[MerelyMortal]

It's probably because the social robot is unusual/different/fun for the children. In the future, if everything is done by robot, then you'll see a study which claims "a visit from a social human improves hospitalized children's outlook"

[TravisHusky]

Yeah; I definitely think for kids it has a certain novelty that makes the hospital stay more interesting and enjoyable. I don't think this could scale beyond a fun novelty though; but that is more of just a personal opinion on my part.