Australian company commences world-first aged care trials of new companion robot

Australia-based robotics and AI startup Andromeda Robotics announced it is undertaking initial trials with aged care provider Allity (part of the Bolton Clarke Group).

The trials involve Andromeda's prototype humanoid companion robot called Abi which has been designed to interact with residents in a relaxed and conversational manner.

This is fairly important, with ongoing staff shortages across the aged care sector prompting tech companies to innovate and come up with tech solutions.

How does it work?

Powered by the GPT-4 artificial intelligence platform, the robot can recognize residents, answer questions, and tailor conversations based on previous interactions.

And unsurprisingly, the robot has proven to be an immediate success with residents who enjoyed interacting with it through voice.

Andromeda was also delighted with the initial trial, which is a significant step in the ongoing evolution of Abi and would provide invaluable data for the company's development team.

While the concept of companion robots was not new, they had been slow to take off because their ability to interact and people skills had tended to be quite poor. That is now changing with technologies like generative AI.

On the record

"We have been fortunate enough to be involved with the prototype robot, named Abi, from the very early stages and have watched it grow in both capability and physical stature. Abi now stands some 120cm tall and can gesture and move its head and eyes when interacting with residents," said Thena Johnstone, National Pathways Manager at Allity. "I see a huge opportunity for robots such as Abi to make a real difference for residents and their quality of life. They can't replace humans but can complement the fantastic levels of care that our staff provide."

"Abi uses a mix of machine vision, artificial intelligence and Chat GPT to power its interactions with residents. The robot also relies on non-verbal cues and we have worked with advisors from animation studios Pixar and DreamWorks to make Abi's body language as empathetic and engaging as possible," added Andromeda founder Grace Brown. "Recent advances in technology are helping Abi to take conversational AI to the next level. This is not just when it comes to communicating with people but also making an emotional connection, which is so important."

What's next?

To assist Andromeda in scaling up its development and trial activities, the company has joined the Boab AI Scaleup Program to help bring its AI product to market while continuing to raise additional funding from venture investors.

Andromeda was involved in Amazon's AWS Robotics Startup Acceleration program and has raised over $1 million led by Galileo Ventures, which will allow it to continue the development with the aim of bringing a fully functional robot to market within the next 18 months.