Background

The shortage of health care professionals has become more acute and urgent than ever before. The World Health Organization estimates a projected shortfall of 18 million health care workers by 2030. This shortage is mainly due to the aging population, as the advances in medicine allow people to live longer [1]. It also implies that the elderly need to manage more chronic conditions as they age. One of this chronic conditions which affects a large population is dementia.

Dementia is a syndrome in which there is a deterioration in the cognitive functions of the patient beyond what might be expected from the usual consequences of biological aging. Currently, more than 55 million people live with dementia worldwide, and there are nearly 10 million new cases every year. To help close the gap of health care professional shortage, we think that robotics can provide a solution by providing assistance to people suffering from dementia. Therefore, we want to help build that solution by developing a robot prototype for people with dementia (PwD).

Robot

For our design, we decide to use Pepper as our basis. Pepper is a robot that allows for easier communication with users, thanks to its ability kit (voice, tablet, humanoid form). Moreover, Pepper is highly parameterizable using Choregraphe, it is relatively easy to expand the functionalities by programming new blocks, and prototypes can also be done quickly. Pepper also has a tablet interface attached to her, which makes it more intuitive and easy to use.

Target group

We mainly focus on people in early stages of dementia, when they are still quite autonomous and want to engage in activities that they enjoy as much as possible. They also have relatively clear minds and want to keep the feeling that they are in control of their life.

Problem statement

People with dementia encounter many problems in their daily life because of memory loss, confusion, difficulty in speaking, etc. We want to develop a solution that can help them to overcome these problems and live better lives.

Design

In our design, we mainly focus on reminders and activity breakdown.
Reminders include medication, meal, activity reminders, which help a PwD to remember daily tasks and schedules. As it is not always the best option to make the patient feel they have forgotten something, Pepper can also engage in a conversation with the patient leading to the point where the medicine is reminded.
Breaking down an activity into smaller easy steps could help the PwD to complete relatively complex tasks and have a feeling of fulfillment. This process is accomplished with the help of healthcare professionals. The healthcare professional spends time with the patient to figure out which activities they enjoy the most while being unable to carry out the tasks required. Then, the professional enters the different steps into the robot's memory so that the person can ask Pepper and follow the steps to realize the activities they want. The same process can be done if necessary by a friend/relative of the patient with the patient.

[1]: Mathers, C. D., Stevens, G. A., Boerma, T., White, R. A., & Tobias, M. I. (2015). Causes of international increases in older age life expectancy. The Lancet, 385(9967), 540–548. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(14)60569-9