Assessing the Constraints of the Physical Environment for People with Frailty – Robot Cohabitation
Digital technologies in the form of smart built environment (BE) interventions, as well as the use of robots in environments for people with frailty, are constantly advancing. Their implementation so far is mainly limited to devices such as automatic vacuum cleaners, voice assistance or are used to support mainly exercise and companionship. Robotics aiming to support people with frailty are usually tested in laboratory settings without taking into account real BE considerations. By taking into account the physical barriers one meets in a real residential setting and how this could affect the robot-frail people cohabitation, this research project could further support digital innovation industry in reaching their potential, while in parallel people in need could be benefited by living a more independent life at their own space.
The aim of this multidisciplinary project is to support the creation of guidelines for human-robot co-habitation in residential and care BEs for people with frailty. It brings together expertise from healthcare architecture and BE, human-computer interaction, population health and clinical practice. Methodology includes focus groups with health professionals, architectural auditing of frail people’s residential BE, simulation of robot suitability within the frail persons residential BE and trial testing of selected robots for comparison with simulated data. By observing the physical factors of the robot movements and interaction needs with the resident, the project aims to uncover requirements that identify how cohabitation creates accessibility limitations from the technological perspective.
A pilot has already taken place at independent living for long-term care for frailty, where architectural data was collected. This fed into the creation of 3d models of the inside of real built environment settings. The testing of a variety of robots performing predetermined tasks – as determined by data collected from focus groups and interviews conducted - within these virtual environments and their efficacy, is currently in progress.
Findings from these simulations will support the design of a unified framework on people with frailty-robot co-habitation, by taking into account the needs of the user, the robot characteristics but also the residential and care BE parameters as well. This will be the first stage to a formal framework on designing residential BEs for people with frailty which will take into consideration a whole new set of advantages for its users.
SPEAKER
Associate Prof. Evangelia Chrysikou BSSC UCL