Towards Richer Assisted Living Environments

This paper describes an ongoing research project which explores the design and use of inexpensive robotics, artificial intelligence techniques, and human–computer interaction methods, to enrich assisted living environments. Such environments provide help to the inhabitants of a home or office, assisting them to perform daily activities, helping them to socialize and interact with others, and to provide enhanced levels of security and safeness. We present the development of an inexpensive robotic solution to help people with disabilities and/or older adults to perform their daily activities. It can be used as a remote controlled surveillance system, and also as a personal assistant. It is able to recognize each inhabitant, his/her emotions, and detect abnormal situations such as falls and health problems. The whole system is designed to operate solely within a local network and special attention is given to the privacy and data protection of the users.