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The greatest potential for robots is at home and it goes beyond cleaning floors and cooking meals. Robots are able to provide companionship. I believe this will become especially important for the chronically ill or those who are housebound. I first observed the potential of non-human companions twenty years ago when I was writing about home telemonitoring. I met an elderly woman named Joan in her home where she was living alone. The local Visiting Nurses Association (VNA) was using technology to remotely monitor a handful of patient’s medical condition.
The information technology industry has been providing remote monitoring of computers for decades. IBM mainframe computers had this capability in the 1970’s. The computer would monitor key components and capabilities of the system. If a problem was detected requiring human intervention, the computer would automatically call IBM Service and tell them what replacement part the service technician should bring. A variation on IBM’s remote monitoring had been implemented by the VNA.
A VNA nurse and I arrived at Joan’s house. We rang the doorbell, were beckoned to come in, and Joan turned her wheelchair around to greet us. The nurse explained I wanted to learn about Joan’s telemonitoring equipment. Joan was more than happy to share, actually I think she was proud, to show us. The telemonitoring system, which looked like a desktop PC, was setup to measure five different things. Joan pressed a button, and the system said, “Good morning, Joan”, then it stepped her through a sequence of activities. Prompted by the system, Joan climbed from her wheelchair onto the electronic digital scale. Her weight was displayed on a bright red LED panel. Next came the digital thermometer. Joan then inserted her arm into a blood pressure cuff and pressed the “BP Start” button. Seconds later her systolic and diastolic readings appeared. The final two measurements were taken when Joan was prompted to put her finger into an oximeter, which displayed the percentage of her hemoglobin saturated with oxygen. This is an important measurement, especially for elderly people because it is predictive of certain medical conditions which may require treatment. The device also measures the pulse.
After the measurements were completed, Joan’s system began to ask a range of questions programmed into it by one of the VNA nurses. “How are you feeling today? Have you had any discomfort? Have you been able to eat normally? Did you take your medications? Have you been able to use the bathroom?”
At the completion of the measurements and questions, the system placed a phone call and transmitted the data to a central monitoring station. If anything was out of normal boundaries, or if Joan did not run the monitoring procedure on her normal schedule, she would receive a phone call and if she did not answer, her caregiver would be called. If any of the measurements were out of normal range, a VNA nurse would be dispatched to make a home visit. If the measurements were extraordinarily out of range, a 911 call would be placed.
The benefits to remote monitoring are significant. Doctors can see a graph showing trends — not just the measurements at today’s office visit, but months of trend data. Trend data can show something may be developing, a nurse can be dispatched to check further, and if necessary, a doctor visit can be arranged. Contrast this to a patient waiting until something goes wrong and having to call 911. Hospital and community costs can be reduced because of less emergency treatment.
What struck me about the visit to Joan was not the technology, which now is quite outdated, but the social aspects of the process. Joan was attached to the telemonitoring system — not technically, but emotionally. She was taking responsibility for her health. She had what I described in Health Attitude: Unraveling and Solving the Complexities of Healthcare, as a health attitude. The data collected was Joan’s data, she collected it, and she could see the impact of certain dietary choices or activities in the key measurements. People at the ER had previously called Joan a “frequent flier” because of her many visits there. After she became closely aligned with her telemonitoring, she didn’t visit so often. Perhaps she fears being away from her system. The system had become her buddy, her companion. It was like Facebook to Joan. Some studies have shown a person being monitored will fess up to having had a fall, which they may not have told a nurse about for fear of being told they would have to go to the ER to be checked.
The telemonitoring technology was expensive in 2004, but the cost has come down dramatically since then. As the technology continues to improve, the cost will continue to decline and the benefits for consumers and providers will be significant over time. Just like security-monitoring stations are watching thousands of homes for intrusions or freezing conditions in the home, healthcare telemonitoring will be watching thousands of people to monitor the health of chronically ill people. Over time, the data will be able to be consolidated and AI tools will enable predictive treatments based on what has worked for others.
The data collected by Joan’s system was sent through a dial-up telephone connection to a monitoring center, much like an alarm center. The comparison between Joan’s system and today’s technology is dramatic. Instead of a big clunky PC based system, we now have smartphones and a wide array of wireless sensors and devices. An entire new industry called mobile health (mHealth) has emerged based on these technologies. See my article, “How mHealth will spur consumer-led healthcare”.
Joan did not think about the data. She thought about companionship. The technology gave her a new lease on life, and she was grateful. The technology was not very life-like but, nevertheless, it provided the companionship which changed Joan’s life. With the emergence of home robots which can do much more and be more human-like, I believe the effectiveness will become much greater. In the Robots in Healthcare chapter of Robot Attitude: How Robots and Artificial Intelligence Will Make Our Lives Better, I will discuss a robotic approach which can perform all the functions of Joan’s system and much more. Fast forward 20 years. More to come, stay tuned.
In this section, I share what I am up to, pictures of the week, what is new in AI and crypto, and more.
I am really pleased with the Apple Watch Series 10 and the iPhone 16 Pro Max. One nice feature with the phone is for nighttime. When the phone is turned off and in the horizontal position, it automatically changes to a view. When you turn the room lights off, the brightness and color change, not too bright and a warm color. The Apple Watch has a new feature which monitors your sleep and can warn you of sleep apnea. It takes thirty days for it to have enough data to make predictions.
I learn a lot from webinars. Most of them use Zoom. This week’s 90 minute Q&A was with Gillian Hadfield, Chair at the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence, Professor of Government and Policy and Professor of Computer Science at Johns Hopkins University, economist, legal scholar and a computational social scientist. Very smart lady. The Forecast sessions by the collective intelligence organization are usually attended by 100 or more interested people. Anyone can join in.
Another interesting webinar this week was with founder and CEO of Epi-One, a startup working on a home kit for the early detection of various cancers. I am an investor in the company.
This week I began a course with MIT. The course title is AI in Healthcare. The first week is just orientation. The course finishes in January.
I was interviewed this week by mHealth Journal where I am a member of the Editorial Board. The interview is here.
I invested in Voatz in 2021 and was a pro bono adviser from time to time in the early days before that. Voatz reflects what I wrote about in Election Attitude – How Internet Voting Leads to a Stronger Democracy.
Voatz has announced the successful completion of historic elections in Mexico. Not only was this arguably the most advanced online election ever conducted anywhere, it also created a unique piece of history with Mexico electing its first woman president. It was also Voatz’s first million-dollar election contract. Voatz now holds the unique distinction of pioneering blockchain-backed digital voting for public elections in all three major countries of North America.
Voatz also announced a new win in the State of Wisconsin with an expected revenue of $250k over 5 years. Nearly 60k new voters will become eligible to use the Voatz system for the first time starting this November.
The US Commercial Service (a part of the Dept. of Commerce) has selected Voatz for the official USA Pavilion at the 2024 Africa Tech Festival. This partnership may help provide a boost to its international expansion efforts and add credibility for larger procurement opportunities.
This week in AI, there were several key developments across different sectors:
1. **Google’s Gemini 1.5 Pro**: At Google Cloud Next 2024, Google introduced Gemini 1.5 Pro to a public preview. This advanced AI model can handle up to one million tokens, significantly expanding long-context capabilities, and supports multimodal input, including text, audio, and video. This breakthrough allows companies to leverage AI for more complex tasks, such as creating detailed content, analyzing vast datasets, and supporting intricate decision-making processes across industries like gaming and finance.
2. **Microsoft Copilot Enhancements**: Microsoft has continued rolling out new features for its Copilot tool, designed to assist users across various Microsoft 365 applications. New tools, like “Narrative Builder” in PowerPoint, help users create structured, brand-consistent presentations with AI support, while Copilot in Excel now offers Python integration, allowing users to generate Python code for advanced data analysis using natural language prompts. These additions aim to streamline workflows and make advanced tech more accessible to non-programmers.
3. **AI in National Security and Defense**: Anthropic, AWS, and Palantir recently announced partnerships to strengthen AI applications within the U.S. Department of Defense. Their collaboration aims to improve data processing, threat detection, and strategic planning by leveraging advanced machine learning models tailored to national security needs.
These updates demonstrate AI’s expanding influence, from corporate productivity to national security, showcasing how major tech companies are using AI to reshape industries and improve efficiency in data-heavy environments.
This week in crypto has seen substantial developments across prices, policies, and investment trends:
U.S. bitcoin ETF inflows hit $4.7 billion over the last six trading days, as bitcoin became the seventh-largest asset in the world. (CoinDesk)
1. **Bitcoin’s Surge to Record Highs**: Bitcoin hit a new peak, reaching up to $93,000 amid renewed interest following the U.S. presidential election. This price surge is linked to investor optimism about potential regulatory reforms in the U.S., with a focus on easing restrictions and fostering a more crypto-friendly environment under the Trump administration. This increase has solidified Bitcoin’s position as a valuable asset, with many viewing it as a hedge against traditional financial uncertainties.
2. **Institutional Investment and ETFs**: Institutional interest in crypto is also rising, with exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the U.S. seeing substantial inflows. This trend has boosted market liquidity, attracting traditional investors who are now finding it easier to participate in the crypto market without directly handling digital assets.
3. **Regulatory Developments Worldwide**: The U.K. is moving forward with plans to regulate stablecoins and adjust policies around staking services. Additionally, Italy’s finance ministry is revisiting a proposed 42% crypto tax after facing political resistance. These regulatory shifts are likely to impact the global crypto landscape, making it more transparent but potentially introducing compliance challenges for some platforms.
4. **Advancements in Layer-2 Solutions**: Layer-2 protocols like Arbitrum and zkSync are gaining traction, as they offer faster and cheaper transactions on networks like Ethereum. This has facilitated more affordable access to decentralized finance (DeFi) and other blockchain applications, broadening crypto’s accessibility.
Overall, this week’s crypto news reflects both the potential for growth in digital assets and the ongoing need for regulatory adaptation as the sector matures.
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