An AI-enabled socially assistive robot developed at UNH to aid individuals with Alzheimer's Disease and dementia has been successfully deployed in residences, allowing participants to continue to live and be cared for in the comfort of their own home. The goal is to provide those participants independence and alleviate some of the burden on their caregivers, who are often family members.
Created by an inter-disciplinary team of UNH researchers and students – combining expertise in robotics and healthcare – the robot focuses on autonomously generating need-based health prompts like reminders to take medication, encouragement to get needed exercise and other task reminders. The robot also ensures that care recipients comply to robot's prompt.
The system leverages multi-modal sensor data (from cameras, motion detection, door sensors) and state-of-the-art algorithms in robotics and AI to realize such real-time delivery of care services. The robot has recently gone through a series of in-home tests and received positive feedback from participants and caregivers.
The system operates on its own and does not require any daily maintenance. Participants highlighted its reliability, ease of use, and positive impact on reducing caregiving stress.
