The Listen-a-bot can be installed in elderly people's residences and will automatically switch on when it detects grumblings or the beginning of shaggy-dog stories.

Complete with all the phrases needed to carry out a rich conversation with anybody 80+, such as "Really?", "Tell me more," and "That's interesting." Additional phrases can be downloaded from the internet, such as, "Kids today," and "Internet? What's that?"

The device comes in two forms - a budget box which looks like a radio, or a deluxe model which looks like a full-size yet crudely fashioned humanoid, replete with the face of a supplied spouse, ex-spouse, or relative (eg grandchild).
-- kpx, Jan 10 2005

[marked-for-deletion] widely known to exist.. the author doesn't say how this listening (/recording ?)device would differ from others (e.g. the wax cylinder, the tape recorder, the mp3 recorder etc.). other than by embedding it in a human shape. Actually.. maybe this is just advocacy. or Let's all (put recording devices in human shapes and leave them near people we care about).
-- neilp, Jan 11 2005


it might be worth noting the subtitle should read "Automatic Listening Device for the deceiving the Elderly" there again.. it might be worth just hitting the back button in your browser.
-- neilp, Jan 11 2005


The purpose of the device is to provide the elderly person with the feeling the he or she is being listened to without an actual human listener. The purpose is not to record. This is consistent with the idea having been placed in the "decoy" category.

I doubt such a device is widely known to exist.
-- Mustardface, Jan 13 2005



random, halfbakery