YSU SEMINAR Speakers: Look for robots to aid aged

Robots that provide home health-care services, when mass produced, should cost no more than personal computers, one speaker said.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Robots that remind elderly patients when to take their medicine or that their favorite TV show is about to start are not many years away from being common household appliances.
Prototype robots that can provide picture to picture and audio communication between the elderly and their family and doctors, and serve as mobile walkers to help them move around more safely and easily, already exist, a robotics researcher from Pittsburgh's Carnegie-Mellon University, said.
Home-care robots are in the research stage, said Sebastian Thrun, assistant professor in Carnegie's School of Computer Science. But there is no reason, once they are mass produced -- perhaps within six to 10 years, that they should cost any more than a personal computer, he said.
Thrun was speaking at a conference on the use of technology in health-care delivery Thursday and today at Youngstown State University's Kilcawley Center, sponsored by the District XI Area Agency on Aging.
Other speakers: Besides Thrun, conference speakers included Marleen McClelland, chairwoman and associate professor of physical therapy at YSU; Sharon Plona, RN, coordinator, and Bob Mobley, lead technical coordinator, both of Telemedicine Center, Cleveland Clinic Foundation; Donald J. Medd, executive director, District XI Area Agency on Aging; and Linda F. Frass, senior research specialist, Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Aging, Center for Assistive Technology, University of Buffalo.
Frass said about 67 percent of the elderly population 65 and older are still active in the community and participating in what she called "robust living." However, the remaining elderly population has problems with "activities of daily living" such as eating, dressing and bathing and/or "instrumental activities of daily living" such as shopping, transportation and balancing a checkbook, she said.
It often costs less to provide assistant devices to help them remain independent than to bring in a human aide.
Such devices are anything that enables a person to do what he wouldn't otherwise be able to do, such as eyeglasses to read, grab bars in the bathroom to prevent falling and motorized scooters for mobility.
Also, she said, with aides doing everything for them, the elderly can set themselves up to learn helplessness.
" ... As our population ages ... the home-care and health-care industries have to look at ways technology can support care in the home," said Medd, District XI executive director.