Intelligent Assistive Robotic Systems for the elderly: Two real-life use cases

Abstract

Mobility impairments are prevalent in the elderly population and constitute one of the main causes related to difficulties in performing Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) and consequent reduction of quality of life. When designing a user-friendly assistive device for mobility constrained people, it is important to take into account the diverse spectrum of disabilities, which results into completely different needs to be covered by the device for each specific user. An intelligent adaptive behavior is necessary for the deployment of such systems. Also, elderly people have particular needs in specific case of performing bathing activities, since these tasks require body flexibility. We explore new aspects of assistive living via intelligent assistive robotic systems involving human robot interaction in a natural interface. Our aim is to build assistive robotic systems, in order to increase the independence and safety of these procedures. Towards this end, the expertise of professional carers for walking or bathing sequences and appropriate motions have to be adopted, in order to achieve natural, physical human - robot interaction. Our goal is to report current research work related to the development of two real-life use cases of intelligent robotic systems for elderly aiming to provide user-adaptive and context-aware assistance.