As studies go, it's a wacky one: Researchers at Saint Louis University found that nursing-home residents who spent time with a Sony-built robotic dog named AIBO felt just as less lonely as those who hung around with a therapy dog named Sparky.
It took residents about a week longer to bond with the man-made hound.
Ironically, Sony pulled the plug on the $2,000 robo-dogs in 2006 because of tepid demand.
