Stretching their reach: Robotic support for domestic activities for older individuals with mobility limitations

Abstract This Phase I SBIR proposal submitted by Hello Robot requests funds to develop a robot that will support older adults with mobility limitations.

Nearly 16 million older Americans have a mobility disability and often need support for domestic activities including self-care and household activities.

Personal robots have tremendous potential to augment individual capabilities, support independence, enable functional activities, and reduce falls risk.

To-date, there are no commercially available robots designed specifically for needs and capabilities of older adults that are affordable, safe, and effective for use in homes.

The StretchTM robot is designed to support everyday activities through use of a lightweight telescoping arm mounted on a mobile base. The robot could be teleoperated by a user through a touchscreen, web browser, joystick, or voice command. Stretch is a functioning research robot prototype.

To attain full functionality to support older adults with mobility limitations, we need to identify the specific characteristics of the tasks for which older adults need support in their homes; design the tools that enable Stretch to effectively perform the activities; and design an easy-to-use interface that these older adults can use to control Stretch to carry out their desired tasks.

This Phase I proposal supports the NIA SBIR research priority on Aging in Place to develop robotics that promote independence through mitigation of age-related physical health challenges.

We propose to design and test a suite of activities that Stretch can perform, with ease of control by older adults, to support independence, enhance safety, and improve quality of life.

The proposal has three broad aims: Aim 1: Identify support needs of older adults with mobility limitations and technical requirements for Stretch.

This aim will yield detailed specifications of the activities for which older adults with mobility disabilities need support as well as the technical design needs. Aim 2: Develop Stretch tools and interaction methods for a priority set of home tasks.

Based on findings from Aim 1, we will select a suite of high priority tasks for development in Aim 2 and direct user testing in Aim 3.

In Aim 2, we will develop functioning prototypes and refine the control interface features to support ease of use and reliability for the human-robot interaction. We will identify use challenges to guide user instructions and training protocols.

This aim will yield a suite of task capabilities for Stretch as well as implementation protocols for testing with older adults with mobility limitations. Aim 3: Test feasibility of Stretch use by older adults in a home environment.

We will use a participatory design approach to assess the ability of older adults with mobility limitations to control the robot to achieve the target tasks in a simulated home environment. We will make adjustments as use challenges or robot inefficiencies are identified.

This aim will provide feasibility data to inform a functional, usable, useful, supportive robot system that enables the autonomy of older individuals with mobility limitations in their homes.

The Stretch robot has tremendous potential to support everyday home activities, increasing autonomy and increased quality of life.