Development of Ryan Companion Robot for Assisting Elderly People with Alzheimer's Disease

The objective of the proposed Fast Track SBIR effort is to develop and commercialize the Ryan CompanionBothereafterRyanan intelligent conversational life like social robotdesigned to improve the well being and quality of life of older adults with early stage Alzheimerandapos s diseaseADand AD Related DementiaADRDAccording to the NIAresearch reports estimate that as many asmillion Americans may have ADand the number is expected to rise as the population agesCommon symptoms of AD ADRD include cognitive declineshort term memory losschanges in mooddepressioncommunication difficultieslost interest in hobbies or activitiesand repetitive behaviorAmericans suffering from AD ADRD are believed to cost the nation $billion annually with projected annual costs of over $trillion byTraditional methods for disease management have shown limited success treating AD ADRD or mitigating its symptomsHealth care personnel and caregivers who are physically and emotionally taxed are seeking new ways to provide care for elderly individuals and particularly those suffering from AD ADRDInnovative technologies such as Artificial IntelligenceRoboticsand Internet of ThingsIoTdeviceshave begun to alleviate the growing need for novel solutions to the healthcareAmong such technologiessocially assistive robots such as Ryan have received a great amount of attention in recent yearsRyan will be designed to promote social interaction and foster engagement and rapportand improve mood and well being of persons with early stage AD ADRDIn the Phase I effortwe will develop facial emotion recognition technology and integrate it with Ryan and then conduct a pilot study to understand the feasiblity and effectiveness of Ryan in fostering empathy and rapport in interaction with persons with AD ADRDOnce validatedwe will work with domain experts to design and build aestehcically pleasing Ryan Vand integrate the facial expression recognition technology with a spokendialog systemremindersand other intelligent features into Ryan to address the needs of persons with early stage AD ADRD and their caregiversIf successfulDreamFace will be positioned to bring to market an affordable and effective socially assistive robot to improve the quality of life for persons with AD ADRD The goal of the project is to develop a socially assistive robot companionbotRyanfor improving the quality of life of persons with Alzheimerandapos s diseaseADAmericans suffering from AD cost the nation $billion annually with projected annual costs of over $trillion bySuccessful development of Ryan will improve patient well beingmake caregivers more efficient and effectiveand provide significant financial benefits to the healthcare industryand assist families and caregivers who are looking for ways to better assist older adults with AD