Older adults with dementia are increasing in Japan. Because of this, “communication
robots” are being introduced into nursing settings to substitute
for the shortage of nurses and other care workers. Our research group is currently
developing a humanoid nursing robot with caring function (HNR),
specifically for the functional and practical use of older adults with dementia.
The purpose of this study was to clarify improvement points of the current
function of humanoid robot’s (Pepper) (SoftBank Robotics) dialog pattern for
improving optimal communication between humanoid robot and older adults.
Dialog programs were installed in the humanoid robot Pepper, including the
application program Care Prevention Gymnastics Exercises for Pepper (Pepper-CPGE) that was made by Xing Company, Japan. Dialogues between older
adults and Pepper-CPGE were recorded by video camera. Data from transcriptions
of the conversations captured from video and from field notes were
analyzed focusing on human-robot interaction. From the recorded scenes and
conversations, the following were points to be improved: 1) Intonation of the
words vocalized by Pepper-CPGE was different from that expected by the
older adult resulted in inappropriate responses by the older adult; 2) The
timing between Pepper’s questions and the responses of the older adult were
not timely and did not match (differences in the question-response time),
which lead to confusion among the older adults; and 3) Other surroundings
older adults were interested in the dialogue with Pepper-CPGE. However,
Pepper-CPGE cannot communicate with multiple older adults. ImprovingPepper-CPGE’s ability to communicate with multiple older adults as an older
adult’s dialogue with Pepper-CPGE can cause other older adults to also interact
not only with the older adult that Pepper-CPGE is interacting with but
also with Pepper-CPGE. This study shows that transactive relations among
humanoid robots and older adults can be facilitated. Improving communication
between humanoid robots and the older adults by optimizing a structured
dialogue is needed to enhance appropriate engagement and participation.
It is necessary to create a “Caring dialogue Database” for HNRs in order
to know the patient/client and to share the aesthetic experiences of human-robot interactions. Also, it is important to develop a dialog pattern that
enables humanoid robots to sympathize with older adults.
References
[1]
Nomura, K. and Koizumi, A. (2016) Strategy against Aging Society with Declining Birthrate in Japan. Industrial Health, 54, 477-479.
[2]
Cabinet Office, Government of Japan (2017) Health and Welfare of Elderly People. 2017 Edition of the Annual Book Aging Society White Paper (Summary).
http://www.cao.go.jp/kourei/whitepaper/w-2017/html/gaiyou/s1_2_3.html
[3]
Ohara, T., Hata, J., Yoshida, D., Mukai, N., Nagata, M., Iwaki, T., et al. (2017) Trends in Dementia Prevalence, Incidence, and Survival Rate in a Japanese Community. Neurology, 88, 1925-1932.
https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000003932
[4]
Cheng, S.T. (2017) Dementia Caregiver Burden: a Research Update and Critical Analysis. Current Psychiatry Reports, 19, 64.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-017-0818-2
[5]
Yu, R., Chau, P.H., McGhee, S.M., Cheung, W.L., Chan, K.C., Cheung, S.H., et al. (2012) Trends in Prevalence and Mortality of Dementia in Elderly Hong Kong Population: Projections, Disease Burden, and Implications for Long-Term Care, International Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 2012, Article ID: 406852.
https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/406852
[6]
Cabinet Office, Government of Japan (2017) Family and Household of the Elderly. 2017 Edition Elderly White Paper (the Entire Edition).
https://www.cao.go.jp/kourei/whitepaper/w-2017/zenbun/29pdf-index.html
[7]
Singh, A. and Misra, N. (2009) Loneliness, Depression and Sociability in Old Age. Industrial Psychiatry Journal, 18, 51-55. https://doi.org/10.4103/0972-6748.57861
[8]
Fratiglioni, L., Wang, H.X., Reicsson, K., Mwytan, M. and Winblad, B. (2000) Influence of Social Network on Occurrence of Dementia: A Community-Based Longitudinal Study. The Lancet, 355, 1315-1319.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(00)02113-9
[9]
Kaneda, C. (2005) Research on Action Analysis of the Aged with Dementia with the High Degree of Physical Independence. Journal of Medical Welfare, 1, 57-65. (in Japanese)
[10]
Downs, M. and Collins, L. (2015) Person-Centred Communication in Dementia Care. Nursing Standard, 30, 37-41. https://doi.org/10.7748/ns.30.11.37.s45
[11]
Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (2014) About Securing Care Workers. (in Japanese)
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/file/05-Shingikai-10801000-Iseikyoku-Soumuka/0000072895.pdf
[12]
Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (2014) Basic Materials on Supply and Demand of Nursing Staff. (in Japanese)
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/file/05-Shingikai-12201000-Shakaiengokyokushougaihokenfukushibu-Kikakuka/0000047617.pdf
[13]
Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (2015) Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications Edition of the Annual Book Information Communication White Paper/Partner Robot Needs and Challenges. (in Japanese)
http://www.soumu.go.jp/johotsusintokei/whitepaper/ja/h27/html/nc241350.html
[14]
Shibata, T. and Wada, K. (2011) Introduction of Field Test on Robot Therapy by Seal Robot, PARO. Journal of the Robotics Society of Japan, 29, 246-249. (in Japanese)
[15]
Yamaoka, H., Imai, T., Watanabe, I., Nakajima, T. and Koga, Y. (2010) Robot-Assisted Activities for Elderly People with Dementia Using a Human Friendly Robot. The 24th Annual Conference of the Japanese Society for Artificial Intelligence, Nagasaki, 9-11 June 2010, 1-2. (in Japanese)
[16]
Melson, G.F., Kahn Jr., P.H., Beck, A. and Friedmen B. (2009) Robotic Pets in Human Lives: Implications for the Human-Animal Bond and for Human Relationships with Personified Technologies. Journal of Social Issues, 65, 545-567.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.2009.01613.x
[17]
Yamazaki, R., Nishio, S., Ogawa, K. and Ishiguro, H. (2012) Teleoperated Android as an Embodied Communication Medium: A Case Study with Demented Elderlies in a Care Facility. 2012 IEEE RO-MAN: The 21st IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, Paris, 9-13 September 2012, 1066-1071. https://doi.org/10.1109/ROMAN.2012.6343890
[18]
Kanda, T., Kamashima, M., Imai, M., Ono,T., Sakamoto, D., Ishiguro, H., et al. (2005) Embodied Cooperative Behavior for a Humanoid Robot that Communicate with Humans. Journal of the Robotics Society of Japan, 23, 898-909. (in Japanese)
[19]
Iribe, Y. and Kitaoka, N. (2017) Speech Corpus Development toward Speech Recognition for OLDEST-OLD Japanese. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Japan, 73, 303-310. (in Japanese)
[20]
Schermerhorn, P.W., Kramer, J.F., Middendorff, C. and Scheutz, M. (2006) DIARC: A Testbed for Natural Robot Interaction. The Twenty-First National Conference on Artificial Intelligence and the Eighteenth Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence Conference, Boston, MA, 16-20 July 2006, 1972-1973.
[21]
Tanioka, T., Osaka, K., Locsin, R., Yasuhara, Y. and Ito, H. (2017) Recommended Design and Direction of Development for Humanoid Nursing Robots Perspective from Nursing Researchers. Intelligent Control and Automation, 8, 96-110.
https://doi.org/10.4236/ica.2017.82008
[22]
Osaka, K., Sugimoto, H., Tanioka, T., Yasuhara, Y., Locsin, R., Zhao, Y., et al. (2017) Characteristics of a Transactive Phenomenon in Relationships among Older Adults with Dementia, Nurses as Intermediaries, and Communication Robot. Intelligent Control and Automation, 8, 111-125. https://doi.org/10.4236/ica.2017.82009
[23]
Tanioka, T. (2017) The Development of the Transactive Relationship Theory of Nursing (TRETON): A Nursing Engagement Model for Persons and Humanoid Nursing Robots. International Journal of Nursing Practice, 4, 223.
[24]
Tanioka, R., Sugimoto, H., Yasuhara, Y., Ito, H., Osaka, K., Zhao, Y., et al. (2019) Characteristics of Transactive Relationship Phenomena among Older Adults, Care workers as Intermediaries, and the Pepper Robot with Care Prevention Gymnastics Exercises. The Journal of Medical Investigation, 66, 46-49.
https://doi.org/10.2152/jmi.66.46
[25]
Havey, E.A. (2018) How to Communicate with Someone with Dementia.
https://eldersense.com/communicate-someone-dementia/
[26]
The Japan Nursing Ethics Association (2015) Guidelines for Protecting the Dignity of Elderly People Who Receive Medical Care and Nursing. (in Japanese)
[27]
Oto, K., Hyo, K., Koyama, D. and Imai, M. (2017) The Design of the Silence in the Conversation between Human and Robot. THE 79th NATIONAL CONVENTION OF IPSJ. (in Japanese)
[28]
Ikeda, M. (2015) Communication Difficulties in Patients with Neurodegenerative Dementia. Higher Brain Function Research, 35, 30-34. (in Japanese)
[29]
Koike, T. (2012) Initiating Conversations with People Suffering from Dementia: Conversation Analysis on Initiating Conversations in Video Recordings. The Japanese Society of Health and Medical Sociology, 23, 96-105. (in Japanese)
[30]
Harwood, J. (2013) Communicating with Patients Who Have Dementia. Arizona Center on Aging.
