Two robots developed using artificial intelligence at the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering are providing hope for older adults one day at a time. 

 These robots, Q.T. and I.R.I.S., are helping people improve their ikigai, a Japanese term that means purpose and meaning of life. Q.T. and I.R.I.S. do this through conversation and other forms of social interaction. 

 Luddy professors Selma Šabanović and David Crandall developed this technology with assistance from their students and the Toyota Research Institute. 

“People have been designing robots for older adults for a very long time. Initially, it was just kind of the engineer’s or the technologist’s vision for what would be appropriate for older adults, but here we’re really trying to see what older adults think,” Šabanović said. 

The team has worked with local elder care facilities such as Jill’s House and Bell Trace Senior Living over the past two years to see how older adults interact with Q.T. and I.R.I.S. and gain feedback about how their technologies can function better. The team also invites volunteers into their lab at the Luddy Center for Artificial Intelligence about once a month to serve on a panel, which is another source of feedback for the team. 

 These volunteers have a wide spectrum of abilities, some of which suffer from dementia. 

The goal is to develop something that is practical and could one day live alongside these older adults. 

“People don’t necessarily want to have extremely humanoid robots running after them and living with them,” Šabanović said. 

 The challenge comes when people have previous ideas about what robots are and how they function from movies or other sources. 

 “People have visions of what these things could be that don’t always match what the technology is,” Šabanović said. 

The team focuses on not only the AI software that makes the robots’ function but also the way the robots’ voices sound and the way the robots wave before starting a conversation. Focusing on these small details can hopefully create a more comfortable environment for those who may be nervous about how AI and robots function. 

 Although Q.T. and I.R.I.S are not quite ready to move into homes for older adults yet, research continues in Bloomington. Older adults also continue to get experience talking to Q.T. and I.R.I.S. and improving their own ikigai. 

 “It’s not just making the robot that one day in the future will be useful, but actually through the process of doing the research doing something meaningful immediately for people,” Šabanović said.