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THE FIRST SKETCHES for Stevie the robot began in March this year.
The team of researchers and engineers at Trinity College began putting him together by any means necessary – using a Playstation controller and 3D-printed plastic arms and a head to put Stevie together.
But the robot’s function is the really complex bit – responding to the needs of an elderly person living alone.
“Nursing homes face significant care challenges, especially during the night,” says Conor McGinn, who’s an assistant professor in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at Trinity.
He and a team of researchers have been working with organisations such as Alone to ensure that the robot they created would be user-focused towards the elderly’s needs.
So here’s what they’ve come up with.
What does Stevie do?
He’s been programmed to recognise what is normal and abnormal behaviour for an elderly person and to notify someone if something is out of the ordinary.
He uses a camera, phone, and wifi to do this, and can turn lights and household appliances on and off.
In a series of demonstrations at the Science Gallery today, Stevie and 62-year-old Tony, who helps the researchers tweak the robot to be at his most useful, played out a few scenarios where having an assisted living robot would be useful.
In one such case, Tony tells Stevie he’s going up to bed, and to turn the lights off once he leaves the room. This eliminates the fear that an elderly person might fall after turning the lights off when heading to bed.
In another case, Stevie asks Tony if he takes his medication, as many elderly people do forget to take their daily medication, which can have serious health impacts. In another case, Stevie calls for help when Tony falls asleep at the dinner table, which the robot recognises is unusual for him.
Tony, who got involved with the project through the organisation Alone and his interest in technology, says that this is a way forward, even though it’s still in its early stages.
“When I was on the way I was joking earlier would the robot sound like HAL from 2001 the Space Odyssey or would he be like Croydon from Deep Space Nine or a cross between the two of them, or maybe Robocop!”
But, as you’d imagine, he’s not like any of those and was designed to be personable.
He didn’t creep me out at all – I thought he was a cute little fecker, I thought he was like a house pet but I won’t have to feed it.
“I find him quite personable, he’s very user-friendly. And there’s a bit to go but I think it’s travelling in the right direction at the moment.”
“If you remember back to the Industrial Revolution everything changed and we’ve got the technological revolution now and everything is changing.
What’s big and bulky on the 1 January 2017 could be compact and miniature by 2020, you know?
He says that if robots became mainstream and were widely available, he would consider getting one if he needed the extra help. He says he knows a few other people who would be the same and get a robot. But what do his family think?
His son was impressed by the robot, as he works in IT so he would have an interest in it. So far he’s the only one Tony has told about his involvement so far.
They haven’t got to see it yet. I’m going to ring the others later and let them know so they won’t be surprised if it comes out on news bulletins.
McGinn says the driving force behind this research is to create something practical, market ready. Although there isn’t a cost attached to a robot like Stevie yet, as there are still two years of reserach and development to be done by the team.
But it’s expected that it will be offered as a service or a package, rather than a single robot, and that the first assisted living robot will be market-ready by 2021.
The first pilot is scheduled to take place in the summer of 2018.
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It’s all well and good until Stevie starts humping the microwave during the night
@DarkHorse: That’s a silly comment . This is very serious but the article doesn’t tell us how to access , so its a useless article.
@rory conway: I mean not really, as they haven’t been on sale yet. They’re flying to the States later this month, where a care home will be trialing the beta version.
Can he make a good cup of tae though? Or boil an egg? Or put a few sods of turf on the fire?
As long as it’s used to complement human interaction and not replace it, it’s a good idea. Having spent summers at college working as a home help, i am aware that i was the only person many elderly people spoke to during the day. My being there for a chat was at times more important than my ability to light the fire
@Anne Marie Devlin:
Very good point.
May I be the first to welcome our new robot overlords.
Seriously though, cool bit of tech.
Japan, the US and other places are vastly more developed in the technologies required to implement practical autonomous robotic supports.
It’s a good idea but only if Trinity College collaborates with the best abroad.
As matters now stand, one small country does not have the embedded knowledge base, the centre of expertise, the resources and the funding required to make a massive project of this nature anything more than a prototype.
@Fiona deFreyne: Do you just put everything down? Ireland has produced leading technologies in the past beating those with more resources and been at it longer. They could easily develop key components for the future of all robot via software or hardware.
@Kal Ipers: it is a matter of scale, accumulated expertise, level of previous investment in R &D, historically, accumulated IPR, the legacy knowledge and expertise not to have to reinvent any wheels and the large numbers of highly quality researchers required to develop cutting edge technologies in areas off deep machine learning. The scale of investment required for success is truly huge.
We have talent here but it is fair to say that we have had a brain flow to the US and to Cambridge in the UK in relevant disciplines. There are many reasons for this.
Trinity can’t play a valuable role as an adjunct to leading research elsewhere.
Honda has already achieved much techological success in Japan with robots dedicated to health care for the elderly. I don’t know if there can be technology sharing and cooperation arrangements.
Knowing the scale of the problem is a first step. I would not select Ireland a a base for developing new generation rockets for outer space exploration or other areas of resource intensive projects. Robotics and autonomous intelligence devices is one of the mist resource intensive areas that could be selected.
@Fiona deFreyne: None of that has anything to do with your constant putting down everything. Again I reject your view and that is mostly because it is always negative.
@Fiona deFreyne: so you don’t know how to do it huh?
They should really get in touch with the Japanese on this subject. They have been pouring money on this subject for decades and a trip to them could shave years off the project.
Also, the arms are way too short and lack any function. Infact, the whole robot cannot do more than a smartphone. I feel like someone is laughing right now.
Ye it would be if the likes of rich politicians didn’t want to force the elderly out of their home
@WilhelminaMCallaghan: When was that ever suggested or done?
Sounds like a great idea. I thought they’d need to be a lot stronger though. And have a hoist, or arms, to help them in and out in the bathroom? But they’d never get bored listening to people, I suppose, there’s that.
All the wiley aul fellas will be figuring out how to bypass him so they can slip off to the pub and bookies
Can it make a good cup of tae though? Boil an egg or throw a few sods of turf on the fire?
I assume he meant Kryten from Red Dwarf not Croydon from Deep Space Nine lol
Fck that, sophia the robot destroys stevie
If you want to watch a creepy interview with a robot check this out.. http://uk.businessinsider.com/interview-with-sophia-ai-robot-hanson-said-it-would-destroy-humans-2017-11
@Patrick J. O’Rourke: True, it doesn’t have much to say for itself. It wouldn’t pass the Turing test; you can tell it’s a bot. But there’s always the ELIZA effect. Sure the robot carers are meant primarily for people with no one to listen to them all day. I think there’s a huge market for them considering that retired people are living so much longer.
@Patrick J. O’Rourke: scary stuff! I’d say cults will purchase loads of these and put them out there in homes and such like to brainwash everyone!!
Daughter got a Furbie one year for Christmas thing turned seriously nasty and using bad language and had to be re-set… A Furbie!!! Yup dangerous road ahead…
@Lydia McLoughlin: Maybe they’ll persuade a few people that bus fares aren’t tuppence any more. Mind you, the bad language can’t have been that bad if you understood it.
Petril?
have your say