LG And A•kin To Develop AI Home Helpers For Families Living With Disability
During the mid-twentieth century, managing the household was transformed by the mainstreaming of technological innovations such as washing machines, dishwashers, and vacuum cleaners.
Perhaps in three decades from now, technology will have evolved to a level to allow humanoid robots, such as Andrew played by the late Robin Williams in the 1999 movie Bicentennial Man, to take over the household chores entirely.
Whether or not this represents a flight of fancy, what we know is that technological advancement rarely happens in great leaps but rather, through incremental steps.
Sydney and San Francisco-based AI and robotics startup a•kin, who have developed robotics alongside the likes of NASA, are currently working towards one such important staging post.
Smart speakers like Amazon Alexa and Google Home are already transforming the home for many and voice activation provides a particular boon for users with physical disabilities.Partnering to meet the challenge
Earlier this month the company was named as one of 11 startup winners in the LG NOVA Proto Challenge. The Challenge focused on the key areas of connected health, energizing mobility, smart lifestyle, the metaverse and innovation for impact.
In the meantime, LG will provide mentoring, networking and marketing opportunities in addition to $10,000 in prize money with a chance to pitch for a further $100,000.
Ultimately, those who are successful in the umbrella LG NOVA Global Mission For the Future Challenge will be able to draw on an investment pool of $20 million in equity funding and hopefully enjoy a fruitful partnership with the tech giant’s U.S. innovation center.
For a•kin, the attraction is obvious. Developing innovative software is one thing but tech startups often lack the financial heft to venture into the somewhat dicey hardware side of the equation.
In a•kin's case, related to home hubs, ambient computing and hopefully, further down the line - robotic helpers.
For LG, the feeling is mutual as Dr. Sokwoo Rhee, senior vice president for innovation at LG Electronics and head of LG NOVA explains:
“When you develop technology with a clear vision and a clear goal, which is going to bring real value to people, that’s when it’s going to have the highest impact.
“Too few companies have this type of vision from the outset while also being fully aligned with the philosophy of our challenge. That’s where we feel a•kin is different.”
Over the long-term, a•kin is passionate about hosting its sophisticated high-end chatbot inside a robot, whatever shape that might take, to provide physical support.
Addressing the greatest need
For now, the priority remains in creating a software interface with the intention of easing the cognitive load on family caregivers. The company is adopting a universal design approach by initially honing in on disability use cases.
Right now, a typical scenario might be that of Emily – a girl with cerebral palsy and mild intellectual impairment.
Emily’s mom might tell the AI that Emily wants to be more independent but is often late for school because she struggles to pack her school bag every day. She also has to be careful, as the bag can’t be too heavy on account of her disability.
This goal will be relayed to Emily’s personal avatar on her tablet who she has specially chosen to have long blue hair. The interface has also been rendered with large buttons to help her navigate better.
Emily’s avatar talks to her differently from mom when she is rushed off her feet in the morning getting the kids to school. Her assistant will remind her to pack her school bag the night before and be careful not to make it too heavy.
At the same time, Emily‘s older brother Jack is reminded by his avatar that it’s his turn to cook the dinner tomorrow night and the meal plan says it’s going to be vegetable pasta.
Liesl Yearsley is CEO of a•kin and a world-leading artificial intelligence expert. She has founded three successful companies, including Cognea Artificial Intelligence, which was later acquired by IBM Watson.
Two of her children live with a disability.
“The emotional load and level of organizational labor facing families living with a disability are significant,” says Yearsley.
“It’s around 10-15 hours a week. That is the key problem area we are working on with our software. We want to build an ambient, centralized AI that understands the goals of the family and individual, has empathy and can actualize as well.”
Yearsley continues, “We feel, in these early days, that we can manage much of this organizational load with software but when the technology gets there, we will have a physical assistance mode too.”
Changing expectations
Across wider society, there exists a rapidly expanding business case for help with managing domestic tasks and family affairs, that may not have existed, or at least not been fully appreciated, in previous decades.
“Sometimes, when I’ve engaged with the investment community – what I hear the most is – ‘I just don’t get the problem,’ says Yearsley.
“This is because most of them have a chef, a housekeeper, nannies for the kids - a whole entourage that supports their household. But that’s not how most of us live. Most people are cutting a 20-40 hour a week job in addition to what has to be done at home.
“For the last couple of decades, the economics around this type of innovation might not have worked. But what's happening now is 72% of millennials are working parents and millennials are now the largest living generation.
“Today, it’s not like grandma's time where there is somebody unpaid doing this housework and it not being viewed as an economic cost. We now have this more vocal generation coming through with clearer ideas about the value of their time,” says Yearsley.
While the age of the robot butlers or even the super-intelligent Ai voice assistants living in the walls might not yet be upon us, it’s already a frontier opening up due to the innate desire of us as humans to innovate and explore.
That’s not to forget, the more modern era trend to want to make what we see in sci-fi movies come true in real life.
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