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Acceptance and Adoption of Care Robots Among Elderly: A Critical Review of the Ethnographic Production

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Gerontechnology V (IWoG 2022)

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Abstract

The progressive aging of Western societies and the challenges this poses for health and care systems has encouraged different types of technology to emerge as realistic solutions for the care of the elderly. Among these, robotic technologies, especially anthropomorphic ones, are becoming increasingly relevant in the care of the elderly. Regarding the acceptance of these technologies, in addition to the classical models of acceptance (TAM, MPT, HMSAM, UTAUT) there is a current of studies that proposes to study in depth the interactions between robots and humans (HRI studies) and in this field the ethnographic method is revealed as an optimal tool for a dense knowledge of the imaginaries and representations of technology, and therefore the elements that underlie its acceptance. Under this premise, the aim of the present work is to map the networks of meanings that operate in the processes of acceptance and adoption of robotic technology oriented to the care of the elderly. For this purpose, an exploratory review has been carried out, analyzing those ethnographic studies that address such processes. The resulting categories are framed within the main debates in HRI studies. The conclusions provide the reader with the deep keys to the acceptance by the elderly of robotic technologies of care.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Extremadura, Badajoz, Spain

    Luis López-Lago Ortiz

  2. University of Extremadura, Cáceres, Spain

    Diego Allen-Perkins Avendaño, Borja Rivero Jiménez, David Conde Caballero & Lorenzo Mariano Juárez

  3. National University of Distance Education, Associated Centre Palma de Mallorca, Mallorca, Spain

    Cecilia Pedret Massanet

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  1. Luis López-Lago Ortiz
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  2. Diego Allen-Perkins Avendaño
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  6. Lorenzo Mariano Juárez
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Correspondence to Luis López-Lago Ortiz .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Extremadura, Cáceres, Spain

    Enrique Moguel

  2. University of Évora, Évora, Portugal

    Lara Guedes de Pinho

  3. University of Évora, Évora, Portugal

    César Fonseca

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López-Lago Ortiz, L., Allen-Perkins Avendaño, D., Rivero Jiménez, B., Pedret Massanet, C., Conde Caballero, D., Mariano Juárez, L. (2023). Acceptance and Adoption of Care Robots Among Elderly: A Critical Review of the Ethnographic Production. In: Moguel, E., de Pinho, L.G., Fonseca, C. (eds) Gerontechnology V. IWoG 2022. Lecture Notes in Bioengineering. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-29067-1_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-29067-1_7

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