On October 24-26, 2023, Lee and Mindy will be attending the AGE-WELL 2023 annual conference in downtown Toronto. This conference is attended by researchers, industry leaders, care providers and organizations, older adults, caregivers and government representatives. We gather to discuss current issues and innovations in the field of technology and aging.
Visitors will have a chance to see Mindy in person and try out the new voice-enabled Chat Time app. Thanks to financial support from the Community Foundations of Canada Investment Readiness Program and the Oakville Community Foundation, Social Robots has been able to invest in this exciting app development project.
We have been working on this app with Global DWS, a Toronto-based systems integrator that specializes in service robotics. We are testing out some ChatGPT capabilities with the latest firmware on the robot and are having some funny interactions. Not quite ready for prime-time, but hope to get some great feedback from attendees at the show this week.
AgeTech Innovation Week
UPDATE: CBC News reported on the conference and Mindy was in the opening segment: https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2277092931909
As part of a week-long series of workshops, keynote presentations and exhibits, the AGE-WELL annual conference is preceded by the envisAGE annual forum. EnvisAGE is a relatively new initiative that is an exciting collaboration between AGE-WELL and MEDTEQ+. Their focus is to catalyze Canada’s AgeTech ecosystem by accelerating innovation and helping companies deliver technology solutions that will make a difference in the lives of older adults.
Keynote speakers for the AGE-WELL event include: Dr. Tracey Gendron speaking on “Disrupting AGEISM” and Dr. Christina Harrington whose keynote is titled: “Inclusive Technology Design”. A list of all of the speakers can be found here: http://agetechinnovationweek.com/atiw2023/
Enter our Draw for a 3-day Trial
Visitors to the conference will be invited to enter our draw for a FREE 3-day Trial Visit with Mindy (you’ve hopefully seen the pop-up message on this blog post).
Eligible entries will be from staff or caregivers on behalf of retirement homes, LTC/assisted living and community sites that are within ~2 hour driving distance of the GTA (unless the winner is willing to pay to ship the robot and tablet to/from their location!). Entry deadline is 11:59pm ET on November 15, 2023.
Please contact us if the pop-up form doesn’t work for you.
Engaging Activities
Mindy can be used for a variety of engaging activities such as music and movement, brain games, simple conversation and to support recreation leaders when they are hosting special events.
All of these activities will be demonstrated at the AGE-WELL conference. You can see photos with Mindy dressed up in costume and get more ideas by visiting our ‘Activities‘ page. We hope you find it inspiring to see the wide range of ways that people use our social robots!
