Improving the Interaction of Older Adults with a Socially Assistive Table Setting Robot

Abstract

This study provides user-studies aimed at exploring factors influencing the interaction between older adults and a robotic table setting assistant. The influence of level of automation (LOA) and level of transparency (LOT) on the quality of the interaction was considered. Results revealed that the interaction effect of LOA and LOT significantly influenced the interaction. A low LOA which required the user to control some of the actions of the robot influenced the older adults to participate more in the interaction when the LOT was high (more information) compared to situations with low LOT (less information) and high LOA (more robot autonomy). Even though, the higher LOA influenced more fluency in the interaction, the lower LOA encouraged a more collaborative form of interaction which is a priority in the design of robotic aids for older adult users. The results provide some insights into shared control designs which accommodates the preferences of the older adult users as they interact with robotic aids such as the table setting robot used in this study.