The Daily Bulletin is published by Internal and Leadership Communications, part of University Communications
Contact us at bulletin@uwaterloo.ca
Submission guidelines
Virtual assistant could help people with Alzheimer’s disease
Computer scientists at the University of Waterloo are creating a prototype of a virtual assistant to help people living with Alzheimer’s disease. It will prompt them to complete day-to-day tasks by taking the person’s personality and current state of mind into consideration.
Known as ACT@Home, the emotionally intelligent assistant is a research project to develop a home-based technology that combines artificial intelligence with social psychological models.
The tool will be designed to prompt older adults living with Alzheimer’s disease to undertake or complete tasks, such as handwashing, in a way that aligns with how they feel and what they are thinking. It is designed to work by picking up emotional cues from the person, such as facial expression, posture, way of moving and tone of voice.
“Convincing a person with Alzheimer’s disease to do something is very difficult because it depends on the person’s interpretation of the situation, what they think is going on, what cues they are getting and who they think they are in that moment,” said Jesse Hoey, a professor at the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science and lead researcher on the project. “This prototype will work by building a model of what’s going on emotionally in the mind of someone with the cognitive difficulty and then prompting them to complete an activity of daily living in a way that makes sense to them in that moment.”
Alzheimer’s disease disrupts people’s memory, and impacts their ability to engage with the world successfully because they forgot things such as what time they should take certain medication, or whether they should dry their hands after washing them.
As the disease progresses, it causes problems with reasoning and behaviour, and impairs a person’s ability to complete activities of independent daily living. People with Alzheimer’s disease may start to wash their hands, then forget what they’re doing, why they’re doing it, lose motivation, forget what they’ve done so far and repeat steps, or just stop partway through.
In developing the prototype, Hoey and his collaborators interviewed people with Alzheimer’s disease and their caregivers to better understand what it means to be a person with the disease and how they interact with others. An elderly man with Alzheimer’s disease, for instance, will interact differently with a friend than a spouse or doctor.
“Our ultimate goal is to help people maintain some independence while lessening the burden on their caregivers,” said Hoey. “The person they live with usually has to step in to help, but we are hearing that the amount of assistance and patience required can become overwhelming.”
Hoey and his team have won two awards for a paper in American Sociological Review that presents some of the core ideas of this project. They are accepting the awards for most significant paper of social psychology and in mathematical sociology from the American Sociological Association this week.
Hoey says the technology could also one day help people with Down Syndrome, various types of dementia and traumatic brain injury. He hopes it may be available within the next four years.
The research was conducted in collaboration with the Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging, and was supported by AGE-WELL NCE Inc., a member of the Networks of Centres of Excellence program, the American Alzheimer’s Society.
Virtual Human image supplied by the University of Colorado: Nattawut Ngampatipatpong, Sarel Van Vuuren and Robert Bowen.
WatITis issues seasonal call for papers
A message from the WatITis committee.
We are happy to announce the 15th annual WatITis (Waterloo Information Technology and Information Systems) conference will be on Tuesday December 5th, 2017 in the Science Teaching Centre.
We would like to invite you to actively participate as a speaker or panelist for one or more of the sessions during our 15th annual WatITis conference.
Being both the 60th anniversary of the University and the 50th anniversary of Computer Science at Waterloo we want to celebrate our history and look forward to what the future can bring.
Due to the success of the shorter talks last year, we again invite you to submit 10 or 20-minute talks, in addition to the regular 45-minute presentations.
Please send a brief synopsis of your topic or ideas for presentations and/or panels to our program committee chair Adam Savage.
When submitting your abstracts, please also identify which session format you are interested in. Please also be aware that you may be required to attend a brief speakers meeting prior to the conference to discuss presentation materials, expectations and logistics.
For more information, please contact our co-chairs Adam Savage or Jennifer Matheson or visit the WatITis website.
Service road construction at E5; other notes
Beginning today, the south access road at Engineering 5 and the plaza walkway will be closed for approximately 6 weeks as existing concrete is removed and replaced.
EllisDon will be doing the road remediation along with some curb work. Access to the area is still available from E5 north through the drive aisle, according to Plant Operations. The custodial garbage containers have been relocated to the building's north entrance. The concrete slab by the bicycle racks will not be affected by the construction work.
The Centre for Teaching Excellence is asking you to save the date for Focus on Teaching Week, which runs from Monday, October 2 to Friday, October 6. The week of workshops will begin with CTE642, Course Design Fundamentals, on Monday, October 2 at 9:30 am. Other sessions include problem-based learning, accessibility in teaching and learning, and using PowerPoint slides as visual aids for your lecture. Keep tabs on the CTE website for further details.
And this is just a reminder that the Bombshelter Pub in the Student Life Centre is open Monday to Friday from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Tables of 8 get 2 free appetizers. These hours run until September 1, when regular operating hours resume for the fall.