A Social Robot as Therapy Facilitator in Interventions to Deal with Dementia-related Behavioral Symptoms

Cruz-Sandoval, Dagoberto; Morales-Tellez, Arturo; Sandoval, Eduardo Benítez; Favela, Jesús

doi:10.1145/3319502.3374840

Cited by 48 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Compared with toy animals, both robotic pets and real animals can provide 2-way dynamic communication, so it is feasible to use a robot/robot pet as a companion object and an auxiliary technological device for stimulating the sensory and cognitive functions of elderly individuals. However, most of the existing studies exploring the effectiveness of robot pet interventions in the elderly population (eg, psychological and behavioral effects and impact on quality of life) have been conducted on institutionalized elderly individuals with dementia for which long-term care was provided [30][31][32][33]; few of the studies have included elderly persons in the community as the study population. In particular, there has been a lack of study on the attitudes, degree of acceptance, and needs of middle-aged and older adults as they relate to robots.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Needs and Preferences of Middle-Aged and Older Adults in Taiwan for Companion Robots and Pets: Survey Study

Chiu¹,

Hsieh²,

Li³

2021

J Med Internet Res

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Background In recent years, robots have been considered a new tech industry that can be used to solve the shortage in human resources in the field of health care. Also, animal-assisted therapy has been used to provide assistance, companionship, and interaction among the elderly and has been shown to have a positive impact on their emotional and psychological well-being. Both pets and robots can provide dynamic communication and positive interaction patterns. However, preferences for middle-aged and older adults in this regard are not clear. Objective This study explored the degree of acceptance of robots and pets as partners in later life and to determine the needs and preferences of elderly individuals related to companion robots. Methods A total of 273 middle-aged and older adults aged ≥45 years and living in the community were invited to answer a structured questionnaire after watching a companion robot video. Sociodemographic data, physical health status and activities, experience with technology, eHealth literacy, and acceptance and attitude toward robots and pets were recorded and analyzed using multinomial logistic regression analysis. Results Age, level of education, type of dwelling, occupation, retirement status, number of comorbidities, experience with pets, experience using apps, and eHealth literacy were significantly associated with acceptance of robots and pets. Middle-aged and older women preferred robots with an animal-like appearance, while men preferred robots that resembled a human adult. In terms of robot functions, participants preferred a companion robot with dancing, singing, storytelling, or news-reporting functions. Participants’ marital status and whether or not they lived alone affected their preference of functions in the companion robot. Conclusions Findings from this study inform the development of social robots with regard to their appearance and functions to address loneliness in later life in fast-aging societies.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Needs and Preferences of Middle-Aged and Older Adults in Taiwan for Companion Robots and Pets: Survey Study

Chiu¹,

Hsieh²,

Li³

2021

J Med Internet Res

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“…This is a common drawback of existing dialogue systems ( Fitzpatrick et al, 2017 ; Harms et al, 2018 ). Nevertheless, great efforts are being made in this promising research field to create natural ‘human-like’ conversations ( Harms et al, 2018 ; Griol et al, 2019 ) 6 , including the exploration of conversational robots and voice-based systems for supporting cognitive impaired individuals ( Cruz-Sandoval et al, 2020 ; Pou-Prom et al, 2020 ; Salichs et al, 2020 ). A possibility for future work is to use the camera of the tablet PC running the robot’s software to automatically recognize user emotions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Robotic Telemedicine for Mental Health: A Multimodal Approach to Improve Human-Robot Engagement

et al. 2021

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COVID-19 has severely impacted mental health in vulnerable demographics, in particular older adults, who face unprecedented isolation. Consequences, while globally severe, are acutely pronounced in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) confronting pronounced gaps in resources and clinician accessibility. Social robots are well-recognized for their potential to support mental health, yet user compliance (i.e., trust) demands seamless affective human-robot interactions; natural ‘human-like’ conversations are required in simple, inexpensive, deployable platforms. We present the design, development, and pilot testing of a multimodal robotic framework fusing verbal (contextual speech) and nonverbal (facial expressions) social cues, aimed to improve engagement in human-robot interaction and ultimately facilitate mental health telemedicine during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. We report the design optimization of a hybrid face robot, which combines digital facial expressions based on mathematical affect space mapping with static 3D facial features. We further introduce a contextual virtual assistant with integrated cloud-based AI coupled to the robot’s facial representation of emotions, such that the robot adapts its emotional response to users’ speech in real-time. Experiments with healthy participants demonstrate emotion recognition exceeding 90% for happy, tired, sad, angry, surprised and stern/disgusted robotic emotions. When separated, stern and disgusted are occasionally transposed (70%+ accuracy overall) but are easily distinguishable from other emotions. A qualitative user experience analysis indicates overall enthusiastic and engaging reception to human-robot multimodal interaction with the new framework. The robot has been modified to enable clinical telemedicine for cognitive engagement with older adults and people with dementia (PwD) in LMICs. The mechanically simple and low-cost social robot has been deployed in pilot tests to support older individuals and PwD at the Schizophrenia Research Foundation (SCARF) in Chennai, India. A procedure for deployment addressing challenges in cultural acceptance, end-user acclimatization and resource allocation is further introduced. Results indicate strong promise to stimulate human-robot psychosocial interaction through the hybrid-face robotic system. Future work is targeting deployment for telemedicine to mitigate the mental health impact of COVID-19 on older adults and PwD in both LMICs and higher income regions.

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“…Exemplary mobile and small robots for mental health support, including companionship, health monitoring, cognitive stimulation, and clinical therapy. (a) GrowMu [46], (b) Pepper from SoftBank Robotics [22], (c) Hobbit [20], (d) RAMCIP [47], (e) CompanionAble [21], (f) Kompai [48], (g) Silbot [49], (h) Bandit [19], (i) Reeti [50], (j) PaPeRo [51], (k) iCat [52] (l) IrobIQ [53], (m) Screening robot [54], (n) Mini [55], (o) Ryan [56], (p) Milo [57], (q) NAO from SoftBank Robotics [23], (r) Eva [58], (s) Sota [59].…”

Section: Conversational Social Robots For Target Usersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some of the robotic platforms reviewed were able to monitor user's wellbeing and overall health (14%). Importantly, the role of assisting patients with cognitive impairment or dementia in clinical therapies was the less common (10%), targeted by five robots only (with published results of SAR interventions): NAO [23], Eva [58], Sota [59], Bandit [19], and Ryan [56]. There is a clear gap in clinical translation of SAR platforms particularly for dementia care.…”

Section: ) Roles Of Sar For Mental Health Supportmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conversational Affective Social Robots for Ageing and Dementia Support

Lima

Wairagkar

Gupta³

et al. 2022

IEEE Trans. Cogn. Dev. Syst.

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Socially assistive robots (SAR) hold significant potential to assist older adults and people with dementia in human engagement and clinical contexts by supporting mental health and independence at home. While SAR research has recently experienced prolific growth, long-term trust, clinical translation and patient benefit remain immature. Affective human-robot interactions are unresolved and the deployment of robots with conversational abilities is fundamental for robustness and humanrobot engagement. In this paper, we review the state of the art within the past two decades, design trends, and current applications of conversational affective SAR for ageing and dementia support. A horizon scanning of AI voice technology for healthcare, including ubiquitous smart speakers, is further introduced to address current gaps inhibiting home use. We discuss the role of user-centred approaches in the design of voice systems, including the capacity to handle communication breakdowns for effective use by target populations. We summarise the state of development in interactions using speech and natural language processing, which forms a baseline for longitudinal health monitoring and cognitive assessment. Drawing from this foundation, we identify open challenges and propose future directions to advance conversational affective social robots for: 1) user engagement, 2) deployment in real-world settings, and 3) clinical translation.

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A Social Robot as Therapy Facilitator in Interventions to Deal with Dementia-related Behavioral Symptoms

Cited by 48 publications

References 21 publications

Needs and Preferences of Middle-Aged and Older Adults in Taiwan for Companion Robots and Pets: Survey Study

Needs and Preferences of Middle-Aged and Older Adults in Taiwan for Companion Robots and Pets: Survey Study

Robotic Telemedicine for Mental Health: A Multimodal Approach to Improve Human-Robot Engagement

Conversational Affective Social Robots for Ageing and Dementia Support

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