Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Social Robots and Seniors: A Comparative Study on the Influence of Dynamic Social Features on Human–Robot Interaction

  • Published:
International Journal of Social Robotics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Due to the world’s aging demographics and declining caregiver-to-senior ratio, socially assistive robots are being designed to assist seniors with activities of daily living. Beyond functionality, the integration of such robots also depends on the quality of the interaction between the robot and senior, including the provision of social support. Our research investigates the effectiveness of robot social features on human–robot interaction (HRI) with seniors when providing assistance. Specifically, we investigate how the dynamic social features of a robot, such as facial expressions and gestures, affect the interaction experience of cognitively impaired seniors during an assistive activity. In this paper, we present a comparative HRI study of seniors living with mild cognitive impairments preparing a cup of tea with the assistance from three different embodiments with varying social features. In particular, the platforms considered were a human-like robot, a character-like robot, and a tablet display. Our results show that a human-like robot having an expressive face and arm gestures significantly increased levels of engagement, positive affect, and perceived social intelligence during the interaction when compared to the other two platforms. Furthermore, even though all platforms had the same activity assistance functionality, participants preferred the human-like robot, treated it like a companion, perceived it to be more useful, and were more inclined to keep it in social or private areas in their homes. No statistically significant differences were found between interactions with the character-like robot and the tablet.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Population Division of the United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2015) World population prospects: the 2015 revision

  2. Government of Canada (2005) Canada’s Aging Population

  3. Lawton MP, Brody EM (1969) Assessment of older people: self-maintaining and instrumental activities of daily living. Gerontologist 9:179–186

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Boger J, Quraishi M, Turcotte N, Dunal L (2014) The identification of assistive technologies being used to support the daily occupations of community-dwelling older adults with dementia: a cross-sectional pilot study. Disabil Rehabil Assist Technol 9(1):17–30

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Mitzner TL et al (2010) Older adults talk technology: technology usage and attitudes. Comput Hum Behav 26(6):1710–1721

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Rashidi P, Mihailidis A (2013) A survey on ambient-assisted living tools for older adults. IEEE J Biomed Health Inform 17(3):579–590

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Pollack ME (2005) Intelligent technology for an aging population. The use of AI to assist elders with cognitive impairment. Am Assoc Artif Intell 26(2):9–24

    Google Scholar 

  8. Heerink M, Kröse B, Evers V, Wielinga B (2006) Studying the acceptance of a robotic agent by elderly users. Int J ARM 7(3):33–43

    Google Scholar 

  9. Fasola BJ, Mataric MJ (2012) Using socially assistive human–robot interaction to motivate physical exercise for older adults. Proc IEEE 100(8):2512–2526

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Tapus A, Mataric M, Scassellati B (2007) Socially assistive robotics: the grand challenges in helping humans through social interaction. IEEE Robot Autom Mag 14(1):35–42

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Sharkey A, Sharkey N (2012) Granny and the robots: ethical issues in robot care for the elderly. Ethics Inf Technol 14(1):27–40

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Bemelmans R, Jan G, Jonker P, De Witte L (2012) Socially assistive robots in elderly care: a systematic review into effects and effectiveness. J Am Med Dir Assoc 13(2):114–120

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Flandorfer P (2012) Population ageing and socially assistive robots for elderly persons: the importance of sociodemographic factors for user acceptance. Int J Popul Res 2012:1–13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Louie W-YG, Li J, Vaquero T, Nejat G (2014) A focus group study on the design considerations and impressions of a socially assistive robot for long-term care. In: ROMAN: the 23rd IEEE international symposium on robot and human interactive communication, pp 237–242

  15. McColl D, Louie W-YG, Nejat G (2013) Brian 2.1: a socially assistive robot for the elderly and cognitively impaired. IEEE Robot Autom Mag 20(1):74–83

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Begum M, Huq R, Wang R, Mihailidis A (2015) Collaboration of an assistive robot and older adults with dementia. Gerontechnology 13(4):405–419

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Coradeschi S et al (2013) GiraffPlus: combining social interaction and long term monitoring for promoting independent living. In: The 6th international conference on human system interactions, pp 578–585

  18. VGo Communications Inc. (2013) What is VGo. VGo

  19. KOMPAÏ Robotics. Kompai Robotics

  20. Louie W-Y, Li J, Mohamed C, Despond F, Lee V, Nejat G (2015) Tangy the robot bingo facilitator: a performance review. J Med Device 9(2):8–10

    Google Scholar 

  21. Johnson DO et al (2014) Socially assistive robots: a comprehensive approach to extending independent living. Int J Soc Robot 6(2):195–211

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Tapus A, Tapus C, Mataric MJ (2009) The use of socially assistive robots in the design of intelligent cognitive therapies for people with dementia. In: IEEE international conference on rehabilitation robotics, pp 924–929

  23. Mast M et al (2015) Design of the human–robot interaction for a semi-autonomous service robot to assist elderly people. In: Ambient assisted living. Advanced technologies and societal change. Springer, Berlin, pp 15–29

  24. Goetz J, Kiesler S, Powers A (2003) Matching robot appearance and behavior to tasks to improve human–robot cooperation. In: ROMAN: the 12th IEEE international workshop on robot and human interactive communication, pp 55–60

  25. Walters ML, Syrdal DS, Dautenhahn K, te Boekhorst R, Koay KL (2008) Avoiding the uncanny valley: robot appearance, personality and consistency of behavior in an attention-seeking home scenario for a robot companion. Auton Robots 24(2):159–178

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Syrdal DS, Dautenhahn K, Woods SN, Walters ML, Koay KL (2007) Looking good? Appearance preferences and robot personality inferences at zero acquaintance. In: AAAI Spring symposium: multidisciplinary collaboration for socially assistive robotics, pp 86–92

  27. Wu Y, Fassert C, Rigaud A (2012) Designing robots for the elderly: appearance issue and beyond. Arch Gerontol Geriatr 54(1):121–126

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Lee KM, Jung Y, Kim J, Kim SR (2006) Are physically embodied social agents better than disembodied social agents? The effects of physical embodiment, tactile interaction, and people’s loneliness in human–robot interaction. Int J Hum Comput Stud 64(10):962–973

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Tapus A, Tapus C, Mataric M (2009) The role of physical embodiment of a therapist robot for individuals with cognitive impairments. In: ROMAN: the 18th IEEE international symposium on robot and human interactive communication, pp 103–107

  30. Powers A, Kiesler S, Fussell S, Torrey C (2007) Comparing a computer agent with a humanoid robot. In: ACM/IEEE international conference on human–robot interaction, p 145

  31. Kose-Bagci H, Ferrari E, Dautenhahn K, Syrdal DS, Nehaniv CL (2009) Effects of embodiment and gestures on social interaction in drumming games with a humanoid robot. Adv Robot 23(14):1951–1996

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Looije R, Neerincx MA, Cnossen F (2010) Persuasive robotic assistant for health self-management of older adults: design and evaluation of social behaviors. Int J Hum Comput Stud 68(6):386–397

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Zhang T, Kaber DB, Zhu B, Swangnetr M, Mosaly P, Hodge L (2010) Service robot feature design effects on user perceptions and emotional responses. Intell Serv Robot 3(2):73–88

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Mann JA, MacDonald BA, Kuo I-H, Li X, Broadbent E (2015) People respond better to robots than computer tablets delivering healthcare instructions. Comput Hum Behav 43:112–117

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Dautenhahn K (2007) Socially intelligent robots: dimensions of human–robot interaction. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 362(1480):679–704

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Pino M, Boulay M, Jouen F, Rigaud A (2015) ‘Are we ready for robots that care for us?’ Attitudes and opinions of older adults toward socially assistive robots. Front Aging Neurosci 7:1–15

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Wada K, Shibata T (2007) Robot therapy in a care house—change of relationship among the residents and seal robot during a 2-month long study. In: ROMAN: the 16th IEEE international symposium on robot and human interactive communication, pp 107–112

  38. Sabanovic S, Bennett CC, Chang W-L, Huber L (2013) PARO robot affects diverse interaction modalities in group sensory therapy for older adults with dementia. In: IEEE international conference on rehabilitation robotics, pp 1–6

  39. Pollack ME, Engberg S, Matthews JT, Dunbar-Jacob J, McCarthy CE, Thrun S (2002) Pearl: a mobile robotic assistant for the elderly. In: Proceedings of workshop automation as caregiver: the role of intelligent technology in elder care, pp 85–91

  40. Louie W-YG, McColl D, Nejat G (2012) Playing a memory game with a socially assistive robot: a case study at a long-term care facility. In: ROMAN: the 21st IEEE international symposium on robot and human interactive communication, pp 345–350

  41. Sabelli AM, Kanda T, Hagita N (2011) A conversational robot in an elderly care center: an ethnographic study. In: ACM/IEEE international conference on human–robot interaction, pp 37–44

  42. Werner K, Oberzaucher J, Werner F (2012) Evaluation of human robot interaction factors of a socially assistive robot together with older people. In: The 6th international conference on complex, intelligent, and software intensive systems, pp 455–460

  43. Li J, Louie W-YG, Mohamed S, Despond F, Nejat G (2016) A user-study with tangy the bingo facilitating robot and long-term care residents. In: IEEE international symposium on robotics and intelligent sensors (IRIS), pp 109–115

  44. Fischinger D et al (2016) Hobbit, a care robot supporting independent living at home: first prototype and lessons learned. Rob Auton Syst 75:60–78

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Rae I, Takayama L, Mutlu B (2013) In-body experiences: embodiment, control, and trust in robot-mediated communication. In: SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems, pp 1921–1930

  46. Bovbel P, Nejat G (2014) Casper: an assistive kitchen robot to promote aging in place1. J Med Dev 8(3):30945

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. Autonomous Systems and Biomechatronics Lab (2013) Casper—socially assistive humanoid robot. Youtube

  48. IVONA Text-to-Speech (2017)

  49. Begum M, Wang R, Huq R, Mihailidis A (2013) Performance of daily activities by older adults with dementia: the role of an assistive robot. In: IEEE international conference on rehabilitation robotics, pp 1–8

  50. Cepstral—IVR/Telephony system TTS software. Cepstral (2015)

  51. McColl D, Nejat G (2013) Meal-time with a socially assistive robot and older adults at a long-term care facility. J Hum Robot Interact 2(1):152–171

    Article  Google Scholar 

  52. Czarnuch S, Mihailidis A (2011) The design of intelligent in-home assistive technologies: assessing the needs of older adults with dementia and their caregivers. Gerontechnology 10(3):169–182

    Article  Google Scholar 

  53. Mihailidis A, Boger JN, Craig T, Hoey J (2008) The COACH prompting system to assist older adults with dementia through handwashing: an efficacy study. BMC Geriatr 8(1):28

    Article  Google Scholar 

  54. Nasreddine ZS et al (2005) The Montreal Cognitive Assessment, MoCA: a brief screening tool for mild cognitive impairment. J Am Geriatr Soc 53(4):695–699

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. Gill DJ, Freshman A, Blender JA, Ravina B (2008) The Montreal cognitive assessment as a screening tool for cognitive impairment in Parkinson’s disease. Mov Disord 23(7):1043–1046

    Article  Google Scholar 

  56. Smith T, Gildeh N, Holmes C (2007) The Montreal Cognitive Assessment: validity and utility in a memory clinic setting. Can J Psychiatry 52(5):329–332

    Article  Google Scholar 

  57. Hoops S et al (2009) Validity of the MoCA and MMSE in the detection of MCI and dementia in Parkinson disease. Neurology 73(21):1738–1745

    Article  Google Scholar 

  58. Kidd CD, Taggart W, Turkle S (2006) A sociable robot to encourage social interaction among the elderly. In: IEEE international conference on robotics and automation, pp 3972–3976

  59. Philips Research. Koninklijke Philips N.V. (2017)

  60. Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) (2015)

  61. Information and Robot Technology Research Initiative—University of Tokyo (2008)

  62. Pixar Animation Studios. Pixar (2017)

  63. Robosoft Services Robots. Robosoft (2017)

  64. Nexi—Personal Robots Group. Personal Robotics Group (2015)

  65. T. Laboratory (2013) Whole-body emotional expression robot. Waseda University

  66. Hiroshi Ishiguro Laboratory. Telenoid. Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International (ATR)

  67. Steinfeld A et al (2006) Common metrics for human–robot interaction. In: ACM SIGCHI/SIGART conference on human–robot interaction, pp 33–40

  68. Schaefer KE, Chen JYC, Szalma JL, Hancock PA (2016) A meta-analysis of factors influencing the development of trust in automation. Hum Factors J Hum Factors Ergon Soc 58(3):377–400

    Article  Google Scholar 

  69. Fox JE (1996) The effects of information accuracy on user trust and compliance. In: Conference companion on human factors in computing systems common ground—CHI’96, pp 35–36

  70. Mukhamejanova Z, Korbo KL (2015) Consumer emotional response as a predictor of preferences: a case of hotel style design. University of Stavanger, Norway

    Google Scholar 

  71. Cohen-Mansfield J, Dakheel-Ali M, Marx MS (2009) Engagement in persons with dementia: the concept and its measurement. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry 17(4):299–307

    Article  Google Scholar 

  72. Rich C, Ponsler B, Holroyd A, Sidner CL (2010) Recognizing engagement in human–robot interaction. In: ACM/IEEE international conference on human–robot interaction, pp 375–382

  73. Freedy A, DeVisser E, Weltman G, Coeyman N (2007) Measurement of trust in human–robot collaboration. In: International symposium on collaborative technologies and systems, pp 106–114

  74. Hancock PA, Billings DR, Schaefer KE, Chen JYC, de Visser EJ, Parasuraman R (2011) A meta-analysis of factors affecting trust in human–robot interaction. Hum Factors 53(5):517–527

    Article  Google Scholar 

  75. Isen AM, Daubman KA, Nowicki GP (1987) Positive affect facilitates creative problem solving. J Pers Soc Psychol 52(6):1122–1131

    Article  Google Scholar 

  76. Morris D (1981) Gestures: their origins and distribution. Stein & Day Publishing, New York

    Google Scholar 

  77. Dautenhahn K (2003) Roles and functions of robots in human society: implications from research in autism therapy. Robotica 21(4):443–452

    Article  Google Scholar 

  78. Kendon A (1967) Some functions of gaze-direction in social interaction. Acta Psychol (Amst) 26(1):22–63

    Article  Google Scholar 

  79. Heerink M, Krose B, Evers V, Wielinga B (2010) Assessing acceptance of assistive social agent technology by older adults: the Almere model. Int J Soc Robot 2(4):361–375

    Article  Google Scholar 

  80. Louise Barriball K, While A (1994) Collecting data using a semi-structured interview: a discussion paper. J Adv Nurs 19(2):328–335

    Article  Google Scholar 

  81. Friedman M (1937) The use of ranks to avoid the assumption of normality implicit in the analysis of variance. J Am Stat Assoc 32(200):675–701

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  82. Breazeal C (2003) Emotion and sociable humanoid robots. Int J Hum Comput Stud 59(1–2):119–155

    Article  Google Scholar 

  83. Kahn PH et al (2008) Design patterns for sociality in human–robot interaction. In: ACM/IEEE international conference on human–robot interaction, pp 97–104

  84. de Ruyter B, Saini P, Markopoulos P, van Breemen A (2005) Assessing the effects of building social intelligence in a robotic interface for the home. Interact Comput 17(5):522–541

    Article  Google Scholar 

  85. Andrist S, Tan XZ, Gleicher M, Mutlu B (2014) Conversational gaze aversion for humanlike robots. In: ACM/IEEE international conference on human–robot interaction, pp 25–32

  86. Smarr C-A, Prakash A, Beer JM, Mitzner TL, Kemp CC, Rogers WA (2012) Older adults’ preferences for and acceptance of robot assistance for everyday living tasks. Hum Factors Ergon Soc Annu Meet 56(1):153–157

    Article  Google Scholar 

  87. Lee JD, See KA, City I (2004) Trust in automation: designing for appropriate reliance. Hum Factors Ergon Soc 46(1):50–80

    Article  Google Scholar 

  88. Wang Y (2014) Gendering human–robot interaction: exploring how a person’s gender impacts attitudes toward and interaction with robots. M.Sc. Thesis, University of Manitoba

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA), AGE-WELL NCE Inc. and the Canada Research Chairs (CRC) Program. We would also like to thank Belmont House and its residents and staff for their support and involvement in the studies.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Autonomous Systems and Biomechatronics Laboratory (ASBLab), Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, 5 King’s College Road, Toronto, ON, M5S 3G8, Canada

    Christina Moro, Shayne Lin & Goldie Nejat

  2. Intelligent Assistive Technology and Systems Lab (IATSL), University of Toronto and Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, University Health Network, 500 University Ave, Toronto, ON, M5G 1V7, Canada

    Christina Moro & Alex Mihailidis

  3. AGE-WELL Network of Centres of Excellence Inc., 550 University Ave, Toronto, ON, M5G 2A2, Canada

    Christina Moro, Goldie Nejat & Alex Mihailidis

Authors
  1. Christina Moro
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Shayne Lin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Goldie Nejat
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Alex Mihailidis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christina Moro.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Moro, C., Lin, S., Nejat, G. et al. Social Robots and Seniors: A Comparative Study on the Influence of Dynamic Social Features on Human–Robot Interaction. Int J of Soc Robotics 11, 5–24 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-018-0488-1

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-018-0488-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation