Testing for acceptance of an assistive social robot for dementia and caregiving

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundApproximately 5.8 million older adults in the U.S. are living with AD and it is estimated that by 2060, this number is projected to triple. People with AD often require high levels of care and assistance to maintain daily activities. The majority of care provided to a person living with AD or other forms of dementia is from a family caregiver, representing 18.6 billion hours of unpaid care valued at $244 billion. The long duration, time‐intensive nature of caregiving imposes high burdens on caregivers. There is a great need for assistive technologies and innovative solutions for the future of dementia care because of the increasing rise in adults with dementia.MethodA multidisciplinary team of faculty and undergraduate and graduate students was created to design a low‐cost social robot to serve as assistive companions for people with AD. Focus group meetings with caregivers and those with beginning stages of dementia were held, where the team worked in identifying the audience’s needs and robot’s responsibilities. Initial sketches were formulated before being brought to life in Fusion 360 as 3D CAD objects and printed using a 3D printer. Several rounds of iterations of the social robot’s body and user interfaces were created and two final robot designs were tested with undergraduate students (N = 15) for general attitudes of acceptance and feelings of overall experience.ResultResults from our user testing showed that users preferred one design more than another. Users wanted options in their interactions – having the ability to have speech conversation and touch‐screen abilities. Overall, the results from the user testing were positive, and the team is currently working on a final robot design before testing at nursing homes and assisted living facilities.ConclusionEstimated to be less than $300, our socially assistive robot holds promise to help address the disparity issues in the underserved.