Robot-Guided Video Game Gets Older Adults Learning and Working Together

Vanderbilt University Professors Nilanjan Sarkar and Linda Beuscher have tested a robot-guided therapeutic video game in two senior care communities with a total of 15 older adults with and without cognitive impairment, reports EurekAlert . The game involved residents sitting side-by-side facing a large screen, raising their hands in tandem as watch-like devices on their wrists controlled avatars in front of them. The object of the game was to deposit their avatar's books into the correct bin, earning extra points by helping the other player. A little robot would occasionally remind the players of this goal. Fourteen participants kept returning to play the game, gradually increasing the amount of time they wanted to spend with it. "There are not enough younger people to take care of our older generations, and that's why we're designing intelligent, social robots that can talk to them, keep them from becoming isolated, lead them in appropriate physical exercise and help them with memory and cognition," says Sarkar. "It's not the total solution, but it can go far in helping the world's senior generations."