Cory Ann Smarr

The domesticated robot: design guidelines for assisting older adults to age in place

Many older adults wish to remain in their own homes as they age [16]. However, challenges in performing home upkeep tasks threaten an older adults ability to age in place. Even healthy independently living older adults experience challenges in maintaining their home [13]. Challenges with home tasks can be compensated through technology, such as home robots. However, for home robots to be adopted by older adult users, they must be designed to meet older adults needs for assistance and the older users must be amenable to robot assistance for those needs. We conducted a needs assessment to (1) assess older adults openness to assistance from robots; and (2) understand older adults opinions about using an assistive robot to help around the home. We administered questionnaires and conducted structured group interviews with 21 independently living older adults (ages 65-93). The questionnaire data suggest that older adults prefer robot assistance for cleaning and fetching/organizing tasks overall. However their assistance preferences discriminated between tasks. The interview data provided insight as to why they hold such preferences. Older adults reported benefits of robot assistance (e.g., the robot compensating for limitations, saving them time and effort, completing undesirable tasks, and performing tasks at a high level of performance). Participants also reported concerns such as the robot damaging the environment, being unreliable at or incapable of doing a task, doing tasks the older adult would rather do, or taking up too much space/storage. These data, along with specific comments from participant interviews, provide the basis for preliminary recommendations for designing mobile manipulator robots to support aging in place.

Older Adults’ Preferences for and Acceptance of Robot Assistance for Everyday Living Tasks

Many older adults value their independence and prefer to age in place. Robots can be designed to assist older people with performing everyday living tasks and maintaining their independence at home. Yet, there is a scarcity of knowledge regarding older adults’ attitudes toward robots and their preferences for robot assistance. Twenty-one older adults (M = 80.25 years old, SD = 7.19) completed questionnaires and participated in structured group interviews investigating their openness to and preferences for assistance from a mobile manipulator robot. Although the older adults were generally open to robot assistance for performing home-based tasks, they were selective in their views. Older adults preferred robot assistance over human assistance for many instrumental (e.g., housekeeping, laundry, medication reminders) and enhanced activities of daily living (e.g., new learning, hobbies). However, older adults were less open to robot assistance for some activities of daily living (e.g., shaving, hair care). Results from this study provide insight into older adults’ attitudes toward robot assistance with home-based everyday living tasks.

Older adults' medication management in the home: how can robots help?

Successful management of medications is critical to maintaining healthy and independent living for older adults. However, medication non-adherence is a common problem with a high risk for severe consequences [5], which can jeopardize older adults chances to age in place [1]. Well-designed robots assisting with medication management tasks could support older adults independence. Design of successful robots will be enhanced through understanding concerns, attitudes, and preferences for medication assistance tasks. We assessed older adults reactions to medication hand-off from a mobile manipulator with 12 participants (68-79 years). We identified factors that affected their attitudes toward a mobile manipulator for supporting general medication management tasks in the home. The older adults were open to robot assistance; however, their preferences varied depending on the nature of the medication management task. For instance, they preferred a robot (over a human) to remind them to take medications, but preferred human assistance for deciding what medication to take and for administering the medication. Factors such as perceptions of ones own capability and robot reliability ifluenced their attitudes.

Dynamic vs. Static Age-related Differences in Recognizing Emotive Facial Expressions in a Virtual Agent

Technological advances will allow virtual agents to increasingly assist individuals with everyday living tasks. As such, virtual agents will interact with people of all ages and experiences. Facial expressions are often used to facilitate social interaction. However, older and younger adults do not label human (Ruffman et al., 2008) or virtual agent (Beer et al., 2009; 2010) facial expressions in the same way, with older adults commonly mislabeling certain expressions. Dynamic formation, or motion, of facial expression may provide additional facial information potentially making emotions less ambiguous (Bould & Morris, 2008). This study examined how motion affects younger and older adults in recognizing emotion displayed by a virtual agent. Participants viewed videos of the dynamic formation or static pictures of emotive facial expressions. Older adults were found to better recognize static pictures than the dynamic formation of emotions. Older adults had lower recognition rates for anger, fear, happiness, and sadness than younger adults.

“Commanding Your Robot” Older Adults’ Preferences for Methods of Robot Control

Home robots have the potential to assist older adults in maintaining their independence. However, robots deployed in older adults’ homes will be required to interact with untrained, novice users. The way untrained users, such as older adults, provide commands or control the robot (i.e., “method of robot control”) will likely impact the ease of use and adoption of the robot. The current study explored older adults’ preferences for controlling robots. Twelve independently-living older adults (ages 68-79) observed a functioning personal robot in a home setting, and were interviewed about their opinions regarding specific methods of robot control (i.e., laser pointer, physical manipulation, and devices). The older adults perceived advantages and disadvantages of these specific methods, including ‘specificity in command’, ‘accurate robot performance’, ‘limitations in their own physical capability’, and ‘challenges in using control device.’ The older adults also completed a questionnaire measuring their willingness to use 10 different types of methods of robot control. These data revealed that older adults were willing to use a variety of methods. Although older adults were limited in their spontaneous ideas about robot control (i.e., limited to voice command), once exposed to other options they were willing and open to a variety of control methods.

UNDERSTANDING YOUNGER AND OLDER ADULTS' NEEDS FOR HOME ORGANIZATION SUPPORT

Home organization is a common problem for people of all ages. Possible consequences of not being organized at home include loss of time and money; decreased task efficiency and focus; and increased strain on interpersonal relationships. However, there is little empirical research on people’s specific needs for home organization across the lifespan. Participants (10 younger adults, 10 older adults) completed questionnaires and participated in semi-structured interviews investigating their needs for and factors impacting home organization. Home organization was important to participants, yet a majority of them were not fully satisfied with it. Younger and older adults reported various spaces they considered most and least organized in their homes. Both age groups reported that the number of items in a space, the plan for organizing the items, and having a place for all of the items contributed to a space being organized versus not organized. Design considerations for a support system or tool based on these findings are discussed.

The smooth (tractor) operator: insights of knowledge engineering.

The design of and training for complex systems requires in-depth understanding of task demands imposed on users. In this project, we used the knowledge engineering approach (Bowles et al., 2004) to assess the task of mowing in a citrus grove. Knowledge engineering is divided into four phases: (1) Establish goals. We defined specific goals based on the stakeholders involved. The main goal was to identify operator demands to support improvement of the system. (2) Create a working model of the system. We reviewed product literature, analyzed the system, and conducted expert interviews. (3) Extract knowledge. We interviewed tractor operators to understand their knowledge base. (4) Structure knowledge. We analyzed and organized operator knowledge to inform project goals. We categorized the information and developed diagrams to display the knowledge effectively. This project illustrates the benefits of knowledge engineering as a qualitative research method to inform technology design and training.