For those of us who have reached a certain age, the term “personal assistant” brings up images of a PalmPilot or something similar. Today, we might think of Cortana or Siri. On the other hand, an increasing concern in developed Western countries is the changing demographics of advanced age populations. These countries are moving toward larger numbers of elderly people who require services to maintain quality of life; however, these services are hindered by a mix of high costs and too few service workers to provide care. This book presents an overview of tools to assist elderly people with day-to-day activities, such as enhancing cognition, monitoring bodily functions, improving perceptions, finding items, taking medications at the right time, and simply providing companionship.

Assistance can be offered in several ways. Cognitive help can come in the form of software that provides online searches or stimulates cognition with activities such as memory-enhancing games. Wearable devices can monitor health parameters such as heart rate or enhance perception, for example, Google Glass can provide facial recognition for someone who is visually impaired. Autonomous robots can assist by moving around a living space to fetch or find items, or help if a person becomes incapacitated.

The book consists of individual papers organized into six parts: “Introduction,” “Reasoning,” “Health,” “Personalization” (including education), “Robotics,” and “Ethic and Social Issues.” The introduction begins with a survey of nine cognitive assistants, followed by Part 2’s papers on persuasion via argument to motivate a person to take some action, and automated reasoning to provide diagnoses in kidney care. “Health” (Part 3) discusses training to maintain or improve cognition, and the use of companion or service robots. “Personalization” (Part 4) covers visual recognition using Google Glass supported by machine learning software that adapts to the individual, and an assistant system that customizes educational material recommendations for individuals. “Robotics” (Part 5) includes three papers dealing the design of an interactive system, a collaborative system that uses a physical robot and an avatar displayed on a screen, and a system that monitors a person’s emotional state to try to assist when he or she is distressed in some way. The final part (6) discusses two areas: the collection and use of digital data and the European Union’s policies on privacy and “the right to be forgotten,” and possible legal issues related to liability arising from the use of machine assistants and dispute resolution.

The presented papers are primarily by authors in Spain and Portugal. Most papers are well written, though there are some odd word and grammar choices. One gets the feeling from these papers that the state of the art has some way to go before the mass use of these types of personal assistants is feasible. The discussions of privacy and ethical issues are particularly interesting; they include important considerations related to the widespread use of autonomous machine assistants, for example, how the use of such a device could be problematic to a person’s specific condition. As is noted, however, shifting demographics will lead to an increasing need for such tools to manage costs and workloads. Addressing the problem sooner rather than later is a necessity.