PIONEERING artificial intelligence (AI) and robotic technology being developed in Scotland will allow medics to remotely assess a patient’s physical and cognitive health from anywhere in the world.

The assisted living lab at the National Robotarium, hosted by Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, working with Dr Parra Rodriguez, an expert in cognitive assessment from the University of Strathclyde, believes this will help cost-effective diagnosis, more regular monitoring and health assessments.

It will also aid assistance, especially for people living with conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and other cognitive impairments.

The research facility is part of the Data-Driven Innovation initiative and is supported by the Scottish and UK governments and partners through the £1.3 billion Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal.

“With gaps between assessments lengthening, the care and support that is being prescribed to assist vulnerable people may become unsuitable as an individual’s physical and cognitive abilities change over time,” said research leader Dr Mauro Dragone, from the National Robotarium.

“Our prototype makes use of machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques to monitor smart home sensors to detect and analyse daily activities.

“We are programming the system to use this information to carry out a thorough, non-intrusive assessment of an older person’s cognitive abilities, as well as their ability to live independently.”

Combining the system with a tele-presence robot brings two major advances – robots can be equipped with powerful sensors and operate in a semi-autonomous mode, to deliver quality data, 24/7. Secondly, the robots keep clinicians and carers in the loop. Health professionals can benefit from the data provided by the project’s intelligent sensing system, but they can also control the robot directly online, to interact with their patients, providing assistance when needed.

The system was demonstrated for the first time to the UK Government’s Scotland Minister, Iain Stewart on a visit to the National Robotarium’s construction site.

He said: “It was fascinating to visit the National Robotarium and see first-hand how virtual teleportation technology could revolutionise healthcare and assisted living.”

Rodriguez added: “The experience of inhabiting a distant robot through which I can remotely guide, assess, and support vulnerable adults affected by devastating conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, grants me confidence that challenges we are currently experiencing to mitigate the impact of such diseases will soon be overcome through revolutionary technologies.”

The project combines the efforts of National Robotarium PhD students Scott Alexander MacLeod and Ronnie Smith – who are developing the sensing and artificial intelligence components of the project, and Rakin Sarder, who recently graduated from the MSc programme and is building a cloud platform for tele-health robotic applications.

Dragone said: “We are now testing our concept with different robot platforms.

“These include commercially available tele-presence robots – the same used to allow people to attend work meetings remotely.”

He added: “But also the latest examples of assistive robots, such as the Human Support Robot from Toyota.”