A Case Study Interview with Heriot-Watt University

Heriot-Watt University is a top research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland, and known globally for expertise in science and engineering. Heriot-Watt University has been using MiRo for research and teaching and is implementing MiRo’s at their brand new robotics research and development facility The National Robotarium, opening in 2022 in conjunction with the University of Edinburgh.

We interviewed Professor Lynne Baillie from the School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences who, along with her research team investigated how MiRo could support fall assistance in the home.

Images were taken from Heriot-Watt University and Small Robots With Big Tasks: A Proof of Concept Implementation Using a MiRo for Fall Alert by T. Georgiou et al.

MiRo Robot Fall Assistance

Lynne, can you tell us about the Fall Assistance project?

We have used MiRo in three different ways. One of them was looking at falls with housing associations. This is a big issue for housing associations and care homes because false alarms take up a lot of manpower time. They were really interested in identifying when it is really a fall and they need to help the person or whether it is a false alarm, and the person is okay and getting up and going back to what they were doing.

So, one of the things that we looked at was getting the MiRo robot to check whether the person was getting up.

How did you go about doing this?

We investigated this within our assisted living lab with our researchers. Able-bodied students would carefully fall over and MiRo had to try and work out whether they were trying to get up by going towards the person in the assisted living lab and asking them a question. One of the benefits is that MiRo is on the same level as the fallen person’s head so MiRo can ask a question and look for a reply. Using MiRo’s facial recognition and touch sensors, the fallen person can turn their head and look at MiRo or reach out and touch one of the sensors on MiRo’s back. If there are no responses coming from the fallen person, then an alarm is triggered. 

Why is MiRo useful for tracking and sending fall alerts?

This project is a very interesting because there are some complicated factors that come into play. People generally think that people fall and that is it but in fact, things like whether they are trying to get up and how long are they down for are very important information. Even if the faller gets up but it was recorded that they were down for a long while, this could be a sign of something more serious and maybe a sign that they will have further falls. This is important information for the care giver on how they should care for them.

The alarms on the market now - the ones that you can pull, etc., do not give you that kind of information so I think it is interesting how MiRo could be used to see if there is a trend and an issue.

Why did you use MiRo for this project?

We found very strongly in our previous rehabilitation projects that the tools we use need to do two things. One, people want something to fit into their house. They do not want to have to change their house to fit the technology. They want the technology to fit into their house. They also don't want something that's stigmatizing to indicate that they're old or they're frail, or they have issues. They also prefer something that looks quite fun and acceptable, and something that you can put away by storing it in a cupboard. These things all lead to more user acceptance in the home. I think there will be more use of social robotics in people's households and MiRo is one of the first ones that has really shown that it can do this.

What are the next steps for this project?

As a project, this is something that we could investigate further for the longer term aside from just capturing the instance of the fall. That is why a robot is useful because it can collect different types of data. As the HRI and assistive living lead for the National Robotarium, I am also looking at working with stakeholders including end-users, housing associations, charities, companies, and others to extend the use of social robots including the MiRo in that space to see how we can help with other issues such as cognitive decline, rehabilitation and ageing in place.

Would you choose MiRo again and why?

Yes, I would choose Miro again because you can use it for lots of different things. We have used it for masters’ projects, honors projects and research projects which is very important for us. MiRo’s operating system and platform (the way it is being designed) supports a variety of projects and universities levels - undergraduate, postgraduate, and research projects.

MiRo’s broad application is quite rare, and we appreciate that we can use it at different levels and that is very useful. I think it is something valuable going forward because just buying a robot which will only work for one specific purpose, is not as useful for social robotics.