Assistive Robot for People with Mild Cognitive Impairment
CARMEN, which is short for Cognitively Assistive Robot for Motivation and Neurorehabilitation, is a small, tabletop robot designed to help people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Recently the University of California introduced the world to CARMEN to help people learn skills to improve memory, attention, and executive functioning at home.
What sets CARMEN apart from other robots is it was created in partnership with clinicians, people with MCI and their care providers. Researchers say they think the robot is one of a kind in terms of teaching compensatory cognitive strategies designed to improve memory and executive function.
Experts estimate MCI affects up to 20% of adults 65 years or older, and of that number, 15% of people with the condition transition to dementia each year. Scientists say while we currently do not have medical treatments to slow or prevent this from happening, behavioral treatments can help.
Working one-on-one with individuals, CARMEN delivers a series of simple, easy-to-do cognitive training exercises. One example is teaching users to create routine places to leave important objects like keys, cellphone and other commonly misplaced items. CARMEN also emphasizes strategies such as taking notes to remember things.
The learning process is accomplished through a set of interactive games and activities designed to be done independently without the help of a clinician’s or researcher’s supervision. This meant the robot was built as a plug and play device without a lot of parts requiring maintenance. CARMEN was also designed to function with limited access to the Internet and not dependent on a reliable connection. The robot also expresses empathy and compassion for the person’s situation as well as communicates clearly.
Early results with CARMEN had participants reporting the learned strategies helped them feel more confidence in their everyday life, and they were now willing to attempt things they had previously stopped doing. Researchers say the hope is to get more robots in the hands of users and fine-tune the robot to address even more issues for people with MCI and other conditions such as ADHD.
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