Yukai to Offer Free BOCCO Robot Services to Help Prevent Seniors from Becoming Isolated During Quarantine

2020/5/7 News

Yukai Engineering Inc., the Tokyo-based startup known for creating robots that bring joy to life, has announced it will begin a 2-month free leasing of the company’s flagship communication robot, BOCCO, to those who want an easier way to stay in touch with their families during a quarantine. The campaign is aimed at promoting remote family conversations to reduce social isolation among seniors.

 

Why we do it

As we continue to stay home in our effort to curb the coronavirus pandemic, many seniors remain unable to talk with their family members as frequently. This can cause them to experience increased anxiety. This is why we decided to offer families a free 2-month use of our communication robot, BOCCO. The device enables users to safely talk with their loved ones as much as they wish to, and we hope this will keep seniors’ spirits up as a result.

 

What we offer

Our Yukai staff will directly provide user support to seniors in their homes and care facilities. We will ask seniors or their family members about their preferences and daily routines prior to the start of the service and program the robot accordingly to prompt conversations.

We can schedule automatic daily notifications on essential informational items, such as the current weather and trash days to help seniors maintain their rhythm of life.

As an engineering company, this is our first try to provide remote senior care services. (While some of our partners have used BOCCO as a tool for their remote family care services,we have never operated similar services ourselves.) We are committed to doing our best to satisfy users’ needs. However, please note that there may be times when we are not able to provide adequate support, especially if we receive many requests for the services.

* This free rental and support services will conclude when the 2-month rental period ends. You will not be automatically enrolled into the fee-based services. If you wish to continue using our service at the end of the 2-month period, please let us know.

 

Who can benefit from the service

  1. Companies, governmental/municipal agencies, nonprofits and other organizations that provide services to seniors (e.g., senior care service providers, remote care service providers, municipal governments) 
  2. Families with senior members (including families who cannot easily visit their elderlyl parents or live in a different time zone)

 

・Some of our existing corporate partners

Tsukui Corporation
https://corp.tsukui.net/

Tsukui operates daycare programs, home care services, nursing homes and assisted living facilities across Japan. Tsukui and Yukai collaboratively offer BOCCO-based conversation services to care service clients in order to alleviate their stress.


Tokyo Gas, Co., Ltd.
https://www.tokyo-gas.co.jp/

Tokyo Gas provides an energy value chain, which includes the production and sales of electricity and gas, as well as ensuring customer safety. Tokyo Gas uses BOCCO as a user interface for its family support services, which are designed to promote family conversations and improve their access to useful information for daily living, so seniors and all other citizens can enjoy happy healthy lives.


SECOM
https://www.secom.co.jp/

SECOM is a security company that provides a wide range of other services, including disaster prevention, medical services, insurance, geospatial information services, business process outsourcing (BPO), information communication technology (ICT) services and real estate businesses. SECOM and Yukai jointly performed a proof of concept demonstration of a communication service aimed to improve the quality of seniors’ lives.

https://www.secom.co.jp/corporate/release/2018/nr_20181109.html


BCC
https://www.e-bcc.jp/

BCC is a provider of educational content that incorporates recreational activities for people who need special care. The company also offers job matching services. BCC uses BOCCO as a user interface device for connecting seniors in care facilities and their families as well as a recreational activity tool to reduce care staff’s workload.


Nippon Tech Systems Co., Ltd.
https://systems.nippontect.co.jp/

Nippon Tech Systems is an information communication technology company that caters to the needs of the providers of dementia care. The company provides ONSEI, an AI system that is designed to identify changes in people’s recognition abilities from their conversations with BOCCO.


Cueform, Inc.
http://cueform.com/

Cueform provides its customers push notifications for various types of information, including disaster alerts and community information, through the use of IP-STB (cable boxes). Cueform is working with municipal governments and cable television companies to begin delivering useful information to its clients through BOCCO.


Japan PC Service Co. Ltd.
https://www.j-pcs.jp/

Japan PC Service provides comprehensive support services for PC and other types of information devices and home networks, including installations, initial setups, repairs and troubleshooting. The company takes advantage of its expertise in digital device installation to provide support for setting up BOCCO for seniors.


Cocolomi, Ltd.
https://cocolomi.co.jp/

Cocolomi provides conversation-based senior remote care services that are designed “listening” to what seniors have to say. It also assists seniors in documenting their personal histories. The company provides Yukai with conversation topics for seniors by using conversation scenarios created by playwright Sorami Date. Cocolomi also shares with Yukai its knowhow ofcarrying on lively conversations with seniors.


 

How to Sign Up

Please use the signup form available at the following link:
https://forms.gle/fzgFk9TtyknraU876

  1. To verify your identity, we will ask you to provide some personal information, including employer’s information.
  2. We may limit the free rental services to a certain number of people if we receive more requests than we could handle.

 

What is BOCCO?

BOCCO is a communication robot designed to keep families stay in touch. It can be used to remotely monitor and provide care for children at home and elderly family members who live alone. BOCCO enables exchanges of voice messages between the robot and its mobile app on a smartphone. Users can also send a text message from the app — which the robot will read aloud — and read voice messages that have been converted into texts by the app. In addition, BOCCO can pick up information from sensors installed around one’s home and send alerts to your smartphone to let you know about the opening and closing of your home’s doors, room temperature, humidity and luminary levels and much more. This way, you can stay in touch with your loved ones effortlessly and enjoy knowing what’s happening at home at any time, wherever you happen to be.

https://www.bocco.me/

 

 

 

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