Rethinking the Design of Robotic Pets for Older Adults
Open accessAbstract
Robots are seen as a potential solution to the perceived needs of the aging population. Thus far, research has primarily focused on robotics for the functional and emotional support of older adults. Robotic pets have been developed primarily for the older adult who is perceived as lonely and isolated, and fears have consequently arisen that robots will replace human caregivers and deceive older adults into developing relationships with them. Missing is the perspective of older adults on the ethics of and potential uses for robotic companion pets. In this study, we conducted focus groups with 41 older adults. We discuss concepts raised by focus group participants such as giving into the fiction of the robotic pet, the social role of the robot, and the role of reciprocity in building a relationship with a robotic pet. We present resulting considerations for new directions for robotic pet design for older adults.
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- Authors
- Lazar, A., Thompson, H. J., Piper, A. M., & Demiris, G.
- Affiliations
- Northwestern University (US)
- University of Washington (US)
- Venue
- Proceedings of the 2016 ACM Conference on Designing Interactive Systems
- Publisher
- ACM
- Published
- 2016-06-04
- Pages
- 1034-1046
- OpenAlex
- W2412708160
- Cited by
- 94
- References
- 55
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 2
- FWCI
- 17.99
- Type
- conference paper
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Designing Interactive Systems Conference (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (DGE-0718124)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Social Robot Interaction and HRI
- Social Sciences › Demography › Technology Use by Older Adults
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Human-Animal Interaction Studies
- Keywords
- pet robots, companion robots, older adults, population aging, loneliness, social isolation, robot ethics, human-robot relationships, reciprocity, robot design, emotional support
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