Technology empowers smart elderly care

The booming development of cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and big data, intertwined with the global aging population, has brought new development opportunities to the elderly care service sector. Care robots are the result of the deep integration of artificial intelligence and elderly care services. They can be software applications such as intelligent voice assistants, or hardware equipment that undertakes care services, and can provide diversified elderly care services such as life companionship, mobility assistance, basic diagnosis and treatment, and spiritual comfort.

Robot elderly care services are gaining more and more attention. Their purpose is to use robots as service platforms to provide elderly-oriented services and safeguard the life dignity of the elderly. Building a higher-level, more complete and more standardized robot elderly care service system will help promote my country's elderly care industry into a new stage of high-quality development.

| What kind of robots are needed for elderly care

Based on the functions of robots and the needs of the elderly, robot elderly care will mainly focus on three aspects: nursing, rehabilitation and companionship, which correspond to the three categories of nursing robots, rehabilitation robots and companion robots.

1. Nursing robots

The function of nursing robots is to help the elderly complete daily activities, including dressing, eating, getting in and out of bed, etc. They are mainly aimed at people with disabilities and dementia, as well as some elderly people with physical disabilities. After entering the old age, the human body's various bodily functions weaken, and it is not easy to complete simple movements. If you are not careful, you may even fall and get injured. Therefore, it is best to have someone to assist in the actions.

The intelligent electric wheelchair combined with assisted driving technology can be summoned by voice, mobile phone or sensor equipment, and come to the summoner through the navigation system. It is safe, worry-free and easy to operate. Sensors are deployed in both the front and rear directions. If an obstacle is suddenly encountered or there is a risk of falling, the robot will trigger the obstacle avoidance function and achieve safe braking. When driving outdoors, the navigation function can be used to automatically drive directly to the destination. The intelligent wheelchair has a "lane assisted driving mode" that enhances outdoor navigation capabilities by intelligently identifying lane lines or road edges. When encountering speed bumps, it will automatically reduce the speed so that it can pass the speed bumps smoothly. The elderly can also switch to manual mode at any time according to their own needs, and the automatic gear can be changed to manual gear in seconds.

2. Rehabilitation Robot

Rehabilitation robots are mainly used for daily living and health care rehabilitation of the elderly. The elderly are susceptible to various diseases, such as osteoporosis, paralysis, stroke, etc. With the increase in the elderly population, the treatment and rehabilitation problems of elderly patients have become increasingly prominent. Data show that as of 2022, there are about 190 million elderly people in my country suffering from chronic diseases, and the demand for rehabilitation treatment is very urgent.

The waist assist suit made by the robotics company Cyberdyne responds to the wearer's bioelectric signals and provides support and assistance when the wearer bends or lifts. When the patient's body moves to the edge of the bed and is in danger of falling, the sensor above the bed will alert the staff. In some families, the excretion sensor worn by the patient can monitor intestinal peristalsis and predict when the patient needs to go to the toilet.

The multimodal interaction capabilities of intelligent robots play a critical role in the rehabilitation training process. Through the sensor equipment worn by the elderly, the devices in the environment, and the sensors of the robot, the multimodal information of the elderly in the process of using the assistive robot can be collected, and the completion degree, completion quality, and physical sign information of the elderly's rehabilitation movements can be recorded. The rehabilitation training report is automatically generated for the physiotherapist to evaluate the training effect.

3. Companion Robot

Companion robots can provide life companionship, mobility assistance, basic diagnosis and treatment, and spiritual comfort. Nowadays, most people born in the 1980s and 1990s are only children, and they are too busy with their lives to squeeze out time to accompany their parents. As a result, the elderly group can easily fall into loneliness, and if they don’t have a partner, they may even lose their passion for life. At this time, an effective companion robot is very necessary.

In addition to enabling elderly people to have video calls with their families anytime and anywhere, the smart robot will also pay attention to the status of each elderly person. If it finds that you have not communicated with others for a long time, or detects that you are lonely, it will take the initiative to care for you. If the weather is good, it will take the initiative to invite you to go out and bask in the sun. When it is time, it will remind you to "remember to take medicine on time."

At the same time, intelligent robots can also evaluate the cognitive abilities of the elderly based on behavioral analysis of multimodal information fusion to assist in medical diagnosis. Based on the dementia detection scale commonly used in medical scenarios, the robot can combine the hesitation, confusion and negative emotions of the elderly when answering questions to make more granular and objective judgments. The robot will also collect the subject's voice, life characteristics and human-computer interaction actions through a variety of audio-visual and photoelectric interactive methods, and then the AI ​​algorithm will give an evaluation conclusion of multi-dimensional cognitive indicators, and provide some targeted cognitive training reference suggestions and training games.

| Advantages of robot elderly care services

1. Filling vacancies in elderly care workers

Li Jianjun, director of the Chinese Institute of Rehabilitation Sciences, once said that the current shortage of rehabilitation talent is systemic. There is a gap in all types of rehabilitation professionals, especially rehabilitation therapy talents. In developed countries, there are an average of 70 rehabilitation therapists per 100,000 people, while in my country there are only 0.4.

2. Enhance effectiveness

When an emergency occurs at home for empty-nesters or elderly people living alone, the intelligent robot can immediately call the police, and in some cases can even predict the coming of danger in advance. In the case of some weakened physical functions, it can also send health reports and early warnings. The elderly can even call the robot to come to their side at any time through voice or mobile phone software to solve their personal needs in a timely manner.

3. “Ruthless” service machine

Robots will not have emotions when serving the elderly (at least not yet). Robots will not be affected by the elderly's pessimism, negativity and other negative emotions, and will only complete the necessary work according to instructions. They will not feel tired due to frequent use, and can work endlessly as long as there is electricity.

| Disadvantages of robot elderly care services

1. High cost

Smart elderly care integrates AI+ services to realize intelligent service scenarios such as AI community care institutions, AI health stations, AI community medical institutions, and AI smart elderly families, and introduces diversified third-party services as a carrier to meet the differentiated needs of the elderly through customized combinations. The real realization of human-computer interaction must be supported by a complete system. The more powerful and timely the interactive system, the higher the cost.

2. Aging with dignity

Robotic intervention in care work objectively reduces communication between people, which can easily lead to a sense of abandonment in the elderly, and poses a severe challenge to the maintenance of the dignity of the elderly. Robotic elderly care services should be aware that "achieving the purpose of care does not prove the reasonableness of the means of care" and should judge service behaviors from the perspective of whether they are ethical and responsible. The elderly should benefit from robot elderly care services, and their autonomy, self-determination, and self-care ability should be correspondingly guaranteed or improved through robot elderly care services. The rights and interests of the elderly should not be infringed in any form due to receiving robot services.

3. Rationality of AI logic

Can a companion robot make a reasonable response or give a reasonable answer based on what the elderly say? Can a nursing robot correctly make a decision to let the elderly walk after finding water on the ground? Can an assistive robot accurately judge danger signals and actively protect the elderly? These questions will continue to expand with the advancement of technology. A generation will eventually grow old, but with the blessing of AI, growing old can be a very cool thing.

(Picture from the Internet)