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Dr. Arshia Khan is a professor and Director of Graduate Studies at the U of M in Duluth.

Dr. Arshia Khan is a professor and Director of Graduate Studies at the University of Minnesota Duluth. We have previously explored her work in robotics in the PBS North documentary "In This Place" developing a technology to assist individuals with Alzheimer’s. Discover the next step in her work to see how assistive technology and AI can have an impact on individuals with Alzheimer’s and dementia.This video was produced in collaboration with NOVA and is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

Dr. Arshia Khan is a professor and Director of Graduate Studies at the U of M in Duluth.

Dr. Arshia Khan is a professor and Director of Graduate Studies at the University of Minnesota Duluth. We have previously explored her work in robotics in the PBS North documentary "In This Place" developing a technology to assist individuals with Alzheimer’s. Discover the next step in her work to see how assistive technology and AI can have an impact on individuals with Alzheimer’s and dementia.

Dr. Arshia Khan is a professor and Director of Graduate Studies at the U of M in Duluth...

Assistive Technology and AI on Individuals with Dementia

Tech & Engineering

Pepper: My name is Pepper. Arshia Khan: What are you driven to do? Pepper: I am driven to help dementia patients. Narrator: Computer scientists at the university of Minnesota-Duluth are developing robots to do just that, using artificial intelligence or A.I. to interact with and adapt to patients’ needs. Arshia Khan: What are you capable of? Pepper: II have multiple sensors that can track and recognize objects in speech. Have various actuators and motors that help assist me in moving around and interacting with my environment. Narrator: The therapy program Arshia Khan designed is aimed at both the cognitive and physical health of those with dementia, which is the loss of cognitive functioning: thinking, remembering and reasoning, to such an extent that it interferes with a person's daily life and activities. Along with Pepper, Kahn's lab developed Peri Peri, a small robot designed to lead people in physical exercise. Arshia Khan: To try and maintain or improve their range of motion, to try and maintain their mobility. Those are the things that the physical exercises helps do. Early stage, oftentimes, it is where people are starting to forget things. They are still able to go on with their daily living activities. For instance, preparing their meals, or paying their bills, remembering to take medications. Arshia Khan: That's a big one, you know, because when they forget to take their medications, their condition worsens. Not only cognitively, but other ways, also. If they have some sort of heart disease or any other chronic ailment that can get worse and that can land them into a hospital. Narrator: Khan’s Robots use artificial intelligence to conduct therapies. Arshia Khan: AI is essential. It cannot do anything without the AI. But we are able to take the data from the sensors, wearable sensors, and actually learn from the pattern of data that comes through. And then the robot can interact with the people based on the data that it's getting. Narrator: Are the robots autonomous? Arshia Khan: They are autonomous, but it's limited. Their capabilities are limited. If you put a bag of popcorn in the microwave, it will not be able to stand on its own and just assume it's popcorn and start, you know, popping the corn for you. You have to go and press the button. So similarly, you know, if you want the robot to do something, you need to program it to do whatever you want it to do. Arshia Khan: If we program it to recognize emotion, it will do it. If we program it to recognize somebody and do something in response, it will do it. But if we don't program it, it cannot do it. So everything everything it does, there's an application running behind that. Narrator: Khan hopes the robots will make dementia care more accessible and affordable. Arshia Khan: If technology's able to help people, it should be able to help, irrespective of their financial condition. It has to be driven just because of the passion for improving quality of life of people who need it. When they were in their prime, they offered so much for us. On another front, my goal is to bring the robots not only to hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living, but also individuals homes. The goal is to delay, to postpone their admission into nursing homes and assisted living facilities, to keep them living independently and maintain their quality of life as long as we possibly can.

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Assistive Technology and AI on Individuals with Dementia

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Support Provided By

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