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Pearl, a Robot for the Elderly
Roland Piquepaille writes "The world population is rapidly aging -- at least in developed countries. The number of seniors will explode in the next two decades. So researchers everywhere are trying to find new ways to help elderly people to continue to live at home. This is why a team from Carnegie Mellon, the University of Pittsburgh, University of Michigan and Stanford University has spent the last four years to design Pearl, a robot specifically designed to help old people. Pearl has a humanoid aspect and is 4-feet high. Still, don't rush to the store to buy one for your old folks. It costs more than $100,000 and is not entirely ready for mass production. This overview contains more details and references. It also includes two pictures of the -- quite cute -- Pearl."
Still, don't rush to the store to buy one for your old folks. It costs more than $100,000 and is not entirely ready for mass production.
;-)
But I'd hire an assistant for that price.
Do you like German cars?
Shover, a robot for Grandma
It also includes two pictures of the -- quite cute -- Pearl.
I'd hit it!
Silly robot people. Everyone knows that its spelled "PERL"...
At 4 feet tall, how is it going to help get anything from a cabinet? My 5' tall mom has trouble doing that, With a step lader.
Fly me to the moon Let me sing among those stars Let me see what spring is like On jupiter and mars
Valerie, the domestic android is a better deal.
http://www.androidworld.com/prod19.htm
It will be capable of washing dishes etc, and will cost only $59000.
Here is one of their commercials
Old Lady #1: When my ex-husband passed away, the insurance company said his policy didn't cover him.
Old Lady #2: They didn't have enough money for the funeral.
Old Lady #3: It's so hard nowadays, with all the gangs and rap music..
Old Lady #1: What about the robots?
Old Lady #4: Oh, they're everywhere!
Old Lady #1: I don't even know why the scientists make them.
Old Lady #2: Darren and I have a policy with Old Glory Insurance, in case we're attacked by robots.
Old Lady #1: An insurance policy with a robot plan? Certainly, I'm too old.
Old Lady #2: Old Glory covers anyone over the age of 50 against robot attack, regardless of current health.
[ cut to Sam Waterston, Compensated Endorser ]
Sam Waterson: I'm Sam Waterston, of the popular TV series "Law & Order". As a senior citizen, you're probably aware of the threat robots pose. Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel. Well, now there's a company that offers coverage against the unfortunate event of robot attack, with Old Glory Insurance. Old Glory will cover you with no health check-up or age consideration. [ SUPER: Limitied Benefits First Two Years ] You need to feel safe. And that's harder and harder to do nowadays, because robots may strike at any time. [ show pie chart reading "Cause of Death in Persons Over 50 Years of Age": Heart Disease, 42% - Robots, 58% ] And when they grab you with those metal claws, you can't break free.. because they're made of metal, and robots are strong. Now, for only $4 a month, you can achieve peace of mind in a world full of grime and robots, with Old Glory Insurance. So, don't cower under your afghan any longer. Make a choice. [ SUPER: "WARNING: Persons denying the existence of Robots may be Robots themselves. ] Old Glory Insurance. For when the metal ones decide to come for you - and they will.
"Trademarks are the heraldry of the new feudalism."
Jesus Christ!! That looks like my sister's old Teddy Ruxpin after it got beat to shit!! :O
Join the TWIT army now!
I have two elderly (86, 90) parents who prefer to life by themselves away in Nevada, while I live in New York.
Since they can hardly take care of themselves, I hired almost-full time help to take care of them. I pay this person almost $80,000 a year for this.
A robot to do the same thing for a one time investment of $100,000 seems like a pretty good deal.
- John.
It runs Scheme.
seniors will explode in the next two decades
Well, we'll save up on burial costs, but the clean up will be a bitch...
You can't take the sky from me...
Elderly people in developing countries are lacking **human contact**. Perhaps one of the best innovations in this respect in recent years has been to combine old folks homes in community buildings where childrens nurseries and other activities take place.
And if you thought that was boring you obviously havn't read my Journal ;-)
Maybe if it's as humaniod as they make it sound, then the elderly won't be too worried about breaking it. Sometimes, it seems like more low-tech solutions are just less intimidating for people that grew up with less technology.
why don't our elected officials just put it on their platform? I mean who cares if we can't afford it! look at social security! they'll win for sure!
The world's first 'gender challenged' robot? Seriously, that is just plain freaky. I'm sure your average 80 year old woman won't want that thing shuffling around in the dark.
"Excuse me Pearl, I have to go collect my pension, could you let me open the door please dear?"
"I'm sorry Gwyneth, I'm afraid I can't do that"
Mother, do you think they'll like this sig?
-nt-
Call on God, but row AWAY from the rocks!
cute my ass. Robots with human faces strike me as creepy, and there are dozends of reasons why...
------- "From bored to fanboy in 3.8 asian girls" ----------
from inlaid article:
Would it sense a stair to avoid a tragic fall?
Nope.
Can it bring a chair to relieve walking fatigue?
Uh, no.
What century is it going to be before futuristic versions of household help are actually in someone's home?
This one.
I would much rather help my mother out myself or hire in home help....not only is it much cheeper but at least she would be dealing with real people. Instead she'd be getting:
"Hell..o young madam how may i assist you?"
"quick get me a chair, a phone, a glass of water, anything to help me"
"Negative, i am unable to decrypt your off-topic request"
"god damnit your a helper-bot, what can you do?"
"i can dance, dance, dance if i want to" "and leave this world behind"
... when do the kids get a robot named Python?
...will be taking care of old people before robots.
Because we need to protect Grandma from the terrible secret of space. When she goes down the stairs, she will be protected.
N4st0r, trixx0r h0bb1tz0rz! Th3y st0l3 0ur pr3c10uzz!
...what makes you think that they'd let a robot clean the crust out of their folds?
SNL had a surrealistic skit with an ad for insurance against Homicidal Robot Attacks that was a sendup of the life and health insurance ads on TV that are aimed at preying upon the fears of the elderly. Frankly, I think the robots that we've been waiting for since the Jetson's have no chance of being made and used cost-effectively for anyone anytime in the foreseeable future. "Terminator"-like robots- now that's a different story.
... until it goes insane and starts attacking people out of love!
8==8 Bones 8==8
Your Idea would be very upsetting to Charlton Heston.
answer: items pushed - grandmother
target - stairs
it was that i did
pak chooie
The first experience the elderly will get with computers will be with Pearl?!?! Come on. It should be user friendly. Use VBA on a Windows robot instead ;-)
Most conversations on this topic revolve "taking care of" the elderly, sort of like they are children. I think that the first adopters will rather be perfectly competent seniors with physical challenges, not mental ones. My father is more likely going to buy the thing for himself than me buying it for him.
My other sig is in jail.
To err is human. To arr is pirate.
I for one welcome our robot overlords!
Old Lady #1: When my ex-husband passed away, the insurance company said his policy didn't cover him.
Old Lady #2: They didn't have enough money for the funeral.
Old Lady #3: It's so hard nowadays, with all the gangs and rap music..
Old Lady #1: What about the robots?
Old Lady #4: Oh, they're everywhere!
Old Lady #1: I don't even know why the scientists make them.
Old Lady #2: Darren and I have a policy with Old Glory Insurance, in case we're attacked by robots.
Old Lady #1: An insurance policy with a robot plan? Certainly, I'm too old.
Old Lady #2: Old Glory covers anyone over the age of 50 against robot attack, regardless of current health.
[ cut to Sam Waterston, Compensated Endorser ]
Sam Waterson: I'm Sam Waterston, of the popular TV series "Law & Order". As a senior citizen, you're probably aware of the threat robots pose. Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel. Well, now there's a company that offers coverage against the unfortunate event of robot attack, with Old Glory Insurance. Old Glory will cover you with no health check-up or age consideration. [ SUPER: Limited Benefits First Two Years ] You need to feel safe. And that's harder and harder to do nowadays, because robots may strike at any time. [ show pie chart reading "Cause of Death in Persons Over 50 Years of Age": Heart Disease, 42% - Robots, 58% ] And when they grab you with those metal claws, you can't break free.. because they're made of metal, and robots are strong. Now, for only $4 a month, you can achieve peace of mind in a world full of grime and robots, with Old Glory Insurance. So, don't cower under your afghan any longer. Make a choice. [ SUPER: "WARNING: Persons denying the existence of Robots may be Robots themselves. ] Old Glory Insurance. For when the metal ones decide to come for you - and they will.
I think the fact that Sam Waterston did it really made it hilarious.
They should merge some of this technology with that of QRIO. Especially since QRIO has amazing motion capabilities.
Ahhhh, I've fallen! And I can't get up!
--Rob
Towards the Singularity.
So how is this thing supposed to determine if Granny is is a diabetic coma verses taking a sound nap?
Dan East
Better known as 318230.
"The world population is rapidly aging -- at least in developed countries. So researchers everywhere are trying to find new ways to help elderly people to continue to live at home. ...Robot... It costs more than $100,000..."
Um, yeah.
Is there anything better than clicking through Microsoft ads on Slashdot?
Link leads to site with embedded audio. Mark it next time, PLEASE. It's fucking annoying when audio starts blasting out of your speakers for no legit reason at all.
but does it have a shiny metallic ass?
>> The number of seniors will
>> explode in the next two decades
Did anyone else read this as, "a number of seniors will explode in the next two decades"?
This post written under Gentoo-linux with an SCO IP license.
With the vibration option, and the wife will want one too, to "help cope with her aging mother", or so she will say.
Yeah, I can see $100k being raised quickly once the whole family thinks about the ways it "will help grandma."
what i wonder is if roland is paying off /. editors to get articles accepted!
just kidding. 'nother interesting post on his blog...
stored on computers from birth to the grave
Perl, the programming language for the certifiably insane.
I'm still waiting for inTouch health's remote presence technology to hit the streets. I've seen some of their demos and it looks very promising. It has the ability to cast yourself anywhere in the world and interact with your environment, keeping tabs on the kids and elderly. It inverts the ratio of the number of care-givers needed to take care of the number of elderly. Essentially, the idea is you can have one doctor or nurse able to project himself to the patient's location at any time with the help of these robots. Very cool.
> The number of seniors will explode in the next two decades.
All you have to do is stay away from them when they detonate and all should be well.
Of course if the exact detonation time would be known half of them could even be used as weapons of maternal detonation..
I don't know why they think a number of seniors are going to be exploding in the next few years. Seniors have not been exploding in the past, and they are not exploding now.
There is no reason to start this horrible rumor, that just because people are getting old that they are going to start exploding in the next few years or so. Too many people will mistake this for a fact, when it's just not so.
Emily
Let's hope it runs Windows, because Skynet could open up new possibilities.
This is quite competative with humans, which seem to cost 25K for unskilled helpers to 60K for a nurse. If nothing else, the robots would be useful if full time help were unaffordable.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
I wonder what operating system these run on, and can you imagine a beowulf cluster of these babies?
who yelled out "Number 5 is alive" when I saw the pictures and followed it up with schoolgirly giggles?!
Old Lady #1: When my ex-husband passed away, the insurance company said his policy didn't cover him.
Old Lady #2: They didn't have enough money for the funeral.
Old Lady #3: It's so hard nowadays, with all the gangs and rap music..
Old Lady #1: What about the robots?
Old Lady #4: Oh, they're everywhere!
Old Lady #1: I don't even know why the scientists make them.
Old Lady #2: Darren and I have a policy with Old Glory Insurance, in case we're attacked by robots.
Old Lady #1: An insurance policy with a robot plan? Certainly, I'm too old.
Old Lady #2: Old Glory covers anyone over the age of 50 against robot attack, regardless of current health.
[ cut to Sam Waterston, Compensated Endorser ]
Sam Waterson: I'm Sam Waterston, of the popular TV series "Law & Order". As a senior citizen, you're probably aware of the threat robots pose. Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel. Well, now there's a company that offers coverage against the unfortunate event of robot attack, with Old Glory Insurance. Old Glory will cover you with no health check-up or age consideration.
[ SUPER: Limitied Benefits First Two Years ]
You need to feel safe. And that's harder and harder to do nowadays, because robots may strike at any time.
[ show pie chart reading "Cause of Death in Persons Over 50 Years of Age": Heart Disease, 42% - Robots, 58% ]
And when they grab you with those metal claws, you can't break free.. because they're made of metal, and robots are strong. Now, for only $4 a month, you can achieve peace of mind in a world full of grime and robots, with Old Glory Insurance. So, don't cower under your afghan any longer. Make a choice.
[ SUPER: "WARNING: Persons denying the existence of Robots may be Robots themselves. ]
Old Glory Insurance. For when the metal ones decide to come for you - and they will.
The Electric Grandmother was one of the first tapes my parents ever rented for our VCR. I thought that robot grandma was seriously creepy.
Pearl herself has had fits and starts, as a second-generation prototype suffering from the natural turnover in the project
Guy #1: what happened?
Guy#2: she hit a bump in the rug and turned over
Guy #1: naturally
Considering this thing doesn't manipulate it's environment or leave the house, why does it have to be mobile? Just put video cameras up around the residence and have it hooked into a central monitoring system.
Basically the article says the thing doesn't do anything interesting yet and won't for 10 years. What's the story?
___
It's the end of my comment as I know it and I feel fine.
If they're considering using or are using genetic algorithms to help her learn the best way to interact with her environment. It would take a while, but her up and give her a single task to learn; Say, the most efficient way to climb stairs. Then let the genetic algorithm go to work.
Probably the best use for genetic algorithms would be speech recognition; With each suceedding generation of (?) rules, she gets more and more accurate.
All I know is, I've got three grandparents and they could all use one.
Does Pearl, a robot specifically designed to help old people, run Perl, a language specifically designed to help old people think they have already lost their minds?
Sincerely,
Pan Tarhei Hosé, PhD.
"Homo sum et cogito ergo odi profanum vulgus et libido."
...couldn't we just live in small, dense cities connected by public transportation? Not only would it solve many of the problems of the elderly living at home, it would also cut pollution, reduce dependance on foreign oil, and save farm/timber land.
Of course, what do I know? I'm just a guy who has spent the better part of my 36 years in the suburbs, feeling quite powerless to change the poor design around me...
And yes, I know this is pie-in-the-sky stuff that would be hard to make happen without wrecking the free market and possibly doing more harm than good.
I also know every other obvious point with which you are about to rebut, so when you write your rebuttle, please don't imply I'm not aware of something bloody obvious just because I didn't say it.
That tactic just totally pisses me off.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
When they did go out, it was in a Cadillac to go to a steakhouse and consume 1.5 Kg of beef and 3 scotches.
The windows in the Cadillac were electric, so that the owners did not even get the exercise available by rolling them up.
Now, you can get away with the beef and the scotch, but when you combine that with a sedentary lifestyle, you will not have enough strength to move around when you are 65.
In developing countries, of course, people are still outside with a plow behind a pair of horses planting potatoes, and tend to be physically vigorous till they fall dead of a stroke, or die in their sleep due to heart stoppage.
The obvious point of all this is that if you stop using your body to it's full potential, you will soon lose the ability to get your ass off the toilet and wipe it.
I think humans are the only animal that does not run or exercise for the sheer fun of it: Horses run, Dogs run, dolphins swim, hell, even sloths hold on to trees with their tails.. But humans are sitting in front of the TV with a scotch.
The result is intuitively predictable by inspection :)
"The world population is rapidly aging"
I think each person ages at an average rate of 1 year per year...so yes, technically, that is true.
"Excuse me, did you say 'Trekker'? The word is 'Trekkie.' I should know; I created them." -- Gene Roddenberry
Pearl will protect you... from the terrible secret of space?
Okay, Funny moderations don't give points any more. But if you _really_ want someone's karma to benefit, just moderate him Underrated instead of abusing the Insightful option!
Now, running these robots - that would be an excellent thing to outsource! Each person in India controlling say five of these things... (each robot probably wouldn't be busy all the time). I suspect that would solve most of the problems that the researchers are having.
Sig under construction.
At what point do we up the retirement age? These lazy fuckers only end up working 65 years. If you're going to live till you're 95 years old, you'd damn well better be able to take care of yourself. I'm not paying for a bunch of lazy, shit & piss factories to play golf and fall down the stairs breaking hips and whatnot.
Note: I plan to die young, and not put this burden on the public at large. Someone pass me another bottle of whiskey, eh?
How about 'Pearl Necklace' a robot for the kinky?
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
Imagine a little "cart" that could follow you around like a dog. Big enough to carry a few bags of groceries. Walk to the store, get your groceries, and it follows you back on your walk. You stop, it stops, you go, it goes, it doesn't go off curbs, etc.
People get all in a twist over things like the DARPA Grand Challenge and the military's desire to "robotize" war. The real win is when someone realizes that the same autonomous concepts that could drive a vehicle 150 miles through the desert would be great for directing an electric wheelchair down the sidewalk or the above "dog bot cart" idea around the grocery store or in the garden, etc. Or use it for someone working a warehouse getting supplies, or...
I, for one, welcome our new Pearl Overlords.
There should be a moderation category for "/. clichés"
I think someone's been testing AI by having a robot mod slashdot posts...
Member of Orkut? Annoyed with spam?
Operator: How may I assist you today?
Grandma: I think my robot went insane.
Operator: What do you mean?
Pearl: @!#$ *&!@% ^#@% generic v,iagr4!
Operator: Was that Pearl?!
Grandma: Yes, and she's been doing this for a week. At first, it wasn't so bad, but it's been happening more and more often. And some of the things she says... well... they're horrible!
Pearl: More @#!$ pr0n for you!!
Operator: My goodness! OK, let's see, have you made any changes to her settings lately?
Grandma: Well... I did turn the reading thing on.
Operator: Reading thing?
Grandma: Yes, you know, it reads my e-mail to me... It was so nice, it told me all about this sweepstakes thingy...
Pearl: Refinance your @&*$ now!!! Low rates 4 U...
Flamebait? Flamebait?
(old man): Pearl, I need my heart medication now.
(pearl): I'm sorry I can't do that Dave.
(old man): What? Who the hell is Dave?
(old man): Pearl, where are you going! Pearl!
cvaS
free ipod and free gmail!
"The worlds population is rapidly aging -- at least in developed countries"
Two things id like to say about this,
1. People age at the same rate all over the world, it is not dependant on their countries developed state.
2. People are aging at the same rate as they all ways have. 1 year = 1 Birthday
I, of course, read the summary as:
A number of seniors will explode in the next two decades
seniors will explode in the next two decades
This is horrible, I hope a cure is found soon!
don't they know robots slaughter the elderly for their medication?!
There are too many people as it is. We don't need ways to keep them around longer. Just take the safety labels off of everything and we can kill two birds with one stone (yes i realize its a bad pun). Not only will we get rid of many old people but the young and stupid ones as well.
We need robots built into caddilacs and buicks to prevent old people from hitting things.
Call the system "NeverCrash"
One thing microsoft wont be able to cash in on!!!
$100,000 ass wiper?
-- Trinity in high heels carrying a whip: The donimatrix - there is no spoonerism
A robotics team from CMU and Pitt? They've finally done it... they've actually taken every single last techie out of Pittsburgh.
Do you hear that, city council? That's the sound of inevitablity.
"The world population is rapidly aging -- at least in developed countries. ..." [Emphasis mine]
I guess developing countries can't afford the laws of physics like the rest of the world where everyone else ages at the same rate due to the steady flow of time?
The next remark is false. The previous remark is true.
The world population is aging rapidly
Faster than one year per year? YIPES!
-Siggy!
If Roland picked a peck of Piquepailles
How many Piquepailles did Roland pick?
... because we know what's going to happen...
While I think the parent poster could have been more subtle, he has got a point about physical exercise. The problem is that for most 20 and 30somethings, most traditional physical exercise for that age group is considered boring, so once they've finished high school and college, they just don't bother anymore.
Capoeira is a Brazilian Martial art which combines music, dance, and fighting techniques. It contains both fitness training and strength building, and good instructors will cater to any fitness level/age group to start with, until the person is up to the neccessary levels to start doing the more strenuous moves. A few years back an instructor came to our club, from Brazil, and displayed a dazzling array of moves - this guy was 65 years old. When you've seen a 65 year old doing backflips, cartwheel kicks, three-move air kicks, and hold his entire body weight on one forearm, you know that it's a tragedy that some older folks are having problems with basic movement and so forth, because it really is unncessary.
Perl for the elderly...?? :)
How would you know? You'd probably have to wake her up - not much better than any robot would do...
The robot could use several other methods:
a) detect irregular breathing (by the sound of her breathing)
b) calculate likelihood of health problem (based on granny's sleeping habis, population averages, her medical condition/history, air temperature, air humidity, etc.)
c) take (remote) measurement of her body temperature and other things (heartbeat, etc.)
d) it could even take tiny blood sample and analyze it on-the-spot
Overall, tasks like these are easy to code; if impossible, the robot can always transmit what it sees remotely to a human operator to make/confirm/override robot's decision.
A single operator could oversee dozens of robots for situations where life-and-death decisions are being made.
It would have been funnier if you had typed "weapons of maternal destruction".
Those who sacrifice security to condemn liberty deserve to repeat history or something. - Benjamin Santayana
This is not just a problem in the developed countries. Forecasts indicate that by 2050 the elderly will be a bigger fraction of the population in China than the elderly in the US. China's birth rate is lower than the US's, and they don't have immigration at the level that we do. While the Chinese economy is currently growing faster than the US economy, they are starting from a MUCH smaller per-capita income base, and so are likely have more difficulty paying for their elderly. Any country that has its birth rate under control will eventually have this problem (and if they don't have it under control, they will tend to have other problems). Many countries are going to have to make some tough decisions about what part of their national income they wish to spend on the elderly.
In the context of this story, how many $100K robots will the young be willing to buy for the elderly (yes, the robots will get cheaper)? Would you buy one for your Mom (note that male/female ratios are skewed towards women amongst the elderly)? What would you give up to buy it -- a Porsche, owning your own house, helping your kid through college? If you are young, would you let the government raise your taxes dramatically so the government can buy robots for all the Moms? Where does the robot fall on the list of things that are important to buy for Mom? Would you rather pay for the robot, or for the new $25K cancer medication? How about the $50K hip replacement surgery? Bill Gates and Scott McNealy can afford to buy their Moms all of these things -- can you?
I'm not elderly yet, but am almost certainly on the older end amongst the readership here, semi-early-retired and studying economics. Young people really, really need to be worrying about these issues, because they are going to have to make some difficult choices. And, I believe, they're going to have to start making them within the next ten years or so.
It is suboptimal with defining grammars and writing lexers, parsers and compilers. At least it is not as good as Lex and Yacc or Bison. Fortunately, it will change.
Sincerely,
Pan Tarhei Hosé, PhD.
"Homo sum et cogito ergo odi profanum vulgus et libido."