Mediator AI for Preventing Social Isolation Among People

Abstract

AI and robotics technologies should prevent people from being socially isolated, especially in societies having a large single population. Here, we discuss a use of these technologies as a mediator between humans. The goal is to maintain and facilitate human communication with the help of such an AI agent. As an initial attempt, we target elderly users who live separately from their family members. Then, we introduce a social mediator robot that handles the exchange of messages between the user and his/her family members. Most importantly, the robot is designed to act to facilitate communication between both parties. In this paper, we will explain our research projects studying how the robot should act in this facilitation process. Both verbal and nonverbal intervention approaches are discussed.