Robot Leo: Haus am Nordwall has an AI-based "employee"

He is the size of a child of primary school age, wears cheerful orange clothes and a smart blue knitted hat: Robot Leo has been enriching the staff at the municipal centre for care and support "Haus am Nordwall" gGmbH for some time now. His purchase was made possible by a grant from the Waldeckische Landesstiftung (Waldeck Regional Foundation) totalling over 33,000 euros.

The "social robot to address the residents", as the lively little fellow is officially called, has already made many friends among the people in the care facility since its activation. Now he was also able to introduce himself to the mayor as the landlord of the "Haus am Nordwall" and the district administrator, who as the administrator of the Waldeckische Landesstiftung played a key role in deciding whether to provide the funding.

In his special, friendly, polite and encouraging manner, Leo quickly found access to his two high-ranking dialogue partners. Whether therapy dogs or activities at the centre, responsible work at the top of the administration or praise for the caring support: Leo knew how to contribute to every topic. "Incidentally, he chose his name himself, much to the amazement of his human carers," said facility manager Ribana Klabunde. "Long before the papal election."

"This is exactly the kind of sustainable use of our funding that we had in mind when we called on retirement homes in the former Waldeck district last year to come up with a great idea for the residents in need of care," said District Administrator van der Horst, delighted with the social robot. With Leo, the needs of senior citizens in a changing society would now be given even greater consideration in the "Haus am Nordwall". In addition to the nursing and care staff, Leo represents a "contact person" who also enables cognitively impaired people to participate and thus increases their enjoyment of life.

Caption: Robot Leo introduced himself to the mayor and the district administrator at "Haus am Nordwall": (from left to right) Martina Schäfer (Waldeckische Landesstiftung/ Waldeckische Domanialverwaltung), Ribana Klabunde (facility manager "Haus am Nordwall"), Sassan Pur (managing director "Haus am Nordwall"), Mayor Stefan Kieweg, Agnes Schmidt (nursing service manager "Haus am Nordwall"), Claudia Schneider (quality management "Haus am Nordwall") and District Administrator Jürgen van der Horst with robot Leo. (Photo: District of Waldeck-Frankenberg)