Current music management

We plan to use music for different purposes:

• The PwD becomes aware of Pepper's presence.
• The PwD uses the music to create associations to certain tasks.
• The PwD is relaxed and entertained

Pepper would play music at the beginning of an interaction to psychologically prepare the patient. The music is supposed to be some calm music so as not to startle the PwD. It is an introduction or a signal that Pepper will start talking soon. Hopefully, the music can be chosen in a way that the PwD can associate certain tasks with certain actions (for instance, music 1 is meal reminder, while music 2 and 3 are for two different medicine to take).

The musics are chosen by the HCP and the relatives, and are added to Pepper thanks to the interface. The expected format is simply a sound track (for instance, .wav) that Pepper can play. In an ideal setup, it would be great to develop a built-in version of streaming services such as Spotify, Youtube Music or Pandora. Another alternative would be to have Pepper send web requests to get the desired music. However, a first working version would be to simply add the sound tracks to the prototype folder and then read a different file based on the situation. Some sort of library could therefore be created.

Potential extensions

In our prototype, Pepper plays music directly through her own speakers. However, some Bluetooth speakers could also be used if there is a need for louder sounds (for a very small difference in the implementation of the prototype). Similarly, the sounds could be connected to hearing device of the PwD, if necessary.

The sound generalization to other devices than Pepper's own speakers also applies to the voice messages Pepper says, not only to the music.