As societies across the western world have aged, there has been a growing appreciation of the need to explore new ways of caring for us as we get older. The use of robotics has been one of the more interesting routes under exploration, and one of the more interesting projects is the EU’s GrowMeUp venture.
They’ve developed a robot, known as GrowMu, which the team believe is one of the most advanced machines for working with elderly people on the market today.
The machine is developed with a number of advanced algorithms that allow it to adapt to changes, both in its environment and the person/s it’s caring for. This allows it both to develop an understanding of the routine of the individual, and how that routine can be improved upon. For instance, it might suggest new dietary changes or warn that a step might result in a fall.
“Adaptive learning and multi-objective decision-making algorithms work so the robot can learn from the user’s speech and behaviour patterns and recognise when circumstances require action,” the team explain.
Adaptive robotics
For instance, the robot will be able to use facial recognition and oral dialogues to remember the needs of each person, including their schedule, and provide timely reminders when required.
The machine is programmed to ‘grow’ with their patient and can therefore suggest improvements to their lifestyle to ensure quality of life is maintained. This could include new exercise routines or the arrangement of social activities.
GrowMu comes with a cloud-based platform that allows users to access a huge amount of data as well as a social care network that comprises not only formal carers but friends, neighbours and other older people. Through this, a set of daily activities are provided to suit the needs of the individual.
“We have definitely brought social robots closer to society. With intelligent dialogue, older people can effortlessly and intuitively interact with the system using natural speech,” the team explain.
The results to date suggest that robots can be effective in delivering contextual information to users, whilst also adapting its behavior based upon the learning it picks up. What’s more, there is also a pleasing level of acceptance of the robots by their elderly patients, suggesting the technology is not only technically suitable, but socially and culturally suitable too.
Suffice to say, there are still numerous barriers to overcome before these devices are a frequent presence in our homes, not least various technological and legal issues. The team estimate that it will be at least another four to six years before we see commercial robots of this type on any kind of scale.
It’s clearly a crucial market however, and GrowMeUp will undoubtedly be a fascinating project to keep track of. You can learn more about the project via the video below.
