A pilot study on using an intelligent life-like robot as a companion for elderly individuals with dementia and depression

Abdollahi, Hojjat; Mollahosseini, Ali; Lane, Josh T.; Mahoor, Mohammad H.

doi:10.1109/humanoids.2017.8246925

Cited by 75 publications

(83 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…These robots and the agent have not been evaluated from the viewpoint of quality of a conversation. Ryan was a conversation robot for elderly people with dementia and depression [36]. Ryan has been developed by DreamFace Technologies, LLC.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Twin-Robot Dialogue System with Robustness against Speech Recognition Failure in Human-Robot Dialogue with Elderly People

Iio

Yoshikawa

Chiba³

et al. 2020

Applied Sciences

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As agents, social robots are expected to increase opportunities for dialogue with the elderly. However, it is difficult to sustain a dialogue with an elderly user because speech recognition frequently fails during the dialogue. Here, to overcome this problem, regardless of speech recognition failure, we developed a question–answer–response dialogue model. In this model, a robot took initiative in the dialogue by asking the user various questions. Moreover, to improve user experience during dialogue, we extended the model such that two robots could participate in the dialogue. Implementing these features, we conducted a field trial in a nursing home to evaluate the twin-robot dialogue system. The average word error rate of speech recognition was 0.778. Despite the frequently high number of errors, participants talked for 14 min in a dialogue with two robots and felt slightly strange during the dialogue. Although we found no significant difference between a dialogue with one robot and that with two robots, the effect size of the difference in the dialogue time with one robot and that with two robots was medium (Cohen’s d = −0.519). The results suggested that the presence of two robots might likely encourage elderly people to sustain the talk. Our results will contribute to the design of social robots to engage in dialogues with the elderly.

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Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Twin-Robot Dialogue System with Robustness against Speech Recognition Failure in Human-Robot Dialogue with Elderly People

Iio

Yoshikawa

Chiba³

et al. 2020

Applied Sciences

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“…For the face of the robot, we plan to implement an LCD touch screen which will allow for high-quality facial expressions of the robot, while lowering manufacturing costs, as the construction of a robotic face with the desired expressive ability is a complicated, expensive process [34]. Furthermore, it allows for the easy customization of the robot's facial appearance, so that it can match the user's cultural and other preferences.…”

Section: Sar Design-electronicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Through settings such as face characteristics (skin tone, face shape, facial hair) as well as voice customization (male, female accents), the robot will be very personalized from the first use. Personalization should be possible through an interface if a more capable user or a caretaker wishes, or as the final stage of completing the robot for use by the manufacturer, as was done for the "Ryan" robot, based on the requests of the recipient [34]. After that, the robot will be able to tweak its responses, tone, and facial expressions over time depending on what the feedback from the patient is.…”

Section: Sar Design-software and Featuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Designing Socially Assistive Robots for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementia Patients and Their Caregivers: Where We Are and Where We Are Headed

2020

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Over the past few years there has been a large rise in the field of robotics. Robots are being in used in many industries, but there has not been a large surge of robots in the medical field, especially the robots for healthcare use. However, as the aging population keeps growing, current medical staff and healthcare providers are increasingly burdened by caring for the ever-growing number of senior patients, especially those with cognitive impairment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Alzheimer’s disease-related dementia (ADRD) patients. As a result, we can expect to see a large increase in the field of medical robotics, especially in forms of socially assistive robots (SARs) for senior patients and healthcare providers. In fact, SARs can alleviate AD and ADRD patients and their caregivers’ unmet medical needs. Herein, we propose a design outline for such a SAR, based on a review of the current literature. We believe the next generation of SARs will enhance health and well-being, reduce illness and disability, and improve quality of life for AD and ADRD patients and their caregivers.

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“…3. The work by Abdollahi et al [21] contains more details on the hardware and software of the robot.…”

Section: Robot-based Icbt a Ryanmentioning

confidence: 99%

Delivering Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Using A Conversational Social Robot

Dino

Zandie

Abdollahi

et al. 2019

2019 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)

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Social robots are becoming an integrated part of our daily life due to their ability to provide companionship and entertainment. A subfield of robotics, Socially Assistive Robotics (SAR), is particularly suitable for expanding these benefits into the healthcare setting because of its unique ability to provide cognitive, social, and emotional support. This paper presents our recent research on developing SAR by evaluating the ability of a life-like conversational social robot, called Ryan, to administer internet-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy (iCBT) to older adults with depression. For Ryan to administer the therapy, we developed a dialogue-management system, called Program-R. Using an accredited CBT manual for the treatment of depression, we created seven hour-long iCBT dialogues and integrated them into Program-R using Artificial Intelligence Markup Language (AIML). To assess the effectiveness of Robot-based iCBT and users' likability of our approach, we conducted an HRI study with a cohort of elderly people with mild-to-moderate depression over a period of four weeks. Quantitative analyses of participant's spoken responses (e.g. word count and sentiment analysis), face-scale mood scores, and exit surveys, strongly support the notion robot-based iCBT is a viable alternative to traditional human-delivered therapy.

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A pilot study on using an intelligent life-like robot as a companion for elderly individuals with dementia and depression

Cited by 75 publications

References 21 publications

Twin-Robot Dialogue System with Robustness against Speech Recognition Failure in Human-Robot Dialogue with Elderly People

Twin-Robot Dialogue System with Robustness against Speech Recognition Failure in Human-Robot Dialogue with Elderly People

Designing Socially Assistive Robots for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementia Patients and Their Caregivers: Where We Are and Where We Are Headed

Delivering Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Using A Conversational Social Robot

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