Dialysis Buddy

At home dialysis methods have become increasingly popular due to the ease of adaptation of personal schedule. Home dialysis is not without fault, however. Running the risk of inadequate dialysis performance, psychosocial burdens arising from isolation and physical fatigue, and possible demand for a caregiver are common disadvantages for patients. Unfortunately, with the knowledge we currently possess, dialysis is at a stage where very little improvement can be made to reduce the time of treatments in both home and clinical settings. However, quality of life improvements and strategies are yet to be matured.

Based on study conducted of patients, quality of life priorities for patients included fatigue, coping skills, ability to travel, free time, family impact, employment, and sleep. Among these, fatigue plays a major role in compiling other quality of life concerns. Therefore, the main purpose of this research is to provide a solution to at-home dialysis patient fatigue through the use of robotics. The scope was further narrowed targeting only Peritoneal Dialysis (PD) patients as there exist a larger distribution of at home patients for PD. Existing technologies in robotics was considered including computer vision, autonomous navigation, etc. The result is an idea for a medical robot assistant that can detect and act upon fatigue levels in patients reducing psychosocial burden.