UTA Researchers Using Shakespeare & Robots To Help Seniors
By Ken Molestina, CBS 11 News
February 27, 2017
“Researchers at the UT Arlington Research Institute in Fort Worth, known as UTARI, are trying to figure out how high-tech robots can offer much needed therapy to an aging American population.
Dr. Julienne Greer, an Associate Professor of Social Robotics and Performance, says they are using something called participatory art to help robots interact with senior citizens.
Participatory art is described as a type of exercise with emphasis on fine arts.
The content of the art is said to enhance a person’s cognitive skills, as well as offer companionship for older adults.
UTARI researchers have taught their robot to recite Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 along with a human.
‘We want the older adults to feel engaged in an art form,’ said Professor Greer. ‘We are very hopeful the same positive results that happen in human to human model will happen with the human to robot model.'”