Robots deliver digital skills training to Seoul’s senior citizens

*The following Cities Today article has been reposted with the publisher’s kind permission. The original article can be found here.

The City of Seoul is deploying humanoid robots to help senior citizens become comfortable with using smartphones, online messaging and other digital services. The education programme, which is being run by the Seoul Digital Foundation, will be provided until the end of January 2021 at 17 welfare facilities for the elderly in five of Seoul’s 25 autonomous districts. It aims to reach around 3,000 senior citizens. The scheme has been launched to get more older people using digital devices and systems and prevent them being left out as COVID-19 has accelerated the use of contactless services. There will be 300 sessions overall, with up to ten people per session allowed within COVID safety rules. A successful pilot The Liku robots from Seoul-based company Torooc are about 43cm tall and equipped with voice recognition and response functions to ask and answer questions and provide feedback.

Beyond this deployment, Torooc is developing the Liku robots as ‘companions’ which could live with people, such as those who live alone. They have built-in cameras and microphones and can recognize individuals’ faces, voices and emotions and learn more the longer they spend with someone, Torooc’s website says. They can also express five different ‘feelings’ via their eyes, and can avoid obstacles in their path when moving around.

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