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Background: Together with care professionals, specific psychogeriatric care applications were developed for the seal robot Paro., Objectives: This study aims to evaluate the outcomes of the developed Paro interventions, applying the robot in psychogeriatric care., Design: A multicenter quasi-experimental time series ABAB study (n = 91) with within-subject comparison was conducted to assess both the short-term effects of the Paro interventions for therapeutic applications, and the facilitation of daily care activities by care providers., Setting: Small-scale care units (8-10 residents each), spread over 6 different locations, in 3 Dutch care institutions for intramural psychogeriatric care., Participants: A total of 91 patients with dementia, in all stages of dementia., Intervention: Two user-centered intervention types were applied, one for therapeutic purposes and one for the facilitation of daily care activities., Measurements: Effectiveness was measured with a goal attainment scale (IPPA) and a mood scale (Coop/Wonca), by means of a registration form., Results: A total of 106 user-specific interventions were defined for 91 participants; 71 participants completed the study, 14 were men and 57 were women. All interventions combined show a significant effect (P < .001)., Conclusion: Paro should be seen as a tool for care staff and not as a replacement of care. Successful implementation of Paro in daily intramural psychogeriatric care practice can increase the quality of care and the quality of life for the elderly., (Copyright © 2015 AMDA – The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Over the past decades, many robots for the elderly have been developed, supporting different activities of elderly people. A systematic review in four scientific literature databases and a search in article references and European projects was performed in order to create an overview of robots supporting independent living of elderly people. The robots found were categorized based on their development stage, the activity domains they claim to support, and the type of support provided (i.e., physical, non-physical, and/or non-specified). In total, 107 robots for the elderly were identified. Six robots were still in a concept phase, 95 in a development phase, and six of these robots were commercially available. These robots claimed to provide support related to four activity domains: mobility, self-care, interpersonal interaction & relationships, and other activities. Of the many robots developed, only a small percentage is commercially available. Technical ambitions seem to be guiding robot development. To prolong independent living, the step towards physical support is inevitable and needs to be taken. However, it will be a long time before a robot will be capable of supporting multiple activities in a physical manner in the home of an elderly person in order to enhance their independent living.

Purpose: In light of the increasing elderly population and the growing demand for home care, the potential of robot support is given increasing attention. In this paper, an inventory of activities was made that threaten independent living of elderly when becoming problematic. Results will guide the further development of an existing service robot, the Care-O-bot®., Method: A systematic literature search of PubMed was performed, focused on the risk factors for institutionalization. Additionally, focus group sessions were conducted in the Netherlands, United Kingdom and France. In these focus group sessions, problematic activities threatening the independence of elderly people were discussed. Three separate target groups were included in the focus group sessions: (1) elderly persons (n = 41), (2) formal caregivers (n = 40) and (3) informal caregivers (n = 32)., Results: Activities within the International Classification of Functioning domains mobility, self-care, and interpersonal interaction and relationships were found to be the most problematic., Conclusions: A distinct set of daily activities was identified that may threaten independent living, but no single activity could be selected as the main activity causing a loss of independence as it is often a combination of problematic activities that is person-specific. Supporting the problematic activities need not involve a robotic solution.

Sustaining independent living for the elderly is desirable both for the individual as well as for societies as a whole. Substantial care interventions are provided to citizens supporting their independent living. Currently, such interventions are primarily based on human care provision, but due to demographic changes the demand for such support is continuously increasing. Assistive Robotics has the potential to answer this growing demand. The notions research towards service robots that support the independence of elderly people has been given increased attention. The challenge is to develop robots that are able to adequately support with those activities that pose the greatest problems for elderly people seeking to remain independent. In order to develop the capabilities of the Care-O-bot 3 in the ACCOMPANY project, problematic activities that may threaten continued independent living of elderly people were studied. Focus groups were conducted in the Netherlands, UK, and France and included three separate user groups: (1) elderly (N=41), (2) formal caregivers (N=40), and (3) informal caregivers (N=32). This resulted in a top 3 of problematic activity domains that received the highest priority: (1) Mobility, (2) Self-care, and (3) Social isolation. The findings inform the further development of the Care-O-bot. In the ACCOMPANY project the Care-O-bot 3 will be developed further to enable it to support independently living older persons in one of these domains.

The ongoing development of robotics on the one hand and, on the other hand, the foreseen relative growth in number of elderly individuals suffering from dementia, raises the question of which contribution robotics could have to rationalize and maintain, or even improve the quality of care. The objective of this review was to assess the published effects and effectiveness of robot interventions aiming at social assistance in elderly care. We searched, using Medical Subject Headings terms and free words, in the CINAHL, MEDLINE, Cochrane, BIOMED, PUBMED, PsycINFO, and EMBASE databases. Also the IEEE Digital Library was searched. No limitations were applied for the date of publication. Only articles written in English were taken into account. Collected publications went through a selection process. In the first step, publications were collected from major databases using a search query. In the second step, 3 reviewers independently selected publications on their title, using predefined selection criteria. In the third step, publications were judged based on their abstracts by the same reviewers, using the same selection criteria. In the fourth step, one reviewer made the final selection of publications based on complete content. Finally, 41 publications were included in the review, describing 17 studies involving 4 robot systems. Most studies reported positive effects of companion-type robots on (socio)psychological (eg, mood, loneliness, and social connections and communication) and physiological (eg, stress reduction) parameters. The methodological quality of the studies was, mostly, low. Although positive effects were reported, the scientific value of the evidence was limited. The positive results described, however, prompt further effectiveness research in this field., (Copyright © 2012 American Medical Directors Association, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Research shows a reduced playfulness in children with developmental disabilities. This is a barrier for participation and children's health and wellbeing. IROMEC is a purposely designed robot to support play in impaired children. The reported study evaluates short-term effects of the IROMEC robot toy supporting play in an occupational therapy intervention for children with developmental disabilities. Two types of play intervention (standard occupational therapy versus robot-facilitated play intervention) were compared regarding their effect on the level of playfulness, on children's general functional development, goal achievement as well as the therapist's evaluation of the added value of a robot-facilitated play intervention. Three young children took part in this single-subject design study. Evaluation was performed through Test of Playfulness (ToP), the IROMEC evaluation questionnaire and qualitative evaluation by the therapists. Results confirmed the IROMEC robot did partly meet the needs of the children and therapists, and positive impact on TOP results was found with two children. This suggests robotic toys can support children with developmental disabilities in enriching play. Long term effect evaluation should verify these positive indications resulting from use of this innovative social robot for children with developmental disabilities. But it also became clear further development of the robot is required., (© 2011 IEEE)

Sustaining independent living for elderly people in their own homes is desirable for various reasons. As older people become frail or disabled, a 'gap' appears between the abilities they still have and the abilities that are required for independent living. To a certain extent robots may close this gap by providing functionality lost through frailty or disability. A scenario was created involving a re-enablement coach robot. This scenario was discussed with older people, informal carers, and care professionals in focus groups in the Netherlands, United Kingdom and France. The results provided insights into the acceptability of robots and showed that older people were open to the idea of having a robot supporting them in their daily life. Participants were also willing to have a robot perform higher level coordinating tasks while playing the role of the re-enablement coach. However, participants wanted the robot to operate at the same level of intelligence as a human carer. This implies that more attention needs to be given to the development of the social skills and behaviour of such robots. Additionally, participants acknowledged that such a robotwould create tension between respecting the autonomy of the user (i.e. robot obeys all commands given by the user) and the promotion of independence in the long term (i.e. robot is programmed to maintain the abilities the user still has). Our results indi-cate that people preferred to resolve this tension in favour of autonomy. This choice, however, may decrease the user's abilities in the longer term and thereby undermine users' ability to live independently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Play is an essential part of children’s lives. Children with physical disabilities experience difficulties in play, especially those with severe physical disabilities. With the progress of innovative technology, the possibilities to support play are increasing. The purpose of this literature study is to gain insight into the aims, control options and commercial availability of information and communication technology (ICT) and robots to support play (especially play for the sake of play) in children with severe physical disabilities.Methods: A systematic literature search in the databases PubMed, CINAHL, IEEE and ERIC was carried out. Titles and abstracts were assessed independently by three reviewers. In addition, studies were selected using Google Scholar, conference proceedings and reference lists.Results: Three main groups of technology for play could be distinguished: robots (n= 8), virtual reality systems (n= 15) and computer systems (n= 4). Besides, ICT and robots developed for specific therapy or educational goals using play-like activities, five of the in total 27 technologies in this study described the aim of “play for play’s sake”.Conclusions: Many ICT systems and robots to support play in children with physical disabilities were found. Numerous technologies use play-like activities to achieve therapeutic or educational goals. Robots especially are used for “play for play’s sake”.Implications for RehabilitationThis study gives insight into the aims, control options and commercial availability for application of robots and ICT to support play in children with severe physical disabilities.This overview can be used in both the fields of rehabilitation and special education to search for new innovative intervention options and it can stimulate them to use these innovative play materials.Especially robots may have great potential in supporting “play for play's sake”. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article presents a novel set of ten play scenarios for robot-assisted play for children with special needs. This set of scenarios is one of the key outcomes of the IROMEC project that investigated how robotic toys can become social mediators, encouraging children with special needs to discover a range of play styles, from solitary to collaborative play (with peers, carers/teachers, parents etc.). The target user groups in the project were children with Mild Mental Retardation,1 children with Severe Motor Impairment and children with Autism. The play scenarios were developed against specific educational and therapeutic objectives that were discussed with panels of experts (teachers therapists parents) in various countries, during several user panel meetings for each of the above mentioned target user groups. These objectives were classified with reference to the ICF-CY, the International Classification of Functioning – version for Children and Youth. The article presents a detailed description of the play scenarios, each with its relevant educational and therapeutic objectives in five key developmental areas (i.e. sensory development, communication and interaction, Cognitive development, motor development and social and emotional development). While the play scenarios described in this paper originally were developed for and tested with the above user groups and with the IROMEC robot, the play scenarios can potentially be applied to other user groups and to a wide range of other applications involving human-robot interaction using different robotic toys. Keywords: human-robot interaction; assistive technology; play scenarios; autism; mild mental retardation; sever motor impairment; assisted play [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This article describes the user-centred development of play scenarios for robot assisted play, as part of the multidisciplinary IROMEC 1 [1] The work described in this article is conducted within the EU project IROMEC (Interactive Robotic Social Mediators as Companions) and was co-funded by the European Commission in the 6th Framework Program under contract IST-FP6-045356. project that develops a novel robotic toy for children with special needs. The project investigates how robotic toys can become social mediators, encouraging children with special needs to discover a range of play styles, from solitary to collaborative play (with peers, carers/teachers, parents, etc.). This article explains the developmental process of constructing relevant play scenarios for children with different special needs. Results are presented from consultation with panel of experts (therapists, teachers, parents) who advised on the play needs for the various target user groups and who helped investigate how robotic toys could be used as a play tool to assist in the children’s development. Examples from experimental investigations are provided which have informed the development of scenarios throughout the design process. We conclude by pointing out the potential benefit of this work to a variety of research projects and applications involving human–robot interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]