Evolution of robotics in the care of people with dementia
“Dementia is a term that encompasses a variety of diseases that affect memory, thinking and the ability to carry out daily activities” (World Health Organization). The dementia that most affects people worldwide is Alzheimer's.
How are advances in robotics and other technologies currently being applied in the health and care sector? More specifically, what technologies can dementia patients and their caregivers use to improve or maintain their quality of life?
Robotic technology, as well as its successful combination with artificial intelligence, has been improving and gradually transforming many sectors. Perhaps one of the most affected is the health and care sector.
Devices with increasingly specific uses, with deeper assistance and social capabilities are already a reality. This growth in supply and the launch of new robotic models are two facts that respond to one Growing need for solutions that activate, help exercise and rehabilitate patients with all types of physical, psychosocial or cognitive needs and/or limitations.
These needs are not arbitrary, as society evolves, New needs arise. A response is needed to the progressive growth of people suffering from some type of dementia in the world. According to data from the World Health OrganizationCurrently, more than 55 million people have dementia worldwide and every year there are almost ten million new cases. Dementia is a disease that affects Alzheimer It is the most common form of dementia and can represent between 60% and 70% of cases, being the seventh cause of death and one of the main causes of disability and dependency among elderly people worldwide.
Life expectancy worldwide is increasing, and with it, social needs are evolving.
This growth in people suffering from some type of dementia or neurodegenerative disease is proportional to the world average of increasing life expectancy, which is increasingly higher. In the 50s, life expectancy at birth was 46 years, just 60 years later, by 2022, the average age was 71,7 and by 2050 it is estimated that it will be around 77 years (The report of Statista). These data indicate an incredible increase in the number of older people in the world, which means an increase in age-related illnesses and limitations.
As in a cause and effect diagram, this implies, among other things, that technologies must be put at the service of these groups, providing solutions that allow them to maintain their quality of life, ensure that their care needs are met and that they have various options to stay busy, healthy and accompanied. A current and future problem related to this is the growing lack of healthcare. It is necessary to find solutions that complement traditional therapies, since, at present, there is no treatment that is capable of stopping the progress or directly reversing the consequences of dementia. Thus, the evolution of robotics is diversifying by offering useful devices to deal with the different difficulties that appear in the daily lives of people with dementia and their environment.
Applications of new technologies to improve care for people with dementia
As the health and care sector evolves, there is a growing interest in combining treatments or therapies that allow the user in need of care to be accompanied at home and in the health or social care centre. The evolution of robotics and other types of technologies in the care of people with dementia is frequently applied to:
- Disease prevention with, for example, wearables such as smart watches that measure heart rate, activity levels, sleep, blood oxygen, blood pressure, geolocation or continuous glucose monitors).
- Faster diagnostics and equally reliable with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning that analyze medical images to detect anomalies.
- Reducing waiting times in health processes introducing telemedicine, patient management systems, patient care robotics or mobile health applications.
- Recording and contrasting information in databases increasingly broader. In this case, there are many technologies involved in making it possible to register and contract databases, although the most important ones are Big Data, cloud data services, blockchain, the Internet of Things (IoT, you can read more about it this article) and AI, which in many cases makes sense of the thousands of data recorded in the systems and helps speed up search processes, detecting patterns in large volumes of data and making data-based recommendations.
- Alternative support and complementary treatments at home thanks to telemedicine, wearable devices, again, mobile health applications, AI, virtual reality, alert systems integrated into other devices, social robotics and remote patient monitoring platforms. The technologies on this list often combine to provide multifunctional solutions that allow patients to reduce their trips to health centers and caregivers to monitor their performance on a daily basis.
- Rehabilitation with both social and social-assistance robots in and outside of centres. Examples include exoskeletons, social robots for personal assistance or interactive robots for the same purpose.
In general, these technologies allow the professional intensify treatments y reduce your workloadHowever, it is becoming increasingly common for patients with dementia and their caregivers to use health-related technologies outside the healthcare centre, either by personal choice or by medical prescription. In general, technologies focused on solving or treating the limitations or consequences of dementia seek to enable the patient to maintain their level of independence, physical activity, social interactions and, in general, maintain their daily routines for as long as possible.
Using social robotics as a therapy or complementary treatment for patients with dementia
The use of social robotics for rehabilitation, active exercise and, in general, support in the care of these patients represents a completely innovative way to improve the adherence to treatments, its evolution manages to facilitate and stimulate the realization of activities and communications that, in the long run, reduce the time of appearance of the consequences associated with the different types of dementiaThese robots offer an alternative therapy, both inside and outside the healthcare centre, and their evolution makes them more precise in their tasks.
The social robots They are able to interact with patients in a friendly and proportionate manner. Emotional Support, cognitive and social. Like any other technological device, the level of complexity and understanding capacity of these robots will be proportional to the need for their use and how other technologies that are usually combined to form the robot advance. from software with which they are given life (different types of IA, Machine Learning o Natural Language Processing, among others).
Although the care and the healthcare Although they cannot be replaced, these types of devices help improve the experience of patients and their caregivers. They generate real and proven benefits, saving time in the development of the disease or, at least, allowing the user to maintain their independence for longer, improving adherence to their treatment or acting as a support tool for caregivers.
The revolution of assistive social robotics
En Inrobics, we are part of this evolution of the assistive social robotics because we propose and develop an innovative rehabilitation model that uses Artificial Intelligence y social robots to support people with functional or neurological limitations. Contact us to learn more about our therapies and request a free demonstration!
