Genk (Brussels Morning Newspaper): The AUTONOMOUS AI flowerpot, developed by LUCA School of Arts, Fraunhofer Institute, and Carnegie Mellon University, utilizes Al to assist dementia patients by sending task reminders. Led by Niels Hendriks, it received £300,000 in funding for development and aims for a £1 million prize.
An AI flowerpot is designed to help people with dementia by listening to their actions at home, according to Niels Hendriks, a research coordinator at Luca School of Arts. The flowerpot can notice when someone hasn’t completed a task, like making coffee. If a person turns on the coffee machine and adds water but forgets to put in a filter, the flowerpot can alert them through a smartwatch and assist them in finishing the task correctly.
How does Genk’s AUTONOMOUS AI Flowerpot Aid Dementia Patients?
The LUCA School of Arts in Genk has developed an AI flowerpot called AUTONOMOUS in collaboration with the Fraunhofer Research Institute from Portugal and Carnegie Mellon University in the U.S. This project focuses on helping people with dementia by involving them in the design process. Niels Hendriks explains that they considered how the flowerpot should communicate, such as what messages to send to smartwatches and what language or images are easy to understand. They also looked at when the flowerpot should remain quiet and when it can provide alerts.
The AUTONOMOUS project has been chosen as one of four global initiatives for the British Longitude Prize on Dementia, which funds technology to help people with dementia. The researchers received £300,000 to improve their project and aim to win the prize of £1 million. Niels Hendriks mentioned that AUTONOMOUS is still in the prototype stage, and the funding will help them teach it new tasks like frying an egg or loading a dishwasher. The team is working on the design and plans to start testing soon. They are looking for 5 to 10 individuals with dementia living at home to try out the flowerpot and smartwatch for a short time. If it becomes successful, they hope to expand the project further, possibly by starting their own company or partnering with others.
