Engineers at the University of Waterloo have discovered a new way to program robots to help people with dementia locate medicine, glasses, phones and other objects they need but have lost.
Dr. Ali Ayub, a post-doctoral fellow in electrical and computer engineering, and three colleagues believed a companion robot with an episodic memory of its own could be a game-changer for these people and their caregivers. Using artificial intelligence, Ayub and the research team have successfully created a new kind of artificial memory that can help find lost items.
The research team began with a Fetch mobile manipulator robot, which has a camera for perceiving the world around it.
Next, using an object-detection algorithm, they programmed the robot to detect, track and keep a memory log of specific objects in its camera view through stored video. With the robot capable of distinguishing one object from another, it can record the time and date objects enter or leave its view.
“The long-term impact of this is really exciting,” said Ayub. “A user can be involved not just with a companion robot but a personalized companion robot that can give them more independence.”
Go to Can't find your phone? There's a robot for that for the full story.