Engineers at the University of Waterloo in Canada have discovered a new way to program robots to assist specific groups of people depending on their needs. The technology could someday be used by anyone who has searched high and low for something they’ve misplaced.
“The long-term impact of this is really exciting,” said Dr Ali Ayub, a post-doctoral fellow in electrical and computer engineering. “A user can be involved not just with a companion robot but a personalised companion robot that can give them more independence.”
There is a rapidly rising number of people coping with dementia, a condition that restricts brain function, causing confusion, memory loss and disability. Last month, the Office for National Statistics revealed that dementia and Alzheimer’s disease were the leading cause of death in England in 2022. Collectively they accounted for 65,967 deaths (11.4 per cent of the total), up from 61,250 (10.4 per cent) in 2021.
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