Robot for the elderly at Future of Aging Services Conference

ROBO SPACE

file photo of a robot nurse from Japan

Ann Arbor - Mar 16, 2004
Professor Martha Pollack, University of Michigan Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon collaborators, will demonstrate "Pearl," an artificial-intelligence robot designed to assist the elderly, and a handheld reminder device, during the Future of Aging Services Conference on Tuesday, March 16, 2004, 3:30 p.m., at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C.

As baby boomers become senior citizens and health care costs continue to escalate, assistive technologies that enable greater self regulation are likely to become more prevalent.

Pearl, is capable of various caregiver tasks, such as escorting an elderly person to an appointment or reminding her of her daily schedule. Pearl is intended to assist caregivers not replace them. By taking on more mundane responsibilities of the caregiver and health professionals, those individuals have more time to focus on the tasks that require their high-level of training.

Visitors to the demo will be able to interact with Pearl to see how users will benefit.

Said Pollack about the demonstration, "Pearl will 'observe' where the participant goes--either to a simulated kitchen on one side of the booth or a simulated bathroom (for taking medicine) on the other--and provide reminders accordingly."

Pollack's recent research has focused on exploring non-robotic methods of deployment for places, people and situations in which a robot is not needed. For example, she is adapting the technology used in Pearl to provide timely reminders to Traumatic Brain Injury patients.

A handheld device with similar artificial-intelligence software as in Pearl also will be available for interactive demonstration. "The reminders will be posted both on the handheld device that the participant is using, as well as on the body of the robot for other participants to observe," added Pollack.

The software can help users remember when to take medicines or eat meals. But unlike simpler reminder systems, it can also monitor the execution of those activities, detect discrepancies between what a person is expected to do and what he or she actually is doing and reason about whether and when to issue reminders--thus avoiding the annoyance of unnecessary messages.

Pollack is a Fellow of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence and a recipient of the Computers and Thought Award (1991), an NSF Young Investigator's Award (1992) and the University of Pittsburgh Chancellor's Distinguished Research Award (2000). She is currently serving as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research.

ROBO SPACE

First Robot Moved By Muscle Power

London - Feb 27, 2004
A silicon microrobot just half the width of a human hair has begun to crawl around in a Los Angeles lab, using legs powered by the pulsing of living heart muscle reports New Scientist in this week's edition.

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2016 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.