Aether Robot: A Collaborative Service Robot, Supporting Independence, Safety, Privacy and Happiness
Aether Project:
Aether is a collaborative service robot designed to support independence, safety, privacy, and happiness for staff and residents in care homes. Building on prior work by JDQ Systems Inc., the Developmental Disabilities Association (DDA), and academic partners through Mitacs Accelerate and NSERC Engage programs, Aether features autonomous navigation, voice command, and entertainment capabilities. It ensures safety through environmental monitoring and engages socially with caregivers and residents, telling jokes, broadcasting news, reading stories, and welcoming visitors using face and voice recognition.
The aim of this study is to:
- Investigate feasibility and acceptance of implementing a collaborative service robot, Aether in LTC.
- Engage stakeholders (people living with disabilities, families, frontline staff, operation leaders, and industry) in deployment/ adoption of the robot.
- Identify user experience, impact and challenges to inform future robot development and adoption.
Who is Aether?
- Monitors surroundings for safety hazards (ie. spilled water)
- Chats with staff and residents
- Detects and recognizes faces
- Navigate in the care home
- Tells jokes, reads stories, and make poems
- Play Karaoke
March 2024, Aether, our collaborative service robot, Aether told a joke and our resident jokes back, showing its unique conversational abilities!
Aether sings “Dancing Queen” with one of our residents showcasing its “Let’s Dance” and “Let’s Sing” functions!
April 2024, we witnessed Aether, our collaborative service robot, motivate older resident to conduct exercises through its programmed exercise function!
This Fall, we shared our research at the Gerontological Society of America Conference in Seattle, Washington, the 2024 AGEWELL Annual Conference in Edmonton, Alberta, and the 2024 Canadian Conference on Gerontology & Geriatrics.
We are currently in the knowledge translation phase of the project
Project Updates:
- Early 2024, we had our first onsite visit at a group home, one of the generous sites to conduct research in. We were able to meet our other team members, residents and staff at the group home in person, and see a demonstration of Aether being deployed.
- We conducted two pre-intervention focus groups at the group home in person where we asked staff about their feelings, ideas, concerns, and any feedback regarding the deployment of Aether.
- We shared our research at the 2nd INterdisciplinary Conference in REhabilitation Sciences of BC (INCREASE BC) on April 17, 2024 in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Wrapping up Aether’s journey at our final site visit! In the last week of June 2024, we danced, sang, and enjoyed personalized stories from Aether with our residents. We concluded our project with focus groups and celebrations, reflecting on the unforgettable moments shared by staff and residents. We thanked the staff and residents for their involvement in our project and for all the memories we shared!