A Multi-Agent Expert System Simulation for Ambient Assisted Living: The Virtual Carer Experience

A shift in the distribution of population towards older ages is occurring in almost every country of the world and it is becoming a major problem in Europe, Japan and USA, due to the high dependency ratio of these countries. Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) and Ambient Intelligence (AmI) are polarising the attention of the research community, trying to improve the quality of life of elderly people promoting their autonomy, self-confidence and mobility. Artificial Intelligence (AI), developing intelligent and adaptable systems, can play a considerable role in AAL and AmI to cope with the changing needs that characterize the life of people with chronic diseases. To show a possible contribution of AI in these fields, this paper introduces the multi-agent architecture of an expert system for Ambient Assisted Living: the Virtual Carer (VC). Based on the Belief-Desire-Intention (BDI) paradigm, it models the behaviours of a human caregiver. The main goal of the Virtual Carer is to help an elderly patient in his daily activities, while his health conditions are monitored, in order to ensure his security. To show the main capabilities of the system, the paper describes some simulations of the proposed agency, highlighting the architecture of the reasoning component.