Ubiquitous robotics to support older adults with dementia

无处不在的机器人技术为患有痴呆症的老年人提供支持

• 批准号: 490674-2015
• 负责人: Mihailidis, Alex
• 金额: $ 7.07万
• 依托单位: University of Toronto
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Collaborative Research and Development Grants
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2017-01-01 至 2018-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=618777
• 关键词: Ubiquitous; robotics; support; older; adults

Dementia affects more than 35 million people worldwide, and experts predict this number will almost double every 20 years. Robotics is viewed as a viable technology in the support of older adults with dementia, with a significant market available through home, community, and institutional channels. However, we have yet to see an effective robotics system for this demographic made available on the market. The reason for this lack of market uptake is hypothesized to be two-fold: 1) existing systems do not include the diverse functionality necessary to truly support older adults with dementia; and 2) current platforms are too expensive to use by older adults and their families in their own homes. This has resulted in a growing market need not being addressed.The goal of this collaboration and project is to extend the capabilities of CrossWing's robotic platform, and to expand on the current research programs of the academic team to deliver the following capabilities on a new market-ready robot: 1) tele-medicine/presence; 2) activity monitoring and prompting; 3) safety monitoring and emergency response; and 4) user customization. Currently, it is very challenging to include this diverse functionality on a single robotic platform due to the increased computational demands, the inherent complexity, and perhaps most importantly, the prohibitive cost of the resulting system. CrossWing will work with its academic partners at the University of Toronto and the University of Sherbrooke to overcome these limitations through the novel approach of using the SHARCNET's Cloud Analytics Platform to add the required functionality to CrossWing's current robotic platform-- virtualME. Namely, the robot's onboard computing capabilities will be augmented by the cloud, thus developing one of the first multi-function robotic solutions for the support of older adults with dementia that will be affordable and that includes the functions needed to truly support this demographic.

全球有超过3500万人患有痴呆症，专家预测这一数字几乎每20年翻一番。机器人技术被认为是一种可行的技术，可以通过家庭、社区和机构渠道获得巨大的市场。然而，我们还没有看到一个有效的机器人系统为这个人口在市场上可用。据推测，缺乏市场吸收的原因有两个方面：1)现有系统不包括真正支持老年痴呆症患者所需的各种功能；2)目前的平台过于昂贵，老年人和他们的家人无法在自己的家中使用。这导致不断增长的市场需求没有得到解决。此次合作和项目的目标是扩展CrossWing机器人平台的功能，并扩展学术团队当前的研究项目，在新的市场就绪机器人上提供以下功能：1)远程医疗/现场；2)活动监控与提示；3)安全监测和应急响应；4)用户定制。目前，由于不断增加的计算需求、固有的复杂性，以及可能最重要的是，最终系统的高昂成本，在单个机器人平台上包含这种多样化的功能是非常具有挑战性的。CrossWing将与多伦多大学和舍布鲁克大学的学术合作伙伴合作，通过使用SHARCNET的云分析平台的新方法，将所需的功能添加到CrossWing当前的机器人平台virtualME中，以克服这些限制。也就是说，机器人的车载计算能力将通过云来增强，从而开发出第一个多功能机器人解决方案之一，用于支持患有痴呆症的老年人，这将是负担得起的，并且包括真正支持这一人口所需的功能。