Hansen, Søren Tranberg

English

The demographic structure of many developed countries forecasts an increase of elderly citizens and a decrease of young people to support them. An ageing population implies that the number of people with mental and/or physical disabilities will grow, and as a consequence, the elder care sector in a number of countries is under pressure. Development of new types of technology which can secure self-sustainability and life quality for elderly has been suggested as way to diminish some of the problems caused by an ageing society. It has been shown that even a small amount of physical activity can improve a person's overall health, and this thesis investigates how games based on an autonomous, mobile robot platform, can be used to motivate elderly to move physically while playing. The focus of the thesis is on the development of games for an autonomous, mobile robot based on algorithms using spatio-temporal information about player behavior. The main contributions are game algorithm for the estimation of skill level based on movement patterns of the users as well as the integration of a strategic game framework for multiplayer support. Two implemented games have been evaluated in a nursing home and rehabilitation center for elderly. The results indicate the games based on mobile robots can be used to train balance and orientation of elderly with mobility problems, but further research is needed. The demographic structure of many developed countries forecasts an increase of elderly citizens and a decrease of young people to support them. An ageing population implies that the number of people with mental and/or physical disabilities will grow, and as a consequence, the elder care sector in a number of countries is under pressure. Development of new types of technology which can secure self-sustainability and life quality for elderly has been suggested as way to diminish some of the problems caused by an ageing society.It has been shown that even a small amount of physical activity can improve a person’s overall health, and this thesis investigates how games based on an autonomous, mobile robot platform, can be used to motivate elderly to move physically while playing. The focus of the investigation is on the development of games for an autonomous, mobile robot based on algorithms using spatio-temporal information about player behaviour - more specifically, I investigate three types of games each using a different control strategy.The first game is based on basic robot control which allows the robot to detect and follow a person. A field study in a rehabilitation centre and a nursing home shows how the robot operates autonomously in in a real-world scenario although the elderly use different assistive tools. The elderly express a low degree of rejection of playing with the robot and tend to treat it as a living creature, i.e. talking to it as if it was a young boy or a dog. The robot facilitates interaction, and the study suggests that robot based games potentially can be used for training balance and orientation. The second game consists in an adaptive game algorithm which gradually adjusts the game challenge to the mobility skills of the player based on spatio-temporal analysis. The game is a pursuit and evasion game and an evaluation in a rehabilitation center and nursing home shows how the game algorithm adjusts the difficulty of the game challenge to users with different levels of mobility. However, adaptation at the level of each individual revealed to be difficult for players showing non-standard behaviour. The last game allows multiple users to compete against the robot based on an AI system originally created for real-time strategic computergames. This game has been evaluated in simulation, and the outcome is a generic software framework which can be used for implementing strategic robot based games

Robot Games for Elderly:A Case-Based Approach

https://vbn.aau.dk/ws/files/316436281/thesis_rettet.pdf

Robot Games for Elderly:A Case-Based Approach

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