How a house robot could assist individuals with memory issues in finding missing things?

A new home robot that tracks objects could aid in the recovery of misplaced items.

Engineers hope that the discovery will assist people with memory impairments, such as dementia patients, in locating medicine, glasses, phones, and other objects that they require but have misplaced.

They reconfigured an existing robot to recognize, track, and remember specific items seen in its camera view via archived footage.

With the ability to discern one thing from another, the robot can record the time and date objects enter and exit its vision.

Researchers then created a graphical interface that allows users to select things to be tracked and then search for them on a smartphone app or computer by typing their names.

After that, the robot can report when and where it last saw the relevant thing.

‘Personally tailored buddy robot’
“The long-term impact of this is really exciting,” said Dr. Ali Ayub, a fellow in electrical and computer engineering at Canada’s University of Waterloo.

“A user can be involved not just with a companion robot, but with a personalized companion robot that can give them more independence.”

Dr. Ayub and his colleagues started with a Fetch mobile manipulator robot, which has a camera for detecting its surroundings, before adding an object-detection algorithm.

Tests have demonstrated that the system is highly accurate, and while some people with dementia may find the technology intimidating, Dr. Ayub says carers can easily utilise it.

In the future, researchers will undertake user studies with people who do not have disabilities, followed by persons who have dementia.

The project article was recently presented at the 2023 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction in Sweden.