For those of you who walk around with a raised eyebrow when people start talking about the upcoming robot revolution, probably don't want to hear this, but the robots - they are coming to your home. More accurately to your grandmother's home.
By 2030, there will be about 72.1 million older persons, more than twice their number in 2000. And, we are living longer. Some sources say that we can expect an increase in life expectancy at birth by 2050 will go from 86 years for males and 92 years for females.
So the CompanionAble Project created a robot called Hector. Think of it as robotic assistance for the elderly. The project integrates a mobile assistive robot (Hector) that can work collaboratively with a smart home and remote control center to better support older people living at home. The four year project, in the final stages of field trials in Holland and Belgium with elderly people, was awarded 7.8 million euros under the EU Seventh Framework Program. The team is lead by Professor Atta Badii of the Intelligent Systems Research Laboratory at the University of Reading in the UK and has 19 specialists working on Hector. Nineteen people, four years, 7.8 million.
We hope Hector will help people stay independent for longer, receive care in their own homes and avoid unplanned hospital admissions. -- Professor Atta Badii, University of Reading UK
Hector is impressive on many levels.
Hector hasn't been 'toy-ified', as most robots are today, and he combines the smart home concept with robotic assistance, practical and positioned for mass market adoption. He comes when you call him, he can keep your daily routines and he reminds you when you have to take your medicine or reviews your agenda for the day. He will even keep your glasses safe in his "pocket" so you don't misplace them. Hector also has fall detection capabilities and in emergencies, such as a fall, Hector could help the remote control center he's connected to, assess how serious the fall is and what kind of emergency help may be needed.
Much like Clarity, (See Forbes January 2012) that produces smart telecommunications devices and ways for seniors and people with disabilities to continue to socialize and communicate, Hector can also assist the elderly in socializing through a video telephone interface.
More importantly, Hector, unlike so many other robotic projects that emerge from labs or universities, is proving that commercialization to mass market is feasible beyond a Roomba. His creators were market savvy from the start and installed him in several demonstration homes and variations of Hector currently live with real grandmothers and grandfathers proving he can support assisted independent living.
