Active and Healthy Ageing: Development of a Robotic Platform as an Exercise Trainer

In this paper a new robotic system is introduced that will engage, coach, assess and motivate the elderly in physical exercises that are recommended by the National Health Services (NHS) in the UK. With the rise in the population of the elderly which is expected to triple by 2050, this robotic system will aims to improve the quality of life for a significant proportion of the population. Physical activities have tremendous benefit to elderly people. Regular exercise helps the elderly by improving their physical fitness, immune system, sleep and stress levels, not to mention the countless health problems it reduces such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, dementia, obesity, joint pains etc. Having a human instructor for each elderly person is not feasible due to the increase in the population of the elderly. The solution to this, therefore, is having a Exercise Trainer Socially Assistive Robot (ETSAR) that engages the elderly in the needed physical activity, coaches, motivates and also assesses their performance.