Socially-Assistive Robots for Alzheimer's (SARA)

项目摘要/摘要 这个阿尔茨海默氏症社交辅助机器人(SARA)第一阶段的目标是设计和 展示社会一体化和支持性机器人系统的可行性，以增强连接性， 经历早、中期阿尔茨海默病的老年人的照顾、幸福感和生活质量 (AD)和AD相关痴呆(ADRD)。每10名65岁及以上的人中就有一人患有阿尔茨海默病，据估计，这一比例高达 目前有550万美国人患有AD。因为认知功能的丧失和随后 就业的变化以及与社会团体和爱好的接触减少，AD/ADRD患者经常 经历孤独和社会孤立，以及照顾这些人经常面临的巨大挑战 在照顾者中也会产生类似的影响。如果成功，SARA将对AD/ADRD患者的护理产生重大影响 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)使商用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，以 提供丰富的支持性交互；以及(3)评估SARA的可行性、可用性和可接受性 AD/ADRD老年人及其照顾者。SARA采用用户社区驱动的设计流程，并 评估以解决围绕如何最好地应用商用机器人和参与的关键挑战 改善AD/ADRD患者护理的互动方法。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。 萨拉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。萨拉 通过将患者与家人、朋友和照顾者更直接地联系起来，减少社会孤立 并通过社交媒体。SARA以三种方式提供社会援助：(1)通过自动提醒和 回答容易被患者遗忘的日常信息；(2)传递 健康养生法(例如，我午餐可以吃什么？我今天还应该锻炼吗？)；和(3)监测 照顾者。 SARA包含三个核心创新。首先，要创建符合以下需求的用户体验 SARA是从AD/ADRD患者和护理人员那里获得的重要反馈而创建的。 第二，使我们能够在能够满足这种用户体验的多个机器人平台上构建，并提供 未来的可扩展性，SARA的特点是平台无关的软件和硬件框架，可以与 种类繁多的消费类社交机器人。第三，创建引人入胜、可信和有效的互动 AD/ADRD患者，SARA使用并扩展了基于AI的体系结构Hap，该体系结构专门设计用于 创造参与社会互动的角色和机器人，提供令人愉快和刺激的互动。

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.