Background: The use of robots for providing support to persons with dementia is very promising. However, it is difficult to develop a truly useful robot system because of the difficulty of clarifying their needs and opinions. Objective: Because a field-based method is effective for the development of these kinds of systems, in this study, we developed a prototype of an information support robot for persons with dementia, using field-based methodology. Methods: A communication robot system produced by NEC Corporation, called "PaPeRo", was chosen as the platform for this system. To achieve the goal of keeping persons with dementia informed of their daily schedule and prompting them to take desired actions, interactive verbal communication algorithms were programmed into the robot system. Results: The results of experiments with five dementia sufferers showed that this system produced an information acquisition rate of over 90%. In addition, a life support demonstration showed the possibility of prompting users to perform actions. Conclusions: These results suggest the possibility of using this robot to support independent living by persons with dementia, and also the effectiveness of the field-based method.

We developed a conversational system encouraging aged persons to have conversations. This system quantifies the degree of active participation (DAP) by analyzing attitudes of the users, and selects topic based on it. The DAP was revealed to be quantified with vertical movement of face per question for each topic. As a result of experiments, the system succeeded in keeping or raising the DAP in 75% (9 out of 12) of topic selection cases. In addition, the method of reminiscence was proposed and applied to the system. The method proved to be effective in encouraging conversations of the aged persons.

Some assistive technologies for persons with dementia have been developed to facilitate awareness of information by providing the information visually. However, these technologies have been evaluated by subjective assessment and learning process, and their effectiveness in daily life has not become clear yet. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of such assistive technology including the process of familiarization and utilization for a person with dementia. A four month clinical evaluation of a daily-plan indicator was conducted using the field-based method. Results of a user's speech and behavior analysis showed that the ratio of information awareness was increased from 50 to 97 after six week of use and 100% after four months of use respectively. The ratio of independence in information awareness had also increased from 0 to 57%. The use of vivid colors was found to be helpful for increasing the use of the indicator.