Robotics for caregivers: A feasibility study on the use of robotics in community centres for geriatric care

Rapid population ageing is posing significant social and economic challenges in many countries around the world, including Singapore. By 2030, approximately one in five Singapore residents will be 65 years of age and older. With this significant demographic change taking place, it becomes more and more important to devise ageing-in-place strategies to enable the elderly to live and train within their community and under limited supervision.

As people age, they generally experience a decline in their sensorimotor functions, which can then affect their ability to carry out their regular activities of daily living and thus affect their independence. As such, it is important to provide the elderly with effective tools to help them exercise and retain their sensorimotor functions.

The primary objective of the proposed project is to develop semi-independent assessment and training setup (robotic manipulator) for the elderly use under minimal supervision (care-givers only). The robotic solution combines both visual and haptic (i.e. shape, orientation and texture) stimuli that can ensure quality of training and incorporates sensors for regular assessment.

We hypothesize that training provided through our refined interactive robotic platform under minimal supervision will be comparable to therapy provided under direct supervision of therapist and will offer a motivating environment for the elderly to regularly within their communities without having to travel for regular assessments.