The EMERGENCE network activities have been structured into five distinct work packages designed to achieve the network objectives across the lifetime of the project funding period, Feb 2022 - Jan 2025.
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Work Package 1
Understanding requirements to assess, self-manage and reduce frailty
Lead: Prof. Mark Hawley, University of Sheffield
Objective 1:
To work with our clinical and care-provider partners and user groups to translate current health and social care challenges and best practice in managing, assessing, monitoring and reducing frailty, into a set of person-centred use cases and scenarios.
Activities for achieving objective 1:
Feb - Apr 2022 : Work planning and ethics approval
May - Oct 2022 : Co-Production Workshops
Nov 2023 - Jul 2024 : Evaluation Workshops
Deliverables:
A set of use cases, personas and scenarios in a range of multimedia formats
A matrix of functional and non-functional requirements with traceability information
A formative evaluation of feasibility projects
Outcome
The establishment of an open access data repository of requirements, use cases and scenarios, capturing a broad range of contexts and reducing unecessary description, allowing other groups to build on this knowledge.
Work Package 2
Co-creation of intelligent robotics solutions - Feasibility Studies
Lead: Prof. Alessandro Di Nuovo, Sheffield Hallam University
Objective 2:
To step-up our capacity to design and test healthcare robotic solutions, within our unique multi-disciplinary network of connected living lab test beds embedded in the community, guided and informed by health and social care experts.
Objective 3:
To establish best practice guidelines for the design and development of healthcare robotics solutions, addressing self-management of frailty and human-robot interfaces for people with age-related sensory, physical and cognitive impairments.
Activities for achieving objectives 2 and 3:
Feb - Apr 2022 : Establish a steering group of stakeholders
Aug 2022 - Jan 2023 : Co-creation Workshops
Aug 2022 - Oct 2024 : Support and evaluate feasibility projects
Deliverables:
An online Body of Knowledge to support person-focused development of healthcare robotic technology to tackle frailty in the community
An interactive web-based resource sharing lived experiences of end-users and stakeholders to inform future design, evaluation and development of innovative robotic solutions
Outcome
Encouragement of novel ideas for healthcare robotic solutions within living lab test beds to drive co-designed, innovative and multidisciplinary research leading to robotic services capable of transforming how frailty is managed in the community.
Work Package 3
Defining safety, regulatory and ethical frameworks for integration
Lead: Prof. Farshid Amirabdollahian, University of Hertfordshire
Objective 4:
To lead the definition of safety, regulatory and ethical requirements and frameworks, ensuring that healthcare robotic solutions are easily deployed and integrated as part of frailty care.
Activities for achieving objective 4:
Feb 2022 - Jan 2023 : Conduct a review of existing frailty toolkits, implementation processes and literature
Feb 2023 - Jan 2024 : Define, develop and aggregate benchmarks, standards and regulatory processes.
Feb 2023 - Jan 2024 : Workshops for robotics researchers and companies
Nov 2023 - Jan 2025 : Refine ethical frameworks for the use and deployment of assistive robots with older adults
Deliverables:
An online repository providing ethical guidance and regulatory checklists
Outcome
Understanding and definition of the safety, ethical and regulatory requirements needed to ensure that any healthcare robotic solutions that are developed can be easily deployed and integrated as part of optimal frailty care packages.
Work Package 4
Future care workforce skills for integration of healthcare robotics into care
Lead: Prof. Mauro Dragone, Heriot-Watt University
Objective 5:
To identify gaps in the skill sets of carers and therapists that might prevent them from making effective use of robotics solutions and to inform the development of professional and CPD training content to address these gaps.
Activities for achieving objective 5:
Nov 2022 - Jan 2024 : Co-production Workshops
Feb 2024 - Jan 2025 : Interactive sessions for companies developing or integrating assitive robotic solutions
Deliverables:
A set of online resources with CPD materials for health and social care staff
Outcome
Ensure that the future care workforce have the skills to support and integrate assistive robot solutions into exisiting or adapted frailty care pathways.
Work Package 5
Network activity dissemination and Knowledge Exchange
Lead: Prof. Praminda Caleb-Solly, University of Nottingham
Objective 6:
To engage with academic researchers, clinicians, patients, policy makers and funding bodies to create better public and healthcare awareness and acceptance of the potential of healthcare robotics to address frailty.
Activities for achieving objective 6:
Feb 2022 - Jan 2025 : Develop and maintain an interactive accessible multimedia website and social media presence
May - Oct 2022 : Co-creation Workshops
Aug 2022 - Jan 2025 : Dissemination or network activities
May 2024 - Jan 2025 : Co-author white paper on robotics for frailty management
Deliverables:
EMERGENCE network website
White paper on the use of robotics for frailty
Outcome
Increased understanding and acceptance of the potential of healthcare robotics to address frailty, ensuring there is increased awarenesss of best practice for technology-enabled frailty management and design of person-centric robotics solutions.
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