The world population is aging. In 2015, a total of 901 million people aged 60 and over lived. By 2050, this number is expected to more than double to reach approximately 2.1 billion. According to the United Nations , this increase will trigger one of the most important social transformations of the 21st century. Healthcare robots are one of the most important indicators of this transformation.
Young Companies Leading the way
Recently, investors and young companies supported by them have started to appear around the world, realizing that this is not an invention designed to be "elegant", but a need and that this need should be met. These companies are companies that are trying to make a place for themselves in the market with the aim of developing robots that will support patients in their daily lives by providing long-distance care services. Fifty QThe Israeli company Intuition Robotics, which has developed a personal digital assistant called Intuition Robotics, is an example of innovative, young companies established for this purpose. The company came to life thanks to six million dollars in funding through iRobot Ventures and crowdfunding platform OurCrowd. Headquartered in St. Florida, USA. The company named Marvee, located in St. Petersburg, is another example of organizations that have started to operate in this field. AskMarvee , on the other hand, is the product of this company, which works with voice commands from Amazon's smart personal assistant known as Echo and puts it on the market in the "assistant-accompany" category. Marvee launched AARP in 2017 for startups working in maintenance technology.In the competition held as part of the two-day event “Innovation@50+ LivePitch” organized by the company, it also succeeded in reaching the finals.
OhmniLabs , which has developed a home robot called Ohmni that allows users to reach their families or support systems living far from them, is another young company operating in this field. “One of the biggest challenges is how to reach users who might choose to stay away from thinking that personal robots are still such a fresh idea,” says Thuc Vu, co-founder and CEO of the company, headquartered in Santa Clara, California.
To overcome this challenge, OhmniLabs, which rolled up its sleeves to help users get used to these technologies and show how the robot could add value to their lives, has implemented pilot programs with a nursing home called Home Care Assistance and some independent living centers. These robots, which are integrated with the application programming interface (API) of Amazon's personal assistant called Alexa, which works with voice commands, can walk around the house and perform some services for automation of household chores and general use. “It's been pretty successful so far,” Vu says of the robot. “Users love the robot as soon as they start using it because they find it fun to interact with their families with it.”
Common Experiences That Eliminate Physical Distance That Matters
As part of these pilot programs, the OhmniLabs team conducted a study that focused on families living in different parts of the world. In their research, the team concluded that “communal experiences” like cooking together, eating as a family, watching movies or playing games are what people want most. “ We want to eliminate physical distancing so people can get together whenever they want,” Vu says. “Traditional communication methods such as phone, Skype or FaceTime calls are no longer sufficient. By leveraging robots, we want to enable a new type of experience, more dynamic and interactive.”OhmniLabs has gone on to further develop the scalable additive manufacturing process, which it uses in the production of robots, with the tests it has carried out in the last two years. The company manufactures each robot by this method and to order at its Santa Clara facility. A key element of the manufacturing process is Autodesk Fusion 360 , a CAD/CAM software . “We found Fusion 360 to be a thought-provoking option for young hardware-manufacturing companies to succeed,” says Jared Go, OhmniLabs co-founder and VP of Technology. “This software offers a well-structured relational structure and user experience so that people and devices can communicate among themselves (…) so that you can be productive from day one.”
Ohmni is just one example of these “assisted” technologies that can also generate benefits independent of healthcare needs. Most people basically want better bonds and easier access to each other. In the case of older people, in addition, social interaction becomes especially essential for maintaining physical and mental health .
Another phenomenon that triggers developments in the field of home robotics is that robots help people to live without being dependent on others. INF Robotics is a young company that is working to set an example in this field with the robot named Rudy , which it announced in 2014 . Rudy is a smiling robot the size of a 10-year-old boy with arms, wheels and a screen designed to help the elderly, veterans and the disabled. Rudy is one of those healthcare robots that can remind patients of their medication, carry their belongings, and even socialize and play with them, or “helper-companion.” Rudy also allows doctors and caregivers to check in on patients, make visits, and manage himself remotely.
Robots That Are "Friends of the Fallen"
Augmented reality is another technology used to improve care services for the elderly and ensure that they live as long as possible without being dependent on others. This technology allows people to imagine how their home life will be shaped in the future. Of course, research is the most fundamental part of this development process. One of the first institutions to take a step in this direction is the “ Aging at Home” in collaboration with Rice University.It was IBM Research that established a research environment with the theme ”. Established in Austin, Texas, USA, this research environment is based on future smart homes that will use sensors, Internet of Things (IoT) and robotic technologies to help the elderly with their daily tasks. IBM MERA, the multi-purpose assistant robot developed by IBM Research as a prototype for elderly care, is one of the main actors of this research environment. Using an application called Watson, also developed by IBM, these healthcare robots monitor people's vital signs, respond to health-related questions, and instantly detect emergencies that require intervention, such as falls and accidents at home.
With the growing need for remote monitoring systems, it should come as no surprise that many more companies are entering the business of developing personal digital assistants called assistant-accompanying or healthcare robots. In fact, it is possible to say that the developments in technology herald a new era that is on the horizon. It seems that the healthcare robots, ready for duty day and night, will soon be serving both yours and your parents' homes with a sign of you.
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