For elderly people, a big part of having a pet is the assistance it gives, in addition to the unconditional love and big dopey eyes. At least part of that assistance can be given by a new robotic assistance dog created by researchers at Georgia Tech University. The problem? Fur-and-blood assistance dogs cost an average of $16,000 and take two years to train. The robotic dog –- which doesn’t look too much like a dog yet -– can assist people at just a fraction of the cost. It is trained to respond to a laser pointer and do helpful things like open doors and drawers, and carrying items to a table. To better understand the authentic relationship between a person and a service dog, the researchers studied Betty, a golden retriever, and modeled their bot on her actions -– hopefully they got all the help, but none of the accidents.