# VGo-Assist, A Mobile Telepresence Robot to Engage Persons with Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias

> **NIH NIH R44** · VECNA TECHNOLOGIES, INC. · 2020 · $1,764,396

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Assistive Technologies (AT) is a broad area of activities to support physical health, well-being, social
connectedness, and ability to live independently at home. Assistive Robotics (AR) has largely referred to
robots that assisted people through physical interaction, while Socially Interactive Robotics (SIR) describe
machines that interact primarily through social interaction. Socially Assistive Robotics (SAR) has been
described as the intersection of Assistive Robotics (AR) and Socially Interactive Robotics (SIR). The goal of this
Phase II project is to develop the VGo Assist robot by augmenting a social robot (VGo) with assistive
technologies (AT) as part of an expandable smart home/assistive environment (AE) solution for people with
Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementia (ADRD). From the Phase I work, a survey study was conducted
which recruited three groups of people: individuals with ADRD, family caregivers, and clinical staff who
worked with ADRD patients. All of the groups agreed that VGo Assist would potentially allow an individual
with ADRD to remain living along at home longer or to be left home alone for long stretches of time, and the
group that showed the highest level of enthusiasm was family caregivers. Enthusiasm among this group was
particularly high because they also bear a significant burden from Alzheimer’s disease. A recently published
report by the Alzheimer’s Association revealed that when compared with caregivers of people without
dementia, twice as many caregivers of those with dementia indicate substantial financial, emotional and
physical difficulties, and 59% of family caregivers of people with ADRD rated the emotional stress of caregiving
as high or very high. For Phase II, core use cases were derived from the results of the Phase I survey study,
which we found to also be very consistent with findings from literature review of other similar survey studies.
The specific aims for Phase II are to develop capabilities for VGo Assist which will address the use cases that
were identified.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10010881
- **Project number:** 2R44AG060781-02
- **Recipient organization:** VECNA TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** Steve Normandin
- **Activity code:** R44 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $1,764,396
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2018-09-30 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10010881

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10010881, VGo-Assist, A Mobile Telepresence Robot to Engage Persons with Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias (2R44AG060781-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10010881. Licensed CC0.

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