Remote monitoring and communication system with a doll-like robot for the elderly

In this paper, we propose a remote monitoring and communication system for elderly care. We aim to detect emergencies concerning elderly people living alone and send alerts to his/her family from a remote location. For this reason, the system has two modules: the monitoring module and the video chat module. When the monitoring module of the system detects any unusual events concerning the elderly, the system sends an alert message to their family's smart phone. Then, their family can monitor the current situation via the video chat module. The elderly and his/her family member can also easily use the video chat function for day-to-day communication without requiring any complex actions for the users. For the video chat display at the elderly side, we use a television set, which all elderly would be expected to have in their rooms. This gives our system a familiar appearance so the elderly can use it without feeling aversion towards the system. The monitoring system for detecting emergencies is a doll-like robot. Besides monitoring, the robot can also initiate simple conversations autonomously in normal situations, which can improve the elderly person's sense of familiarity towards the system.