Use of a home-based social robot to help prevent hypothermia and dehydration in older adults

Sindi, H. and McCrindle, R. (2022) Use of a home-based social robot to help prevent hypothermia and dehydration in older adults. In: Stephanidis, C., Antona, M. and Ntoa, S. (eds.) HCI International 2022 Posters: 24th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, HCII 2022, Virtual Event, June 26 – July 1, 2022, Proceedings. Communications in Computer and Information Science, IV. Springer, pp. 438-444. ISBN 978303106393 doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-06394-7_55

Abstract/Summary

A 20-year increase in life expectancy among the general population since the 1960s (World Bank) brings with it several health-related challenges, especially if people are to continue to live independently in their own homes. Long term conditions such as stroke, diabetes and dementia and their impact on independent living are well studied, however ways to prevent more intermittent conditions such as dehydration - the loss of body fluid, and hypothermia - the decrease of body temperature, both of which can result in hospitalization, have been studied less. Our research is focused on developing a novel Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) system, HyDeAdCo (Hypothermia and Dehydration Advising Companion), to help detect when an older person might be at risk of becoming dehydrated or developing hypothermia and advise them on how to reduce this risk. HyDeAdCo is an Internet of Things (IoT) system comprised of a social robot interface, commercial-of-the-shelf (COTS) devices and cloud computing to analyse, store, and send responses to the user based on sensor data. This paper describes the premise of the HyDeADCo prototype system and presents the role of the social robot, Temi, that acts as an interface between the user and the system in order that the risk of a person becoming dehydrated or developing hypothermia is reduced.