LG And Akin To Develop AI Home Helpers For Families Living With Disability – Forbes

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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 akin, 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.

Akin is focusing on taking things one stage further by creating a more empathetic, goal-orientated home AI system that will be initially targeted towards caregivers living with disabled family members.

Taking on, in its first iteration, the form of a voice-activated kitchen hub with tablet-based personalized breakout avatars for every family member akins system is designed to help with everything from meal planning to setting goals and the efficient allocation of household chores.

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.

The winners will go on to join a shortlist of 50 or so organizations participating in LG NOVAs Mission For The Future Challenge.

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 giants U.S. innovation center.

For akin, 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 akin'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, thats when its 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. Thats where we feel akin is different.

Over the long-term, akin is passionate about hosting its sophisticated high-end chatbot inside a robot, whatever shape that might take, to provide physical support.

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.

Emilys 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 cant be too heavy on account of her disability.

This goal will be relayed to Emilys 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.

Emilys 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, Emilys older brother Jack is reminded by his avatar that its his turn to cook the dinner tomorrow night and the meal plan says its going to be vegetable pasta.

The akin interface

Liesl Yearsley is CEO of akin 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.

Its 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.

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 Ive engaged with the investment community what I hear the most is I just dont 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 thats 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, its 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, its already a frontier opening up due to the innate desire of us as humans to innovate and explore.

Thats not to forget, the more modern era trend to want to make what we see in sci-fi movies come true in real life.

There are many hard yards to cover before we get there but understanding how to interweave technology into the granular and unique dynamics of individual family units seems like the perfect place to start.

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LG And Akin To Develop AI Home Helpers For Families Living With Disability - Forbes