Rethinking the Design of Robotic Pets for Older Adults

Robots are seen as a potential solution to the perceived needs of the aging population. Thus far, research has primarily focused on robotics for the functional and emotional support of older adults. Robotic pets have been developed primarily for the older adult who is perceived as lonely and isolated, and fears have consequently arisen that robots will replace human caregivers and deceive older adults into developing relationships with them. Missing is the perspective of older adults on the ethics of and potential uses for robotic companion pets. In this study, we conducted focus groups with 41 older adults. We discuss concepts raised by focus group participants such as giving into the fiction of the robotic pet, the social role of the robot, and the role of reciprocity in building a relationship with a robotic pet. We present resulting considerations for new directions for robotic pet design for older adults.

[1]  Sara Ljungblad,et al.  How do you play with a robotic toy animal?: a long-term study of Pleo , 2010, IDC.

[2]  W. Banks,et al.  Animal-assisted therapy and loneliness in nursing homes: use of robotic versus living dogs. , 2008, Journal of the American Medical Directors Association.

[3]  N. Sharkey,et al.  Granny and the robots: ethical issues in robot care for the elderly , 2012, Ethics and Information Technology.

[4]  Jenay M. Beer,et al.  The domesticated robot: Design guidelines for assisting older adults to age in place , 2012, 2012 7th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI).

[5]  Susanne Frennert,et al.  Review: Seven Matters of Concern of Social Robots and Older People , 2014, International Journal of Social Robotics.

[6]  Florian Kohlbacher,et al.  The limits of participatory technology development: The case of service robots in care facilities for older people , 2015 .

[7]  Ben J. A. Kröse,et al.  Enjoyment, intention to use and actual use of a conversational robot by elderly people , 2008, 2008 3rd ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI).

[8]  Joelle Pineau,et al.  Pearl: A Mobile Robotic Assistant for the Elderly , 2002 .

[9]  Marcus Sanchez Svensson,et al.  Ticket-to-talk-television: designing for the circumstantial nature of everyday social interaction , 2008, NordiCHI.

[10]  Rajiv Khosla,et al.  Socially Assistive Robots in Elderly Care: A Mixed-Method Systematic Literature Review , 2014, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Interact..

[11]  Sean A. McGlynn,et al.  Understanding Older Adults’ Perceptions of Usefulness for the Paro Robot , 2014, Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society ... Annual Meeting. Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. Annual Meeting.

[12]  Cory D. Kidd,et al.  Relational artifacts with children and elders: the complexities of cybercompanionship , 2006, Connect. Sci..

[13]  Selma Sabanovic,et al.  Robots in Society, Society in Robots , 2010, Int. J. Soc. Robotics.

[14]  Massimo Zancanaro,et al.  "Luckily, I don't need it": elderly and the use of artifacts for time management , 2010, NordiCHI.

[15]  Wendy A. Rogers,et al.  Older Adults’ Reactions to a Robot’s Appearance in the Context of Home Use , 2014, 2014 9th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI).

[16]  Bruce A. MacDonald,et al.  The Role of Healthcare Robots for Older People at Home: A Review , 2014, Int. J. Soc. Robotics.

[17]  Morana Alaăź,et al.  Social robots: Things or agents? , 2016 .

[18]  Morana Alac,et al.  Social robots: Things or agents? , 2015, AI & SOCIETY.

[19]  Bruce A. MacDonald,et al.  Retirement home staff and residents' preferences for healthcare robots , 2009, RO-MAN 2009 - The 18th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication.

[20]  R. Sparrow.  The March of the robot dogs , 2002, Ethics and Information Technology.

[21]  Jordi Albo-Canals,et al.  Exploring Requirements and Alternative Pet Robots for Robot Assisted Therapy with Older Adults with Dementia , 2013, ICSR.

[22]  Wendy A. Rogers,et al.  Older adults' medication management in the home: How can robots help? , 2013, 2013 8th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI).

[23]  Cory D. Kidd,et al.  A sociable robot to encourage social interaction among the elderly , 2006, Proceedings 2006 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2006. ICRA 2006..

[24]  Karl F. MacDorman,et al.  The Uncanny Valley [From the Field] , 2012, IEEE Robotics Autom. Mag..

[25]  Norman Makoto Su,et al.  Mundanely miraculous: the robot in healthcare , 2014, NordiCHI.

[26]  Yvonne Rogers,et al.  Does he take sugar?: moving beyond the rhetoric of compassion , 2013, INTR.

[27]  Kerstin Dautenhahn,et al.  What is a robot companion - friend, assistant or butler? , 2005, 2005 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems.

[28]  Harvey Sacks,et al.  Lectures on Conversation , 1995 .

[29]  Timothy W. Bickmore,et al.  Establishing and maintaining long-term human-computer relationships , 2005, TCHI.

[30]  Cynthia Breazeal,et al.  Toward sociable robots , 2003, Robotics Auton. Syst..

[31]  Wan Ling Chang,et al.  A Robot of My Own: Participatory Design of Socially Assistive Robots for Independently Living Older Adults Diagnosed with Depression , 2015, HCI.

[32]  Wan Ling Chang,et al.  Studying Socially Assistive Robots in Their Organizational Context: Studies with PARO in a Nursing Home , 2015, HRI.

[33]  Robert Sparrow,et al.  In the hands of machines? The future of aged care , 2006, Minds and Machines.

[34]  Louis Neven,et al.  'But obviously not for me': robots, laboratories and the defiant identity of elder test users. , 2010, Sociology of health & illness.

[35]  Jodi Forlizzi,et al.  Assistive Robotics and an Ecology of Elders Living Independently in Their Homes , 2004, Hum. Comput. Interact..

[36]  Tomoharu Yamaguchi,et al.  Embodying care in Matilda: an affective communication robot for the elderly in Australia , 2012, IHI '12.

[37]  Margot Brereton,et al.  Dispelling ageing myths in technology design , 2013, OZCHI.

[38]  Alexander Peine,et al.  The rise of the “innosumer”—Rethinking older technology users , 2014 .

[39]  Toshiharu Mukai,et al.  Development of a nursing-care assistant robot RIBA that can lift a human in its arms , 2010, 2010 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems.

[40]  J. Broekens,et al.  Assistive social robots in elderly care: a review , 2009 .

[41]  Peter J. Bentley,et al.  Investigating the Suitability of Social Robots for the Wellbeing of the Elderly , 2011, ACII.

[42]  Katie Brittain,et al.  An Age-Old Problem: Examining the Discourses of Ageing in HCI and Strategies for Future Research , 2015, TCHI.

[43]  Wan Ling Chang,et al.  Use of seal-like robot PARO in sensory group therapy for older adults with dementia , 2013, 2013 8th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI).

[44]  E. Friedmann,et al.  Comparison of the Effect of Human Interaction, Animal-Assisted Therapy, and AIBO-Assisted Therapy on Long-Term Care Residents with Dementia , 2009 .

[45]  P MacMillan,et al.  Does he take sugar? , 1980, Nursing times.

[46]  Kerstin Dautenhahn,et al.  Socially intelligent robots: dimensions of human–robot interaction , 2007, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

[47]  Takayuki Kanda,et al.  A conversational robot in an elderly care center: An ethnographic study , 2011, 2011 6th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI).

[48]  A. Libin,et al.  Therapeutic robocat for nursing home residents with dementia: Preliminary inquiry , 2004, American journal of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias.

[49]  Cynthia Breazeal,et al.  Proceedings of the ACM/IEEE international conference on Human-robot interaction , 2007 .

[50]  Márta Gácsi,et al.  On the Utilization of Social Animals as a Model for Social Robotics , 2012, Front. Psychology.

[51]  Ehud Sharlin,et al.  Toward Acceptable Domestic Robots: Applying Insights from Social Psychology , 2009, Int. J. Soc. Robotics.

[52]  Willy Barnett,et al.  Investigating User Perceptions of HRI: A Marketing Approach , 2015, HRI.

[53]  E. Brink,et al.  Constructing grounded theory : A practical guide through qualitative analysis , 2006 .

[54]  Takanori Shibata,et al.  Living With Seal Robots—Its Sociopsychological and Physiological Influences on the Elderly at a Care House , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Robotics.

[55]  Peter H. Kahn,et al.  Robotic animals might aid in the social development of children with autism , 2008, 2008 3rd ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI).

[56]  Heloir,et al.  The Uncanny Valley , 2019, The Animation Studies Reader.

[57]  Herjan van den Heuvel,et al.  A Mixed-Method Approach to Evoke Creative and Holistic Thinking about Robots in a Home Environment , 2014, 2014 9th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI).