OB01: Prevent user from going out.

 
In many cases, we do not want the person with dementia to go out at all: it is likely that they go out for the wrong reasons, and the chance that they get lost is high. Because of this, in many cases, the first objective the robot tries to complete is to prevent the user from leaving the building.

OB01.1: Object to reason for going out.

The user may want to go out because of a specific reason. If this is the case, the robot can try to come up with an argument against that reason to try to convince the user to stay in. For example, if a user wants to go to work, the robot might argue that as it is weekend the office is closed. For a supermarket, on the other hand, the robot might say that either the groceries the user is looking for are already in the fridge, or someone else has already gone out to get the things they're looking for and will be back any minute. As this will likely remove the incentive the user has for going out, this might just be enough to have the user stay in.

OB01.2: Bring user back to reality.

If a user is really confused about where they are, they might need a reminder to tell them they should not go out and instead stay in. Such a reminder could, for example, be provided in the form of a song associated with the current location. The user will recognise the song and be reminded of where they are, making them realize there's no need to go out.

OB01.3: Keep user occupied inside.

A different reason for a user to go out might be plain boredom. If they have nothing else to do, they might think of a reason to leave the care center, for example to go to run some errands. There is effectively nothing wrong with this, besides the fact that it is simply not convenient. In this case it would probably work if the robot would be able to entertain the user somehow. This could be in the form of a game, a cup of tea or anything else.

OB01.4: Alert caretaker if user refuses to stay inside.

If a the robot tries to convince the user multiple times and the user does not budge, then the robot should alert the caretaker. The caretaker will then take over the role of convincing the user to stay inside or distract them in some way.

OB02: Alert caretakers when user wants to take a walk.

There might be cases where the user does not fall in the above categories, and simply wants to take a walk. This is, of course, not something we want to fully prevent the user from doing. For this reason, the system will alert the caretaker of this situation when it occurs. The caretaker will then proceed to accompany the user on their stroll to make sure they are prevented from getting lost.