marjorie skubic - squaring the life curve
TRANSCRIPT
Squaring the Life Curve: How Can Robots Help?
Marjorie Skubic
Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering
Director, Center for Eldercare & Rehabilitation Technology
University of Missouri
www.eldertech.missouri.edu
National Robotics Initiative PI Meeting, November 5-6, 2015
Aging in Place
• Living in the home of your choice as you age, usually staying in your existing home
What do older adults want as they age?
• Independence, i.e., the ability to make their own decisions
• High quality of life
• Good health or at least to feel healthy, i.e., successfully manage chronic health conditions
Squaring the Life Curve
With proactive care Current trend
Functional Decline
Time
Rantz et al, Nursing Outlook, 2005
Clinical Care Coordinator
Sensors
Web portal
& Mobile devices
Integration &
Data Storage
Detection of Health
Change or Functional
Decline
Alert Manager
Sensor Network for Health Alerts clinical decision support system
Alert Feedback
Health change email alert
Skubic, et al., IEEE J. of Trans. Eng. in Health & Medicine, 2015
Sensor Data
motion sensors bed sensor gait sensor
Squaring the Life Curve
With proactive care Current trend
Functional Decline
Time
Rantz et al, Nursing Outlook, 2015
• TigerPlace residents without in-home sensors stay almost 1 year longer than seniors in comparable housing
• TigerPlace residents with in-home sensors stay 1.7 years longer than those without sensors at TigerPlace
Outline
• Needs and benefits
• Interface challenges
• The importance of physical activity
• How can robots help?
Needs and Benefits
• Older adults approach technology differently than younger adults
• They want functional solutions that offer a real benefit for them, i.e., satisfy a real need
• They often underestimate their own needs
Many papers… Demiris et al.; Rogers et al.; Czaja et al.
Interface Challenges
Loss in: • Perception
– Vision – Hearing – Haptics
• Motor control – Strength – Fine motor skills
• Cognition – “fluid” abilities – Processing speed – Working memory
Designing Displays for Older Adults, CRC Press, 2011
The Importance of Physical Activity
low physical activity
poor cardiovascular
health
higher risk of physical
health problems
higher risk of cognitive
health problems
better cardiovascular
health
lower risk of physical
health problems
lower risk of cognitive
health problems
more physical activity
keep working
social engagement
reduce inflammation (stress) Annual Conf., National Academy of Medicine, Oct, 2015
Outline
• Needs and benefits
• Interface challenges
• The importance of physical activity
• How can robots help?
Squaring the Life Curve
With proactive care Current trend
Functional Decline
Time
Rantz et al, Nursing Outlook, 2005
Can robots help keep a high functional
ability?
Can robots help with these?
Promoting Cardiovascular Health
better cardiovascular
health
lower risk of physical
health problems
lower risk of cognitive
health problems
more physical activity
social engagement
keep working
reduce inflammation (stress)
Annual Conf., National Academy of Medicine, Oct, 2015
Squaring the Life Curve
With proactive care Current trend
Functional Decline
Time
Rantz et al, Nursing Outlook, 2005
Can we achieve a symbiosis of robots and humans?
…so that robots know what the older adult needs now, and offers only what is necessary
Examples from NRI
• Q-HARP – X. Shen, C. Ye,
A. Halli-Tierney, L. Ting, S. Meek
• Rehab exoskeletal arm
– B. Gillespie, D. Remy, A. Kuo, M. Krishnan, D. Ferris, W. Durfee
Consider a variety of robots
• Adaptive beds and tables
• Adaptive bathrooms
• Arms for reaching high and low
• Rehabilitation aids in the home
Take-Away Messages
• Work with seniors and clinical partners to understand the needs
• Watch the interface
– Interfaces for seniors ≠ Interfaces for juniors
• Increasing physical activity decreases risk of physical AND cognitive impairments
• Think beyond assistive robots that provide excuses for NOT moving
– A robot to support AIP is not necessarily the same as an assistive robot for people with disabilities
