在療養(yǎng)院，會說話的機器人可以用來對抗孤獨和促進心理健康

在療養(yǎng)院，會說話的機器人可以用來對抗孤獨和促進心理健康

Talking robots that interact with older people could be introduced into care homes to help fight loneliness and mental ill health.

與老年人互動的會說話的機器人可能被引入養(yǎng)老院，以幫助對抗孤獨和心理疾病。

Pepper, a "culturally competent robot," was tested on care home residents in Britain and Japan -- those who interacted with it for up to 18 hours over the course of two weeks "saw a significant improvement in their mental health," researchers found.

研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，Pepper是一種“有文化能力的機器人”，在英國和日本的療養(yǎng)院居民身上進行了測試，那些在兩周內(nèi)與它互動長達18小時的人，“他們的心理健康狀況得到了顯著改善”。

Pepper was part of a large global study known as CARESSES, jointly funded by the European Union and the Japanese government, which investigated the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in caring for the elderly.

Pepper是一項名為“CARESSES”的全球大型研究的一部分，該研究由歐盟和日本政府共同資助，旨在調(diào)查人工智能(AI)在照顧老人方面的應(yīng)用。

The scientists behind the study also found that "after two weeks of using the system there was a small but positive impact on loneliness severity among users."

參與這項研究的科學(xué)家還發(fā)現(xiàn)，“使用該系統(tǒng)兩周后，使用者的孤獨感嚴重程度得到了小的但積極的影響。”

Pepper is fully autonomous, meaning that it is not controlled by a person. The gadget, which features a tablet computer that can play music and entertainment, does not just ask and answer questions but can actually engage in and sustain conversation.

Pepper是完全自動的，這意味著它不受人控制。這款小玩意有平板電腦的特點，可以播放音樂和娛樂，不僅可以提問和回答問題，還可以真正參與并維持對話。

It has been designed to be "culturally competent," meaning that it can respond to the culture-specific needs and preferences of older people.

它被設(shè)計成“具有文化能力”，這意味著它可以響應(yīng)老年人的特定文化需求和偏好。

Dr. Chris Papadopoulos, principal lecturer in public health at the UK's University of Bedfordshire, was the lead author of the evaluation of the three-year project.

英國貝德福德大學(xué)公共衛(wèi)生首席講師克里斯·帕帕佐普洛斯博士是這項為期三年的項目評估的主要作者。

In an online statement, he described the study as "groundbreaking," adding: "The results show that using the CARESSES artificial intelligence in robots such as Pepper has real potential benefit to a world that is witnessing more people living longer with fewer people to look after them.

在一份在線聲明中，他稱這項研究是“開創(chuàng)性的”，并補充道:“結(jié)果表明，在像Pepper這樣的機器人身上使用人工智能CARESSES，對于一個越來越多的人活得更久、照顧他們的人越來越少的世界來說，具有真正的潛在好處。”

"Poor mental health and loneliness are significant health concerns and we have demonstrated that robots can help alleviate these."

“心理健康不良和孤獨是嚴重的健康問題，我們已經(jīng)證明機器人可以幫助緩解這些問題。”

The University of Bedfordshire, Middlesex University and Advinia Health Care are the UK partners of the study, coordinated by University of Genova in Italy, which developed the robot's AI. Global researchers collaborated on the project with the robotics company SoftBank Robotics.

這項研究的英國合作伙伴是貝德福德大學(xué)、米德爾塞克斯大學(xué)和阿德維尼亞醫(yī)療保健公司，由意大利熱那瓦大學(xué)協(xié)調(diào)，后者開發(fā)了機器人的人工智能。全球研究人員與機器人公司軟銀機器人合作開展了該項目。

When they first embarked on the study in 2016, the team could not have foreseen the coronavirus pandemic, which has had a huge impact on elderly people in care homes worldwide.

當他們在2016年開始這項研究的時候，他們沒有預(yù)見到冠狀病毒流行病，它已經(jīng)對全世界養(yǎng)老院的老年人產(chǎn)生了巨大的影響。

"When we kicked off the project it was clear that loneliness in older adults was a really big problem that is increasing all the time and one that we were keen to tackle," Papadopoulos told CNN. "Social care is incredibly stretched and we have an ageing society."

帕帕佐普洛斯在接受CNN采訪時表示:“當我們開始這個項目的時候，很明顯，老年人的孤獨是一個一直在增加的大問題，也是我們渴望解決的問題。”“社會保障難以置信地捉襟見肘，我們有一個老齡化的社會。”

"Of course we could never have predicted how relevant this issue has become today, where we have enforced isolation in many care homes and selective isolation for many others which has resulted in feelings of loneliness," he said. "Our system really couldn't have come at a better time to try and reduce some of those issues."

他說:“當然，我們從來沒有預(yù)料到這個問題在今天變得如此重要，我們在許多養(yǎng)老院強制隔離，對其他許多人選擇性隔離，這導(dǎo)致了孤獨感。”“我們的系統(tǒng)來的真是時候，試圖減少一些這樣的問題。”