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Functions

Last modified by Cesar van der Poel on 2022/04/02 22:16

Requirements

In order for the system to properly improve the safety of the people with dementia residing in the care home, it needs to be able to perform several different functions. Together, these functions will allow the system to engage in conversation with the person with dementia and try to convince them to stay inside, as well as take all the necessary actions in the event that the person with dementia is not convinced by their conversation with the system. The functions listed below are classified in several different categories, ranging from most important to least important. Currently, not all of these requirements are fully satisfied, and the system is in a more basic version than the one envisioned. The requirements not currently implemented are listed in the latter two categories.

Must Have

RQ001Detect movement towards doorThe system needs to engage in conversation with anyone moving towards the door. In order to do so, it first needs to know when this happens. Only once the system is able to detect that someone is moving towards the door, and thus knows when it needs to be activated, it can perform its main function properly.
RQ003Speak in a human-like wayAs previously stated, the system will attempt to converse with people walking towards the door. The conversation should be relatively natural, as the people with dementia it is meant for might not be able to adjust to less intuitive ways of conversation such as reading text of a display. Using human-like speech, the conversation will be intuitive to the people engaging in it. Furthermore, the fact that sound is used means that the system will get the attention of the person, even if they are not yet aware of its prescence.
RQ004Process spoken natural languageIn order for the robot to have an actual conversation with the person with dementia, it needs to somehow understand what this person is saying. As the most intuitive way for the person is to reply to the spoken text with spoken text, we need the system to be able to analyse and process this type of input. Once the input has been parsed to understand its basic meaning, the system will be able to respond to it more appropriately.
RQ007Alert caretakersIn the event that the system is unable to keep the person with dementia in, a sort of back up plan is required. As the capabilities of the robot are limited and it is unwise to have it accompany or follow the person with dementia, the best option here is to delegate the task to someone that is more capable of such actions and knows the person with dementia well - the care taker. To do this delegation, the system would need some sort of alert or notification it can send to the caretaker.

Should Have

RQ005Associate certain concepts with related conceptsWhen convincing a person with dementia to stay inside, the system might need to come up with a good argument against whatever action the person with dementia has to go out. In order to provide a good counterargument, the system will need to know what reasons could be used. This means the robot needs some basic understanding of what factors are important in certain behaviours.
RQ006Play musicMusic is a powerful tool when dealing with people with dementia. It can help them get in the mood for certain activities through association, as well as subtly bring them back to reality. In order to leverage these positive effects, it would be good for the system to have a way through which it can play music to the people trying to leave.
RQ008Use gestures for non-verbal communicationPeople with dementia may have problems understanding the system. In order to aid them in this process, it is likely beneficial if the system utilizes gestures to convey its message. This could be simple gestures such as meaningless hand movements to keep the person focussed, to crossing arms to emphasise a "no".

Could Have

RQ002Recognize people in the care homeIn order to make the music and conversation more effective, these may need to be personalised to some extent. For example, it might be good to address the person with dementia by their name to make the conversation feel more personal. Besides this, certain music might have different associations in different people, meaning that different songs may be more effective for one person than for the other. Such customisations would probably improve the likability and effectivity of the robot. Besides personalisation, the system may need to distinguish between people with dementia and care takers.
RQ009Recognize emotionsIt is very much possible for users to become agitated when using the system. It would be good for the system to act on this accordingly. In order to do so, the first step is to recognise the emotion of the person. This could be done through analysis of non-verbal communication, verbal signals such as certain words or speech-related factors such as intonation. Handling users differently based on their emotional state might yield better results.

Won't Have

RQ005-1Learn associations between different conceptsRQ005 specifies that the system will know certain associations. However, these are relatively simple, and do not allow for great flexibility. If the system is able to learn new associations over time, this means that counterarguments need not be predetermined, but can be automatically generated by the system. This way, it becomes more effective over time through the use of more appropriate counter arguments.