AI robots may be game changers
By: Wendy McCann
Throughout the decades, robots have often been depicted as a threat to human survival, but American science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov saw them differently, and in his seminal short story collection “I, Robot” he portrays them as benevolent helpers.
At 첥Ƶ, a team of researchers is currently collaborating to develop robots to protect and make life better for the elderly, with the potential for game-changing applications across the spectrum of elder care.
“The possibilities are endless,” says , a professor at the University’s Lassonde School of Engineering and Faculty of Health, who is co-leading CINTHeA: Co-creating Intelligent Neuro-Technologies for Healthy Aging, together with Professor Vincent DePaul from Queen’s University.
“Social robotics for older adult care has been explored for many years. But to date, most of the traction has been achieved with comfort robots – furry pets that people can hold and care for – and that’s great, but we know we can go further.”
Japanese companies were early out of the gate with life-like robotic pets to provide companionship to a massive aging generation. Paro, a therapeutic robot, with all the cuddliness of a baby seal, responds to touch, sound and eye contact in a way that can comfort elderly patients in hospitals. The more penguin-like LOVOT (short for love robot) coos when hugged, creating a bond with its human owner and, as it demands affection, a sense of purpose.
CINTHeA aims to get the technology to the next level, where robots move autonomously around places where people live and can provide social, cognitive and physical assessment and assistance.
Elder says that when integrated with recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI), robots can contribute in many ways, helping to socially engage isolated seniors, and assess pain, emotional state and cognitive health. They may also help assess gait, posture and risk of a fall. Together, these contributions can help extend the health span of older adults and help health-care workers in assisted living and long-term care facilities.
“What we’ll see in the next 10 years is an expansion to more general capabilities for robots that will really make a difference to both older adults and staff,” he says.
“The possibilities are endless.”
The project has set its sights high. Its mission is to reshape the future of aging with dignity, autonomy and inclusion by creating new AI and robotics technologies to help assess, assist and engage older adults and improve their quality of life. Success will rely on a wide diversity of expertise. Neuroscientists are working with engineers, social scientists and experts in elder care, and the project is also relying on the experiences of older adults, their families and caregivers.
It is publicly funded with a $1.5-million Canada First Research Excellence Fund grant through the massive, 첥Ƶ-led Connected Minds program that seeks to understand the opportunities and risks to society associated with advancing technology. It is also tied to a $3-million infrastructure application proposal made to the Canada Foundation for Innovation.
Partners who specialize in geriatric residential living, research and innovation, such as Baycrest Health Sciences, the Unionville Home Society, Seasons Retirement Communities and Oasis Aging Well, as well as technology companies like CrossWing, GlobalDWS and Esri Canada will help translate the research into practical solutions.
Mobility has long been recognized as a cornerstone of healthy aging. Without it, people can become isolated from social and physical activities, and unable to access resources in the community.
As part of CINTHeA, Distinguished Research Professor Shayna Rosenbaum, York Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience of Memory in York’s Faculty of Health and associate director of the Centre for Integrative and Applied Neuroscience, is focused on how mobility robotics can help older adults move around.
“We can train the robot to navigate and to make errors the way a human would, so that the robot would be better able to reorient a person who appears lost,” says Rosenbaum, vice-director of Connected Minds. She is researching what strategies older adults use in real-life situations to compensate when neurological conditions affect how they get around. The findings will play a role in how assistive robots are programmed to assess how elderly people navigate when they move into new health-care environments and make it easier to adapt, for example.
Rosenbaum has been interested in navigation and how it changes in aging adults since watching her four grandparents grow older – all immigrants to Canada, having to navigate new environments without drivers’ licenses. “None of my grandparents drove,” she says. “That was very striking to me. Their world was relatively small, at least when it came to space. It piqued my interest in how this type of diminished experience might affect brain function.”
“It became a critical question, ‘how can we deliver better later life care?’”
Elder, who is also York Research Chair in Human and Computer Vision, comes at it from a different perspective. His research has been focused on understanding human perception and building machine vision systems that are inspired by that understanding. “The framework is to try to build AI systems that are more human, and able to do human-like things. So, progressing from factory floor kind of automation to systems that can work in less controlled and more complex environments.”
Elder and Rosenbaum watched the pandemic’s devastating effect on older Canadians, especially those living in institutions, and want to leverage the spotlight COVID provided to do better.
“It became a critical question, ‘how can we deliver better later life care?’ And this seems like this is really a huge opportunity,” Elder says. “Not to replace human care, but to try to help these frontline staff who are really doing the angels’ work.”
Like anyone watching the increasing reliance on AI and its uncertain future, both Elder and Rosenbaum have an eye on the associated risks.
“These technologies can be incredibly useful in helping people lead independent lives longer, but at the same time, they might introduce levels of risk to privacy and security that we might not even anticipate. We have to look at how to mitigate risk while enhancing the benefits,” says Rosenbaum.
Another concern is that overuse of robotics can diminish the person’s ability to maintain flexible thinking.
“Eventually, it might lead to further decline,” she says. “We have to try to assess risk in ways that allow us to move forward, but do so cautiously.”
Elder agrees that there has to be a balance. “The goal is to maintain maximal human agency and only provide assistance when it’s required.”
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