Carebotix

[00:00:00]Today is the last day of high school for the HD SB and most students are shutting down their Chromebooks and hanging up their studies for the summer. However, after winning a gold medal, a challenge award, and a youth can innovate award at the Canada-Wide Science and Engineering Fair, one Oakville student is diving into development mode. Nikki Wesley explains.

[00:00:22]>> In grade 7, Imran Allarakhia created a social companion robot to help alleviate anxiety while students wrote tests.

[00:00:31]His inquiring mind built on that initial science fair success, competing in the Canada-Wide Science and Engineering Fair for the last 4 years.

[00:00:40]This year, he also competed at the International Science and Engineering Fair. His project, Carebotics, tackles the growing caregiver crisis.

[00:00:51]>> This is creating an urgent need for solutions that allow older adults to age in place as 96% of Canadians would rather age within their own homes rather than in long-term care facilities, to age in to age with dignity, and to age well. And that's where humanoid robots will play a role here.

[00:01:06]>> He interviewed seniors to gain a better understanding of what they actually wanted.

[00:01:12]>> And the main elements they wanted to bring up were the idea of physical caregiving, helping out with everyday life, and helping out with their cognitive health in order to help them main remain mentally sharp. And they really appreciated the features of it feeling friendly and relatable. That's the point of a humanoid robot in contrast to many other types of robotics.

[00:01:31]>> I'm designed to assist seniors with daily living and provide a supportive, calibrated presence. I'm built with a focus on gentle interaction and clear communication. Think of me as a friendly, slightly knowledgeable companion, always ready with a helpful suggestion or a quiet moment of shared calm. I'm >> In addition to being a companion, Carebotics is a physical caregiver and task aid.

[00:01:56]>> So say if I need him to help me with the dishes, or say laundry, or any major kind of task, he's able to use manipulation and navigation to take that high-level abstract command and figure out what are the steps in order to complete that. Those are the steps utilizing advanced AI models, and then it completes the task. And then the secondary element is social interaction to be a companion for seniors. So, I take AI model, a GPT model, say for instance, we know ChatGPT, Gemini, and that. I take that base model in conjunction with a new unique technique known as a gentic AI and a writer critic model with four classifiers, he's able to be much more human-like and to be a true social companion to combat loneliness and help against modifiable risk factors that lead to dementia.

[00:02:38]>> As a true inventor, Imran was not satisfied with version one.

[00:02:43]>> The original was right at my height most of the time. Whereas this one utilizes something known as a linear actuator, so he's able to adjust his height in real time. So, he's able to become smaller when he needs to be a social companion, but when he needs to do physical caregiving tasks, he can increase his height. But, he's still much smaller than his older brother, so they like it more.

[00:03:04]>> And Imran's planning version three already, replacing the wheelbase with actual legs.

[00:03:10]Looking back at his success over the last four years, and with the influence of friends he's made from Newfoundland, he looks at national competitions differently.

[00:03:20]>> It's a celebration of science, ingenuity, and youth achievement in STEM. So, it was great to reconnect with old friends, connect with youth six, and it was just it's a great step back, and I'd want to remind my grade seven self that you need to take a step back from the competition cuz if things don't go your way, it hurts more when you put so much more into the competition and didn't enjoy the experience.

[00:03:43]>> For Halton News, I'm Nikki Wesley.

[00:03:49]>> [music] >> Mhm.