Prof. Dr. Kerstin Dautenhahn Adaptive Systems Research Group University of Hertfordshire PI for University of Hertfordshire

Accompany project

©University of Hertfordshire

ERF 13 March 2014

Context: Aging population •  According to Eurostat, the percentage of

the European population aged 65 years and over will grow from 16% in 2010 up to 29,3% in 2060 (EUROSTAT, 2011).

Demographic changes in Europe (source: Birks, 2007) #2#

Def: A Companion is an agent that a) makes itself 'useful', i.e. is able to carry out a variety of tasks in order

to assist humans b) behaves socially, i.e. possesses social skills in order to be able to

interact with people in a socially acceptable manner.

Note, a) and b) imply a long-term perspective: •  repeated interactions •  need for learning and adaptation •  potential for relationships, but does not assume that people “bond”

with robots (friend vs. assistant/butler)

Idea: Being useful & making a positive contribution to people’s quality of life

The Robot as a Companion Paradigm

Project: ACCOMPANY

•  Acceptable robotiCs COMPanions for AgeiNg Years •  The Accompany project addresses target outcome (a) service and

social robotics systems for “Ageing well” under objective ICT-2011.5.4 ICT for Ageing and Wellbeing under EU FP7.

•  A major challenge concerning the development of service robots for the elderly is to enhance existing state of the art technologies and interfaces in order to facilitate independent living at home.

•  Focus on re-ablement •  User-centred approach •  Start 1 October 2011 •  3.6 M Euros EC contribution •  Coordinated by University of Hertfordshire •  (Farshid Amirabdollahian) •  9 partners in 5 EU countries

Consortium •  The University of Hertfordshire (UH), United

Kingdom •  Hogeschool Zuyd (HZ), The Netherlands •  Fraunhofer (Fraunhofer), Germany •  University of Amsterdam (UVA), University

of Twente (UT), The Netherlands •  University of Siena (UNISI), Italy •  Maintien en Autonomie à Domicile des

Personnes Agées (MADOPA), France •  University of Birmingham (UB), University of

Warwick (UW), United Kingdom 5#

Involving users

•  6 rounds of user panels throughout the project

•  Evaluation in formative and summative studies: –  Primary users (elderly) –  Secondary users (informal carers) –  Health care providers and local authorities

(formal carers)

6#

Focus on existing platform Care-O-Bot 3 - redesigned

http://www.care-o-bot.de/english/Care-O-bot_3.php#

ACCOMPANY Objectives & Results I

•  Social and empathic interaction design – Novel interfaces and interaction modalities

•  Robot learning and adaptability – Cognitive architecture for robot integrated in

smart home, human-robot co-learning and teaching

•  Environment and activity monitoring – Tracking and activity recognition (data set)

8#

ACCOMPANY Objectives & Results II

•  Acceptability of robots for promoting independence – Studies in summative evaluation with users in

three countries •  Ethical issues surrounding companion

robots – New frameworks for ethical guidelines for

robot technology and elderly people

9#

Some lessons learnt/challenges

•  Activity recognition for multiple persons in realistic home setting

•  Safe and socially interactive platform •  Combining learning & personalization/

human-user teaching •  Easy to understand interfaces for users

Thank You