Older Adults Trust Robot-Helpers But keep Them Away from Personal Care

The older adults who love to their independence would be reluctant to avail help in their daily activities. Will the new robotic assistance help in changing Grandma and Grandpa's perspective?

A study led by the Georgia Institute of technology holds hope. The older adults will be willing to accept this new technology, unless the tasks involve personal care or social activities.

The older adults in 65 years to 93 years age group showed willingness for assistance with 48 common household tasks. During the interview the researchers noticed that the participants preferred robotic help over human help for chores such as cleaning the kitchen, doing laundry and taking out the trash. But when it came to help getting dressed, eating and bathing, the adults tended to say they would prefer human assistance over robot assistance.

Human assistance was also preferred for social activities such as calling family and friends or entertaining guests.

"There are many misconceptions about older adults having negative attitudes toward robots," said Smarr, a School of Psychology graduate teaching assistant. "The people we interviewed were very enthusiastic and optimistic about robots in their daily lives. They were also very particular in their preferences, something that can assist researchers as they determine what to design and introduce in the home."

Georgia Tech's Cory-Ann Smarr and Psychology Professor Wendy Rogers, the principal investigator on the project, also noticed that preferences varied across tasks, such as medication.

They seen how the adults said they are willing to use a robot for reminders to take medicine, but they are more comfortable if a person helps them decide which medication to take.

"It seems that older people are less likely to trust a robot with decision-making tasks than with monitoring or physical assistance," said Rogers. "Researchers should be careful not to generalize preferences when designing assistive robots."

The participants in the study, nearly 75 percent of them used technologies such as cellphone and appliances while others refused for immediate assistance.

The results will be presented this week at the Human Factors Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting in Boston.