Students on an MIT Product Engineering Processes course in 2013 decided to build a product to help patients suffering from anxiety and depression as a result of dementia. It’s a cute baby otter called Ollie who responds to touches from the person holding it. It has robotic arms moved by wires wrapped in silicon and it has a waterproof coat underneath a washable fur coat just in case of spills and accidents. You can read more over at the IEEE site and watch the pitch video here.

The future of the product is in question as nothing has come out of it, but it’s great to see the Pi being used for such a great purpose.