Emma the joke-telling robot cracks up the care home: Paula Hornickel’s best photograph

‘The first resident that Emma – a social robot – was introduced to was called Peter. After that, Emma assumed they were all called Peter, which everyone found hilarious. Then she broke down’One morning in July 2025, I arrived in the small, quiet town of Albershausen in south-west Germany. It has only around 4,000 inhabitants. I went to visit a care home where they were piloting a social robot named Emma. A group of residents sat in a circle while Emma stood in the middle. She’s the height of a t...