The Design of an Interactive Socially Assistive Robot for Patient Care

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Goldie Nejat ◽  
Brian Allison ◽  
Nadia Gomez ◽  
Andrew Rosenfeld
Keyword(s):  
Patient Care ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Design Parameters ◽  
Assistive Robots ◽  
Assistive Robot ◽  
Quality Of Patient Care ◽  
Natural Interactions ◽  
Socially Assistive Robot ◽  
Hospital Wards

It is anticipated that the use of assistive robots will be one of the most important service applications of robotic systems of the future. In this paper, a unique non-contact socially assistive robot consisting of a human-like demeanor is presented for utilization in hospital wards and veteran homes to study its role and impact on the well-being of patients, addressing patient’s needs and its overall effect on the quality of patient care. The robot will be an embodied entity that will participate in hands-off non-contact social interaction with a patient during the convalescence, rehabilitation or end-of-life care stage. The robot has been designed as a platform to incorporate the three design parameters of embodiment, emotion and non-verbal dialog to encourage natural interactions between the patient and itself. For perception, we describe the first application of utilizing varying intensity depth imaginary, via a 3D camera, for non-contact and non-restricting 3D gesture recognition and characterization.

An Expressive Socially Assistive Robot for Health-Care Applications

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Allison ◽  
Goldie Nejat
Keyword(s):  
Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Mechanical Design ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Design Parameters ◽  
Assistive Robots ◽  
Assistive Robot ◽  
Health Care Applications ◽  
Head Gestures ◽  
Socially Assistive Robot ◽  
Hospital Wards

It is anticipated that the use of assistive robots will be one of the most important service applications of robotic systems of the future. In this paper, a unique non-contact socially assistive robot consisting of a human-like demeanor is presented for utilization in hospital wards and veteran homes to study its role and impact on the well-being of patients, addressing patient’s needs and its overall effect on the quality of patient care. The robot will be an embodied entity that will participate in hands-off non-contact social interaction with a patient during the convalescence, rehabilitation or end-of-life care stage. The robot has been designed as a platform to incorporate the three design parameters of embodiment, emotion and non-verbal communication to encourage natural interactions between a person and itself. In this paper, we present the mechanical design of the robot. The robot is able to communicate via: (i) a unique human-like face with artificial skin that utilizes the modeling of muscles of a human face to express facial expressions, (ii) a 3 degrees-of-freedom (DOF) neck capable of expressing head gestures, and (iii) an upper torso consisting of a 2 DOF waist and two 4 DOF arms designed to mimic human-like body language.

The Design of an Expressive Humanlike Socially Assistive Robot

2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Allison ◽  
Goldie Nejat ◽  
Emmeline Kao
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Design ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Upper Body ◽  
Design Parameters ◽  
Assistive Robots ◽  
Actuation System ◽  
Assistive Robot ◽  
The Face ◽  
Socially Assistive Robot ◽  
Hospital Wards

It is anticipated that the use of assistive robots will be one of the most important service applications of robotic systems of the future. In this paper, the development of a unique noncontact socially assistive robot consisting of a humanlike demeanor is presented for utilization in hospital wards and nursing∕veteran homes to study its role and impact on the well-being of patients, addressing patient’s needs and its overall effect on the quality of patient care. The robot will be an embodied entity that will participate in hands-off noncontact social interaction with a patient during the convalescence, rehabilitation, or end-of-life care stage. The robot has been designed as a platform to incorporate the three design parameters of embodiment, emotion, and nonverbal communication to encourage natural human-robot interactions. Herein, we present the overall mechanical design of the socially assistive robot focusing mainly on the development of the actuation system of the face, head, and upper body. In particular, we propose the development of a unique muscle actuation mechanism for the robotic face to allow for the display of rich facial expressions during social assistive interaction scenarios. The novelty of the actuation system is in its use of the dependency of facial muscle activity to minimize the number of individual actuators required to control the robotic face.

A pilot Project Exploring the Utility and Acceptability of a Socially-assistive Robot in an Assessment Unit for People with Neuropsychiatric Symptoms

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. S104-S104
Author(s):  
S. Loi ◽  
R. Khosla ◽  
K. Nguyen ◽  
N. Lautenschlager ◽  
D. Velakoulis
Keyword(s):  
Neuropsychiatric Symptoms ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Pilot Project ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Assistive Robots ◽  
Socially Assistive Robots ◽  
Assistive Robot ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
Competing Interest ◽  
Socially Assistive Robot

ObjectivesSocially-assistive robots have been used with older adults with cognitive impairment in residential care, and found to improve mood and well-being. However, there is little known about the potential benefits in adults with other neuropsychiatric symptoms.AimsThe aim of this project was explore the utility and acceptability of a socially-assistive robot in engaging adults with a variety of neuropsychiatric symptoms.MethodsBetty, a socially-assistive robot was installed in a unit which specialises in the assessment and diagnosis of adults presenting with neuropsychiatric symptoms. She is 39 cm tall, has a baby-face appearance and has the ability to engage individuals through personalised services which can be programmed according to individuals’ preferences. These include singing songs and playing games. Training for the nursing staff who were responsible for incorporating Betty into the unit activities was provided. The frequency, duration and type of activity which Betty was involved in was recorded. Patients admitted who could provide informed consent were able to be included in the project. These participants completed pre- and post-questionnaires.ResultsEight patients (mean age 54.4 years, SD 13.6) who had diagnoses ranging from depression and schizophrenia participated. Types of activities included singing songs, playing Bingo and reading the news. Participants reported that they were comfortable with Betty and did not feel concerned in her presence. They enjoyed interacting with her.ConclusionsThis pilot project demonstrated that participants found Betty to be acceptable and she was useful in engaging them in activities. Future directions would involve larger sample sizes and different settings.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Social Intelligence for a Task-Driven Assistive Robot

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Goldie Nejat ◽  
Maurizio Ficocelli
Keyword(s):  
Social Intelligence ◽  
Effective Interaction ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Emotional Behavior ◽  
Control Architecture ◽  
Patient Centered ◽  
Assistive Robots ◽  
Assistive Robot ◽  
Emotional Model ◽  
Socially Assistive Robot

The objective of a socially assistive robot is to create a close and effective interaction with a human user for the purpose of giving assistance. In particular, the social interaction, guidance and support that a socially assistive robot can provide a person can be very beneficial to patient-centered care. However, there are a number of conundrums that must be addressed in designing such a robot. This work addresses one of the main limitations in the development of intelligent task-driven socially assistive robots: Robotic control architecture design and implementation with explicit social and assistive task functionalities. In particular, in this paper, a unique emotional behavior module is presented and implemented in a learning-based control architecture for human-robot interactions (HRI). The module is utilized to determine the appropriate emotions of the robot, as motivated by the well-being of the person, during assistive task-driven interactions. A novel online updating technique is used in order to allow the emotional model to adapt to new people and scenarios. Preliminary experiments presented show the effectiveness of utilizing robotic emotional assistive behavior during HRI in assistive scenarios.

scholarly journals A Systematic Review of the Impact of Physicians’ Occupational Well-Being on the Quality of Patient Care

2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 683-698 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renée A. Scheepers ◽  
Benjamin C. M. Boerebach ◽  
Onyebuchi A. Arah ◽  
Maas Jan Heineman ◽  
Kiki M. J. M. H. Lombarts
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Patient Care ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Quality Of Patient Care ◽  
The Impact

scholarly journals Emotional intelligence: predictor of employees’ wellbeing, quality of patient care, and psychological empowerment

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leila Karimi ◽  
Sandra G. Leggat ◽  
Timothy Bartram ◽  
Leila Afshari ◽  
Sarah Sarkeshik ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Intelligence ◽  
Quality Of Care ◽  
Patient Care ◽  
Psychological Empowerment ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Aged Care ◽  
Care Organization ◽  
Quality Of Patient Care

Abstract Background The study explored the role of emotional intelligence (EI) on employees’ perceived wellbeing and empowerment, as well as their performance, by measuring their quality of care. Methods The baseline data for the present project was collected from 78 staff of a Victorian aged care organization in Australia. Self-administered surveys were used to assess participants’ emotional intelligence, general well-being, psychological empowerment, quality of care, and demographic characteristics. The model fit was assessed using structural equation modelling by AMOS (v 24) software. Results The evaluated model confirmed that emotional intelligence predicts the employees’ psychological empowerment, wellbeing, and quality of care in a statistically significant way. Conclusions The current research indicates that employees with higher EI will more likely deliver a better quality of patient care. Present research extends the current knowledge of the psychological empowerment and wellbeing of employees with a particular focus on emotional intelligence as an antecedent in an under-investigated setting like aged care setting in Australia.

A Socially Assistive Robot to Help With Getting Dressed

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leo Woiceshyn ◽  
Yuchi Wang ◽  
Goldie Nejat ◽  
Beno Benhabib
Keyword(s):  
Impression Formation ◽  
Recommendation System ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Substantial Impact ◽  
Assistive Robots ◽  
Socially Assistive Robots ◽  
Assistive Robot ◽  
Socially Assistive Robot ◽  
Clothing Choices

Getting dressed is a universally performed daily activity, and has a substantial impact on a person’s well-being. Choosing appropriate outfits to wear is important, as clothes protect a person from elements in the environment, and act as a barrier against harsh surfaces [1]. Studies have shown strong correlation between clothing choices and perceptions of sociability, emotional stability, and impression formation (e.g., [2]). This activity, however, can be difficult for some individuals, as they may lack the required reasoning and judgement required [3]. They include children with intellectual and learning disabilities [4] (e.g., Down syndrome [5], dyspraxia [6], autism spectrum disorder [7]), and older adults suffering from dementia including Alzheimer’s disease [8,9], or HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders [10]. In this paper, we present the development of a novel autonomous robotic clothing recommendation system to provide appropriate clothing options, which are personalized to a user’s wardrobe. This research expands on our previous work on socially assistive robots providing assistance with other daily activities, including meal eating [11] and playing Bingo games [12]. Currently, a few smartphone applications exist for providing outfit choices (e.g., [13,14]); however, unlike our proposed system, they are fashion-focused and not able to adapt online to a user’s preferences. Furthermore, by utilizing a socially assistive robot, we provide a more engaging interaction. We utilize the small Nao social robot, Leia, to guide and interact with a user in order to obtain information regarding his/her preferences, the activity for which the clothing will be worn, as well as the environment in which the activity will take place in order to make outfit recommendations, Fig. 1.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document