Can Conversational Support Robots Help Dementia Prevention?

With the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence technologies, it is becoming more important than ever to explore how artificial intelligence might foster human intelligence, and how human and artificial intelligence might complement one another to achieve higher levels of intelligence. Against this backdrop, dementia—a decline in cognitive function that interferes with daily life—has emerged as a challenge that few can avoid in the era of the 100-year lifespan. Like infectious diseases, dementia is known to have basic preventive measures. In particular, long-term lifestyle habits in how the brain is used, manifested in ways of thinking and acting, have been shown to affect the likelihood of developing dementia.

In this presentation, I will introduce the concept of dementia prevention, along with the Coimagination method, a conversational support method that enables such prevention to be practiced in daily life. I will also discuss the development of a conversational support robot based on this method, and the results of validation experiments conducted by the Cognitive Behavioral Assistive Technology Team at RIKEN, which examined the experiment’s effects on human cognitive functions and the brain. As a case of real-world application, I will introduce the research we conducted using the robot in practice at NPO Fonobono Research Institute, and conclude by discussing prospects for building a society where dementia can be prevented.