From Linda Priestley, Editor-in-Chief
Over the coming years, Canada’s population will be getting older, and the number of people—our parents, our friends, our loved ones—living with a neurocognitive condition is likely to grow. This means that millions of others will be needed to support them. Concerned about this situation, roboticists began a project a few years ago that’s both ambitious and delicate: designing robots with a talent for social interaction to support seniors with neurocognitive problems. The goal is to enable such people to go on living in their homes and to bolster the efforts of their caregivers and health-care workers.
You may have heard of these machines: they come in different forms and have different features. QTrobot is a humanoid robot first used to help with the education and development of children on the autism spectrum; more recently, it’s being used to assist people with dementia. SAM is a machine made up of two interactive spheres that two people can use to communicate with each other through a sound-and-light game.
However, creating a social robot isn’t a simple matter. Robots are champs at weeding a cornfield or wielding a laser in an operating room, but when it comes to interacting with humans, especially those experiencing memory loss, mood swings, or feelings of distress or frustration related to their situation, a simple charm offensive won’t do the trick. Robots are not (yet) able to understand human emotions, which can be changeable and unpredictable.
And a robot, however well intentioned it—or at least its programming—may be, can be a bit clueless at times. While observing patients interacting with robots, researchers found that some who had Alzheimer’s or another neurocognitive condition didn’t enjoy the conversation of the robot they were talking to, even finding it strange or awkward. It wasn’t only its voice or its movements that were off-putting—its responses and even the time it took to respond (too quickly or too slowly) were problematic as well. Instead of a fluid and intuitive conversation, the interaction seemed…artificial. Robots can talk, but with difficulty.
These findings led the researchers and robotics engineers to expand their view of the technology and concentrate on the specific needs of people at various stages of their neurodegenerative disease. At Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands, roboticists, some with a background in anthropology, psychology, or another cognitive science, are teaming up with people who have dementia to create “robots for the soul” that are more geared to human needs. Rather than focusing on what these people are missing, the designers are focusing on finding ways to rekindle the spark that still exists in them. They want to make robots that can help to enhance people’s sense of belonging—that feeling of connection that pushes them to reach out to others, create bonds, and break out of their isolation.
For the millions of caregivers around the world, this encouraging news is comforting. Because even when parts of our parents, friends, and loved ones living with dementia start disappearing bit by bit, the love we have for them is always there. It warms the heart to know that as caregivers, we’re not alone. And that even robots are learning to see the humanity in dementia.
