UCL collaborates with IBM to use virtual reality to tackle loneliness

A study released today by IBM’s Institute for Business Value on loneliness in the era of social distancing has found that 43% of the ageing population feel lonely at least some of the time.UCL is now working on a project with IBM to investigate how technology can overcome the challenges of loneliness.As part of UCL’s Industry Exchange Network (UCL IXN), students are developing projects using Watson Technologies on IBM Cloud to address challenges posed by the coronavirus. One of the proof-of-concept projects uses IBM Watson Assistant and Watson Speech services is a customised, immersive social experience to help users, such as the elderly, feel less socially isolated.