The future is far off, until it suddenly arrives.
We've been waiting in vain for flying cars. Robots for domestic use have seemed equally far-fetched – at least the kind that can assist home care nurses and help us with simple tasks as we age and become ill.
"I lost heart when I started reading up on the research in the field. Some of these robots have been in development since 2012, yet still, none of them have been put to use in the homes of those who might need them."
This is what Linda Sørensen from the University of Agder (UiA) says. She is working on a PhD on assistive robots in healthcare. However, she soon recovered her spirit.
Artificial intelligence becomes key
What prevents these robots from becoming truly useful is how difficult it is to customise these services to each user.
To give an example: If I'm bringing you water, it's not a problem for me to give it to you in a bottle in your hand, in a glass with a straw, or to place it on the table in front of you. But such requests can easily trip up the robots we have today.
"There have been huge advances in artificial intelligence. Next-generation robots can learn from their own mistakes and learn what users prefer. Robots that work well in a home environment are now much closer to becoming a reality," says Sørensen.
Researching UiA's robot
The first generation of assistive robots was nothing like what we see in science fiction films. They were basic devices with screens that simply reminded users to take their medication or allowed home care workers to communicate through video.
The second generation of robots are those that can assist with physical tasks. They can actually pick things up off the floor and help with simple activities like feeding and shaving, or getting a glass of water.
“Such robots aren’t in widespread use yet and not easy to get hold of,” Sørensen says.
Sørensen started doing a so-called scoping review, to discover what knowledge exists in this field.
A review like that gives researchers the opportunity to collect knowledge when working in a field where little research has previously been conducted. In a scoping review, researchers look at papers presented at conferences, articles in books, and items in the media. Traditional research articles from scientific journals are also included in such reviews.
"We narrowed it down from 8000 to 44 articles. One of the criteria was that they should focus on humanoid assistive robots. We identified nine such robots within the research, which clearly makes it a narrow field," says Sørensen.
Awkward and noisy
There were some recurring points in the studies Sørensen found:
- Most people thought the robots were big, akward, and slow.
- Some robots have cooling fans, and many found them too noisy.
- People didn’t want robots to look too similar to humans.
- Not many were concerned about their privacy when using robots in their homes.
In her own research, Sørensen conducted interview with users with disabilities, many of whom require a lot of daily assistance. Many of them have personal assistants.
She discovered that for certain tasks, participants welcomed receiving help from a robot rather than a human.
"Someone mentioned that always being nice and thankful to the assistant could be tiring. It felt like being at work when the assistant was present. They imagined that having a robot instead would be great at times," says Sørensen.
Some users needed assistance with repetitive and tedious tasks, which they felt uneasy about asking their assistant for help with. Even something as simple as eating crisps can be difficult if you’re unable to use your arms.
Can ease care workers' workload
Sørensen says that when she started working with robots, many people had negative views about the use of robots in healthcare. Now, the critical voices have mostly subsided.
"Healthcare professionals are also excited about the opportunities robots present. They hope to engage more in nursing-related tasks and have robots take care of the practical tasks that don’t require specialised education."
Sørensen believes that older people may not necessarily be the first to get a functioning robot assistant. We are more likely to start with individuals living with disabilities, who are familiar with various types of technology and may be more open to the idea.
"When you and I reach old age and need this kind of technology, we’ll have seen so many robots that we won’t be afraid anymore, and it’ll be easier for us to embrace new services like this" she says.
Contact:
- linda.sorensen@uia.no
- Phone
- +47 37 23 30 70
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