MEANINGFUL DIALOGUES WITH SOCIAL ROBOTS

We are seeing more and more possibilities for the use of social robots, but can robots also have a meaningful dialogue with someone with dementia? Researchers from the Utrecht School of the Arts (HKU) investigated this together with literature organisation Wintertuin, ArtEZ University of the Arts, VU University Amsterdam (VU) and healthcare institutions AxionContinu and Vitalis WoonZorg Groep in the KIEM GoCI project Robotstories.

A conversation with social robot Memo
In 3 sessions, the residents of AxionContinu and Vitalis entered into a conversation with social robot Memo – initially with a cardboard version, in the 2nd and 3rd session with the real robot.

“From earlier versions of the research, in which we also collaborated with writers from Wintertuin and the VU, we already had experience with the use of social robots in dialogues with children,” says Jorrit Thijn, one of the researchers from the HKU, “and we wanted to know whether our findings also apply to other demographics.”

Robots are increasingly playing a role in healthcare contexts.

The seniors with dementia demographic was a logical choice, according to Thijn: “Robots are increasingly playing a role in healthcare contexts. For us as researchers, the role of the robot has not yet been determined. We especially wanted to investigate how a social robot can enter into a meaningful dialogue with someone with dementia, and how this can enrich existing care.

Collaboration with healthcare institutions
The researchers contacted healthcare institutions AxionContinu and Vitalis, with whom Wintertuin has been working together for some time. Patti Meijdam, healthcare professional at AxionContinu, was excited to practically contribute to the research from the start.

“The workload in healthcare is very high. The phenomenon of robots in healthcare is of course still in its infancy, but I do see a future in which robots can make our work easier. And a study that involves our residents will lead to something that works in practice more quickly.”

End-user feedback
Meijdam, in consultation with the researchers, selected a number of residents who wanted to participate in the study. Based on their interactions with the social robot and their reactions to it, the writers of Wintertuin and the programmers and interaction designers of the VU were able to further refine the robot.

Thijn: “Patti's involvement as a healthcare worker was very important for obtaining feedback. She and the residents know each other well, so they respond much more openly to her than to me. In addition, after a few days, Patti was able to gauge what was retained from the session.”

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This is a KIEM GoCI project. KIEM GoCI encourages the establishment of new partnerships between SMEs in the creative industries and knowledge institutions that focus on exploratory research within the Knowledge and Innovation Agenda (KIA) Resilience of the creative industries.