Augmented reality in robotic assistance for the elderly

Abstract

The basis of this research was to create a platform for social interaction based on augmented reality, ready to be deployed in the homes of elderly people. Two main components are presented: the first one is an affordable robot platform built from TurtleBot robot. The second one is the underlying software system built on top of ROS, in charge of the interaction interface and the user tasks, called MYRA. The purpose of this study is to test the platform and the augmented reality in real environments and how it can be used effectively and without complications by elderly people. With this goal in mind we prepared our platform to be able to do two different tasks: a generic assistance system, and a drug dose control system. Both were tested in a real environment.