Social robot for dementia - Script editor

Tessa is a small, talking robot for elderly with dementia. Tessa speaks friendly reminders, which other families can write and schedule with this easy-to-use app.

Scripts are small conversations that users can program for their family member with dementia. Tessa's speech recognition allows for branching trees in the conversation (she listens for yes/no answers when she asks a question). This branching makes this feature exponentially complex.

Based on extensive feedback and testing, our main challenge was to make this complex feature, easy to understand and simple to use. We settled for a speech balloon like metaphor, that clearly indicates the different actions Tessa does. The app user can plan different steps (asks, says, and waits), and build the script step by step.

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Example of a script interaction:

Tessa asks:
"Did you call Robert today? It's his birthday!"

The person with dementia says:
"No, not yet."

Tessa recognized 'no' and says: "You should call him today, I think he'll enjoy that! His number is in your address book!"

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