Television and radio personality Ash Pollard has ignited a heated online debate after sharing photographs of her daughters meeting an AI-powered humanoid robot named Abi during a visit to an aged care facility — with reactions ranging from genuine enthusiasm to outright anger.
Pollard, who first became a household name after appearing on My Kitchen Rules in 2015, posted the images to Instagram over the weekend. The photos showed her daughters, Clementine and Claudette, alongside Abi, a robotic companion and new "resident" at the facility where the girls' great-grandmother now lives.
"I took the girls to visit their Great Grandmama at her new living facility, there we met the new resident bot, Abi," Pollard wrote in her caption. "She goes around chatting to the residents. I thought it was cool but some people were enraged! What do you think?"
A flood of mixed reactions online
Pollard acknowledged the polarising response in her post, writing: "I shared these pics on stories over the weekend… so many mixed reviews!!"
The images quickly drew strong opinions on both sides. Among the critical voices, one commenter argued there was "absolutely nothing cool" about using a robot to interact with elderly residents, insisting that older people — regardless of age, frailty or cognitive decline — are fully deserving of genuine human connection.
"They deserve people. They deserve conversation. They deserve dignity. They deserve to feel valued," the comment read.
Others, however, saw Abi's presence in a more positive light, arguing that robotic companions could play a meaningful role in addressing loneliness among elderly Australians — particularly those without regular visitors or family nearby.
Who is behind robot Abi?
Abi was developed by Grace Brown, a 26-year-old Australian mechatronics engineer and the founder and CEO of Andromeda Robotics. The company has already placed its personalised AI-powered companions in 30 nursing homes across Australia, with robots designed to help aged care teams "bring joy and connection to residents more often," according to the company's website.
Brown herself weighed in on Pollard's Instagram post, directly addressing the concerns raised by critics. She stressed that no resident would ever be forced to interact with Abi, and pushed back on the suggestion that the robot was intended to replace human relationships.
"I also think it's easy to forget that meaningful human connection is, unfortunately, a privilege that not everyone has equal access to," Brown wrote. "Some people are widowed. Some never had children. Some have family who live far away. Some simply don't have anyone coming to visit them. Abi exists for the moments where that void would otherwise remain empty."
Brown said her vision for Abi was to enrich human connection in aged care settings, not substitute it — positioning the robot as a supplement to, rather than a replacement for, the relationships residents have with staff, family and friends. For those navigating the complexities of residential aged care costs and what they cover, the emergence of robotic companions adds yet another dimension to the conversation about quality of life in these facilities.
A growing role for robots in aged care
The debate around Pollard's post reflects a broader and increasingly urgent conversation in Australia and globally about the role technology should — or shouldn't — play in elder care.
Advocates for robotic companions point to their capacity to provide consistent engagement, entertainment and conversation, particularly for residents experiencing isolation. Critics, however, question whether any technology can genuinely replicate the warmth and dignity that comes from human presence.
Brown told reporters she believes the current generation of young Australians may be the last to grow up without companion robots as a normal part of everyday life — a statement that underscores just how rapidly this technology is moving from novelty to mainstream consideration in aged care environments.
As facilities across the country grapple with staffing pressures and rising demand, the question Ash Pollard posed to her followers — cool or not cool? — looks set to remain a live and contentious one for some time yet.
