4 / Robots

[ SPOTLIGHT / TORONTO ]

The University of Toronto’s Goldie Nejat is a mechanical engineer, professor and the Canada Research Chair in Robots for Society. She designs assistive devices and robots to help seniors.

“Over the past 10 years, my research team has been designing interactive robots to help older adults – especially those with cognitive impairments – with daily life and recreational activities to promote independence and overall well-being. The robots are intelligent and use sensors to recognize what a person is doing and their intent. They can interpret your vocal intonations, body language and even your facial expressions in order to appropriately respond.

“Our robots can facilitate bingo games, trivia and other types of memory games and help with daily tasks such as meal preparation or provide clothing recommendations based on the weather. They can also lead you through exercises and sense when you’re doing a good job. Our robots show emotions, they can become ‘happy’ – some smile and wave their arms around to celebrate.

“We’ve done studies with our robots in long-term care/retirement homes and with older adults living on their own. They’ll naturally talk to the robots and ask them questions. Their body language shows they are engaged and they are compliant when a robot asks them to do a task. In the future, these assistive robots will be able to help with multiple tasks while detecting a person’s emotions and responding by using their own emotional behaviours. They will seamlessly interact with multiple users at a time to improve quality of life as we age.”

THE FUTURE

The Japanese labour ministry invested US$65 million to develop and test “elder-care” robots, according to a 2018 Reuters report, with more than 20 models – including a therapy “seal” named Paro – in 5,000 nursing homes across the country. It hopes the robots, which can lead exercise routines and make rudimentary conversation, will help with a predicted shortfall of 380,000 elder-care workers by 2025.