Design of cognitive assistive robotic systems for the elderly and the physically challenged

据估计，到2050年，85岁以上的人口将是现在的三倍多[联合国，《世界人口展望》2004年修订版]。在加拿大，到2050年，超过25%的人口将超过85岁。预计这些老龄化人口中有很大一部分需要身体和认知方面的帮助。这意味着医疗保健费用的大幅增加，对政府预算和保险公司来说是一个明显的负担。拟议的研究计划被称为“认知辅助机器人”（CAR），涉及设计一种具有类似人类认知能力的辅助机器（特别是在这项工作的背景下的机器人）（尽管范围和复杂性有所降低），以不同程度的效率帮助老年人和残疾人满足他们最基本的需求(拿取物体，操作和处理设备，在障碍物周围自由移动，与机器交流，举几个例子)。这项研究计划的长期目标是创造一个认知辅助机器人环境（CARE），可以帮助老年人和有特殊需要的人完成日常生活任务。CARE依赖于环境的各个组成部分所提供的服务的正确交错，如认知辅助机器人、无线传感器网络和辅助住房技术。所要求的设备将提供必要的实验设施，以研究开发机器人助手的不同挑战，这些机器人助手可以提高老年人护理和技术援助的可用性和质量。开创这样的研究活动，设计下一代认知辅助机器人，肯定会使加拿大的研究人员在机器人研究的最前沿，并可能最终导致巨大的意外之财，在商业解决方案方面，有利于加拿大经济和医疗保健部门。

It is estimated that in the year 2050, there will be three times more people over the age 85 than there are today [UN, "World Population Prospects," The 2004 Revision]. In Canada, more than 25% of the population will be over the age 85 in 2050. A significant portion of this aging population is expected to need physical and cognitive assistance. This implies huge increase in health care costs, an obvious burden on government budgets and insurance providers. The proposed research initiative, termed as 'Cognitive Assistive Robotics' (CAR), involves the design of an assistive machine (specifically a robot in the context of this work) with human-like cognitive abilities (albeit with reduced scope and complexity) to assist with some varying levels of efficiency elderly and disabled individuals with their most basic needs (holding and retrieving objects, operating and handling devices, moving freely around obstacles, communicating with machines, to name a few). The long-term goal of this research initiative is to create a Cognitive Assistive Robotic Environment (CARE) that can help elderly people and people with special needs perform daily living tasks. CARE relies on the correct interleaving of the services provided by the various components of the environment such as cognitive assistive robots, wireless sensor networks and assistive housing technologies. The equipment requested will provide the necessary experimental facilities to investigate the different challenges of developing robotic assistants that can improve the availability and quality of care and technical assistance for the elderly people. Pioneering such research activities for designing next generation cognitive assistive robotics, will certainly put Canadian researchers at the forefront of robotic research and may ultimately lead to huge windfalls in terms of commercial solutions benefiting the Canadian economy and the health care sector.