Meet Stevie: a Socially Assistive Robot Developed Through Application of a ‘Design-Thinking’ Approach

Socially assistive service robots offer a compelling means of empowering vulnerable members of society. They can perform useful custodial functions for their users, thus reducing reliance on informal and formal caregivers. The aim of this work was to develop a prototype socially assistive robot through application of user-centered design methods, adopting an approach based on the ‘design thinking’ philosophy. Using a range of design techniques that have seldom been applied in a robotics context, a high resolution prototype was designed, fabricated and evaluated using a mixed-methods approach. Experiments were performed with four distinct user groups (including residents and care staff at a retirement community) to explore the first impressions that the robot created, its perceived usefulness, and the potential for acceptance of the platform. Overall, the robot was positively perceived by each user group, and user feedback from testing generated insights regarding the design, usability and envisioned use-cases of the technology. These findings have value in informing future iterations of robot design, as well as providing motivation for a series of future studies.