scholarly journals Can a humanoid social robot stimulate the interactivity of cognitively impaired elderly? A thorough study based on computer vision methods

Author(s):  
Gauri Tulsulkar ◽  
Nidhi Mishra ◽  
Nadia Magnenat Thalmann ◽  
Hwee Er Lim ◽  
Mei Ping Lee ◽  
...  

AbstractSocial Assistive Robotics is increasingly being used in care settings to provide psychosocial support and interventions for the elderly with cognitive impairments. Most of these social robots have provided timely stimuli to the elderly at home and in care centres, including keeping them active and boosting their mood. However, previous investigations have registered shortcomings in these robots, particularly in their ability to satisfy an essential human need: the need for companionship. Reports show that the elderly tend to lose interests in these social robots after the initial excitement as the novelty wears out and the monotonous familiarity becomes all too familiar. This paper presents our research facilitating conversations between a social humanoid robot, Nadine, and cognitively impaired elderly at a nursing home. We analysed the effectiveness of human–humanoid interactions between our robot and 14 elderly over 29 sessions. We used both objective tools (based on computer vision methods) and subjective tools (based on observational scales) to evaluate the recorded videos. Our findings showed that our subjects engaged positively with Nadine, suggesting that their interaction with the robot could improve their well-being by compensating for some of their emotional, cognitive, and psychosocial deficiencies. We detected emotions associated with cognitively impaired elderly during these interactions. This study could help understand the expectations of the elderly and the current limitations of Social Assistive Robots. Our research is aligned with all the ethical recommendations by the NTU Institutional Review Board.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Henschel ◽  
Guy Laban ◽  
Emily S. Cross

Purpose of review: We provide an outlook on the definitions, laboratory research, and applications of social robots, with an aim to understand what makes a robot social – in the eyes of science and the general public. Recent Findings: Social robots demonstrate their potential when deployed within contexts appropriate to their form and functions. Some examples include companions for the elderly and cognitively impaired individuals, robots within educational settings, and as tools to support cognitive and behavioural change interventions. Summary: Science fiction has inspired us to conceive of a future with autonomous robots helping with every aspect of our daily lives, although the robots we are familiar with through film and literature remain a vision of the distant future. While there are still miles to go before robots become a regular feature within our social spaces, rapid progress in social robotics research, aided by the social sciences, is helping to move us closer to this reality.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-19
Author(s):  
Anna Henschel ◽  
Guy Laban ◽  
Emily S. Cross

Abstract Purpose of Review We provide an outlook on the definitions, laboratory research, and applications of social robots, with an aim to understand what makes a robot social—in the eyes of science and the general public. Recent Findings Social robots demonstrate their potential when deployed within contexts appropriate to their form and functions. Some examples include companions for the elderly and cognitively impaired individuals, robots within educational settings, and as tools to support cognitive and behavioural change interventions. Summary Science fiction has inspired us to conceive of a future with autonomous robots helping with every aspect of our daily lives, although the robots we are familiar with through film and literature remain a vision of the distant future. While there are still miles to go before robots become a regular feature within our social spaces, rapid progress in social robotics research, aided by the social sciences, is helping to move us closer to this reality.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Karthik Kumar Santhanaraj ◽  
Ramya M.M. ◽  
Dinakaran D.

Purpose The rousing phenomenon of the ageing population is becoming a vital issue and demanding fulminant actions. Population ageing is a resultant of the enhanced health-care system, groovy antibiotics, medications and economic well-being. Old age leads to copious amounts of ailments. Aged people, owing to their reduced mobility and enervating disabilities, tend to rely upon caretakers and/or nursing personnel. With the increasing vogue of nuclear families in the society, the elderly are at the risk of being unveiled to emotional, physical and fiscal insecurities in the years to come. Caring for those seniors will be an enormous undertaking. Design/methodology/approach There is a dire need for an intelligent assistive system to meet out the requirements of continuous holistic care and monitoring. Assistive robots and systems used for elderly care are studied. The design motivation for the robots, elderly–robot interaction capabilities and technology incorporated in the systems are examined meticulously. Findings From the survey, it is suggested that the subsystems of an assistive robot revamped for better human–machine interactions will be a potential alternative to the human counterpart. Affirmable advancements in the robot design and interaction methodologies that would increase the holistic care and assistance for aged people are analyzed and listed. Originality/value This paper reviews the available assistive technologies and suggests a synergistic model that can be adopted for the caring of the elderly.


2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 162-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sascha Zuber ◽  
Matthias Kliegel

Abstract. Prospective Memory (PM; i.e., the ability to remember to perform planned tasks) represents a key proxy of healthy aging, as it relates to older adults’ everyday functioning, autonomy, and personal well-being. The current review illustrates how PM performance develops across the lifespan and how multiple cognitive and non-cognitive factors influence this trajectory. Further, a new, integrative framework is presented, detailing how those processes interplay in retrieving and executing delayed intentions. Specifically, while most previous models have focused on memory processes, the present model focuses on the role of executive functioning in PM and its development across the lifespan. Finally, a practical outlook is presented, suggesting how the current knowledge can be applied in geriatrics and geropsychology to promote healthy aging by maintaining prospective abilities in the elderly.


2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasuyuki Gondo ◽  
Yukie Masui ◽  
Hiroki Inagaki ◽  
Takeshi Nakagawa

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Amirul Amin Ismail ◽  
Ismail Samsuddin ◽  
Azman Zainonabidin ◽  
Harlina Mohd Ali

By the year 2030, Malaysian population will experience the after effects of the rapid growth of ageing society. This paper investigates the impact of seamless integration of horticultural activity in the new residential typology of retirement community. It is believed that horticultural therapy is not only beneficial for physical and psychological but also promotes socialisation opportunities among the elderly. Comparative analysis method on selected precedent studies has been carried out and analysed in accordance with Malaysian context. Initial findings indicate that a retirement community with horticultural activity gives therapy for healthier well-being. This therapeutic activity can be apositive change in elderly lifestyle and essential towards the establishment of retirement community in Malaysia. 


2018 ◽  
Vol 69 (8) ◽  
pp. 2306-2310
Author(s):  
Aureliana Caraiane ◽  
Razvan Leata ◽  
Veronica Toba ◽  
Doina Vesa ◽  
Luana Andreea Macovei ◽  
...  

The progress made in dentistry during the latest decades is due, conceptually, to the new, systemic vision of man, which has also taken place in this field of medicine. In this context, the link between organic and psychic is indestructible. Thus illness is understood as a drama in which the somatic process has a psychic value, and the mental one has a body value. It is known that the morphological and functional integrity of the dental system, health and vigorousness, gives the individual a state of well-being that affects his somatic and psychic health, as any disturbance at this level entails repercussions in psychological and social behavior. Such a disruption is the total edification that seriously alters not only the dental system but the whole organism, putting various biological and psychosocial problems to the practitioner. The total expression represents not only a physical disability but also a psychological one. A special importance in studying psychological changes at total edentulous presents the psychological aspects of senile involution. This is not only a theoretical but also a practical importance due to the increase in the number of elderly people. Through the researches of the present paper we intend to present the reality of the psychological manifestations in the total edentation, which is objectified on different methods of psychodiagnosis in the first part, in order for the second part to be addressed to problems of prosthetic psychotherapy.The study comprises a group of 43 patients, of whom 24 were men and 19 women with total uni or bimaxilar edentation. Total edentation can be and is responsible for somatopsychic alterations, along with other pathogens, general, local, social, which sometimes can take a dramatic form, converting, where the area is also favorable, a pure somatic disease, for those who are not in psychopathy or even psychosis, although these latter cases are extremely rare and especially in youngsters, which would disrupt not only the person�s behavior as an individual, but also their status, function and social integrity. The treatment of dental and psychological complex is mandatory for any patient, but especially for the elderly, where recovery is more difficult, with disease-specific disorders adding to those of senescence.


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