Aflac Reports on Effort to Give Children With Cancer Huggable Robots

A foundation affiliated with Aflac Inc. has given toy robots that look like the Aflac Duck to children who are facing cancer in about 200 U.S. hospitals and clinics, Aflac said today.

The Columbus, Georgia-based company started distributing My Special Aflac Duck robots last year.

Aflac Chairman Dan Amos said in a statement that getting the robots into children’s hands brings the Aflac family great joy. “We look forward to continuing toward our goal of getting a duck into the arms of the more than 15,000 children diagnosed with cancer in America each year,” Amos said in the statement.

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Aflac has invested about $3 million in the Aflac Duck robot project, the company said.

The goal of the project is to give each child who is undergoing treatment for cancer a huggable friend.

Aflac has been working with Sproutel Inc., a health care technology development company, to develop the robot.

Aflac began holding special robot delivery events in 2018, at health care facilities in Atlanta; Houston; Nashville, Tennessee; New Orleans; Omaha, Nebraska; and Columbia, South Carolina.