Co-STAR: 使用自主机器人开展痴呆认知刺激疗法的一周居家研究

Jul 16, 2026

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Cognitive Stimulation Therapy is effective for dementia, yet home delivery is constrained by a shortage of trained professionals and the time, training, and stress required from informal caregivers. Co-STAR is an autonomous social robot designed to deliver personalized CST at home through speech and a tablet interface. A nine-person week-long pilot used daily robot-led sessions, with participants engaging positively and showing higher adherence than typically caregiver-led CST. Findings also emphasize family members’ roles in initiating and sometimes joining activities, supporting scalable dementia care access.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time20 min

Introduction

Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) and individualised CST (iCST)

Challenges of in-home adherence

Social assistive robots for dementia interventions

Background

Individual Cognitive Stimulation Therapy

Robots for Cognitive Stimulation

Co-STAR: Cognitive Stimulation Therapy by an Autonomous Robot for Dementia - A One-Week In-Home Study Emmanuel Akinrintoyo and Nicole Salomons arXiv :2607 .05709v 1 [ cs .RO] 7 Jul 2026 Abstract—Cognitive therapies have been shown to enhance the quality of life and well-being of people living with dementia (PwDs). However, their use remains limited due to a shortage of trained professionals and the significant time and training required of informal caregivers. To address this gap, we developed and deployed a social robot capable of autonomously delivering cognitive stimulation therapy (CST) in the home. Nine PwDs participated in a one-week (7 days) study that involved daily robot-led sessions. Participants engaged positively with the system, completing nearly half of the scheduled sessions, an adherence rate higher than typically observed in caregiver-led CST. Our findings also highlight the crucial role of family members, who often supported session initiation and occasionally joined the activities, enriching the interactions. This work demonstrates the feasibility and potential of socially assistive robots to deliver in-home cognitive therapy, offering a scalable approach to extend access to dementia care. I. INTRODUCTION Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) [1], [2] is an evidence-based intervention considered the most effective and widely endorsed approach for dementia. CST is the leading non-drug intervention recommended by dementia care guidelines in countries such as the UK and Canada [3],[4] . Randomised control trials of CST show improvements in cognition and quality of life [1], [5] . Meta-analyses conclude that it yields reliable and meaningful cognitive gains. This gain is roughly equivalent to a six-month delay in cognitive decline typically expected in mild–to-moderate dementia [5] . Individualised CST (iCST) is a personalised variant of CST [6], [7] . It is delivered one-to-one to a PwD by either a professional or a family member. Despite the potential benefits of iCST, a large multicentre trial reported low adherence. Only 40% of iCST dyads achieved ≥ 2 sessions per week despite a prescription of three sessions weekly [7] . Qualitative and field studies indicate that many dyads struggle to maintain consistency due to caregivers’ limited time, competing responsibilities, stress, and lack of training [8], [9], [7] . As a result, suboptimal adherence limits the practical effectiveness of iCST [9], revealing a persistent gap between the proven efficacy of CSTin controlled settings and the realities of in-home delivery. Social Assistive Robots (SARs) are robots designed to support and assist individuals through social interaction [10],[11] . They can effectively deliver structured interactions consistently. This makes them suitable for dementia interventions where engagement is essential [12] . SARs can also personalise to the PwDs’ interests, needs and preferences [13] . Emmanuel Akinrintoyo and Nicole Salomons are with Imperial College London , [e.akinrintoyo23@imperial.ac.uk](e.akinrintoyo23@imperial.ac.uk) , [n.salomons@imperial.ac.uk](n.salomons@imperial.ac.uk) Fig. 1. A participant completing a cognitive stimulation therapy session in their living room with Co-STAR. Unlike human caregivers, they do not show frustration and impatience during repeated interactions [8], [13] . In this paper, we present a novel robotic system that provides personalised iCST therapy to PwDs in their homes. The robotics system delivered multimodal interaction through speech and a tablet-based visual interface (see Figure 1) . It delivered activities geared towards supporting memory recall, reasoning, and reminiscence. We recruited nine PwDs who interacted with our system daily for a week in their homes. Participants initiated the sessions on demand via the tablet, allowing the therapy to fit around daily routines. This paper makes two novel contributions. First, to the best of our knowledge, this is the firs

FAQs

Co-STAR解决了什么关键问题？

Co-STAR面向居家痴呆照护中专业人员不足、照护者时间与培训成本高、以及坚持执行困难等问题，提供可在家自主开展的认知刺激疗法交付。

这项一周居家研究的参与方式和频率是怎样的？

研究让9位痴呆患者在家连续一周与系统每日互动，并由机器人主导每日疗程。参与者可通过平板按需发起会话，从而更贴合日常作息。

研究结果如何体现可行性与依从性？

参与者对系统的互动反应积极，完成了接近计划疗程的一半，依从性高于通常在照护者主导的CST中观察到的水平。

家庭成员在疗程成功中扮演了什么作用？

家庭成员常用于支持会话的启动，并在部分情况下加入活动，进而丰富互动并帮助提高居家疗程的开展质量。

Jul 16, 2026

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