How will technology change how we care for elders?
Americans overwhelmingly want to age in their own homes. Technology offers new solutions for enabling them to manage their day-to-day lives and avoid isolation. Dor Skuler co-founded Intuition Robotics, the maker of ElliQ, a desktop companion robot. He explains how a little robot could make a big difference for elders.
Aging issue
Matt Carmichael: What can robots and artificial intelligence do for us today in enabling elders to manage their own homes?
Dor Skuler: We are on the cusp of new AI technologies entering the homes of older adults. Actually, it's some of the most advanced AI that's going into any demographic. When ElliQ enters someone's home, it builds a relationship with them. They converse, they talk about the day, they talk about experiences. She initiates the interaction. This combination of character-based AI that are proactive, that are cognitive, that are built to deepen our relationship over time, is new to the world. And the first place we're going to see it deployed is in the aging population.
Carmichael: Why is that?
Skuler: Because older adults have unique needs. First of all, most of the technology surrounding us, if not all the technology surrounding us, is not built for this demographic. But also, about 50% of our elders are really alone. We need a mitigator to help connect us to our kids and to our grandkids and to the ecosystem around us and to our doctors, but also to motivate us to get up from the couch and take care of ourselves and go for a walk. We need somebody to make us laugh and to just say, “Good morning” to us and ask us how we're doing.
Carmichael: Beyond connecting with family as a communication device, how can something like ElliQ help with remote caregiving?
Skuler: When ElliQ notices that you’re not feeling well, or that you haven't picked up your meds or that you are you're suffering from anxiety or showing signs of depression or your blood pressure is consistently going up, it will ask your permission to share that with the primary caregiver. ElliQ will update. She'll say, “Hey, listen, I just wanted you to know Mom's not feeling well for the last two days. Maybe you want to give her a call.”
Carmichael: How is ElliQ monitoring those things?
Skuler: When you are an empathetic companion, you don't need to rely on pure biometrics that might have rules that will set off alarms. We ask, “Hey, good morning, Mary, how did you sleep last night? The night before we didn't sleep well at all. And then we did relaxation exercises before bed. Did they help?” And guess what? People tell us the truth.
Carmichael: A lot went into designing this and related products and services for an older, less teched-out generation. How do you think the dynamic will change as tech-savvy, younger generations become the older populations?
Skuler: I think it's going to get worse and not better. It's not binary: the analog generation or the digital generation. When we're old, we can learn anything new. Anything. It just takes us a lot more time and more effort than when we're young. The rate of change around us is not slowing down. It's accelerating like no point before in human history. What you're going to see is the amount of change, the amount of stuff you need to keep up, which is not static. Our ability to cope with that change decreases as we age.
Carmichael: How so?
Skuler: I assume when I get older, I'll be more comfortable with my touch phone. And my grandkids will laugh at me for not having implanted, I don't know, a VR chip in my brain or something like that.
Carmichael: How does this look in five or 10 years?
Skuler: You're going to see people relying on their AI to help them in day-to-day tasks, but also for their social needs. Hopefully, that will allow more human interaction. You won’t need to waste your 15-minute call with your mom with asking, “Did you get groceries? Do you need help getting to the doctor's office?” You can spend your time on more important things: “What are you planning to do tomorrow? Did you catch the Super Bowl?”
Carmichael: And as the robotics mature, I assume they'll be able to help with more of the day-to-day of the caregiving itself, right?
Skuler: I think we're going to see a lot more tech that enables people to do things and a lot less being so caught up with monitoring people falling. Let's keep them healthy. Let's keep them functioning. Let's keep them independent. Let's keep them contributing. I hope we'll have a chance to help older adults engage more in society.
For more highlights from this interview, please listen to our podinar.