Cognitive ability and psychological effectiveness of brain training dance robot therapy for elderly people

Abstract

Introduction: Regarding dementia prevention, as it has been reported that the volume of hippocampus increase with continuous dancing and that dancers’ gray matter increases, dancing and recognition tasks have been combined and developed into brain training. Furthermore, we equipped a robot with dance therapy and a cognitive evaluation scale, the results of which we will exam as the focus of this study. Methods: Comparison of the results of cognitive evaluation tests before and after 7 weeks of continuous cognitive dance therapy once a week. The cognitive evaluation test utilized was the cognitive test used by the National Police Agency for the renewal of elderly person’s licenses. Moreover, mental states before and after dance were compared on a five-level Likert scale, and we surveyed the psychological condition of participants after robot therapy. Results: Of the 91 registrants, with no missing values data of 71 people was analyzed with paired t-test. The mean age was 70.3±5.7 years old, the average score for the cognitive test prior to intervention was 86.8 points. After 7 weeks of intervention, the average score was 94.7 points, significant increase (p<0.01). At the Likert scale of the mental state, there was a significant improvement in mood comfort, satisfaction, and vitality (p<0.01). And there was a correlation between cognitive function and mental state (p <0.05). Next, the average score of the robot therapy satisfaction level was as high as 4.73 out of 5 points. In the comments section, there were in descending order comments such as being happy, healing, clarity of the mind, facilitation of social interactions, et cetera. Conclusion: Cognitive dance therapy improves cognitive ability. Remembering songs and choreography together with music is indeed easy and effective. Additionally, with the combined effects of the results from robot psychological healing, it was shown that both the mind and body of older people are revitalized. Keywords: Brain training, Dance therapy, Robot therapy, Cognitive function, Psychological effectiveness.

<p>Home-Based Cognitively Assistive Robots: Maximizing Cognitive Functioning and Maintaining Independence in Older Adults Without Dementia</p>

“…3 In Table 1, we highlight the six most promising CAR studies to date based on the quality of a) the robot hardware and software, b) the research methodology, and c) the cognitive intervention. 74,[78][79][80][81][82]…”

Conversational Affective Social Robots for Ageing and Dementia Support

“…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].…”

“…Current technologies used in dementia care have focused on assisting users in their early stages to remain independent, improve social engagement, safety in the home, monitor health and wellbeing [60]. The spectrum of functionalities and assistance ranges from managing medication or appointments [53], intelligent reminders [61], information provision [62], cognitive stimulation and engagement [19], to video-calling with relatives [21], help in carrying out activities of daily living [63], improving mood and wellbeing [59], or autonomously detecting dangerous situations (e.g., fall detection and prevention) [20]. Overall, SAR can provide a tractable way to continuously monitor the home and enhance mental health and wellbeing, in addition to reducing the caregiver burden.…”

“…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.…”

“…5. However, none of these involved continuous human-robot interactions over long periods of time; instead, they encompassed a single session [79], one or two sessions per week over up to four months [59,80], occasional short interactions with robots placed in care facilities for up to two weeks [46,81] (in these studies, interested users would come closer and greet the robot). Importantly, only two of the key studies with large sample size were conducted in a real-world care setting with the robot working autonomously (see [46,81]).…”