Robots for old age

A new European research project aimed at managing active and healthy ageing through the use of caring service robots began at NUI Galway in February 2015. The MARIO project brings together a consortium of partners from academic institutions and industry across Europe, led by the School of Nursing and Midwifery at NUI Galway.

Funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, it assembled a team of international experts from academia, industry and dementia groups to work collaboratively in tackling the burdens imposed by dementia and developing innovative solutions using caring robots.

The €4 million project will last for three years, during which three pilot studies of robots interacting with people with dementia will be undertaken in Ireland, the UK and Italy. Professor Kathy Murphy, of the School of Nursing and Midwifery at NUI Galway, explains: “MARIO is an exciting and innovative project that will make a huge difference to the lives of people with dementia. We will be working directly with people with dementia to ensure that the issues they see as important are addressed. Multi-faceted interventions will be developed, which will be delivered by humanoid robots.”