Designing a robot for elderly care homes based on the notion of robot as theatre

Abstract

Robots are predominantly thought of as monolithic, unitary actors: They are almost always designed as having a clearly defined body. We rethink this concept of a unified and coherently embodied robot with the example context of elderly care. We explore alternative design spaces for robots in care that open up new modes of interaction for residents and caregivers. We present design studies that explore this notion based on the development of a plant-watering robotic ensemble. The ensemble consists of various elements that inform interacting persons about the robot's task and its role in a storytelling or poetic way. We show how we further explored this idea of a robot as theatre' in two different configurations-one agentic and one diorama-and a version that integrates feedback from focus groups with care experts.