Miroki hospital pilot
- The Institut du Cancer de Montpellier said its Miroki companion robot is now supporting children during pediatric radiation therapy sessions. - The hospital says a child typically undergoes about 30 sessions, often alone in the treatment room and sometimes under general anesthesia. - Montpellier is presenting the project as a world first and preparing a national clinical study on whether Miroki reduces anxiety in children receiving radiotherapy (microsoft.com).
Children getting radiation therapy at the Institut du Cancer de Montpellier are now being accompanied by Miroki, a humanoid robot designed to stay with them when no human can. (microsoft.com) (icm.unicancer.fr) In pediatric radiotherapy, the child must remain perfectly still while high-energy beams target a tumor, and safety rules require the treatment room to be empty during irradiation. At Montpellier, the hospital says that isolation can trigger enough anxiety to require sedation or general anesthesia. (icm.unicancer.fr 1) (icm.unicancer.fr 2) The hospital says a typical course runs for about 30 sessions, delivered Monday through Friday over one to two months. Miroki is meant to accompany the child before treatment, during consultations, and eventually inside the radiotherapy room itself. (microsoft.com) (icm.unicancer.fr) Miroki was developed by the French startup Enchanted Tools with Montpellier’s cancer institute and the SIRIC Montpellier Cancer program. Dr. Julien Welmant, a pediatric radiation oncologist at ICM, is leading the project, with support from Professor David Azria and the radiotherapy team. (icm.unicancer.fr 1) (icm.unicancer.fr 2) The robot’s conversational features run on Microsoft Azure and Azure OpenAI Service, and ICM says the setup uses a French health-data-compliant hosting environment. The hospital presented the project at Microsoft AI Tour Paris after a keynote by Welmant on March 11, 2026. (microsoft.com) (icm.unicancer.fr) Montpellier says it is the first cancer center to technically validate a robot’s physical presence in the treatment room. The institute says dosimetry tests showed Miroki does not interfere with radiation beams. (icm.unicancer.fr) The project moved from prototype stage in October 2024, when Miroki arrived in Montpellier, to active use in the pediatric radiotherapy pathway by late 2025. At an October 2-3, 2025 meeting of the French Pediatric Radiotherapy Group, ICM said the robot already supported children throughout their radiotherapy journey. (actu.fr) (montpellier-cancer.com) ICM and its research partners are now framing Miroki as more than a comfort tool. They say the next step is a national clinical study measuring whether the robot reduces children’s anxiety enough to change how pediatric radiotherapy is delivered. (montpellier-cancer.com) (icm.unicancer.fr) Welmant described the problem in October 2024 as children arriving in the treatment room already stressed and alone. Montpellier’s answer was not to put another adult beside the machine, but to build a companion that can safely stay there when people cannot. (actu.fr)
