Recent technological advances enabled modern robots to become part of our daily life. In particular, assistive robotics emerged as an exciting research topic that can provide solutions to improve the quality of life of elderly and vulnerable people. This paper introduces the robotic platform developed in the ENRICHME project, with particular focus on its innovative perception and interaction capabilities. The project's main goal is to enrich the day-today experience of elderly people at home with technologies that enable health monitoring, complementary care, and social support. The paper presents several modules created to provide cognitive stimulation services for elderly users with mild cognitive impairments. The ENRICHME robot was tested in three pilot sites around Europe (Poland, Greece, and UK) and proven to be an effective assistant for the elderly at home.

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The user interface is the central element of a telepresence robotic system and its visualization modalities greatly affect the operator's situation awareness, and thus its performance. Depending on the task at hand and the operator's preferences, going from ego-and exocentric viewpoints and improving the depth representation can provide better perspectives of the operation environment. Our system, which combines a 3D reconstruction of the environment using laser range finder readings with two video projection methods, allows the operator to easily switch from ego-to exocentric viewpoints. This paper presents the interface developed and demonstrates its capabilities by having 13 operators teleoperate a mobile robot in a navigation task.

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One typical remote consultation envisioned for inhome telerehabilitation involves having the patient exercise on a stationary bike. Making sure that the patient is breathing well while pedaling is of primary concern for the remote clinician. One key requirement for in-home telerehabilitation is to make the system as simple as possible for the patients, avoiding, for instance, to have them wear sensors and devices. This paper presents a contactfree respiration rate monitoring system measuring temperature variations between inspired and expired air in the mouth-nose region using thermal imaging. The thermal camera is installed on a pan-tilt unit and coupled to a tracking algorithm, allowing the system to keep track of the mouth-nose region as the patient exercises. Results demonstrate that the system works in real time even when the patient moves or rotates its head while exercising. Recommendations are also made to minimize limitations of the system, such as the presence of people in the background or when the patient is talking, for its eventual use in in-home telerehabilitation sessions.