Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has critically impacted the health and safety of the population of the world, especially the health and well-being of older adults. Socially assistive robots (SARs) have been used to help to mitigate the effects of the pandemic including loneliness and isolation, and to alleviate the workload of both formal and informal caregivers. This paper presents the first extensive survey and discussion on just how socially assistive robots have specifically helped this population, as well as the overall impact on health and the acceptance of such robots during the pandemic. The goal of this review is to answer research questions with respect to which SARs were used during the pandemic and what specific tasks they were used for, and what the enablers and barriers were to the implementation of SARs during the pandemic. We will also discuss lessons learned from their use to inform future SAR design and applications, and increase their usefulness and adoption in a post-pandemic world. More research is still needed to investigate and appreciate the user experience of older adults with SARs during the pandemic, and we aim to provide a roadmap for researchers and stakeholders.
Highlights
The world’s population is aging, which is placing a strain on caregivers to support and care for the elderly as they age
We investigate Research Question 1: What are the impacts of the pandemic on the needs of older adults and their caregivers? Namely, we explore the crisis that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought about in long-term care homes and hospitals
During the COVID-19 pandemic, new ways of keeping older adults socially and cognitively stimulated without direct human contact became critical to their overall wellbeing
Summary
The world’s population is aging, which is placing a strain on caregivers to support and care for the elderly as they age. With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, opportunities for social relationships, especially for older adults, have decreased. The prevalence of loneliness among older adults living in long-term care is at least double that of those living in communities; during the pandemic, residents were isolated from visitors to reduce the risk of spreading the virus, and group activities and communal dining were halted, which in turn increased isolation and loneliness among residents [7]. Assistive robots (SARs) can be used to provide a safe means of interaction for older people. These interactive robots behave in a lifelike manner, they can recognize and interpret verbal and non-verbal communication modes such as speech, gestures, and eye contact, and respond appropriately using their own sophisticated emotional intelligence and conversation abilities [6]
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