Socially Assistive Robotic Architecture for Elder Care

项目概要/摘要 人口老龄化及其伴随的医疗状况、身体和认知障碍， 医疗保健资源紧张，迫切需要设计和实施能够增强医疗保健资源的技术 或维持身体和认知功能并提高老年人的生活质量。机器人技术 以社交辅助机器人 (SAR) 的形式，具有自主检测和有意义的能力 对老年人的参与和行为做出反应，有可能解决身体、认知、 和/或社会条件。 SAR领域仍处于早期发展阶段。我们建议引入 SAR 不仅是为了 一个人-一个机器人的互动，也是利用机器人来培养两个人之间的互动。的 这项为期两年的试点研究的具体目标是：1）设计和验证自主机器人架构 有或没有认知障碍或冷漠的老年人，2) 评估可行性、可接受性和 对机器人介导的干预的耐受性。为了实现目标 1，我们将完善当前的机器人架构 ARIA（自适应机器人介导的干预架构）创建了几种新的引人入胜的认知、物理 和适合老年人的社交任务，并扩展 ARIA 的能力，使其能够容纳不止一个人 以机器人为媒介的活动，以促进人与人之间的互动。我们将进行实验室实验 涉及 30 名老年人（10 名无认知障碍，10 名轻度认知障碍，10 名轻度认知障碍） 到中度痴呆），其中我们将测试个人能力以及大脑的综合功能 机器人系统。在目标 2 中，我们将针对独立生活、辅助生活和 老年痴呆症护理中心。在试点研究 1 中，我们将招募 12 名成年人，其中 4 名没有认知障碍，4 名患有轻度认知障碍 认知障碍，以及 4 名患有轻度至中度痴呆的患者，每周参加 3 次，持续 4 周。 一系列身体、认知和社交活动。试点研究 2 将包括 6 对老年人（其中 2 对没有 认知障碍（2 组患有 MCI，2 组患有痴呆症）每周参加 3 次课程，持续 4 周。 这将使我们能够扩展机器人的能力，以监控多个人并鼓励社交 老年人之间的交往。所有研究程序将与试点研究 1 中的相同。 目标 1 2个实验将被录像。老年人对机器人互动的反应将被收集 使用观察者评级工具进行调查和观察。除了为未来的 SAR 临床试验提供信息外 有效性，拟议研究的信息将有助于支持长期目标 开发机器人策略以增强老年人的身体功能、认知和社交能力 社区设置。

PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT The aging population with its concomitant medical conditions, physical and cognitive impairments, at a time of strained health care resources, establishes the urgent need to design and implement technologies that enhance or maintain physical and cognitive function and improve quality of life among older adults. Robotic technologies in the form of socially assistive robots (SAR), with capabilities for autonomously detecting and meaningfully responding to older adults' engagement and behavior, have the potential for addressing physical, cognitive, and/or social conditions. The field of SAR is still in early development. We propose to introduce SAR for not only one person - one robot interaction, but also to utilize the robot to foster interactions between two people. The specific aims of this two-year pilot study are: 1) design and validation of an autonomous robotic architecture for older adults with and without cognitive impairment or apathy and 2) assess the feasibility, acceptability and tolerance of the robot-mediated intervention. To accomplish Aim 1, we will refine our current robotic architecture ARIA (Adaptive Robot-Mediated Intervention Architecture) to create several new engaging cognitive, physical and social tasks suitable for older adults and extend the ARIA's capability to include more than one person in the robot-mediated activities to foster human-to-human interaction. We will conduct laboratory experiments involving 30 older adults (10 without cognitive impairment, 10 with mild cognitive impairment, and 10 with mild to moderate dementia) in which we will test the individual capabilities as well as integrated functioning of the robotic system. In Aim 2, we will conduct two pilot feasibility studies at an independent living, assisted living and dementia care senior center. In Pilot Study 1, we will enroll 12 adults, 4 with no cognitive impairment, 4 with mild cognitive impairment, and 4 with mild to moderate dementia, to participate three times weekly for 4 weeks in a series of physical, cognitive and social activities. Pilot Study 2 will include 6 pairs of older adults (2 with no cognitive impairment, 2 pairs with MCI, and 2 pairs with dementia) to attend three sessions a week for 4 weeks. This will allow us to expand the robotic capabilities to monitor more than one person and to encourage social engagement between the older adults. All study procedures will remain the same as in Pilot Study 1. Aims 1 and 2 experiments will be videotaped. Older adults' reactions to the robotic interactions will be gathered by survey, and observation using observer-rated tools. In addition to informing future clinical trials of SAR effectiveness, the information from the proposed study will contribute to the long-term goals supporting the development of robotic strategies to enhance physical function, cognition and socialization of older adults in the community setting.