Spiritual Therapeutic Robot for Elderly With Early Alzheimer’s Disease: A Design Guide Based on Gender

Abstract

Introduction: Researchers and technologists have been exploring ways to utilize robotic technology to aid elderly care and to increase their emotional wellbeing. Previous studies indicated that spirituality is a core factor for successful aging. Various research was done on therapeutic robots for the elderly with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). However, little focus was given to emotions and spiritual elements perceived by different genders. Therefore, this research aims to explore spiritual therapeutic robot design elements based on the elderly’s emotional experience by different genders. Methods: The research firstly conducted expert interview involving 9 experts on elderly care, robotics, and spiritual practice; secondly, KJ Method involving 4 language, spiritual, elderly care, and robotic experts; and thirdly, qualitative and quantitative Kansei assessment (n=12) among the elderly with early AD to determine the conceptual design guide, spiritual emotion words, and finalize the design guide. Results: Two-Sample t-Test shows five of ten spiritual design elements have a p-value of 0.05, which indicates there is a 50-50 chance of a significant difference in spiritual emotional experience between male and female respondents. Further analysis shows differences in results from both genders, but shows similar scores for zikr, surah, and prayer. Conclusion: The results enabled the research to produce a gender-based design guide for therapeutic robots based on spiritual elements and emotions, to successfully evoke positive emotions among the elderly with early AD. The gender-focused design will further extend the effectiveness as it will fit the specific demands of each gender, thus effectively elevating their emotional wellbeing.