Meet CARMEN, brief for Cognitively Assistive Robotic for Motivation and Neurorehabilitation-a small, tabletop robotic designed to assist folks with delicate cognitive impairment (MCI) study abilities to enhance reminiscence, consideration, and government performing at dwelling.
Not like different robots on this area, CARMEN was developed by the analysis crew on the College of California San Diego in collaboration with clinicians, folks with MCI, and their care companions. To one of the best of the researchers’ data, CARMEN can also be the one robotic that teaches compensatory cognitive methods to assist enhance reminiscence and government operate.
“We needed to ensure we had been offering significant and sensible innovations,” mentioned Laurel Riek, a professor of laptop science and emergency medication at UC San Diego and the work’s senior writer.
MCI is an in-between stage between typical getting older and dementia. It impacts varied areas of cognitive functioning, together with reminiscence, consideration, and government functioning. About 20% of people over 65 have the situation, with as much as 15% transitioning to dementia every year. Current pharmacological therapies haven’t been in a position to sluggish or stop this evolution, however behavioral therapies may help.
Researchers programmed CARMEN to ship a sequence of easy cognitive coaching workouts. For instance, the robotic can train individuals to create routine locations to depart essential objects, akin to keys; or study notice taking methods to recollect essential issues. CARMEN does this by interactive video games and actions.
The analysis crew designed CARMEN with a transparent set of standards in thoughts. It’s important that folks can use the robotic independently, with out clinician or researcher supervision. For that reason, CARMEN needed to be plug and play, with out many shifting components that require upkeep. The robotic additionally has to have the ability to operate with restricted entry to the web, as many individuals don’t have entry to dependable connectivity. CARMEN wants to have the ability to operate over a protracted time frame. The robotic additionally has to have the ability to talk clearly with customers; specific compassion and empathy for an individual’s scenario; and supply breaks after difficult duties to assist maintain engagement.
Researchers deployed CARMEN for per week within the properties of a number of folks with MCI, who then engaged in a number of duties with the robotic, akin to figuring out routine locations to depart home items so they do not get misplaced, and putting duties on a calendar so they will not be forgotten. Researchers additionally deployed the robotic within the properties of a number of clinicians with expertise working with folks with MCI. Each teams of individuals accomplished questionnaires and interviews earlier than and after the week-long deployments.
After the week with CARMEN, individuals with MCI reported attempting methods and behaviors that they beforehand had written off as not possible. All individuals reported that utilizing the robotic was simple. Two out of the three individuals discovered the actions simple to know, however one of many customers struggled. All mentioned they needed extra interplay with the robotic.
“We discovered that CARMEN gave individuals confidence to make use of cognitive methods of their on a regular basis life, and individuals noticed alternatives for CARMEN to exhibit better ranges of autonomy or be used for different functions,” the researchers write.
The analysis crew offered their findings on the ACM/IEEE Human Robotic Interplay (HRI) convention in March 2024, the place they obtained a greatest paper award nomination.
Subsequent steps
Subsequent steps embody deploying the robotic in a bigger variety of properties.
Researchers additionally plan to offer CARMEN the power to have conversations with customers, with an emphasis on preserving privateness when these conversations occur. That is each an accessibility situation (as some customers won’t have the advantageous motor abilities essential to work together with CARMEN’s contact display screen), in addition to as a result of most individuals count on to have the ability to have conversations with methods of their properties. On the identical time, researchers wish to restrict how a lot data CARMEN may give customers. “We wish to be aware that the consumer nonetheless must do the majority of the work, so the robotic can solely help and never give too many hints,” Riek mentioned.
Researchers are additionally exploring how CARMEN might help customers with different situations, akin to ADHD.
The UC San Diego crew constructed CARMEN primarily based on the FLEXI robotic from the College of Washington. However they made substantial adjustments to its {hardware}, and wrote all its software program from scratch. Researchers used ROS for the robotic’s working system.
Many components of the venture can be found at https://github.com/UCSD-RHC-Lab/CARMEN
