickly as possible.” Besides, some words or responses can bring other interventions (干预). If someone describes an emergency like “bleeding” in their message, for example, the system will instruct them to visit their nearest hospital as soon as possible. In addition, signs and diagnoses (诊断) reported through Reach Digital Health can be sent to governments in real-time so that informed public health decisions can be made quickly and responsibly.

Reach Digital Health also uses the information they collect to improve the health offerings of equipment, district or even entire country. It collects information from millions of women, which allows for shortcomings in training or medical supplies to be identified and corrected by providers and governmental health agencies.

The organization isn’t just in South Africa. It’s working in eight other countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, through teamwork with the World Health Organization starting in 2020, they’ve enlarged their services across the globe and set up programs in Bangladesh and Indonesia.