Title: ITTC in Optimal Ageing and RIKEN AIP Joint Hybrid Seminar on Human-Robot Interaction and Digital Health in Dementia Care: Joint Insights from Australia and Japan
Japan and Australia are both experiencing rapid population aging, making digital technologies and robotics increasingly important in dementia care and prevention. This seminar aims to introduce research and initiatives from each country in the fields of Human–Robot Interaction (HRI) and Digital Health, providing a space to share perspectives and deepen understanding of approaches in Japan and Australia.
Venue: Online
Date and Time: September 30, 2026, 13:00-15:30 (JST) / 14:00-16:30 (AEST)
Co-organized with: Monash University
JST / AEST
13:00 / 14:00 Prof. Dana Kulić ( Monash University)
Department of Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering / Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Monash University / Professor
Title: Welcome
13:05 / 14:05 Prof. Yen Ying Lim ( Monash University)
Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University / Professor
Title: Detecting the Undetectable: Digital and Passive Approaches to Preclinical Cognitive Decline
As Australia and Japan both confront rapid population ageing, digital technologies are increasingly positioned as scalable tools for dementia prevention. Yet subtle, pre-clinical cognitive decline remains poorly defined, and conventional clinic-based assessment lacks the sensitivity for early detection. This talk presents findings from both supervised and unsupervised digital cognitive assessments that have sought to address this gap, positioning performance across the cognitively unimpaired–MCI–Alzheimer's disease spectrum. Cognitive change alone, however, does not capture the full picture of decline in ageing or dementia. Change in function, currently measured using self- and informant-report questionnaires, is limited, and passive smartphone-based sensing approaches are proposed as a potential direction for capturing genuine functional decline. Together, these efforts point toward earlier detection of decline as a prerequisite for effective prevention.
13:30 / 14:30 Prof. Mihoko Otake-Matsuura ( RIKEN AIP)
Title: Cognitive Behavioral Assistive Technology for Cognitive Health and Well-being
AI nurturing or complementing intelligence of human are becoming much more important than ever before. Cognitive Behavioral Assistive Technology (CB-AT) Team puts emphasis on developing CB-AT which promotes cognitive health, namely, cognitive reserve for prevention of cognitive decline and dementia of older adults which damage the intelligence of human necessary for social life. We develop conversational assistive AI based on Coimagination method, implement the AI to cognitive behavioral assistive systems, and evaluate the effects on human cognition and mind. Coimagination method is an image-based conversational assistive technology designed for utilizing cognitive functions which decline at mild cognitive impairment.
13:55 / 14:55 Dr. Kazumi Kumagai ( RIKEN AIP)
Title: Exploring how Older Adults Behave towards Robots and how Robots Should Adapt in Turn
I study how communication robots can adapt their behaviours to individual users, especially older adults who need support for maintaining their physical and mental well-being. In several early studies, I explored how robots can respond to users’ emotional information, how older adults respond to robots and how their emotional states may be estimated. These investigations suggest that the use of emotion-based information may help to personalise robots’ behaviours, that some older adults are willing to disclose their health or daily difficulties to robots and that some people try to adjust their own responses when a robot adapts to them. In this seminar, I will summarise these findings and discuss how older adults behave towards robots and how robots should adapt to them, with a goal of helping attendees to gain perspectives from both Japan and Australia.
14:20 / 15:20 Panel Q&A **
**15:00 / 16:00 Informal Discussion and Virtual Networking
