Humanoid Robot

The humanoid robot used for this project is the Pepper robot, a programmable robot developed by Softbank Robotics.

The technology aspect addressed here is part of the Foundation component of the SCE framework. In the light of the PACT framework, the technology used should support the people (P), which in our case are people with dementia, in certain activities (A) in a specific context (C) (Benyon, 2019). The main context in our case is the house of a PwD where they can be self-sufficient. We choose the Nao over the Pepper robot due to its smaller size which could be beneficial in private houses. This illustrates how the context (private home) can affect the technological choices made within the SCE framework using PACT analysis. The refinement of the requirements of the robot based on the context and the technology itself is at the core of the iterative process utilized in this work. This is depicted by the figure below, emphasizing that the activities in a certain context affect the technology and that the technology, in turn, affects the activities in the context by providing opportunities. In our case, the opportunities are shaped by the functionality of the Nao which can be speech recognition and facial detection. Central to this are the people for we aim to build a human-robot partnership to help them with their needs.

1. Neerincx, M., van Vught, W., Blanson Henkemans, O., Oleari, E., Broekens, J., & Peters, R. et al. (2019). Socio-Cognitive Engineering of a Robotic Partner for Child's Diabetes Self-Management. Frontiers In Robotics And AI, 6. https://doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2019.00118
2. Benyon, D. (2019). Designing user experience: A Guide to HCI, UX and Interaction Design. Pearson UK.