Social consumer robots are slowly but strongly invading our everyday lives as their prices are becoming lower and lower, constituting them affordable for a wide range of civilians. There has been a lot of research concerning the potential applications of social robots, some of which may implement companionship or proxying technology-related tasks and assisting in everyday household endeavors, among others. In the current work, the RAPP framework is being used towards easily creating robotic applications suitable for utilization as a socially interactive alerting system with the employment of the NAO robot. The developed application stores events in an on-line calendar, directly via the robot or indirectly via a web environment, and asynchronously informs an end-user of imminent events.

This paper presents a method of designing variable structure control systems for robots. As the on-board robot computational resources are limited, but in some cases the demands imposed on the robot by the user are virtually limitless, the solution is to produce a variable structure system. The task dependent part has to be exchanged, however the task governs the activities of the robot. Thus not only exchange of some task-dependent modules is required, but also supervisory responsibilities have to be switched. Such control systems are necessary in the case of robot companions, where the owner of the robot may demand from it to provide many services. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Scientific breakthroughs have led to an increase in life expectancy, to the point where senior citizens comprise an ever increasing percentage of the general population. In this direction, the EU funded RAPP project “Robotic Applications for Delivering Smart User Empowering Applications” introduces socially interactive robots that will not only physically assist, but also serve as a companion to senior citizens. The proposed RAPP framework has been designed aiming towards a cloud-based integrated approach that enables robotic devices to seamlessly deploy robotic applications, relieving the actual robots from computational burdens. The Robotic Applications (RApps) developed according to the RAPP paradigm will empower consumer social robots, allowing them to adapt to versatile situations and materialize complex behaviors and scenarios. The RAPP pilot cases involve the development of RApps for the NAO humanoid robot and the ANG-MED rollator targeting senior citizens that (a) are technology illiterate, (b) have been diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment or (c) are in the process of hip fracture rehabilitation. Initial results establish the robustness of RAPP in addressing the needs of end users and developers, as well as its contribution in significantly increasing the quality of life of senior citizens.

It is a general truth that increase of age is associated with a level of mental and physical decline but unfortunately the former are often accompanied by social exclusion leading to marginalization and eventually further acceleration of the aging process. A new approach in alleviating the social exclusion of older people involves the use of assistive robots. As robots rapidly invade everyday life, the need of new software paradigms in order to address the user’s unique needs becomes critical. In this paper we present a novel architectural design, the RAPP (A Software Platform to Deliver Smart, User Empowering Robotic Applications) framework that attempts to address this issue. The proposed framework has been designed in a cloud-based approach, integrating robotic devices and their respective Sofia E. Reppou · George T. Karagiannis Ormylia Foundation, Ormylia, Greece E-mail: sreppou@gmail.com Emmanouil G. Tsardoulias · Andreas L. Symeonidis · Fotis E. Psomopoulos ITI Information Technologies Institute, CERTH Centre for Research and Technology Hellas, Thermi 57001, Greece Athanassios M. Kintsakis · Pericles A. Mitkas Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece Cezary Zielinski Institute of Control and Computation Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology ul. Nowowiejska 15/19, PL-00-665 Warszawa, POLAND Vincent Prunet · Jean-Pierre Merlet Inria, Sophia-Antipolis, France Miren Iturburu Matia Instituto Gerontologico, Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain Alexandros Gkiokas Ortelio Ltd, Coventry, CV1 2TT, UK applications. We aim to facilitate seamless development of robotic applications compatible with a wide range of supported robots and available to the public through a unified online store.

It is a general truth that increase of age is associated with a level of mental and physical decline but unfortunately the former are often accompanied by social exclusion leading to marginalization and eventually further acceleration of the aging process. A new approach in alleviating the social exclusion of older people involves the use of assistive robots. As robots rapidly invade everyday life, the need of new software paradigms in order to address the user’s unique needs becomes critical. In this paper we present a novel architectural design, the RAPP [a software platform to deliver smart, user empowering robotic applications (RApps)] framework that attempts to address this issue. The proposed framework has been designed in a cloud-based approach, integrating robotic devices and their respective applications. We aim to facilitate seamless development of RApps compatible with a wide range of supported robots and available to the public through a unified online store.

What really happens in terms of social inclusion and exclusion differentiates among European Countries, cultures and social groups and is being affected by socio-economic factors, social perceptions and societal changes. There are also variations among elderly in the European Union concerning their retirement from labor, institutionalization (residential or independent living), opportunities for further development or leisure and many more. A lot of EU projects focus on services that can be easy to access and affordable by elderly, enhancing the independency and autonomous living of the seniors. RAPP (EU-FP7) is addressing this need by offering a solution in the form of a software platform that will support the creation and delivery of robotic applications (RApps) targeted to people at risk of exclusion, especially older people. In this paper we are focusing to technology illiterate elderly, a group of seniors engaged for RAPP by Ormylia Foundation.

Medical advances have increased life expectancy to the point where senior citizens comprise a larger than ever percentage of the general population. The RAPP project introduces socially interactive robots that will not only physically assist, but also serve as a companion to senior citizens. In this paper, a novel system is presented, designed as part of the RAPP project that aims to assist senior citizens with mild cognitive impairment in performing cognitive tests as a means of exercise, while also keeping track of their performance. Our goal is to provide an interactive and intriguing user friendly alternative to the classic cognitive tests that will keep the patient interested and thus increase compliance. Tracking the patient's performance in the cognitive tests can prove invaluable as the data can be further associated with medical treatment or lifestyle changes and conclusively lead to better understanding of the nature of cognitive decline.

Cloud robotics is becoming a trend in the modern robotics field, as it became evident that true artificial intelligence can be achieved only by sharing collective knowledge. In the ICT area, the most common way to formulate knowledge is via the ontology concept, where different meanings connect semantically. Additionally, a considerable effort to merge robotics with assisted living concepts exists, as the modern societies suffer from lack of caregivers for the persons in need. In the current work, an attempt is made to merge a robotic and an AAL ontology, as well as utilize it in the RAPP Project (EU-FP7).