Impression of Android for Communication Support in Hospitals and Elderly Facilities

In this paper, we report the impression of our android robot obtained in experiments and reactions of people to the android in demonstrations in medical and nursing fields. Our newly developed android robot Actroid-F is utilized for this research. Since the total system for controlling the android is light and compact, it is easy to install in medical and nursing fields. In order to survey the impression of android in the real-world, we conducted a preliminary experiment utilizing the android in a various environments. As a result, it was revealed that most of the subjects have no aversion to the presence of the android, and elderly people tend to have positive impressions of the android. Furthermore we demonstrated the robot in facilities for the elderly, and a school for children with developmental disorders. Findings from the demonstrations together with ideas for the potential application of the android based on the findings are presented.

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