The presentation starts with a brief presentation of welfare technology: how it all started and where we are at the moment. The emphasis is on the importance of care robots, as well as the relationship between them and welfare technology. In the presentation were included some movies that do not show in SlideShare. These are accessible in (last accessed 17.06.2016): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jZlSfsE730 (Robot & Frank Official Trailer) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2VhThCzFwg (VictoryaHome in the Netherlands)) https://youtu.be/03m6d1jRfQc (VictoryaHome in Norway)

1. ©2016 J. Artur Serrano 1
Welfare Technology
and
Care Robots
Two stories: a story of the past and
a story of the future

2. ©2016 J. Artur Serrano 2
The context of welfare technology
Increased price of treatment and expectations of a better care
Ageing population
From 2010 to 2060, population aged over 65 as a proportion of the working population will almost
double (one older person for every four workers to one for every two).
Increased tax or higher pension age in order to support their elders [EPRS 2013]
2010 2060
More chronic care
Less human resources
Unfavourable social structures
Pressure in care delivery institutions

3. Welfare technology
©2016 J. Artur Serrano 3
Welfare: [oxford dictionary]
Statutory procedure or social effort designed to promote the basic physical
and material well-being of people in need

4. ©2016 J. Artur Serrano 4
Norwegian report “Innovation in care”
NOU 2011:11 "Innovasjon i omsorg"
It primarily means technological assistance which aims at improving the safety, security, social
participation, mobility and physical and cultural activity, and at strengthening the ability of
individuals to fend for themselves in everyday life despite illness, and social, mental or
physical impairment or disability.
Welfare technology

5. ©2016 J. Artur Serrano 5
Welfare technology can also act as support to families and otherwise help to improve
availability, resource utilization and quality of service provision.
Welfare Technological solutions in many cases can prevent the need for services or
institutionalization.
[Helsedirektoratet 2014]
Solutions for people with chronic diseases/disorders, persons in need of
rehabilitation and maintenance of mobility, children/youth with disabilities, etc.

6. Lack of adoption
©2016 J. Artur Serrano
It’s about PEOPLE
Who are our users?
Do not loose focus on the users.
In Telemedicine/Telehealth:
clinicians – they must see the value of
technology and it cannot disrupt their
practice
Persuasion vs. diffusion
The problem
Focus has been: technology features
Economical benefits
But: “First, advantages for users are the crucial
determinant of the speed of adoption of
technology in healthcare.” [Zanaboni, P. 2013]
The threat
A lot of the focus on policy and directives
More evidence-based research
Fragmented market. Technology not yet ready
In Welfare technology:
frail people, ill or impaired – caregivers
must also see the value

7. ICT in Social CareICT in Healthcare
Definitions and contexts
eHealth
Welfare technology
Telemedicine
©2016 J. Artur Serrano
Telecare
Telehealth

8. ©2016 J. Artur Serrano 8
A STORY OF THE PAST
How it all started

9. ©2016 J. Artur Serrano 9
Some history
Ambient Intelligence
represents a vision of the future where we shall be surrounded by electronic environments,
sensitive and responsive to people.
The beginning 2007 - European Conference on Ambient Intelligence - AmI-07 Darmstadt
Workshop on Ambient Assisted Living

10. ©2016 J. Artur Serrano 10
Some history
Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) provides equipment and automated services that enable
citizens to live longer independently and self-determined in their own homes.
This reduces the need for special medical care and nursing services; and it improves the
quality of these services, often at lower cost for the society. [AmI 2007]
EU Framework Programme
Amigo 2004-2008 (budget: 24 M€)
PERSONA 2007-2010 (11.7 M€)

11. ©2016 J. Artur Serrano 11
Welfare Technology - the beginning
In Denmark, the concept was introduced in spring 2007 by the Ministry
of Social Affairs and quickly gained a foothold as a key concept in both public and private
institutions [Jordansen 2009]
Welfare Technology, as AAL, is also centred on the elderly and their well-being.
Danish term picks up
The first steps of a new EU jointly funded programme
• AAL-JP Ambient Assisted Living Joint Programme (2008-2013) – funded over 150 projects
• 2009 AAL Forum in Vienna - 400 people
• 2010 AAL Forum in Odense - the big growth - over 2000 participants

12. ©2016 J. Artur Serrano 12
Welfare Technology - the beginning
AAL today
2014-today : AAL = Active and Assisted Living
Google:
• "active and assisted living" 45 K results
• "ambient assisted living" 290 K results
• "velferdsteknologi" 190 K results
• "welfare technology" 39 K results

13. ©2016 J. Artur Serrano 13
A STORY OF THE FUTURE
The robots arrive to welfare technology - Side event in AAL Odense 2010
RoboDays

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Care Robots
arrive at the welfare technology
Modern Times (1936) Our times (Bestic®)

15. ©2016 J. Artur Serrano 15
Robots in care
Some qualities or characteristics of robots:
• Autonomy - Autonomous vs. telerobotics/remote controlled (semi-autonomous)
• Sensing
• Connectedness
• Data processing
• Humanoid (mimics humans)

16. ©2015 J. Artur Serrano 16
The future
© Sony pictures entertainment company

17. ©2016 J. Artur Serrano 17
Important issues in the film
• Wellbeing: coaching, diet, exercise - walking
• Security
• Ethics
• Self-determination - son decides he needs the robot
• Social contact
• Emotional attachment
© Sony pictures entertainment company

18. ©2016 J. Artur Serrano 18
CompanionAble
(EU Framework Programme 7 - 2007)
Hector: a companion
Cognitive training
Videotelephony
Remote controlled movement
Controlling smart systems around the house
Emergency handling (e.g. fall) through dial up response
service
Agenda/diary management and reminders (medication)
Voice interface

19. ©softbankrobotics 19
The humanoid version
(since 2009)
Romeo is designed to
explore and further
research into
assisting elderly
people and those who
are losing their
autonomy.
Romeo is the fruit of collaboration between numerous French and European
laboratories and institutions.

20. ©2015 J. Artur Serrano 20
Friends?
WowWee®-CHiP ®Blue frog robotics
BUDDY
https://adoptbuddy.com/fr/

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Paro
National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (Japan)
Our work (Queensland,
Australia) suggests that PARO
has the potential to positively
influence the lives of people
with dementia, but further
research is required to
understand its effect.
[Moyle 2013]
PARO is a therapeutic companion robot
It has tactile sensors and moves its tail and flippers and opens its eyes when petted.
Artificial intelligence changes the behaviour based on sensors that monitor sound, light, temperature and touch.
Learns and responds to words.
Uses sounds to show emotions such as surprise, happiness, anger and sadness (cry). It produces sounds similar to a
real baby seal and is active during the day and asleep at night.
Over 2000 scientific articles published on its use for care

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Telepresence
Lowering cost (<3K USD): Double Robotics® (2013) Top of the range high-end (70K USD): iRobot Ava® 500

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Networking care givers
VictoryaHome
Bringing together telepresence robots, mobile Apps,
health&safety monitoring and cloud technology

25. ©2016 J. Artur Serrano 25
VictoryaHome
Achievements
50% of caregivers’ reaction in less than 10 minutes
80% of caregivers’ reaction within 1 hour
Provides reduction of emergency calls with false positives
A social experience - elderly as early adopters
Increase in cross-generational social contact
Challenges
Testing involving response centre,
formal caregivers, family and the
elderly.
Fragmented services, many
providers, fragmented
responsibility
Complex technology, increased
complexity with multiple cloud
servers

26. ©2016 J. Artur Serrano 26
Meanwhile….
in Norway there are also robots at peoples’ homes

27. ©2016 J. Artur Serrano 27

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Realistic future scenario
Ongoing research
Cognitive and physical training and motivation (gamification)
Memory aid (localization, home-automation)
Social contact (telepresence)
Monitoring of health and safety with sensors
Advanced fields of research
Social contact (care networking – multiple carers to many users)
Force feedback (e.g. exoskeleton)
Behaviour patterns recognition
Voice interaction (dialogue)
Emotions detection (heart rate, skin conductivity, expression recognition, voice, etc.),
Complex companionship (cognitive computing and cloud computing)
Help with activities of daily living (ADL) - Value perception: What does it do to help me?

29. ©2016 J. Artur Serrano 29
Powered exoskeletons
Improving the quality of life of persons
disabilities (e.g. assisted walking)
Helping nurses to lift and carry patients.
For rehabilitation of stroke or spinal cord
injury patients (Step Rehabilitation Robots)
– Ekso
Virtual Immersion - VI-Bot

30. ©2016 J. Artur Serrano 30
Nao and Pepper
Aldebaran Robotics (France) – SoftBank (Japan) from July 2014
Press Release December 2015 (SoftBank)
“Units for December sales of ‘Pepper’ sold out.
Since the start of sales in June 2015 [… ] 7,000 units have been
sold.”
NAO: almost 4000 research articles reporting on the use of
this robot for care
Pepper: A robot capable of recognising human emotions and
adapting his behaviour to the mood of his interlocutor.
Hospital use (Belgium)
In the Damiaan hospital in Ostend, it will accompany visitors to the correct
department. The Liege hospital wants to become one of the world's most futuristic
over the next 10 years.
[BBC News, June 2016]
PEPPER

31. ©TOYOTA 31
Toyota Human Support Robot – HSR
Japan
In response to the ageing of
Japan's population, TOYOTA
collaborates with research and
health and nursing
organizations in the field of
care for the elderly”
[www.toyota-global.com]
Human Support Robot(HSR)
Develop a human-assisting partner
robot «robots into the home
environment to coexist with
family members»
[Hashimoto 2013]
Nursing and medical care at hospitals
Patients and seniors at care centres
Support domestic duties at home

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Asimo
Honda - Japan
«Born» in 2000 (initial concept 1986)
Climbs stairs
Runs
Thumb joint independence - holds objects of various shapes
Force feedback (feels pulled or pushed)
New research focused on the ageing population (over 800 scientific articles)
©Honda

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Welfare technology includes all ages… also children

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Kaspar (UK), Zeno and Milo (USA)
Research focused on
children's mental health
Studies in
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD)
Down’s syndrome
Attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder (ADHD)

35. ©2016 J. Artur Serrano 35
Zeno and Milo
RoboKind and University of Texas, USA
Expressions and artificial intelligence
Teach children the art of communication and
interpretation of facial expressions
Byhaveskolen special school Svendborg,
Denmark. The children suffer from general
and extensive learning disabilities

36. ©2016 J. Artur Serrano 36
Zeno and Milo
RoboKind and University of Texas, USA
Milo teaches emotions and social behavior.
Milo speaks 20% slower than a human.
Milo can repeat lessons over and over again
Scarce research evidence – only small sized pilots
[Srinivasan 2013], [Patel 2014]
Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) may
be engaged in interaction with humanoid robots in
similar ways as typically developing children.

37. ©2016 J. Artur Serrano 37
Summary
Welfare technology is about people
Frail, with special needs. Who wants to
feel safe. Technology must provide
solutions that may be complex to design
and create but they have to look
attractive, feel simple and are safe to
the user.
Welfare technology is about emotions,
both from the recipients of care and their
care givers.

38. ©2016 J. Artur Serrano 38
Links* and references
Asimo: http://asimo.honda.com/
Buddy: http://www.bluefrogrobotics.com/
Chip: http://wowwee.com/chip
Ekso exoskeleton: http://eksobionics.com/
Kaspar: www.herts.ac.uk/kaspar
Robot and Frank Trailer (2012): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi9s-__B0TY
Romeo: www.ald.softbankrobotics.com/en/cool-robots/romeo and http://www.zdnet.com/article/brisk-sales-for-pepper-but-romeo-is-primed-to-be-the-first-hit-humanoid/
Toyota HSR: http://www.toyota-global.com/
VictoryaHome in Norway: https://youtu.be/-otvH7EUN-E
VictoryaHome in the Netherlands: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2VhThCzFwg
Zeno R25 (Milo): http://www.robokindrobots.com/robots4autism-home/
ZenoR50: http://www.robokindrobots.com/robots/
(AAL-JP) AAL Joint Programme: http://www.aal-europe.eu/
(AmI 2007) http://ami-conferences.org/2007/documents/aalagenda.pdf
(EPRS 2013) European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS) “Ageing Population: Projections 2010 – 2060 For The EU27” https://epthinktank.eu/2013/12/19/ageing-population-
projections-2010-2060-for-the-eu27/
(Hashimoto 2013) (Toyota HSR): K. Hashimoto, F. Saito, T. Yamamoto and K. Ikeda, "A field study of the human support robot in the home environment," 2013 IEEE Workshop on Advanced
Robotics and its Social Impacts, Tokyo, 2013, pp. 143-150. doi: 10.1109/ARSO.2013.6705520 http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=6705520&isnumber=6705492
(Hagen-utvalget 2013) St. meld.nr. 29 (2012–2013:110) Morgendagens omsorg
(Helsedirektoratet 2012) «Velferdsteknologi. Fagrapport om implementering av velferdsteknologi i de kommunale helse- og omsorgstjenestene 2013-2030». Publisher : Helsedirektoratet,
2012 (in Norwegian)
(Jordansen 2009) Jordansen, I. K. “Velfærdsteknologi. Ambient Assisted Living – Technology”. Masterafhandling. Det Samfundsvidenskabelige Fakultet. Aarhus Universitet, 2009.
(Moyle 2013) Moyle, W., Cooke, M., Beattie, E., Jones, C., Klein, B., Cook, G., Gray, C. “Exploring the effect of companion robots on emotional expression in older people with dementia: A pilot
RCT”. Journal of Gerontological Nursing 39(5) 46-53. 2013
(Patel 2014) Patel, V. R. Preedy, & C. R. Martin (Eds.), Comprehensive guide to autism (pp. 411-422). New York, NY: Springer, 2014.
(Srinivasan 2013)Srinivasan, S. and Bhat, A., "The Effect of Robot-Child Interactions on Social Attention and Verbalization Patterns of Typically Developing Children and Children with Autism
between 4 and 8 Years“, Open Access Author Fund. Paper 18. 2013. http://digitalcommons.uconn.edu/libr_oa/18
(WHO 2015) http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/ageing/en/
(Zanaboni 2013) Zanaboni, P. and Wootton, R., “Adoption of telemedicine: from pilot stage to routine delivery”, BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, DOI: 10.1186/1472-6947-12-1,
January 2012
* Links last accessed in 15. June 2016