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Depression and loneliness among the elderly are one of the biggest problems affecting the world population. This leads to elderly isolation which is a major risk factor for suicide. Moreover, if isolation is coupled with physical illness and incapacitation, such a risk increases exponentially. To fight back this problem, roboticists have been proposing solutions to autonomously monitor, support and even promote physical activities among the elderly. Nevertheless, those appear as very high-cost and complex solutions that require an advanced technical expertise. Recent off-the-shelf solutions, such as the well-known NAO robot, emerged as possible alternatives. An extension to the NAO robot, denoted as RIA, is being developed at the Engineering Institute of Coimbra (ISEC). The RIA is not only built for a social interaction with the elderly but also as an autonomous tool to promote professional care through the analysis of health and environmental parameters. Therefore, the RIA robot is an adapted NAO low-cost platform equipped with several sensors that can measure different parameters like body temperature, blood pressure and heart rate. By validating this valuable platform, the foundations were laid for a whole new paradigm in elderly care.
Vital et al. (Wed,) studied this question.