A very special day out at Edinburgh Zoo
Monday, August 3rd, 2026
In October 2025, SpecialEffect and Edinburgh Zoo teamed up to bring two young people from our BubbleBuster project to virtually meet their favourite animals from the safety of their homes. Here’s a look at our day out with our young BubbleBusters who were using little telepresent robots to facilitate the visit.
When children undergo medical treatment that leaves them immunocompromised, the larger world can become a dangerous place. Our BubbleBuster service tackles this long-term medical isolation through the use of small, friendly, home-controlled desktop AV1 robots made by No Isolation that place the child’s eyes, ears and voice into their classrooms, playgrounds or, in this case, Edinburgh Zoo!
The first BubbleBuster to join us on our zoo safari was Riley, who we’ve been supporting since 2025. He’s eight years old and undergoing treatment for neuroblastoma, and he told us that his favourite animals in the world were penguins. Thanks to our staff at the zoo he was able to spend time at the penguin enclosure, learning more about how they live, how they find a mate, and when it came to feeding time, just why the AV1 robot doesn’t come with smell-o-vision. He also had a fantastic time meeting other animals like goats and meerkats.
In the afternoon we said hello to Josy, who is five years old and undergoing cancer treatment. Josy joined our BubbleBuster project in 2025, where we quickly learned that she loves animals. Her absolute favourite animal of all times is the giraffe, so we made our way to the giraffe enclosure to meet Gilbert, Arrow, Fenn, and Gerry.
After fabulous encounters with highland cattle and other animals, Josy picked monkeys for her last visit, where the capuchins and spider monkeys wasted no time in showing off their acrobatic prowess and voices.
Giving young people a sense of normalcy, enjoyment and an opportunity to learn is so important to both SpecialEffect and Edinburgh Zoo. The joy and laughter we were able to share with Riley, Josy and their favourite animals would not have been possible without the support of our incredible community around the world. We can’t thank the team at Edinburgh Zoo enough for their support and collaboration on this project, and our appreciation goes to all involved in making this wild day out a reality.