A team of researchers from the Oregon State University are developing artificial intelligence technology that will help seniors with mild cognitive impairment age in place.
The National Science Foundation recently awarded a $20 million grant to Kagen Tumer, director of the OSU’s Collaborative Robotics and Intelligent Systems Institute, to develop AI systems that keep those seniors safe while performing certain tasks, such as taking medicine or cooking on a stove.
“An intelligent system could, for example, detect when the stove is left on and send a reminder to turn it off,” Tumer said. “And if the stove wasn’t turned off, the system could send an alert to a family member or caregiver.”
Tumer said AI often focuses on the choices of a single entity for a predefined activity. But in the case of an elderly person, the AI systems need to interact with multiple people in the care team over months or years to adapt to ongoing changing conditions and goals.
“To help someone, you need to understand their relationships, their preferred modes of interaction and their values,” Tumer said. “The goal is not to replace human caretakers, but to assist them in creating support networks that can handle routine tasks and enable the medical professionals to focus on critical care.”
The award follows years of work at OSU on the coordination of intelligent systems, human AI teaming and AI systems that balance multiple objectives, including efficiency, safety, privacy and values.
