Development of dialogue and voice-call robot system for personalized dementia prevention and care

Participants: S. Stock (Germany), H. Ozono (Japan), H. Horie (Japan), S.Saiki (Japan), and K. Kumagai (Ge
rmany/Japan). ISSUE The increasing number of people with dementia has become a global issue. Dementia is a
disease in which brain function begins to decline before the onset of symptoms, but is diagnosed when it interferes
with daily life (Hansson et al., 2021). Therefore, the timing of noticing the problem may be delayed, or the areas of
daily life in which problems occur vary, depending not only on the individual's living environment and habits, but also
on their unique personality and characteristics. In such a background, while many technologies for preventing and
supporting people with dementia are moving toward practical application, there is also a growing need for
technologies that give more personalized prevention and care. AI (artificial intelligence) technology and ICT
(information and communication technology) are attracting attention as tools to realize personalized care.
CONTENT This symposium invites researchers who are developing systems including AI and ICT related to
preventing dementia and maintaining and improving cognitive function. ... mehrThe speakers are both conducting research
in countries where the increasing number of dementia patients is an issue: Japan or Germany. This symposium
covers technologies that can be used at home: the platform for analyzing drawing-based neuropsychological
assessments, a dialogue system with a virtual agent (VA) and robot, and applications that allows such systems to
feel more familiar for users. STRUCTURE Ozono will talk about a system that integrates a VA listening system with
a user’s information, health data, a dialogue manager, and sensor data to enable the support and monitoring of
elderly individuals at home. Horie will share about the developed "Reminiscence Conversation Service" (Omoide-
Kaiwa service), to provide opportunities for daily conversation among elderly people without burdening caregivers.
The images searched and displayed by the services are interesting for the person and encourage conversation. Sai
ki will present EVIDENT, a system platform for analyzing drawing-based neuropsychological assessments. Kumagai
will propose a robot system that is the basis for generating a method for effective communication with dementia
patients and caregivers regarding dementia based on the aggregated diagnostic and living data of dementia
patients. Stock will introduce an E-Health Platform developed to aim to make personalized treatment strategi
es. CONCLUSION The systems reported on during this symposium are currently being researched for practical use.
Their efficacy and usefulness have also been verified through user studies. With the realization of digitalized
cognitive function tests, data management systems using applications, and support and encouragement systems
based on interaction with agents, it is expected that more people will receive personalized prevention and care.
The challenge is to conduct and verify user studies on a broader scale. This symposium will also include
discussions aimed at solving problems for the next steps in this field