Friday Lunch Seminar (English)
December 22, 2023
12:15 〜 13:00

Sing-up for participation  by noon, December 21
from here
You will be notified of participation details by e-mail on December 21.

Talk Title: Research and development of a baby-like robot to live with older people with dementia in nursing homes

Hidenobu Sumioka
Group leader
Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International

Host PI: Hiroshi Ishiguro

Abstract:
In elderly care, caregivers often have difficulty interacting with older people, especially dementia patients, due to their cognitive and socio-emotional decline and mental diseases because their ways of interaction differ from what is common among healthy adults. Researchers expect social robots to support both caregivers and older people with dementia by reducing social loneliness and BPSD (Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia) through social interaction. However, those robots often fail to successfully assist seniors with dementia, causing an increased burden on caregiving staff. To realize a robotic system that more effectively supports the entire nursing home, we need to understand better the cognitive characteristics of older people with dementia and the tasks of caregivers.In this talk, I will introduce our ongoing research to develop a baby-like robot for elderly care. First, I explain our approach to developing a social robot that lives with older people with dementia. Next, based on our field trials, I show how dementia patients and their care staff accept the baby-like robot and change the nursing home. Finally, we propose that all stakeholder-centered interaction design and a deep understanding of dementia patients is necessary for the robot to live in a nursing home.“