Development of Serious Games and Physical Activities Instructed by a Social Robot for Improving the Well-being of Elderly Individuals with Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia

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The objective of the proposed direct Phase-II SBIR project is to develop and study and the effectiveness of Serious Games and physical Activities played/performed by elderly people with Alzheimer’s disease and AD- related Dementias in interaction with Ryan, our successfully piloted Socially Assistive Robot (SAR). Ryan is an intelligent conversational life-like social robot, designed to improve the well-being and quality of life of older adults with AD/ADRD. Ryan uses state-of-the-art Artificial Intelligence technology for automated facial expression recognition, natural language processing, and tracking of human body that are used in personalization and adaptation of the games and physical activities. According to the Alzheimer’s Association an estimated 5.7 million Americans have AD and is projected to rise to 13.8 million, as the population ages. Common symptoms of AD/ADRD include cognitive decline, short-term memory loss, changes in mood, depression, communication difficulties, lost interest in hobbies or activities, and repetitive behavior. Americans suffering from AD/ADRD are believed to cost the nation $236 billion annually with projected annual costs of over $1 trillion by 2050. Traditional methods for disease management have shown limited success treating AD/ADRD or mitigating its symptoms. Health care personnel and caregivers who are physically and emotionally taxed are seeking new ways to provide care for elderly individuals and particularly those suffering from AD/ADRD. Innovative technology such as Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices, have begun to alleviate the growing need for novel solutions to the healthcare. Among such technologies, socially assistive robots such as Ryan have received a great amount of attention in recent years. While SAR research prototypes exist that can interact with users playing physical cognitive games equipped with artificial intelligence technology and personalization, to our knowledge, no such cooperative SAR (prototype or commercial) for electronic gameplay with individuals suffering from dementia exists today. Our game designs will target “Cognition”, “Memory”, “Spatial Relation”, “Social Relationship”, and “Motor Skills” abilities of players. We will conduct a pilot study to measure Ryan’s effectiveness in mental and socio- emotional stimulation of users with mild dementia. This innovative technology stands to produce significant financial savings and improve the quality of life of individuals living with AD/ADRD, their families, and caregivers.