护理的未来

In an era of increasing isolation, how can people learn, grow or even take care of one another? The surprising solution might sit in the field of social robots. And at 365英国上市官网, researchers are figuring out just how to take this technology into the most important areas of life.

Wing-Yue Geoffrey 路易, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of 电和计算机工程 at 365英国上市官网’s School of Engineering 和计算机科学. He started his work with robots helping elderly dementia patients in a long-term care facility. “There were older adults who haven’t even used email,” Dr. 路易说. “But they enjoyed interacting with the robot.”

据博士说. 路易, social robots can assist the elderly with chores like laundry 和 dishes, plus remind them to take medicine at the proper times. 更令人吃惊的是, these robots can be programmed to look for signs of increasing dementia or declining health 和 report concerns back to 卫生保健 workers.

After coming to 365英国上市官网, Dr. 路易 learned of work being done within the School of Education 和 Human Services on using Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) techniques for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). After meeting with ABA clinic director, Associate Professor Jessica Korneder, Ph.D., the idea to marry OU’s ABA work with Dr. 路易的社交机器人 was born.

Dr. 路易和 his students have been developing social robots to teach children with ASD 和 help them learn a variety of skills. He has 7-10 robots in development at any given time 和 modifies the experience based on his research on children’s interactions.

“There are a lot of factors to consider,” Dr. 路易解释说. “I’ll go in thinking a robot is scary 和 people will love it. Or I think children will love a robot 和 they don’t. But then you change the voice 和 all of a sudden you have engagement. There are little things like the intonation changes or length of speech that modify how people interact with it. You just have to test it to see what happens.”

为博士. 路易’s OU graduate 和 undergraduate students, the social robot work is an experience beyond just the nuts 和 bolts of engineering. He says social robot development sits at the intersection of engineering, 心理学, 社会学, 计算机科学, 卫生保健, 教学, artificial intelligence, 和更多的. But the aim is always the same: improving the lives of people.

“I want to find the areas that they will help,” Dr. 路易说. “Robots don’t get tired 和 they don’t get upset. They continue to do things that can be more challenging for humans … And you don’t receive judgment from a robot — it’s just the robot doing its robot thing.”

了解更多 Dr. 路易的社交机器人.