Socially-Assistive Robots for AlzheimerâÂÂs (SARA)

项目总结/摘要 第一阶段阿尔茨海默氏症社会辅助机器人（SARA）的目标是设计和 展示了社会整合和支持机器人系统的可行性，以提高连通性， 早期至中期阿尔茨海默病老年人的生活质量、幸福感和生活质量 (AD)AD相关痴呆（ADRD）65岁及以上的人中有十分之一患有AD， 有550万美国人患有AD由于认知功能的丧失和随后的 就业的变化和减少与社会团体和爱好的接触，AD/ADRD患者往往 经历孤独和社会孤立，以及照顾这些人的相当大的挑战， 对看护者也有类似的影响。如果成功，SARA将对AD/ADRD患者护理产生重大影响 和生活质量，减少孤独和社会孤立。 这项为期两年的试点研究的具体目标是：（1）使商业机器人和外围硬件适应 为AD/ADRD患者创建可访问的交互;（2）设计和开发机器人交互软件， 提供丰富的支持性交互;（3）评估SARA的可行性、可用性和可接受性， AD/ADRD老年人及其护理人员。SARA采用用户社区驱动的设计流程， 评估以解决围绕如何最好地应用商业机器人的关键挑战， 互动方法，以改善AD/ADRD患者护理。我们将通过迭代开发SARA， 在第一阶段工作期间产生和评估系统的三个版本的开发过程。 SARA在三个方面具有重要意义。SARA通过提供机器人社交互动来减少孤独感。Sara 通过将患者与家人、朋友和护理人员更紧密地联系在一起， and through通过social社会media媒体. SARA通过三种方式提供社会援助：（1）通过自动提醒， 对患者容易忘记的日常信息进行问答;（2） 健康方案（例如，我午餐吃什么？我今天还应该锻炼吗？）;（3）监测 照顾者 SARA包含三个核心创新。首先，创建一个用户体验， SARA是根据AD/ADRD患者和护理人员的重要反馈创建的。 第二，使我们能够建立多个机器人平台，可以满足这种用户体验，并提供 未来的可扩展性，SARA具有与平台无关的软件和硬件框架，可以与 广泛的消费类社交机器人。第三，创造吸引人的、可信的和有效的互动， 对于AD/ADRD患者，SARA使用并扩展了基于AI的架构Hap，该架构专门用于 创建具有社交吸引力的互动角色和机器人，提供愉快和刺激的互动。

Project Summary/Abstract The objective of this Phase I Socially-Assistive Robots for Alzheimer’s (SARA) effort is to design and demonstrate the feasibility of a socially integrative and supportive robot system to enhance the connectedness, caregiving, well-being, and quality of life of older adults experiencing early to middle stage Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and AD-related dementias (ADRD). One in 10 people 65 and older has AD, with estimates of up to as many as 5.5 million Americans currently living with AD. Because of the loss of cognitive function and subsequent changes in employment and reduced engagement with social groups and hobbies, AD/ADRD patients often experience loneliness and social isolation, and the considerable challenge of caring for these individuals often causes similar effects in caregivers. If successful, SARA will have significant impact on AD/ADRD patient care and quality of life, reducing loneliness and social isolation. The specific aims of this two-year pilot study are to: (1) adapt commercial robot and peripheral hardware to create accessible interactions for AD/ADRD patients; (2) design and develop the robot interaction software to provide rich, supportive interaction; and (3) assess the feasibility, usability, and acceptability of SARA with AD/ADRD older adults and their caregivers. SARA employs user-community-driven design processes and evaluations to address key challenges surrounding how to best apply commercial robots and engaging interaction methodologies to improve AD/ADRD patient care. We will develop SARA through an iterative development process that produces and evaluates three versions of the system during the Phase I effort. SARA is significant in three ways. SARA reduces loneliness by providing robotic social interactions. SARA reduces social isolation by connecting the patient more closely with family, friends, and caregivers, both directly and through social media. SARA provides social assistance in three ways: (1) through automated reminders and question answering for everyday information that is easily and often forgotten by patients; (2) conveyance of health regimens (e.g., What can I have for lunch? Should I still exercise today?); and (3) monitoring for caregivers. SARA contains three central innovations. First, to create a user experience that is well tuned to the needs of patients and caregivers, SARA is created with significant feedback from AD/ADRD patients and caregivers. Second, to enable us to build on multiple robotic platforms that can meet this user experience, and to provide future extensibility, SARA features a platform-agnostic software and hardware framework that can integrate with a wide range of consumer social robots. Third, to create engaging, believable, and effective interactions with AD/ADRD patients, SARA uses and extends an AI-based architecture, Hap, which is specifically designed to create socially engaging interactive characters and robots that provide enjoyable and stimulating interactions.