Misato Nihei

Proposal for a New Development Methodology for Assistive Technology Based on a Psychological Model of Elderly People

Developed countries are all witnessing an increase in the aging of their populations and Japan is no exception to this. In fact, Japan is a pioneer in this respect, and as of 2011 the nations elderly population stood at 29,440,000, or 23.1% of the total population (The Cabinet Office in Japan, 2011). Social aging has thus triggered research into geriatric assistive technology (AT) as well as a supportive societal infrastructure catering to the elderly and to persons with disabilities. The AT industry in Japan, which has great significance for social and industrial users, has been referred to as a growth industry since legislation on AT was enacted in 1992 (M. Watanabe et al., 2006). Some modifications to the social system and care insurance system were enacted in 2000, and the market has been steadily expanding and currently it is said to have reached maturity (K. Masahiro, 2005). In the past decade, emphasis has been given to developing an AT infrastructure that can readily facilitate the adoption of the advances being made in standardizing AT and to further improve the quality of this service in addition to enhancing the safety and operability of the system (S. Hashimoto,.2007).

A new mobility interface for the elderly to expand their scope of activities—The SLIDE FLEX

Assistive technologies, especially mobility devices, have had a profound impact on the daily activities and social participation not only of healthy elderly persons, but also of elderly care-receivers. To this end, the authors have developed a new mobility interface, the SLIDE FLEX, which extends the mobility activities of users by maintaining body function by using upper limb motions. We designed and developed a new operation system, a touch slide sensor. The concept of the new system is to use separate arm support to measure the position, displacement and velocity of each arm, and to use these data as input signals to control the system. The SLIDE FLEX enables the user to propel herself/himself naturally while motors assist her/his propulsion speed. The main components are a touch slide with a capacitance slider sensor, a control system, and a powered wheelchair. Sensors in the arm support detect positional information, which is calculated as three types of control input: position, displacement, and propulsion velocity. These input signals for each arm are recognized as indications of the users intention to change direction and are used to turn the vehicle. Preliminary evaluations indicate that this new system is both safe and useful.

Kinematic walking analysis on a new vehicle “Tread-Walk” with active velocity control of treadmill belt

The importance on walking for health is growing in elder dominated society. We have been developing a new mobility “Tread-Walk 1 (TW-1)” controlled by walking movement. The device uses active treadmill velocity control, which allows the user to walk on the treadmill at any desired velocity. In this paper, the walking movements on the TW-1 were kinematically analyzed and compared with the walking movements on a traditional constant-velocity treadmill and on flat ground. The results showed that the walking pattern on the TW-1 was somewhat similar to that on a constant-velocity treadmill and on flat ground; however, the flexion angle of the hip joint and the dorsiflexion and plantaflexion angles of the ankle joint during TW-1 walking were larger. It also was shown that the foot applied a stronger kicking force to the belt at toe-off and the foot clearance on the TW-1 was larger than that on the constant-velocity treadmill and on flat ground. Therefore, the walking patterns in the swing and stance phase on the TW-1 are little different. However, the walking movements based on the TW-1 active belt control are valuable from the viewpoints of motion training.

A new mobility-aid vehicle with a unique turning system

The development of assistive technologies, especially mobility devices, has an important impact on the daily activities and social participation of elderly people. The authors have developed a new mobility aid, ldquoTread-Walkrdquo, which extends mobility activities, maintains body function and maintains natural walking appearance. In the current research, we designed and developed a more natural operation system based on human walking movements. The new system concept is to use separate treadmill belts to measure the acceleration/deceleration force of each leg and use it as the input signal to change the direction of the system. This new device, ldquoTread-Walk 2rdquo, permits the user to walk naturally while a servo motor amplifies his normal walking speed. Its main components are a treadmill with two belts, two middle driving wheels, and four omni-directional casters. Sensors in the treadmill detect forward and backward reaction forces that are applied to the surfaces of the belts during walking. These forces for each leg are recognized as signal of the userpsilas intention to change direction and are used to turn the vehicle. These sensors also control the rotational speed of the driving wheel motors. Preliminary evaluations indicate that this turning system is both safe and effective for use by elderly people.

Need and impressions of communication robots for seniors with slight physical and cognitive disabilities: Evaluation using system usability scale

Various types of communication robots have emerged for supporting elderly people with impairments or frailties. However, the need of the robots for healthy elderly persons with decreasing physical and cognitive abilities remains unclear. Knowledge about these needs can help determine the guidelines or implications of the introduction of communication robots for healthy seniors. The objective of this study is to clarify the needs and the impressions of various communication robots for seniors with slight physical or cognitive problems. The scores on the system usability scale (SUS) and interview results indicated that, with increasing participant age, mammal-like communication robots were more preferable than other types. In addition, elderly persons with minor physical problems tended not to prefer manually operated robots.

Acquisition and evaluation of a human-robot elderly spoken dialog corpus for developing computerized cognitive assessment systems

Personal communication robots are expected to assist daily living of elderly people. Aiming at developing computerized cognitive assessment systems, we collected human-robot spoken dialog of a cognitive impairment test scenario based on TICS (Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status) and COGNISTAT (Cognitive Status Examination) in Japanese. For the efficient acquisition of the spoken dialog corpus of this scenario, we implemented a WOz (Wizard of Oz) style spoken dialog system on a commercial personal robot, PaPeRo by NEC. By using this system, we collected 147 dialogs spoken by 48 elderlies whose ages varied about 75-85 and MMSE (Mini Mental State Examination) scores varied around 26.5. Each dialog took about 30 min, and contains around 100 human utterances. In order to evaluate feasibility of automatic assessment, we conducted speech recognition experiments with the speech corpus. In the recognition experiments of the elderly speech of answering to the temporal orientation test of asking todays month a...

A steering system of a new mobility-aid vehicle: Tread-walk

In Japan, independent living and freedom of movement are expected, even by aged persons, and the importance of preventive medicine and walking as part of overall efforts to maintain health are continuously promoted. To those ends, we have been developing a new mobility device, known as Tread-Walk (TW), which incorporates the following concepts: ldquoimproved mobility,rdquo ldquohealth maintenance,rdquo and ldquoa natural walking appearance.rdquo The device operates by means of three controls: a free treadmill velocity control (which allows the user to walk at their desired velocity), a driving control, and a steering control. In this paper, we propose an innovative steering control method that enables users to turn the device in a safe and stable manner. The newly developed steering system was designed to provide optimum support to the physical characteristics of elderly people. Furthermore, the rotational system of the device was constructed in a way that takes into consideration the centrifugal force imposed on the center of gravity of a person who is walking or standing. A number of simulations were conducted into the properties of our new steering system and it was determined that the rotation of the TW system could be safely implemented.

Change in the Relationship Between the Elderly and Information Support Robot System Living Together

We developed an interactive communication robot to support the elderly who have mild cognitive impairment with their daily schedule. In this study, we examined how elderly people receiving information from a robot behave according to the robot’s interaction protocol, through an experiment providing schedule information for several days. In addition, we examined the interaction between humans and robots through long-term life intervention experiments and analyzed the quantitative and qualitative changes in their reactions.

Appropriate talking pattern of an information support robot for people living with dementia: a case study

Purpose – The authors are in the process of exploring an information support robot to support daily activities of people with mild cognitive impairment or dementia. The purpose of this paper is to reveal how the robot should talk to an older woman with dementia to make her perform daily activities. Design/methodology/approach – The robot asked to the participant to do some daily activities; Task A, taking medicine; Task B, measuring blood pressure; and Task C, cleaning up the room in three different ways for each task. In the talking pattern 1 (TP1), the robot simply informed what the tasks were. The talking patterns 2 and 3 (TP2 and TP3) were separated according to the process of activities in two and three steps, respectively. The participant was required to answer “Yes” if she understood what the robot talked to her, and perform the tasks. Findings – The participant was not able to prepare water in the Task A when the robot spoke the TP1 (performance rate (PR) was 71.4 per cent). However, she could per...

Using an Electronic Diary to Bolster Self-Esteem in Persons with Early-Stage Dementia

Persons with early-stage dementia are at risk for decreasing self-esteem because they perceive discrepancies between their actual self-state and their preclinical self-state. We developed a psychological intervention that uses diaries with entries related to positive self-worth for persons with early-stage dementia. We report three exploratory case studies with a 59-year-old male with frontotemporal dementia (Mr. A), and a 53-year-old male (Mr. B) and a 46-year-old female (Ms. C) with Alzheimer’s disease. Participants were asked to read their diaries focusing either on achievement, positive interpersonal, or other themes, and rate their self-esteem before and after. Mr. A demonstrated improvement of self-esteem after reading diaries focused on achievement themes. Mr. B demonstrated improvement after reading diaries focused on interpersonal themes. However, Ms. C did not show improvement of self-esteem. These results suggest that reading diaries focused on achievement or positive interpersonal themes could bolster the self-esteem of some persons with early-stage dementia.