Advertisement

Robot trained to care for the elderly at University of Connecticut

Share

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

At the University of Connecticut, a robot named Nao is learning how to take care of elderly patients.

The toddler-sized machine is being programmed to determine how often it should remind its charges to take their medication, when to notify an overseer and when to just let the patients enjoy some autonomy.

Advertisement

The married researchers behind the project –- philosopher Susan Anderson of the University of Connecticut and her husband, computer scientist Michael Anderson of the University of Hartford -– say they’re trying to create an “ethical robot.”

Nao, a sleek creature with glowing eyes, represents a combination of basic ethical principles, machine learning techniques, and artificial intelligence science. It looks partly cute and partly creepy, walking in lolling steps and speaking in its mechanical voice: ‘It is time to take your medication.’

The Andersons’ work, still in its early stages, was featured in Scientific American in October. Check out Nao in action here: RELATED:

Fleet of robots designed to clean up oil

Japanese pop star Hatsune Miku takes the stage -- as a 3-D hologram

-- Tiffany Hsu

Advertisement