Nadia Calviño, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Spain and Minister for Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, visited the AIR Institute labs in USAL’s Science Park. We took this opportunity to present one of our most emotive projects. It’s called Apapachoa; intelligent therapeutic dolls that help increase the quality of life of people suffering from different pathologies such as Alzheimer’s, dementia or autism.

The dolls are handcrafted in Béjar; a town which is famous for its textile industry. The creation of these dolls is inspired by Waldorf dolls, which are made of high-quality materials coming from local producers, using a combination of different techniques.

The project is in its initial phase and for now there is a variety of dolls which we have presented to the Deputy Prime Minister Nadia Calviño. These have been tested in therapy with elderly people and have been shown to have a positive effect on daily life and to delay the negative effects of different pathologies.

The next phase will involve the incorporation of electronics in the dolls, so that they can respond to stimuli and generate data. This data will be stored on an application that will collect information related to the activities performed by the user, so that specialists can analyze the behavior of the patients.

We are proud to develop and present a project of this type, in which we can combine scientific research with technology and in turn contribute to the welfare of society.