How are social robots improving older people and children’s lives?
For many years, the focus of robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) has been far distant from the social and emotional aspects of people.
Today, social robots are being designed to help older people and children. They are equipped with meaningful AI that pays careful attention to human factors and has proven to be a considerable support for healthcare professionals, care assistants and patients.
Recent studies carried out by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) reveal how AI and social elements applied to robotics improve the behaviors, habits and emotional well-being of older people and children, contributing to an improvement in general health outcomes.
1. Improving older adults’ cognitive function, bio-behavioral synchrony and cooperation
Social robots are helping older people to remember their daily health treatments and also improve their emotional welfare, thanks to their elements of interaction, proactivity, accompaniment, communication and entertainment. These useful features are effective in delaying processes such as dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. It also helps shield against depression and sedentary habits.
Research shows that face-to-face communication is the feature older people value higher. It is also one of the major concerns emerging from COVID-19, which has forced many families to end visits to parents and grandparents in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. How can we take care of the most vulnerable?
The alternative of a human nurse being able to remotely control a robot to carry out daily patient-care activities or to act as a communication link with family has become all-important. Social robots in telenursing and telemedicine can become the eyes, ears and body of healthcare professionals [the authors suggest nurses will be able to perform a large portion of patient care through social robotics, which will simultaneously translate into smaller overloads in primary and hospital care], a great tool for face-to-face communication with friends and family, and an effective technology already improving the bio-behavioral synchrony and cooperation of older people in health-related activities.
“Social robots are emerging as an effective tool to remediate social isolation among older adults, introducing a revolutionary step for the future of patient care”.
Digital Assistant and Social Robot Experience. Source: NAE
According to recent tests involving older people, a social robot’s non-verbal communication -movements, physical response, eye contact- significantly improve the connection, socialization, well-being and confidence of older people. After six weeks of coexisting with assistance technologies, older people expressed a greater degree of interest, interaction and participation with social robots versus a computer ‘avatar’, showing greater cooperation thanks to the emotional bonds created. Unlike virtual assistants, social robots have been perceived as more helpful/entertainment companions.
The tests carried out with the social robot jibo revealed a greater connection, thanks to its social and face-to-face communication technology, and its ability to share relevant information proactively. Furthermore, older adults suggested the social robot could be useful in bringing different generations together.
“A more human-enabled, emotional and empathetic technology for healthcare”
These are some examples of how physical interaction and stimuli are extremely influential elements, contributing to a general improvement in the health of older people thanks to being more relational and human-enabled technology.
2. Mitigating children’s anxieties and vulnerabilities
Facilitating therapies for children with Autism and ASC
Social robots are facilitating therapies for children with autism thanks to deep learning applied to personalized machine learning (ML) processes, which encourage automatic processing of children’s affective states and engagement via audio and computer vision, and are fed with the child’s individual characteristics.
This is a technology that is already showing clear improvements and offers more efficient therapy, treatment monitoring and patient care, thanks to its ability to mitigate the child’s stress, anxiety and pain episodes, typical in this type of spectrum disorder which affects one in 54 children in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
“Thanks to computer vision, machine learning and AI, social robots can understand personal emotions, providing a better opportunity to assess their engagement state”
According to the MIT Technology Review, children with autism are more open to interacting with social robots than with humans. This is linked with the programming universe of social robotics, capable of generating specific behaviors (such as practicing eye contact) or of generating ‘imitation’ and behavior patterns frequently and persistently. This is revolutionizing the way experts diagnose, study and help children with autism.
“Social robots improve children’s social, sensory and cognitive abilities, turning into a friendly companion and an effective go-between for the child and the therapist, nurse or healthcare professional”
Furthermore, social robots can engage with children in interactive learning activities that are complementary to those delivered by therapists. In this regard, recent therapy designs using social robots have included applied behavioral analysis and pivotal response during the stages of Sensing, Perception and Interaction (key stages of a ML robot-assisted autism therapy). This enables therapists to learn and adapt more personalized and improved therapies, and also train the ML models inside social robots, so as to achieve better outcomes.
The importance of play for children with long-term hospital stays
Infants and children experiencing long stays in hospital have complex illnesses, with a considerable risk of mortality and displacement. Forced to abandon their home, friends, school, and their favorite activities, they are particularly vulnerable.
According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), play constitutes an essential part of the normal psychosomatic development of children. Thanks to recent studies, play therapy has been proven to be of high therapeutic value for ill children, thus contributing to both their physical and emotional well-being and their recovery, helping investigate issues related to their experiences in the hospital and reducing their negative feelings. Today, social robots are designed to appear and act in a friendly manner resembling a pet or a human friend, and also to collaboratively exchange stories with the children to improve their linguistic skills.
“Children are more eager to emotionally connect with and be physically activated by a social robot, illustrating their potential to provide socio-emotional support during inpatient pediatric care”
jibo reacts to physical stimuli thanks to his advanced technology. With his vision system and his 360 microphone array, jibo is able to perceive where people are around him, a feature that allow him to reach for eye contact as well as recognize human emotions.
With his three-axis motor system, jibo expresses a wide range of human-like emotions through sophisticated body movements embedded in his speech. All these features make jibo suitable for various application ranging from entertainment or storytelling, to educational and cognitive support, which can be customized according to the patient’s needs.
jibo has all kinds of ways to help people and keep them moving forward in all stages of life, playing the role of a reliable social companion and improving people’s lives in the realms of healthcare and education.
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