One of the most evident consequences of ageing is in the number of people who report some kind of activity limitations. According to a recent survey, the fraction of EU population report some kind of physical or mental disability is below 10% for people under 30, but it grows to above 50% for males aged 68+ for females aged 70+. This fraction reaches 70% for females aged 78+ and for males aged 80+. The costs of activity limitations are immense on a person's productivity and on the quality of her nutrition, of her social relations and ultimately of her life.
Information and communication technologies can be of significant help. As a representative example, many recent research projects have explored the application of robotics for assistance purposes. In particular, the ICT DALi project (www.ict-dali.eu <http://www.ict-dali.eu> ) has embraced this vision and aims to improve autonomy in the life of the elderly through a robotic walker (the c-Walker) with cognitive abilities. It is a project made in Trentino that involved the cooperation and active participation in various European countries.
Developed by the research group led by Professor Luigi Palopoli at the Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science of the University of Trento, the robotic walker was introduced last October to the public. The Euronews society made a video of a test carried out at MUSE and at the Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science. This video underlines the different approach that a typical older establishes with an object of common use, rather than the potentially difficult relation usually established with a device that bears a rudimentary resemblance with a human without being a human.
The device has the following characteristics:
- decide the best course to reach a location of interest chosen by the user, where by "best" we mean the one that meets the personal requirements of the user and that maximises her safety and comfort
- sense the environment in the neighbourhood to detect such anomalies as could require a change of the planned course
- identify the position of the different humans in the scene and foresee its future evolution in order to avoid collisions and stressful situations
- guide the user along the safe path gently and preserving her liberty of motion as long as her safety is preserved.
The video is available on Euronews-Futuris website: http://www.euronews.com/2015/04/24/the-walking-robot-set-to-help-elderly-people-live-an-autonomous-life