Elderly’s acceptance of companion robots from the perspective of user factors

Abstract

Taiwan has entered the aged society in March 2018, meaning that more social and technological resources are needed to solve the problems related to the elderly’s companion service. Companion robots are considered a solution to effectively meet the elderly’s service needs for family escort. However, little is known about the elderly’s acceptance of companion robots. The purpose of this study is to explore the elderly’s acceptance of companion robots from the perspective of user factors. The research was carried out by a mixed method of interviews and questionnaires. Independent sample t test and one-way analysis of variance were used for analysis. The results showed that there were significant differences in the attitude and perceived usefulness of companion robots in terms of education level, living conditions, professional background and technical experience. The research found that the elderly living with parents, with master’s (or doctor’s) education, medical professional background and experience in the use of scientific and technological products expressed more positive attitudes in the responses to the items on the constructs of attitude and perceived usefulness, while the attitude of those with primary school education and humanities professional background, with no experience in scientific and technological products, was relatively negative. Research shows that the acceptance of companion robots by the elderly was affected to some extent by user factors. These findings can provide reference for robot designers, industrial designers and other researchers.