Paper Info
Title
A pilot study on using an intelligent life-like robot as a companion for elderly individuals with dementia and depression
Abstract
This paper presents the design, development, methodology, and the results of a pilot study on using an intelligent, emotive and perceptive social robot (aka Companionbot) for improving the quality of life of elderly people with dementia and/or depression. Ryan Companionbot prototyped in this project, is a rear-projected life-like conversational robot. Ryan is equipped with features that can (1) interpret and respond to users' emotions through facial expressions and spoken language, (2) proactively engage in conversations with users, and (3) remind them about their daily life schedules (e.g. taking their medicine on time). Ryan engages users in cognitive games and reminiscence activities. We conducted a pilot study with six elderly individuals with moderate dementia and/or depression living in a senior living facility in Denver. Each individual had 24/7 access to a Ryan in his/her room for a period of 4-6 weeks. Our observations of these individuals, interviews with them and their caregivers, and analyses of their interactions during this period revealed that they established rapport with the robot and greatly valued and enjoyed having a Companionbot in their room.
Year
DOI
Venue
2017
10.1109/HUMANOIDS.2017.8246925
2017 IEEE-RAS 17th International Conference on Humanoid Robotics (Humanoids)
Keywords
DocType
Volume
depression,intelligent life-like robot,intelligent social robot,emotive social robot,perceptive social robot,cognitive games,eminiscence activities,facial expressions,spoken language,daily life schedules,rear-projected life-like conversational robot,Ryan Companionbot,elderly people,moderate dementia,elderly individuals
Journal
abs/1712.02881
ISBN
Citations 
PageRank 
978-1-5386-4679-3
0
0.34
References 
Authors
6
4
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Hojjat Abdollahi1111.88
ali mollahosseini21665.94
Joshua T. Lane381.87
Mohammad H. Mahoor486155.59