The University of Tokyo has developed “reminder robot” prototypes to help elderly people by reminding them of where they have put items or what they have done already.
One robot, “Mamoru,” watches its owner and verbally warns if he or she tries to do the same action twice.
For example, when a man enters a room with a box of medicines, Mamoru immediately recognizes it and says: “That’s medicine.” As the robot watches the man take the medicine, it says, “You’re taking medicine.” If the man attempts to take medicine a second time, the robot says, “Don’t take it again.” and, in this case, when the man asks the robot if he has taken his medicine already, Mamoru says, “You took it 31 seconds ago.”
Another reminder robot called IPMR-3, monitors a room with cameras and sensors to keep track of exactly where pre-registered objects in the room have been placed. The wheelchair-like machine tells the user where the items are both verbally and visually, and then takes the user to those locations.
(SOUNDBITE) (JAPANESE) DR. KEITA TAKAHASHI, PROJECT ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO
“Not just the elderly, but also young people might find this system useful when they cannot find something after somebody else in their family has put it away. So it can be useful for people of all ages.”
Tags: mamoru, memory, reuters, robot, robot to remind, system to remind, tokyo
