Social Robots and Memory Care

Photo by EllenaZ/istock

Nationwide, more than 7 million Americans live with Alzheimer’s, and nearly 12 million caregivers provide their unpaid care. The cost of caring for those with dementia-related diseases is estimated to have totaled $384 billion in 2025 and will increase to nearly $1 trillion (in today’s dollars) by mid-century, according to a 2025 report from the Alzheimer’s Association.

At the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business, a team of researchers is exploring new ways to apply AI technology to support caregivers and improve quality of life for patients with dementia. The Human-centered Analytics Lab (HAL) is piloting a community-based research project that uses interactive social robots to assist in reminiscence therapy.

The HAL team will present the project as part of Notre Dame’s 2026 Shamrock Series when the Fighting Irish take on the Wisconsin Badgers at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on September 6 (Sunday). “Robots & Caregiving: A Human-Centered Analytics Approach” takes place 1-2:30 p.m. on September 5 (Saturday) at the Rockwood Terrace, Green Bay, Wisconsin. The event is open to all Shamrock Series attendees.

The Shamrock Series provides a forum to showcase exemplary work emerging from across Notre Dame. President Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., chose “What Does It Mean to Live a Good Life?” as the organizing theme for the 2026–27 academic year, inviting units across campus to explore this question.

“Placing human well-being at the heart of technological innovation, particularly in rapidly evolving areas like generative AI, is an urgent responsibility and a defining opportunity,” said Jessica McManus Warnell, HAL managing director of research strategy, operations and engagement. “The Notre Dame community is uniquely positioned to meet this moment.”

Co-directed by award-winning faculty members Ahmed Abbasi and Ken Kelley, HAL is an interdisciplinary research lab that explores the intersection of people and technology to better understand the human condition in an increasingly digital world. The caregiving project reflects HAL’s collaborative approach, bringing together faculty, doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers from across the lab, including Ph.D. in Analytics students Ray Alavo and Sofía Calderón Farfan, and postdoctoral research fellow Kristina Radivojevic Topalovic.

For the caregiving study, HAL is partnering with the Milton Home, a care facility in South Bend, Indiana, to study how the interactive social robots — ”Julie” and “Rosie” — can assist the trained professional staff in providing reminiscence therapy to the organization’s clients.

Researchers Ray Alavo and Sofía Calderón Farfan test the HAL robot in the lab. (Photo by Michael Caterina/University of Notre Dame)

The AI-enabled social robots, which have been trained using the latest machine learning algorithms, can draw on information about a person’s life — including favorite music, sports teams, movies, family traditions and other meaningful experiences — to tailor conversations that help stimulate memories and strengthen social connection. The human caregivers provide compassion, expertise, judgment and relationships; the robots contribute the ability to rapidly synthesize vast amounts of information to facilitate the interaction.

The promise of social robots in this context is not a one-size-fits-all model, and an important part of the project is finding the right way for the robots to be used with this sensitive population. The HAL team is working closely with clinical staff, including a doctor with expertise in memory care. In doing so, the work considers the interconnected needs of the client, caregivers and family members.

For the Shamrock Series event, the HAL team will demonstrate an interaction with the robots and present highlights from the pilot study with Notre Dame students. The highlights will show where different approaches to robot-person interaction helped to improve students’ interviewing skills, particularly with open-ended questions. The robots are programmed to engage in a back-and-forth conversation, informed by custom information tailored to the participant, and will demonstrate this innovation designed to improve educational outcomes. The HAL team will present ideas on other applications — from employee training to educational support — each reflecting the use of technology to advance human well-being.

Visit the Shamrock Series event schedule for more information about the “Robots & Caregiving: A Human-Centered Analytics Approach” presentation.