Companion robot for personal interaction

A robot for regimen compliance management, comprising:

• a processor;
• a memory accessible by the processor that includes personal medication dosage information;
• a sensor capable of detecting the presence of a person within a detection range of the robot;
• a communication interface capable of generating a human-perceptible signal and receiving a compliance or non-compliance indication from the person;
• a drive operatively connected to the processor that moves the robot;
• a scheduler routine executable on the processor that checks the personal medication dosage information for medication events, and in advance of a medication event, initiates a person finding routine;
• and
• a person finding routine executable on the processor that instructs the drive to move the robot about the household checking the sensor suite for the presence of the person and to stop in a position next to the person;
• a matching routine executable on the processor that sends a human perceptible signal to the person including information regarding the location of medication to be taken and guides the person to the medication.

A robot for regimen compliance management, comprising:

• a processor;
• a memory accessible by the processor that includes personal medication dosage information, the memory including postponement rules defining permissible conditions for postponing dosage;
• a sensor capable of detecting the presence of a person within a detection range of the robot;
• a communication interface capable of generating a human-perceptible signal and receiving a compliance or non-compliance indication from the person;
• a drive operatively connected to the processor that moves the robot;
• a scheduler routine executable on the processor that checks the personal medication dosage information for medication events, and in advance of a medication event, initiates a person finding routine;
• a person finding routine executable on the processor that instructs the drive to move the robot about the household and to stop in a position next to the person;
• a matching routine executable on the processor that sends a human perceptible signal to the person including information regarding medication to be taken;
• and
• a regimen compliance snooze routine that upon recognition of a non-compliance indication from the person, checks the personal medication dosage information and sets a new medication event if postponing medication is compatible with the postponement rules.

A robot for regimen compliance management, comprising:

• a medication cache that receives loaded medication to be carried by the robot;
• a processor;
• a memory accessible by the processor that includes personal medication dosage information and postponing rules;
• a sensor capable of detecting the presence of a person within a detection range of the robot;
• a communication interface capable of generating a human-perceptible signal;
• a drive operatively connected to the processor that moves the robot;
• a scheduler routine executable on the processor that checks the personal medication dosage information for medication events, and in advance of a medication event, initiates a person finding routine;
• a person finding routine executable on the processor that instructs the drive to move the robot about the household checking the sensor suite for the presence of the person and to stop in a position next to the person;
• and
• a matching routine executable on the processor that sends a human perceptible signal to the person including information regarding the medication carried in the medication cache.

A robot system for regimen compliance management, comprising:

• a medication cache that receives loaded medication;
• a processor;
• a memory accessible by the processor that includes personal medication dosage information and postponing rules;
• a sensor capable of detecting the presence of a person within a detection range of the robot;
• a communication interface capable of generating a human-perceptible signal;
• a drive operatively connected to the processor that moves the robot;
• a scheduler routine executable on the processor that checks the personal medication dosage information for medication events, and in advance of a medication event, initiates a person finding routine;
• a person finding routine executable on the processor that instructs the drive to move the robot about the household checking the sensor suite for the presence of the person and to stop in a position next to the person;
• and
• a medication loading routine executable on the processor that sends a human perceptible signal to the person including information regarding loading the medication cache for later administration, and information guiding the person to the medication cache.

A robot for regimen compliance management, comprising:

• a network interface that connects the robot to a remote location at which a caregiver may connect to the robot;
• a processor;
• a memory accessible by the processor that includes personal medication dosage information;
• a sensor capable of detecting the presence of a person within a detection range of the robot;
• a communication interface capable of generating a human-perceptible signal and receiving a compliance or non-compliance indication from the person;
• a drive operatively connected to the processor that moves the robot;
• a scheduler routine executable on the processor that checks the personal medication dosage information for medication events, and in advance of a medication event, initiates a person finding routine;
• a person finding routine executable on the processor that instructs the drive to move the robot about the household checking the sensor suite for the presence of the person and to stop in a position next to the person;
• and
• a regimen compliance reminder routine executable on the processor that, upon recognition of a non-compliance indication from the person, contacts the caregiver via the network interface.

A robot for regimen compliance management, comprising:

• a network interface that connects the robot to a remote location at which a caregiver may connect to the robot;
• a processor;
• a memory accessible by the processor that includes health-related regimen information;
• a sensor capable of detecting the presence of a person within a detection range of the robot;
• a communication interface capable of generating a human-perceptible signal;
• an inbound communication channel for the caregiver to send a human-perceptible signal through the inbound communication channel and via the communication interface;
• a drive operatively connected to the processor that moves the robot;
• a scheduler routine executable on the processor that checks the health-related regimen information for regimen events, and in advance of a health-related regimen event, initiates a person finding routine;
• a person finding routine executable on the processor that instructs the drive to move the robot about the household checking the sensor suite for the presence of the person and to stop in a position next to the person;
• and
• a regimen compliance guide access routine executable on the processor that connects a communication session with a caregiver via the network interface.

A method of human-robot interaction, comprising:

• receiving a communication script segment;
• outputting to a person at least one of a visible component of the communication script segment and an audible component of the communication script segment;
• and
• controlling at least one of a robot expression component accompanying the output component and a robot response to an input by a person.

A method of human-robot interaction, comprising:

• receiving a communication script segment, including an output query sub-script text and a response tree of five or less sub-script response text candidates;
• associating the output query text with an audible output signal, and outputting the audible output signal as a spoken query to a person;
• displaying the output query sub-script text together with the five or less sub-script response text candidates on a display of the robot;
• receiving an audio input signal recording a person's response to the audible output signal;
• processing the audio input signal to recognize if the audio input signal includes speech corresponding to any one of the five or less displayed sub-script response text candidates;
• if the audio input signal is not recognized to include speech corresponding to any one of the four or less sub-script response text candidates, issuing an output signal to prompt the user to retry communicating a response to the audible output signal;
• and
• if the audio input signal is recognized to include speech corresponding to any one of the five or less sub-script response text candidates, issuing an output signal including a repetition of the one of the five or less sub-script response text candidates that was recognized.

A method of human-robot interaction, comprising:

• receiving a communication script segment, including an output query sub-script text and a response tree of five or less sub-script response text candidates;
• associating the output query text with an audible output signal, and outputting the audible output signal as a spoken query to a person;
• displaying the output query sub-script text together with the five or less sub-script response text candidates on a display of the robot;
• receiving an audio input signal recording a person's response to the audible output signal;
• processing the audio input signal to recognize if the audio input signal includes speech corresponding to any one of the five or less displayed sub-script response text candidates;
• if the audio input signal is recognized to include speech corresponding to any one of the five or less sub-script response text candidates, issuing an output signal including a repetition of the one of the five or less sub-script response text candidates that was recognized;
• if the audio input signal is not recognized to include speech corresponding to any one of the four or less sub-script response text candidates, highlighting the displayed sub-script text on a display of the robot, then receiving an input signal selecting any one of the five or less displayed sub-script response text candidates via a manually operated control associated with the display.

A method of human-robot interaction, comprising:

• asynchronously executing a plurality of motion behaviors, including motion behaviors responsive to events;
• receiving a communication script segment, including dialogue branches with robot speech prompt text and human response text;
• interpreting the communication script segment to generate an audible robot speech prompt;
• receiving input from a person as a response to the audible robot speech prompt;
• interrupting a dialogue branch in response to an event detected by one of the plurality of behaviors to execute an asynchronous response;
• and
• recovering the dialogue branch after the execution of the asynchronous response.

A method of human-robot interaction, comprising:

• receiving a communication script segment, including dialogue branches with robot speech prompt text and human response text;
• associating the output query text with an audible output signal, and outputting the audible output signal as a spoken query to a person;
• modulating the dialogue branch to show a desired expression during the communication script segment by adding at least one expression motion selected from:
• a head movement sequence including nod axis head movement or turn axis head movement;
• and
• a robot movement sequence including movement of the entire robot.

A method of human-robot interaction, comprising:

• receiving a communication script segment, including dialogue branches with robot speech prompt text, human response text, and robot expression motion tags;
• interpreting the communication script segment to generate an audible robot speech prompt and robot expression motions according to the dialogue branches;
• receiving input from a person as a response to the audible robot speech prompt;
• interrupting an expression motion in response to an event detected by the robot to execute a corrective behavior to reposition the robot according to the event;
• and
• recovering the dialogue branch after the execution of the corrective behavior.