"무엇을 도와드릴까요?"...치매 환자 돕는 로봇 개발<br /><br />People with mild dementia experience symptoms like short-term memory loss, …but are still able to function independently.<br />To help these people in their everyday lives, Korean researchers have developed a care robot.<br />Park Se-young has more. <br />"Sir, it's time to wake up." <br /><br />A small robot starts off the day with a morning greeting.<br /><br />"How smart of you." <br /><br />Delighted by the compliment, the robot responds with a bright smile.<br />It then guides the patient to the bathroom, …while letting him know when he needs to take his medicine and what he needs to do.<br />It is able to understand voice commands quickly because it has learned about a thousand keywords for various situations.<br />"The robot is able to show social understanding and interaction because of its cognitive function and ability to communicate through conversation."<br /><br />Exchanging dialogue with the robot can naturally help improve cognitive ability.<br />Users can also customize the robot's program to fit their needs.<br />"Whether the user has an active nature or is passive about the robot, the robot can be programmed to operate accordingly."<br /><br />The robot may be commercialized as early as next year, …after more field tests in a wide range of situations to reduce errors. <br />The role of such robots is likely to increase …with the number of dementia patients in Korea expected to surpass one million in the next five years.<br />Park Se-young, Arirang News. <br />
