This project?s long-term purpose is to adapt an existing telepresence robot, Vecna?s VGo, for remote care of persons living at home with early-stage Alzheimer?s and related dementias (ADRD). It responds to the NIA?s call for development of robots to support care management and independent living, promote social engagement, reduce loneliness, and assist family members and professionals in caring for patients. This work addresses the NIA?s strategic goal of developing interventions to maintain health, well-being, and function in the elderly. The proposed socially assistive robot, the VGo Assist, will enable family members and professionals to provide mobile, flexible, user-friendly telehealthcare to ADRD patients. The proposed incorporation of an open- platform software architecture, unique among at-home telehealth robots, will encourage third-party developers to create diverse AD-specific applications that extend the VGo Assist?s capabilities in diverse, unforeseeable ways. Its open architecture will make it, in effect, the ?smartphone of telehealth.? Under this Phase I SBIR proposal from Vecna and the New England Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center, detailed functional specifications will be defined based on multi-disciplinary input. The specifications will be implemented in a working prototype in Phase II. Capabilities will minimally include two- way vision and sound, navigation under control of a remote caregiver, and support of medication management through automated and caregiver-provided reminders and compliance verification. The desirability and feasibility of additional features (e.g., a medication dispensing mechanism) will be evaluated. Intelligent robotics will assure safe navigation and self-charging and may provide services such as raising alerts for patient wandering or other emergencies. The VGo Assist will be distinguished from competitors by lower cost, more extensive built-in features, and the open-ended functionality enabled by its open-platform software architecture. Phase I Specific Aims are: (1) Conduct multi-disciplinary focus groups to identify possible features to integrate into the VGo Assist and probe user acceptability and utility of integration with home health data devices. (2) Create a functional-requirements document specifying VGo Assist workflows, user interface needs, and target audiences. (3) Translate the functional-requirements document into ?business rules? of a front-end interface and user experience; develop screens and mock-ups. (4) Create an open-architecture specification and application-programming interface for Phase II product development. (5) Deliver project report to funder, including Phase I product description and market analysis.
Vecna seeks to adapt an existing telepresence robot, Vecna?s VGo, to support remote care of persons living at home with mild to moderate Alzheimer?s disease and related dementias (ADRD). The proposed remotely- controlled device, the ?VGo Assist,? will enable family members and healthcare professionals not present in the home to provide flexible, user-friendly, care to ADRD patients. The proposed open-platform software architecture, unique among at-home telehealth robots, will encourage third-party developers to create diverse eldercare applications, making the VGo Assist the ?smartphone of telehealth.?
