Cognitive orientation assessment for older adults using social robots

Abstract

This paper aims to develop a robotic platform which conducts cognitive orientation assessments for the elderly people. The robot asks questions based on time, space and memory recall, and analyzes the voice response from the user. With the help of the natural language processing package SyntaxNet, the robot evaluates answers given by the user and generates a score and a detailed report for the session conducted. The report is used to evaluate the progression of the cognitive impairment by caregivers or physicians. The whole system was developed and implemented on our ASCC Companion Robot. The system was tested on people from different ages and English accent with satisfying results.