It’s World IBD Day 2022. This year I’ve been working on integrating activity tracker information into my on going home robotics project to highlight issues with managing chronic fatigue. Fatigue can affect up to 80% of people with active Crohn’s Disease and between 40 to 50% of those who are in remission. This is the 5th part of my social robotics project investigating ways to...
That time I thought I’d cured my Crohn’s
A standard thing for any Crohnie on a long term medicine like Infliximab (or Remicade depending on where you call home) is the “level check”. How much of the drug is still in your system after a scheduled dose and have any antibodies developed that are fighting the drug making it less effective? So I was having a follow up appointment after getting my own “level check”. I...
I did a podcast!
I was a guest on Episode 132 “AI For Good” of the Cynical Developer Podcast near the end of 2019. We talked about my robotics project, social robots in general and Crohn’s Disease. The Cynical Developer is where I first heard about the Vector robot so the whole thing coming full circle was wonderful! Talking about what I was working on and how I think social / socially assistive...
Medication Adherence
When I first started my social robotics project last year I had never heard of the phrase “medication adherence”. At the time I had something I wanted to build and launched into it. It wasn’t until a conversation I had with my doctor about what I was working on that he asked if I was forgetting to take my medication or if I had any “adherence” problems. After reassuring him that...
Post Appointment
This is the 4th part of my social robotics project investigating ways to help manage Crohn’s Disease. Inspiration “What would it be like to have a robot check up on me after my doctor’s appointment?” It made me chuckle at first. Then I quickly realised I had most of the functionality already written so I thought why not! Nobody really likes going to the doctor. I certainly...
Shall We Play A Game?
Following on from the appointment reminder functionality this is the third part of my Social Robotics and Crohn’s Disease project. (Did you recognize where “Shall we play a game?” comes from? Here’s the answer) Inspiration I wanted to investigate the potential for creating more interactivity and make some use out of my own medical data. When I first read about the...
Appointment Reminder
This is the second part of my Social Robotics and Crohn’s Disease project. Inspiration When things are going bad with Crohn’s Disease it is tough to stay on top of things. When my doctor asks me questions like “Did we sort out your vaccinations for the year?” I want to be able to answer that question. I think it’s very important to be aware of my treatment so I...
Me and My Crohn’s
Just the two of us… If you’d like to read an excellent medical summary of Inflammatory Bowel Disease IBDNewsToday.com have one here. It may sound bizarre but I was genuinely relieved when I was finally diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease. I hadn’t felt “right” physically or mentally for a very long time. I would go to doctors but only ever felt like I was patched up...
PillBot – using a social robot to help manage Crohn’s Disease
Update: This is Part 1 in a series of personal projects investigating the use of a Social Robot (and in future other assistive technologies) to help manage Crohn’s Disease. Please consider making a donation to the Irish Society for Colitis and Crohn’s Disease. To anyone from Anki who might happen to read this: I was genuinely sad to hear about the company going out of business. I hope...