Deciding the different robot roles for patient cognitive training

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) represent a major challenge for health systems within the aging population. New and better instruments will be crucial to assess the disease severity and progression, as well as to improve its treatment, stimulation, and rehabilitation. With the purpose of detecting, assessing and quantifying cognitive impairments like MCI or AD, several methods are employed by clinical experts. Syndrom Kurztest neuropsychological battery (SKT) is a simple and short test to measure cognitive decline as it assesses memory, attention, and related cognitive functions, taking into account the speed of information processing. In this paper, we present a decision system to embed in a robot that can set up a productive interaction with a patient, and can be employed by the caregiver to motivate and support him while performing cognitive exercises as SKT. We propose two different interaction loops. First, the robot interacts with the caregiver in order to set up the mental and physical impairments of the patient and indicate a goal of the exercise. This is used to determine the desired robot behavior (human-centric or robot-centric, and preferred interaction modalities). Second, the robot interacts with the patient and adapts its actions to engage and assist him to complete the exercise. Two batches of experiments were conducted, and the results indicated that the robot can take profit of the initial interaction with the caregiver to provide a quicker personalization, and also it can adapt to different user responses and provide support and assistance at different levels of interaction.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Design and Development of the eBear: A Socially Assistive Robot for Elderly People with Depression

There has been tremendous progress in the field of robotics in the past decade and especially developing humanoid robots with social abilities that can assist human at a socio-emotional level. The objective of this thesis is to develop and study a perceptive and expressive animal-like robot equipped with artificial intelligence in assisting the elderly people with depression. We investigated how social robots can become companions of elderly individuals with depression and improve their mood and increase their happiness and well-being. The robotic platform built in this thesis is a bear-like robot called the eBear. The eBear can show facial expression and head gesture, can understand user\u27s emotion using audio-video sensory inputs and machine learning, can speak and show relatively accurate visual speech, and make dialog with users. the eBear can respond to their questions by querying the Internet, and even encourage them to physically be more active and even perform simple physical exercises. Besides building the robot, the eBear was used in running a pilot study in which seven elderly people with mild to severe depression interacted with the eBear for about 45 minutes three times a week over one month. The results of the study show that interacting with the eBear can increase happiness and mood of these human users as measured by Face Scale, and Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) score systems. In addition, using Almere Model, it was concluded that the acceptance of the social agent increased over the study period. Videos of the users interaction with the eBear was analyzed and eye gaze, and facial expressions were manually annotated to better understand the behavior changes of users with the eBear. Results of these analyses as well as the exit surveys completed by the users at the end of the study demonstrate that a social robot such as the eBear can be an effective companion for the elderly people and can be a new approach for depression treatment

A study of the possibilities and effect of assistive robots in the intramural elderly healthcare

This study examined the use of social robots in nursing homes for people with dementia – an uncomfortable topic for many people. Together with professionals, the study examined whether and how the robotic seal Paro can help to improve healthcare. Three applications were developed and implemented in three different nursing homes. Over one hundred residents and over forty healthcare professionals (nursing home doctors, psychologists and nursing assistants) participated in the study. The research found that robots can have a significant added value in the healthcare sector if they are used accurately. They helped to improve the residents' moods (less agitation and aggression and more activation) and made it easier for healthcare providers to carry out their daily tasks, such as washing and dressing residents, administering medication and giving pedicures. As a result of this study, the robotic seal will be implemented in several healthcare institutes

Innovation to enhance health in care homes and evaluation of tools for measuring outcomes of care: rapid evidence synthesis

Background Flexible, integrated models of service delivery are being developed to meet the changing demands of an ageing population. To underpin the spread of innovative models of care across the NHS, summaries of the current research evidence are needed. This report focuses exclusively on care homes and reviews work in four specific areas, identified as key enablers for the NHS England vanguard programme. Aim To conduct a rapid synthesis of evidence relating to enhancing health in care homes across four key areas: technology, communication and engagement, workforce and evaluation. Objectives (1) To map the published literature on the uses, benefits and challenges of technology in care homes; flexible and innovative uses of the nursing and support workforce to benefit resident care; communication and engagement between care homes, communities and health-related organisations; and approaches to the evaluation of new models of care in care homes. (2) To conduct rapid, systematic syntheses of evidence to answer the following questions. Which technologies have a positive impact on resident health and well-being? How should care homes and the NHS communicate to enhance resident, family and staff outcomes and experiences? Which measurement tools have been validated for use in UK care homes? What is the evidence that staffing levels (i.e. ratio of registered nurses and support staff to residents or different levels of support staff) influence resident outcomes? Data sources Searches of MEDLINE, CINAHL, Science Citation Index, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, DARE (Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects) and Index to Theses. Grey literature was sought via Google™ (Mountain View, CA, USA) and websites relevant to each individual search. Design Mapping review and rapid, systematic evidence syntheses. Setting Care homes with and without nursing in high-income countries. Review methods Published literature was mapped to a bespoke framework, and four linked rapid critical reviews of the available evidence were undertaken using systematic methods. Data were not suitable for meta-analysis, and are presented in narrative syntheses. Results Seven hundred and sixty-one studies were mapped across the four topic areas, and 65 studies were included in systematic rapid reviews. This work identified a paucity of large, high-quality research studies, particularly from the UK. The key findings include the following. (1) Technology: some of the most promising interventions appear to be games that promote physical activity and enhance mental health and well-being. (2) Communication and engagement: structured communication tools have been shown to enhance communication with health services and resident outcomes in US studies. No robust evidence was identified on care home engagement with communities. (3) Evaluation: 6 of the 65 measurement tools identified had been validated for use in UK care homes, two of which provide general assessments of care. The methodological quality of all six tools was assessed as poor. (4) Workforce: joint working within and beyond the care home and initiatives that focus on staff taking on new but specific care tasks appear to be associated with enhanced outcomes. Evidence for staff taking on traditional nursing tasks without qualification is limited, but promising. Limitations This review was restricted to English-language publications after the year 2000. The rapid methodology has facilitated a broad review in a short time period, but the possibility of omissions and errors cannot be excluded. Conclusions This review provides limited evidential support for some of the innovations in the NHS vanguard programme, and identifies key issues and gaps for future research and evaluation. Future work Future work should provide high-quality evidence, in particular experimental studies, economic evaluations and research sensitive to the UK context. Study registration This study is registered as PROSPERO CRD42016052933, CRD42016052933, CRD42016052937 and CRD42016052938. Funding The National Institute for Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research programme

Design e Ergonomia per la Human-Robot Interaction

This book investigates the relationship between design (specifically, the Human-Centred Design, Interaction Design and User Experience approaches) and the complex area of Human-Robot Interaction (specifically, social robotics for care). The research begins by framing the scientific problem of demographic aging and the increasing diffusion of wearable and robotic technologies for assisting and supporting the well-being and independence of the elderly and frail. Then, the research examines the role, contributions, and challenges of design in relation to the issue of acceptability in robotics, both from a theoretical-epistemological as well as from a practical-applicative viewpoint. The book, therefore, investigates methods and tools for implementing cross-disciplinary collaboration and for designing acceptability and interaction with new technologies in order to improve the quality of life and psychophysical health of human beings. The overall goal of the of the research presented in this volume is to bridge the gap between the two scientific areas of design and robotics, and let them converge in order to design assistive and social robots that can be effectively accepted as well as appropriate for people's specific needs. This is made possible through the development of a connection between the methodological approaches and tools of both disciplines in order to structure a framework for: cross-disciplinary collaboration and management of development processes in robotics research projects and design; and the application of the iterative process peculiar of HCD to robotics. On this basis, the research output was developed, namely the operational tool “Robotics & Design: the tool to design Human-Centered Assistive Robotics” which can be found at the link: www.roboticsdesign.org

Design e Ergonomia per la Human-Robot Interaction

This book investigates the relationship between design (specifically, the Human-Centred Design, Interaction Design and User Experience approaches) and the complex area of Human-Robot Interaction (specifically, social robotics for care). The research begins by framing the scientific problem of demographic aging and the increasing diffusion of wearable and robotic technologies for assisting and supporting the well-being and independence of the elderly and frail. Then, the research examines the role, contributions, and challenges of design in relation to the issue of acceptability in robotics, both from a theoretical-epistemological as well as from a practical-applicative viewpoint. The book, therefore, investigates methods and tools for implementing cross-disciplinary collaboration and for designing acceptability and interaction with new technologies in order to improve the quality of life and psychophysical health of human beings. The overall goal of the of the research presented in this volume is to bridge the gap between the two scientific areas of design and robotics, and let them converge in order to design assistive and social robots that can be effectively accepted as well as appropriate for people's specific needs. This is made possible through the development of a connection between the methodological approaches and tools of both disciplines in order to structure a framework for: cross-disciplinary collaboration and management of development processes in robotics research projects and design; and the application of the iterative process peculiar of HCD to robotics. On this basis, the research output was developed, namely the operational tool “Robotics & Design: the tool to design Human-Centered Assistive Robotics” which can be found at the link: www.roboticsdesign.org

人間の身体の内的変化に着目した社会的つながりを活性化させる環境知能システム

京都産業大学博士（先端情報学）2022doctoral thesi

Evaluating Human-equine Interactions Through the Lens of Adult Attachment

Attachment Theory suggests interaction with caregivers in childhood impacts relationships and health throughout our lives (Bowlby, 1965, 1969, 1971), leaving many who have experienced insecure attachment with an inability to form healthy relationships or cope with stressors throughout their lifespan (Holmberg, Lomore, Takacs, & Price, 2011). Horses have interacted with humans for over 12,000 years (Hintz, 1995), holding multiple roles in human society, most relying on observation by humans of equine behavior, and formation of a human-equine bond (Hamilton, 2011). More securely attached humans tend to more readily decipher non-verbal cues, positively affecting their felt security and internal working model of Attachment (Bachi, 2013). Interacting with horses, who provide significant non-verbal cues, may provide an opportunity to enhance this process, providing useful feedback and insight. This study aimed to evaluate if a single ground-based encounter with a horse could bring about changes in women participants’ reports of Attachment and Emotion Regulation. It was hypothesized that participants would move towards more secure dimensions of Attachment and Emotion Regulations after the encounter with the horse and that behavioral interactions with the horse would differ for those with differing dimensions of Attachment or Emotion Regulation. This study incorporated a repeated measures mixed methods design, one twenty-eight year old Standardbred mare, “Wicky” Long Wick, interacted with 22 female university students with minimal prior equine experience aged 18-30. Participants completing a demographic and screening questionnaire along with the Experiences in Close Relationships –Revised (ECR)(Brennan, Clark, & Shaver, 1998) and Emotion Regulation Questionnaires (ERQ)(Gross & John, 2003) at baseline, then the ECR and ERQ again both immediately prior to and immediately following encounter with the horse. The encounter was videotaped and included meeting, grooming, leading, and goodbye. Statistical analyses were completed using SPSS including paired t-tests and correlations. Videotape was evaluated, coded, and included in both quantitative and qualitative data analyses. Participants were recruited and participated in the study over the period of one calendar year. A significant decrease in Attachment anxiety was shown after encountering the horse (t(21)=2.915, p=.008 (M .237364, SD= .381941)), and significantly less time was spent between the horse and participant at goodbye than at meeting (t (21)=2.751, p=.021 (M 42.045, SD= 71.67)), particularly for those with insecure dimensions of Attachment (t (15)= 2.814, p=.013 (M= 45.75, SD=65.03)). Participants with insecure dimensions of Attachment showed significant increases in cognitive reappraisal after encountering the horse (t(14)= -3.732, p=.002 (M -.411, SD= .4266)), and the greatest decreases in Attachment Anxiety (t(14)=3.364, p=.005 (M .307, SD= .354)). The findings suggest interaction between horses and people differs along Attachment dimensions and show some support for positive changes in humans for both Attachment and Emotion Regulation dimensions after interaction with a horse