Workshop for UK Social Care Robot Challenge 2017 - UK Robotics Week

On Monday 19th June 20 participants joined Dr. Mauro Dragone for an interactive workshop focused on examining robotic and ICT solutions for healthy ageing and assisted living.

Attendees included representatives from Innovate UK, and healthcare stakeholders from the City of Edinburgh Council, Dumfries & Galloway Health and Social Care Partnership, Social Care Alba, CENSIS, NHS Education for Scotland, NHS Lanarkshire, Stroke Education Lothian and Borders, Stroke Association Scotland, LifeCare Edinburgh. The workshop was also joined by experts in cognitive ageing, interaction design and robotics from Heriot-Watt University.

The event took place in a newly built "living lab" - a space where roboticists and computer scientists, along with usability and healthcare experts, psychologists, and sociologists, can work alongside people with assisted living needs as well as those supporting them, to co-design and test innovative solutions for healthy ageing and assisted living.

The workshop is part of the UK Social Care Robot Challenge 2017, a nation-wide cooperative venture that aims to encourage investigation into how robots can be integrated in healthcare services of the future, and help address the predicted rising costs and strain of healthcare provision and services in the UK. The challenge aims to draw out ideas surrounding how robotics can be used for different aspects of our healthcare system, and work with and support health professionals, in providing improved physical and cognitive deficit support.