Designing a social and assistive robot for seniors
Abstract
Background The development of social assistive robots is an approach with the intention of preventing and detecting falls among seniors. There is a need for a relatively low-cost mobile robot with an arm and a gripper which is small enough to navigate through private homes.Material and methods User requirements of a social assistive robot were collected using workshops, a questionnaire and interviews. Two prototype versions of a robot were designed, developed and tested by senior citizens (n = 49) in laboratory trials for 2 h each and in the private homes of elderly persons (n = 18) for 3 weeks each.Results The user requirement analysis resulted in a specification of tasks the robot should be able to do to prevent and detect falls. It was a challenge but possible to design and develop a robot where both the senior and the robot arm could reach the necessary interaction points of the robot. The seniors experienced the robot as happy and friendly. They wanted the robot to be narrower so it could pass through narrow passages in the home and they also wanted it to be able to pass over thresholds without using ramps and to drive over carpets.Conclusion User trials in seniors' homes are very important to acquire relevant knowledge for developing robots that can handle real life situations in the domestic environment. Very high reliability of a robot is needed to get feedback about how seniors experience the overall behavior of the robot and to find out if the robot could reduce falls and improve the feeling of security for seniors living alone.
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Eftring and Frennert's evaluation found that the robot was too big for some spaces, and participants did not like adding ramps that the robot needed to cross over floor thresholds.
“Their evaluation found that the robot was too big for some spaces, and participants did not like adding ramps that the robot needed to cross over floor thresholds.”
From Situated Participatory Design: A Method for In Situ Design of Robotic Interaction with Older Adults (2023) · cites this paper as [15]
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“For example, Eftring and Frennert [15] used PD to design an in-home robot to reduce falls, but never introduced the real robot into the environment until a follow-up feld evaluation.”
BackgroundMethodPromising directions for human-robot interactions defined by older adults
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- Authors
- Eftring, H., & Frennert, S.
- Affiliations
- Lund University (SE)
- Corresponding author
- Eftring, H.
- ORCID
- Frennert, S.
- Venue
- Zeitschrift für Gerontologie und Geriatrie
- Published
- 2016-05-25
- Volume
- 49
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 274-281
- ISSN
- 0948-6704 (ISSN-L)
- 1435-1269
- OpenAlex
- W2400514529
- Cited by
- 60
- References
- 18
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 4
- FWCI
- 5.23
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Zeitschrift für Gerontologie und Geriatrie (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Lund University Publications (Lund University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- European Commission (288146)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Social Robot Interaction and HRI
- Social Sciences › Demography › Technology Use by Older Adults
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Occupational Therapy › Assistive Technology in Communication and Mobility
- Keywords
- socially assistive robots, older adults, fall prevention, fall detection, user requirements, robot design, mobile robots, user testing, living alone, low-cost robot, user experience
- MeSH terms
- Accidental Falls, Activities of Daily Living, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Equipment Design, Female, Humans, Male, Man-Machine Systems, Robotics, Self-Help Devices, Social Support, Sweden, User-Computer Interface, Utilization Review, Equipment Failure Analysis, Needs Assessment, Patient Preference
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