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Changes for page Problem Scenario

Last modified by Simran Karnani on 2022/04/02 22:49
From version Icon 3.4 Icon
edited by Simran Karnani
on 2022/04/01 17:34
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To version Icon 2.1 Icon
edited by Cesar van der Poel
on 2022/02/08 12:13
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1 -XWiki.SimranKarnani
1 +XWiki.Cesarvanderpoe
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1 -It is a common problem for people with dementia to go out and wander. The exact reason and nature of this behaviour can vary a lot between different people and even different situations. In one instance, for example, a person might in a clear state of mind decide to go out for a walk, but get lost halfway along the route. In a different case, a person might be convinced they are in the wrong place and want to go "home", while the place they have in mind has long been sold or even taken down. Thirdly, someone's sense of direction might be sufficiently impaired for them to end up in completely the wrong location, despite being confident of where they were going every step of the way. Another case can be that the person is has delusions and thinks that they have to do an activity from the past. Once again, they may go to a location that no longer exists, or that it is no longer a part of their life (eg. a workplace)
1 +It is a common problem for people with dementia to go out and wander. This is very inconvenient, as they are not in the right state of mind to know what they're doing, and their family members or care takers likely have no idea where they are going to, thus leading to a lot of stressful situations and potentially hours of search throughout the neighbourhood.
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3 -Whatever the reason, the wandering of people with dementia is very inconvenient; they are usually not in the right state of mind to know what they're doing, which could potentially lead to annoying or even dangerous situations for both the people themselves and unsuspecting bystanders. Additionally, the family members or caretakers of these people likely have no idea where they are going, leading to even more stressful situations and potentially hours of worried search.
3 +In order to prevent such situations, it would be beneficial to somehow monitor if and when people with dementia leave the house, or maybe even prevent it. This would allow caretakers or family members to respond more quickly.
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5 -Preventing such situations entirely would be relatively hard. As there is no single reason or series of actions that apply to all such cases, a variety of different problems would need to be considered, all of which could have unique or even conflicting solutions. As a result, it would be extremely difficult to come up with a single device or system that would definitively solve this problem. It might, however, be possible to design a system that will try to prevent the most common displays of the described behaviour, and provide convenient additional functionalities for the remaining cases - such as alerting family members or even GPS tracking.
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7 -Bringing this problem a little more into reality, we will put it into perspective of one of the personas, Gretchen. Since Gretchen was a university professor and a very social person, she is used to going out quite a bit. Many of the times, she forgets that she has retired and gets dressed to go to work. When going to the university, she may get lost along her way or if she does successfully make it there, she gets very emotional when everyone refers to her as a former professor. She tends to get very defensive about this as she is still delusional and at times can also get very aggressive. This can put those in her social surroundings in a dangerous position. In the meanwhile, her family and caretaker are very worried as they do not know where they are and where they can be found.
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9 -**Design **
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11 -Our vision for the system is a humanoid robot that will interact with the person trying to go out. Through simple conversation it will try to determine the mental state of the person as well as their intentions and mood. Based on these factors, the robot will try one of several approaches. For example, if the person is unsure of what they are doing, verbal persuasion might be enough to have them stay in. In the case where the person is determined, however, but their reasons are only applicable to a past version of themselves, the robot will try to use music and other cues to remind them of their current situation. This could also be used to calm the person if they are agitated.
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13 -Of course, these approaches might not be able to convince the person with dementia from going out. In this case the robot will again discern two distinct cases: one where the person is reasonable and in the right state of mind, and one where the person does not mind the robot at all. In the first case, the robot will offer to come with the person to keep them company and prevent them from getting lost - the robot will determine a way home when needed and keeps the person in the right state of mind. In the second case the person might not allow the robot to come along and even actively avoid the robot or obstruct its path. In this case the robot itself can not do much more to interfere, and its best alternative is to immediately warn caretakers or family members that might have more influence on the person. We believe that these measures will prove quite effective in mitigating or even preventing the negative effects of wandering.
5 +Using a sensor in the door, we are able to monitor when the dementing person opens it. If this happens, a robot located somewhere in the house can go towards the door and try to get theie attention. If this is succesful, they might close the door and instead respond to the robot successfully preventing them from going out. In the case where this is not successful, the robot can still alert the caretakers of the person in question so they are able to quickly respond, thus minimizing negative effects.
Icon XWiki.XWikiComments[0]
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1 -Anonymous
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1 -The general problem is stated well. It would be good to briefly describe an instance of the problem for one of your personas. Further, it is good that you already envision the role of the robot. Actually, that part is the "design scenario". Give this part the title "design scenario" and describe the same instance of the persona with a robot (to show the role and envisioned benefits of the robot).
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1 -2022-03-20 22:29:55.738