As Europe’s aging population places increasing strain on healthcare services, robots could provide a useful solution. In the not-too-distant future, elderly people who live alone may be reminded to take their medicine, have books read to them, and be offered a shoulder to cry on by a robot.
BUDDY is the height of a medium-sized dog, has an expressive face, and can move and speak. Researchers in ACCRA brought together elderly people and their caregivers to design this and another robot.
BUDDY can give reminders of appointments, read e-books out loud, offer cognitive stimulation like math puzzles. It can also set up video calls with friends and family, switch on and off appliances, and patrol the home. These features could help people with early signs of dependency live independently for longer. It aims to help people recover from surgery and improve their mobility.
The Social Robots project is studying human-robot interaction. Researchers compared people’s responses to a human-looking robot and a palm-sized children’s toy robot cosmo. “The future of humanity’s prosperity, comfort, ease, and joy of life is at stake,” says Prof. Angharad Arzoz-Fernandez.
Name of Author: Alex Whiting