Event

Ten social robots – LOVOT – have arrived in Aarhus and will be tested over the next year at four nursing homes: Rosenvangen, Fuglebakken, Hørgaarden, and Kristiansgaarden.

The aim of the research is to explore:

• The use of LOVOT in challenging everyday situations for elderly residents
• Whether LOVOT can facilitate social interaction, a sense of security, and communication among elderly residents in group settings
• Conducting ethnographic studies of LOVOT in common areas of the nursing homes
• Ethical aspects of using social robots

Director of Administration Signe Rønn Sørensen gave the welcome speech, and Christian Budde, Councilor for Health and Care in Aarhus Municipality, also welcomed the robots to Aarhus.

In the coming weeks, staff at the four nursing homes will be trained in using the robots, after which the robots will be put into operation.

We look forward to collaborating with the four nursing homes and the project team: Project Manager Monica Ekstrøm from VTH, Ivan Kjær Lauridsen, Head of Welfare Technology, and Gitte Krogh, Head of Nursing Homes.

The project is supported by Aarhus Municipality and Aalborg University. The Japanese company Groove X is providing LOVOT free of charge for the trial.

On Wednesday, October 21st, the next new LOVOT project in Denmark will kick off. The social robots, LOVOT, will be tested at four nursing homes in Aarhus Municipality.

The purpose of the test is to explore how social robots can be used as a communication tool in challenging everyday situations, in group sessions, and as a part of daily life for elderly residents in Aarhus nursing homes.

His Majesty King Frederik of Denmark is today visiting Juntendo University Hospital in Tokyo, Japan, together with Minister for Foreign Affairs Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Minister for Industry Morten Bødskov, and Minister for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Jacob Jensen.

Aalborg University (AAU) has been collorating with Juntendo University Hospital for years and the King and the Danish delegation has been presented for some of our joint research: Artificial intelligence & sleep sensor for heart patients.

Dr Kasei (cardiologist) and Dr Daida (cardiologist) have worked to develop a sleep sensor (Nemuri) for a bed (together with the company Paramount Bed in Japan) that can detect sleep apnea in patients with severe heart failure. Mathushan Gunasegaram, who is a civil engineer in health technology and working at AAU has helped analyze data during a study stay at Juntendo University, which showed via machine learning (artificial intelligence) and analysis of data such as respiration, pulse and movement (from the sleep sensor), that there were signs of heart failure 4 days before hospitalization.
In this way, the sleep sensor can help prevent hospitalizations in this patient group, which typically has a high readmission rate and can be expensive for the healthcare system. AAU also work with sleep sensors and heart failure patients in their Future Patient study in Viborg, and have a close research collaboration.

The King and the Danish delegation was also presented for the social robot LOVOT developed by Groove X. LOVOT is a social robot with artificial intelligence . LOVOT is designed to bring happiness, which it does with its evolving personality and person recognition. With its eyes and body language, LOVOT can show emotions. In addition, it can become warm like a living being – and an internal warmth of 37° celsius – and make noises. It features over 50 sensors that mimic the behaviour of pets like dogs or cats, a 360° camera with a microphone, the ability to distinguish humans from objects.

We have previously tested LOVOT with residents with dementia, living in care centers in Aalborg, Viborg or Skive municipality, who are lonely, have high arousal or have introverted behaviour. The conclusion was that LOVOT has a positive impact on the mood of the tested individuals and that the staff felt that the artificial behavior came across as natural and that LOVOT was user-friendly.

In May AAU will start a new trial with 10 LOVOT robots at 4 nursing homes in Aarhus Municipality. We are looking forward to this collaboration.

See the King meeting LOVOT

Photos: Thomas Højlund Christensen, Royal Danish Embassy in Tokyo & Groove X

Juntendo University from Tokyo visited AAU SUND to discuss increased collaboration. We have been working together since 2019 within digital health and cardiology, and joint research is already underway in this field.

Over the course of two days, professional presentations have been held on neural engineering, regenerative medicine, digital health, sports medicine, and musculoskeletal health. It has been a couple of productive days, and we now aim to take the great ideas and put them into practice to strengthen international collaboration.

Juntendo University in Tokyo has had its 4 th Annual JUHS International Symposium May 18 2024 for students and faculty within health science and technology. A total of 300 participated in the event.

President Dr Daida was hosting the event: “Cutting Edge of Health Science”.

Dr. Suh-Fang Jeng from National Taiwan University gave a lecture on how to develop an application of AI for infant motor asseessment. It was not an easy task.

Dr. Jin Sung Kim from Yonsei University in Korea gave an lecture on AI in radiation oncology. AI is widely used within radiation but Dr Kim highlighted that we still need to trust more in AI.

Dr. Chiung-Wen Kuo from Yuanpei University of Medical Technology in Taiwan gave a lecture on recent trends in breast imaging techniques for detecting breast cancer. AI is certanly in use within this field.

Dr. Birthe Dinesen gave a lecture on digital health in Denmark and “The digital Heart: The Path to Telerehabilitation for atrial fibrillation in Denmark” (photos).

During the afternoon the international guests were introduced to Master projects and we gave feedback on their work. There were many interesting projects. Jutendo University is very advanced in research and implementation of new technologies in clinical practice.

It was a fruitfull symposium and thank you to Dr. Daida,professor Takahashi and team for beeing invited to this symposium. Looking forward to future collaboration.

On May 16th at 17.30-19.00 JST, Professor Birthe Dinesen from Aalborg University will give a lecture on how to do care innovation and come with examples of this.

See poster for further information.

Digital Health & Rehabilitation – Present and future collaboration between Denmark & Japan

Supported by the Royal Danish Embassy, Tokyo

Time: April 25, 2023 from 2.00pm to 4.30pm Japanese time / 07.00 – 09.30 Danish time

Place: Online (Zoom) and at Juntendo University, Bldg. 7, 13F, Ariyama Memorial Hall

The Japanese – Danish Research Network on Telehealth/Telerehabilitation and Welfare Technologies (JD TeleTech) is delighted to invite you to our upcoming seminar on: “Digital Health & Rehabilitation – Present and future collaboration between Denmark & Japan.”

As digital health and rehabilitation continue rapidly evolve, we believe that collaboration between countries is essential to driving research, innovation and improving patient outcomes. This seminar will explore the current state of digital health and rehabilitation in Denmark and Japan, present examples of current research collaboration as highlight opportunities for future collaboration. We are pleased to announce that expert speakers from both Denmark and Japan will attend and share their insights.

The target group for this seminar are researchers and healthcare professionals within digital health and rehabilitation, representatives from companies as well as Master or PhD students.

Download the full program here

It is free to participate in the event.

Registration

Please register at this link before Monday April 17, 2023 the latest.

We hope that you’ll be able to join us for this informative and engaging event.

Best Regards,

Dr. Hiroyuki Daida, Dean & Professor
Graduate School of Health Science,
Juntendo University, Tokyo, Japan
Email: daida@juntendo.ac.jp

&

Dr. Birthe Dinesen, Professor & Head of Laboratory for Welfare Technology – Digital Health & Rehabilitation, Sport Science – Performance and Technology,
Department of Health Science and Technology,
Aalborg University, Denmark
Email: bid@hst.aau.dk

IMASEN Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (Aichi, Japan) visited us at Aalborg University as well as the Municipality of Aalborg.

Our mission: to help pre-frail seniors maintaining physical autonomy using the aLQ exoskeleton.

A research project headed by Sport Sciences – Performance and Technology research group in collaboration with IMASEN. This project is an example of how the JD TeleTech brings collaborators from Denmark and Japan together.

Yesterday, the Center for Welfare Technology had a visit from Japan, where the company RT Works presented a new walker with a motor, so that the elderly can get help with difficult walking.

There were also researchers from AIST – the national research institution for robots at the meeting.

Subsequently, the group visited AAU SUND at the Welfare Technology Laboratory, where we discussed cooperation on the development of a new model for evaluating welfare technologies in Japan and Denmark. We see the need for this in both countries, and will cooperate on this in the future.

Wednesday the Elderly Housing Unit of Tokyo Metropolitan Government had a visit to the Lundbeck Center, Aalborg Municipality, Center for Welfare Technologies, Aalborg and Laboratory for Welfare Technology – Digital Health & Rehabilitation, Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University.

The aim of the visit was to learn about elderly care and use of new technologies for future elderly care. The visit was part of the JD TeleTech network.