Harnessing the power of AI to develop social robots with mental health knowledge

“It is a fantastic opportunity for us as different actors in healthcare, municipalities and technology companies such as Capgemini, to jointly explore the possibilities of AI, NAO robotics and link this to how we can meet children and young people's need for more knowledge about mental health. It is crucial that we do this with combined expertise and with service design methodology, and that development takes place together with the target groups of children and young people."
Annika b Nilsson Regional Healthcare Business Developer in Child and Youth Psychiatry, Skåne

Harnessing the power of AI to develop social robots with mental health knowledge

Mental illness among children and young people is increasing rapidly in Sweden, and the number of patients at the Child and Youth Psychiatry Service (Bup) in Skåne has more than doubled between 2010 and 2023.

When BUP Skåne discovered the NAO robots it had purchased fell short of expectations in assisting children on the ASD spectrum, AIE Malmo stepped in to help. The AIE Nordics team relished the opportunity to use applied innovation and make NAO communicate in a more realistic and authentic way – prioritizing listening over speaking to provide the best experience for young people with specific needs.

Enabling lifelike interactions

The AIE team’s first step was to enable NAO to access the generative AI resources of OpenAI’s servers. But issues with latency meant NAO’s word-by-word speech lacked natural fluency.

The solution was to use a smaller model based on sentiment analysis, so NAO could understand young people’s gestures, and filler worlds like ‘erm’ and ‘ah’ (or their Swedish equivalents). This industry-specific innovation enabled NAO to instantly understand if statements made by young people were positive or negative, and then guide conversations in the most appropriate and encouraging way.

It was equally important to make sure NAO interacted with people without generating inaccurate or misleading information. So, the AIE team gave NAO access to libraries of verifiable facts to make sure its responses were factually accurate. New applied innovation use cases for NAO are currently under active exploration at a series of school-based workshops.

Highlights

NAO humanoid robots are now able to access LLMs and interact with young people in ways that feel engaging and authentic.
A web-based platform enables NAO to be adapted for different environments and use cases: as an AI-buddy talking about sleep, a teachers’ assistant in a Spanish class, or as an intern at the AIE office, greeting guests and answering questions.
In the meantime, NAO is a trusty AIE companion, joining the AIE Nordics team on client visits to Finland, to Vitalis in Gothenburg, and Sogeti’s Text Expo in Stockholm, where he’s helping to raise awareness of transformational innovation and the possibilities of humanoid AI robots.