From USC
Hey, for some folks, the leotard-clad Richard Simmons does the trick, and popular electronic games have proven that they can get couch potatoes up and moving for exercises of a sort. But can hunks of metal get grandma and grandpa moving and shakin their stuff? A Trojan researcher will try to find out under a new grant whether 70 volunteer subjects, 20 of whom are 60 or older, will be more motivated to exercise in response to a specially developed robot, um, in person and in the metal, as opposed to just watching the nifty engineered character on a video. "Socially assistive robotics" already had developed systems to help human caregivers with autistic children or adult stroke victims. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will test them as part of a nine-grant, $1.85 million program that also will include studies of health-related technologies that include electronic floor pads that aim to get participants to get up and dance or cell-phones equipped with breath-testers to help smokers snuff out their bad habit. Yes, the video of the robot has appeared here before but since it's the core element of the grant, an encore appearance:
New grant will let experts learn how well robot gets couch potatoes up and exercising
Comments