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2019 Trinity College Develops Robot To Irish Government Declares ‘Climate Emergency’
has
Ireland
15th, Battle Loneliness In The Elderly become the second
the
in
country
May rinity College has devel- sor, uses advanced sensing tech- nology to support older people world to declare a
| Tloneliness amongst the eld- nologies including laser to remain independent and climate emergency.
oped a robot to help battle
The Dáil made
EXAMINER erlyandthoselivingincarehomes. and vision sensors to interact was initially to carry out menial Thursday evening
rangefinders, depth cameras
socially connected.
the decision on
The concept behind Stevie
intelligently with humans and
Engineers from the universi-
after an amend-
its surrounding environment.
chores in care homes like auto-
ty unveiled ‘Stevie II’, an
ment to a parlia-
The Trinity team consulted
IRISH upgraded version of Ireland’s with a wide range of experts matically reminding residents mentary climate action report was agreed by both the
first socially assistive robot with
of time to take medication.
Government and the opposition parties.
during the robot’s develop-
advanced artificial intelligence
However, researchers found
It comes as EU leaders put action on climate change at the top
(AI) features. ment, including nurses and that those living in homes of the agenda in the next five years.
The new and updated ver- caregivers, as well as older enjoyed the social aspect of Climate Action Minister Richard Bruton said climate change
sion of ‘Stevie I’ can be adults living at home or in long- Stevie, noting that he was fun has been “rightly” described as the greatest challenge facing
deployed in long-term care term care facilities. to talk to and lifted their spirits. humanity.
environments to help seniors Among those partners is The robot being so expres- “We’re reaching a tipping point in respect of climate deteriora-
and people living with a disabil- ALONE, a national organiza- sive helped to humanize the tion,” he said.
ity. tion that supports older people technology and led researchers “Things will deteriorate very rapidly unless we move very
Stevie II, a more mobile and to age at home. ALONE cur- to believe Stevie could have a swiftly and the window of opportunity to do that is fast closing.”
dextrous model of its predeces- rently provides and uses tech- wide range of high-impact uses, He added that urgency had been injected into the debate by the
performing assistive tasks, help- protests by school students calling for action from parliaments
ing caregivers and provide around the world.
access to existing technologies “It is justified that a level of urgency be injected into this
like video calling, which can be debate,” he said.
inaccessible to older adults. “When we speak of an emergency people often think of some-
Stevie has face and voice thing unexpected that can be resolved through a sustained effort
recognition, which means he for a relatively short time. This is not an emergency of that sort.
can address those he is speaking This is a much more challenging emergency in that we must
to directly, and understand and change our behavior in profound ways and do so on a sustained
reply to commands. C basis.”
Chairwoman of the Oireachtas Climate Change committee
Hildegarde Naughton welcomed the cross-party support in recog-
nizing the need for urgency and declaring a climate and biodiver-
sity emergency.
She urged the government to fast track legislative changes.
In a tweet she wrote: “Good news at the end of the Dail motion
today supporting the report of the Climate Action Committee,
which I chair. We now have cross party support in declaring a cli-
mate and biodiversity emergency. Action now needed.”
Fianna Fáil’s climate action spokesman Timmy Dooley, who
moved the amendment, said: “Unless we cut emissions signifi-
cantly by 2030, the consequences will be dire.
“Biodiversity loss is an existential threat that is fundamentally
linked to the climate crisis and Ireland’s response is similarly lack-
ing,” he added.
He maintained that if the Government implemented the rec-
ommendations made in the committee’s report it would allow the
country to get back on track and “bring an end to our laggardly
response to climate change”.
Sinn Féin’s Brian Stanley also called for a climate emergency to
be declared.
He said: “Climate action should not be viewed as a burden. We
should see it as an opportunity to create a stronger, more sustain-
able economy for everyone. To do that, however, we have no
option but to radically transform our society and economy.”
Green Party deputy leader Catherine Martin said young people
realized that they will be the ones most affected by the “short-
sightedness” of Government today.
“It is also essential that in declaring a climate emergency we
commit to concrete, real and identifiable action rather than just
uniting around vague concepts,” she told the Dáil.
“There is little value in all declaring a climate emergency with-
out committing to doing anything about it.”
Climate change campaigner Greta Thunberg, 16, who has led
a movement of young people across Europe calling on leaders to
take action, welcomed the declaration.
She tweeted: “Great news from Ireland!! Who is next?
“And remember: #ClimateEmergency means leaving fossil
fuels in the ground.”
Earlier this month the UK became the first country in the
world to declare a climate emergency. C