{"id":3081,"date":"2026-06-15T16:20:44","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T14:20:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitallifecentre.nl\/?p=3081"},"modified":"2026-06-17T11:27:46","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T09:27:46","slug":"een-visje-in-plaats-van-een-prik","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitallifecentre.nl\/en\/een-visje-in-plaats-van-een-prik\/","title":{"rendered":"A fish instead of a jab"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-advanced-heading uagb-block-7e8cd91e\"><h3 class=\"uagb-heading-text\"><strong>How the Dream Robot helps imaginative children get through challenging moments<\/strong><\/h3><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>A jab, a tube, or going under anaesthetic: many children find these things nerve-wracking. A new research project is working on a unique solution: the Dream Robot. This robot distracts children through guided imagery. This is a proven method whereby a child can relax through a positive story.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Dream Robot can move, talk and listen. It looks at children, waves and tells stories in a calm voice. Arine Vlieger, a paediatrician at St. Antonius and an expert in guided imagery, explains: \u201cFear often plays just as big a role as the procedure itself. If you can reduce that anxiety, the whole experience becomes more bearable. For the child, but also for parents and healthcare providers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-advanced-heading uagb-block-67dad5c6\"><h3 class=\"uagb-heading-text\"><strong>What is guided imagery?<\/strong><\/h3><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Guided imagery \u2013 also known as medical hypnosis \u2013 is less daunting than it sounds. It\u2019s all about focus and suggestion. Arine explains: \u201cWhen a child imagines something vividly, the body reacts to it. For example: the child listens to a story about swimming underwater and sees all sorts of little fish in their imagination. Then the robot says that sometimes little fish might swim up against your nose. At that very moment, the probe is inserted. The child feels the \u2018little fish\u2019 instead of the medical procedure. That\u2019s how the brain and the body work together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Guided imagery has been used in hospitals for some time, including by medical educators. However, they cannot always be present during every stressful moment. The Dream Robot project is investigating whether this support can also be provided by a robot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-advanced-heading uagb-block-468f016c\"><h3 class=\"uagb-heading-text\"><strong>A tailor-made story<\/strong><\/h3><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Three versions of the Dream Robot have been created, for different medical situations: blood tests, tube insertions and anaesthesia. Arine helped develop the stories that the Dream Robot uses. \u201cThe child chooses a pleasant setting themselves, such as the beach or a hot-air balloon, and builds a story together with the robot,\u201d explains Arine. \u201cFor children undergoing anaesthesia, the child first meets the robot in the day surgery unit. The robot accompanies them to the operating theatre and continues telling the story calmly whilst the anaesthetist puts the mask on. Because the child chooses the story themselves and is actively involved in it, the moment of the procedure is less stressful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-advanced-heading uagb-block-deb554e5\"><h3 class=\"uagb-heading-text\"><strong>Initial feedback is positive&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h3><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe noticed that the children taking part in the research project were completely absorbed by the Dream Robot and fully focused on the story it was telling. Even when someone walked in, they didn\u2019t look up or turn around. Staff and parents also reacted enthusiastically,\u201d says Simone de Droog enthusiastically. Simone is an Associate Lecturer in the Digital Life research group at Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences and the project\u2019s principal investigator. \u201cParents noticed that their child was relaxing, and that made them feel calmer too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The test also highlighted areas for improvement. For example, the robot\u2019s volume was too low, particularly for children who have ear tubes fitted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-advanced-heading uagb-block-f1629e5c\"><h3 class=\"uagb-heading-text\"><strong>Cooperation between hospitals<\/strong><\/h3><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Dream Robot is a collaboration between Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Utrecht University of Applied Sciences, St. Antonius Hospital, Wilhelmina Children\u2019s Hospital, Beatrix Children\u2019s Hospital, Erasmus MC and various robotics and hypnosis experts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The project has been running for two years and is nearing completion. All the findings are now being collated and incorporated into a step-by-step plan for implementation. Following this, a grant will be applied for to ensure that children experience far less anxiety in hospital in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>This article has also been published on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.antoniusziekenhuis.nl\/nieuwsoverzicht\/droomrobot\">website <\/a>at St. Antonius Hospital<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A jab, a tube, or going under anaesthetic: many children find these things nerve-wracking. A new research project is working on a unique solution: the Dream Robot. This robot distracts children through guided imagery. This is a proven method whereby a child can relax through a positive story. <\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3082,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nieuws"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/digitallifecentre.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Beeld_Artikel-droomrobot-260526-StAntonius-low-res.webp",950,475,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/digitallifecentre.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Beeld_Artikel-droomrobot-260526-StAntonius-low-res-150x150.webp",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/digitallifecentre.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Beeld_Artikel-droomrobot-260526-StAntonius-low-res-300x150.webp",300,150,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/digitallifecentre.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Beeld_Artikel-droomrobot-260526-StAntonius-low-res-768x384.webp",768,384,true],"large":["https:\/\/digitallifecentre.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Beeld_Artikel-droomrobot-260526-StAntonius-low-res.webp",950,475,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/digitallifecentre.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Beeld_Artikel-droomrobot-260526-StAntonius-low-res.webp",950,475,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/digitallifecentre.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Beeld_Artikel-droomrobot-260526-StAntonius-low-res.webp",950,475,false],"trp-custom-language-flag":["https:\/\/digitallifecentre.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Beeld_Artikel-droomrobot-260526-StAntonius-low-res-18x9.webp",18,9,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Leontine Born","author_link":"https:\/\/digitallifecentre.nl\/en\/author\/leontine\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Een prik, een sonde of onder narcose gaan: veel kinderen vinden dat spannend. Binnen een nieuw onderzoeksproject wordt gewerkt aan een bijzondere oplossing: de Droomrobot. Deze robot leidt kinderen af door geleide fantasie. Dat is een bewezen methode waarbij een kind zich via een positief verhaal kan ontspannen.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitallifecentre.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitallifecentre.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitallifecentre.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitallifecentre.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitallifecentre.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3081"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/digitallifecentre.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3081\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3100,"href":"https:\/\/digitallifecentre.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3081\/revisions\/3100"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitallifecentre.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitallifecentre.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitallifecentre.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitallifecentre.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}