Vitalia North Olmsted Senior Living Residents Overwhelmed with Robot’s Abilities

Senior living residents of Vitalia North Olmsted, in North Olmsted, OH, got a taste of the future
when a visiting robot, Alfred, from Carnegie Mellon University delivered ice cream to them
during a demonstration at the community. Graduate students in the Robotics Institute were
anxious to show how their design could assist older adults with their daily activities.
The residents were overwhelmed and excited as Alfred mingled with the crowd making
conversation and telling jokes, all possible through Artificial Intelligence (AI). For many, it was
their experience with AI. The robot can also show emotion through facial expressions. Residents
were able to control Alfred easily based on its design, with voice commands and a hand-held
controller.
Both staff and residents provided suggestions of tasks for Alfred to complete. They were
reminded he is still a work in progress and cannot do everything suggested; however, the future
looks very bright for robotic assistance with a variety of daily tasks.
The Carnegie Mellon University student team will take Alfred, along with what they learned
with the Vitalia resident interactions, back to the laboratory to continue to fine-tune his design.
They also plan to make additional trips to other senior living communities for real-life situational
interactions. Go to https://www.cs.cmu.edu/news/2023/care-home-robot to read the entire article,
including greater detail about the robot’s abilities and functions, and comment from the students
that helped to build Alfred.