Artificial Intelligence-driven Care Robots Tackle the Suicide Rate

Artificial intelligence-based care robots will help to communicate with residents who are living alone and dealing with mental health problems.

According to government data in South Korea, Chungnam Province, in the southeast region of the Korean peninsula, recorded the country’s highest suicide rate in 2020, with 35 suicide cases per 100,000 deaths, eight percent higher than the country's average.

Overview Suicide
Suicide is an act of ending one's own life and it usually results from emotional isolations and inability to adjust and cope with one's environment.

‘Artificial intelligence-based care robots analyze people’s voices and movements to detect abnormal mental health activities.’

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In an attempt to prevent future similar deaths, the provincial government has signed a cooperation agreement with South Korea's top telecom service operator KT to pilot AI-based care robots.

Managed by South Korea's Health and Welfare Ministry, the program is slated to run from March this year until October next year and involves 10 AI care robots that have been deployed to Cheongyang County, just south of the capital Seoul.

The robots analyze people’s voices and movements. If a robot detects abnormal activities, it will notify health care centers and guardians during the day and the KT control tower at night.

World Suicide Prevention Day 2021 - �Creating Hope Through Action�
World suicide prevention day is observed on 10th September every year, to promote suicide preventive actions and commitment with various activities around the world.

The robot also offers personalized services, such as giving quizzes for dementia prevention and playing relaxing music. Other potential digital treatments include games and virtual reality.

The project may be expanded to other regions with high suicide rates after evaluating its effectiveness.

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According to reports, the South Korean government has planned to invest over $25 million in a research program developing digital treatments for depression after seeing the number of citizens dealing with the condition rise during post-COVID-19 from around 800,000 cases in 2019.

Depression - Symptom Evaluation
Depression occurs due to alterations in the levels of neurotransmitters in the brain.

Source-Medindia