Researchers at the National Robotarium, hosted by Heriot-Watt University and the University of Edinburgh, are developing an AI companion that will aid memory recollection, boost confidence and combat depression in people living with Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia.
Memory loss in people with Alzheimer’s disease occurs in reverse chronological order, with pockets of long-term memory remaining accessible even as the disease progresses. While most current rehabilitative care methods focus on physical aids and repetitive reminding techniques, the project’s AI-driven user-centred approach will focus on personalised storytelling to help bring a patient’s memories back to the surface.
Agent-based Memory Prosthesis to Encourage Reminiscing (AMPER) aims to explore the potential for AI to help access an individual’s personal memories residing in the still viable regions of the brain by creating natural, relatable stories.
“These will be tailored to their unique life experiences, age, social context and changing needs to encourage reminiscing, ”Dr. Mei Yii Lim, a co-investigator of the project explained.
Working in partnership with the University of Strathclyde, the team at Heriot-Watt University have been awarded £450,000 of funding by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
Difficulties in communicating with others and decreased confidence are commonly experienced by people living with dementia and can often lead to individuals becoming withdrawn or depressed, the team said. By using AI to aid memory recollection, researchers at the National Robotarium hope that an individual’s sense of value, importance and belonging can be restored and quality of life improved.
The project’s long-term vision is to help demonstrate how AI companions can become more widely used and integrated into domestic, educational, health and assistive-needs settings.
Professor Ruth Aylett from the National Robotarium is leading the research, she said: “AI technology has the potential to play a pivotal role in improving the lives of people living with cognitive diseases. Our ambition is to develop an AI-driven companion that offers patients and their caregivers a flexible solution to help give an individual a sustained sense of self-worth, social acceptance and independence.
“Through projects like AMPER, we’re able to highlight the many ways AI and robotics can both help and improve life for people now and in the future. At the National Robotarium, we’re working on research that will benefit people in adult care settings as well as across a wide range of other sectors that will make life easier, safer and more supported for people.”
Once developed, the AI technology will be accessed through a tablet-based interface to make it more widely accessible and low-cost. The research team at the National Robotarium plans to separately investigate the use of a desktop robot to determine if there are benefits to be gained by having a 3D representation of a character.
Project partners include the charity Sporting Memories, which delivers reminiscence therapy to people with dementia through video footage in day care centre settings, NHS Scotland Neuroprogressive and Dementia Network, and the Latin American Network for Dementia Research.
