Social Robot

The Navel Robot

The Navel Robot is a social robot. He's innovative and uses the possibilities of artificial intelligence. Navel can interact with people, entertain, increase well-being and trigger positive emotions. If so, Navel could increase the quality of life for people in the nursing home. Navel can approach people independently. Navel is very easy to operate and can be used by everyone - even if they are not technically gifted. After all, the navel robot can be used for our project. However, we focus on reminiscence therapy and games with the PwD and the Navel Robot does not have a screen. Therefore, the Navel Robot is not applicable for our case.

The Pepper Robot

The Pepper Robot is a social robot with advanced capabilities. In the end, we have chosen Pepper as a robot for the following reasons: First of all, the Pepper Robot is designed to interact with humans in a natural and engaging way. It can recognize facial expressions, tone of voice, and emotions, allowing it to adapt its responses accordingly. With conversational AI, a touchscreen display, and autonomous movement, it is already being used in hospitality services. It can greet people, answer questions, provide entertainment, and assist in various tasks, making it the best replacement for the Healthcare industry. With its camera's, the Pepper robot can detect the faces of the PwD.

The MiRo-E

The MiRo-E has a small cute animal-like appearance. Unfortunately, due to the lack of screen, it is not possible to utilize this robot for our project.

The Nao

The Nao robot is a compact and lightweight humanoid robot, making it easy to move within a therapy setting. It is fully programmable, offering flexibility in its implementation for emotion detection during reminiscence therapy. However, like the Navel robot, its childlike appearance may impact how seriously it is perceived in a therapeutic environment. Additionally, the lack of a built-in touchscreen limits its ability to display visual cues or multimedia content that could enhance therapy sessions. Its small size also requires careful positioning to effectively detect and interpret facial expressions and body language during interactions. On top of that, the robot does not proactively move itself to the PwD. Therefore, this robot is not suited for our case. However, the Nao robot in tandem with an tablet, could potentially function properly for reminiscence therapy. The same as how the kids with diabetes were interacting with the robots. 

Conclusion:

In the end, we have chosen the Pepper Robot, due to its versatility and the inherent tablet. The Pepper Robot has built-in camera's and functions, making it perfect for proactively moving to PwD, detecting emotions, and playing reminiscence games with PwD.